Carpentry

Carpentry may be described as the art of timbering, or combining and framing together pieces of timber in the construction of ships, bridges (and centering), roofs, scaffolding, &c., while joinery is the art of framing or joining woodwork for the finishing of houses, making doors, windows, stairs, &c. Carpenter work is put together with iron ties, bolts, and nails. Joinery includes all woodwork which can be put together with glue. Carpentry forms a most important branch of the civil engineer's and architect's labours, and many scientific principles are involved in producing the maximum of strength in the construction, with the minimum of weight in the materials employed. Every individual part should bear its due proportion of the strain, not only of its own weight, but of any outside pressure it may be calculated to resist. In America, where timber abounds, many ingenious uses have been made of it in the building of bridges, houses, &c. Iron is now superseding timber in many of its uses. Further information will be found in such articles as BRIDGE, BUILDING, FLOOR, ROOF, SHIPBUILDING, STRENGTH OF MATERIALS, TIMBER, &c. See also R. Scott Burn, New Guide to Carpentry (1871); T. Tredgold, Principles of Carpentry (7th ed. 1886), and works by Gould, Hatfield, Newlands, Wilson, &c.