Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/169

 1868.] Practical Carpentry and Joinery. 141 perfect, that any form can be wrought, from a straight line, through arc, semi- circle and circle, to the more artistic curves of the ellipse, the parabola and the hj'perbola — from the quarter- round and the cavetto, the cyrna-recta and the cyma-reversa, to the true Grecian ovolo; and all the resulting combinations. As for window-sashes, they have been made by machinery for so many years, that a joiner at the present day would scarcely understand the art of working them. Doors, window-shutters, and out- side and inside Venetian blinds have also fallen within the province of machine-work. The above remarks, about machine- prepared material for the joiner, do not apply to hard wood, particularly when the joinery is to be of a superior quality and style. In this case it must be done by hand. No matter how artistic the workman who designs the patterns for, or in the machine ; no matter how fine the forms that may be produced by the management of a skilled artisan, yet the bulk of the products must be made by unskilled labor, and while greater general regularity of parts is obtained, the result always exhibits the set limits of the machine itself, and the absence of human mind in the direct formation Into that work, of whatever nature designed to be artistic, the very will and soul of man must enter, and it only can enter through its being fashioned immediately under man's own eyes, by man's own hands. Then, if the mental gifts at all correspond with the will, the result is a production, which must always be looked upon by all observers, however the passing mode may incline, with sympathetic satisfaction and de light. In fact, the employment of machinery, in the preparation of partly finished work for the joiner, ai'ose from necessity. The rapid growth of our villages, towns and cities — and the consequent disper- sion of taste through the country, whence had previously proceeded the wealth allowing the great centres leisure for cultivating the taste, while an equal share of wealth accumulated amongst the yeomanry — so increased the demand for moderately embellished homes, that, without extraneous assistance, all the mechanics in the nation would have been inadequate to put up and finish them. Hence machinery is called into existence and into action, as the horse- reaper and the steam-reaper have been applied to the culture of the soil ; and the sewing-machine has superseded prett} r much all but the artistic use of needle and thread ; leaving husbandmen and women, however, still enough to do, if they want to do it, although with every invention in and multiplication of machinery, the human souls thereby re- leased, or relieved, should constantly engage in labor of lighter nature and higher grade ; and none can permanently escape the strict fulfilment of human destiny, in earning the bread by the sweat of the brow. It is now our opportunity to intro- duce a full plate of details on PRACTICAL CARPENTRY AND JOINERY. This we purpose continuing in every number, embodying interior and exterior examples, from the simplest to the most elaborate, with hints for preparing hard wood, and introducing the various kinds of it into the frames, panels, and mould- ings of the same piece of work, so that their differences in graining and in color may blend harmoniously, and produce the desired effect. The accompanying plate represents A WINDOW WITH INSIDE SHUTTERS, AND VENETIAN BLINDS, With the Finish Within the Room. A is the plan, showing a section of the architrave, the soffit to receive the shut-