Window runs should never be varnished.

To help drawers and window sashes slide easily, rub the running parts with a piece of bayberry tallow or paraffine wax. This, however, is not a substitute for easing them with a plane.

A good thing to use in patching small scars in plastering is calcined plaster (sometimes called plaster-of-Paris), mixed with common flour paste. If the plaster is mixed with water it sets almost instantly; but when mixed with paste it sets quite slowly, giving time to use it as may be desired.

A flour-bairel is 28 to 30 inches high, and 20 or 21 inches in diameter at the largest part. This note may be of use in fitting up closets and pantries.

Weights of Various Materials. - These are taken from various sources, and are generally considered as practically correct, although different pieces of the same material will vary considerably: especially is this true of wood; one piece of dry pine will sometimes weigh nearly double as much as another. The weights given are per cubic foot, except when otherwise stated: -

Ash, 43 to 50 lbs; Babbitt metal, 456.32 (cubic inch, .263); beech, 43; birch, 37 to 44; brick and mortar, 115; boxwood, 80; cast brass, 537.75 (cubic inch, .31); cedar, 35; chalk, 145 to 162; charcoal. 18; chestnut, 38; cork, 15; cast copper, 537.3 (cubic inch, .31); cannel coal, 79.5; bituminous coal, 45 to 55; anthracite coal, 50 to 55; grindstone, 133.93; granite, 180; ebony, 74;

English elm, 34 to 36; freestone, 150; flint glass, 192 (cubic inch, .111); crown and common green glass, 158 (cubic inch, .091); plate glass, 172 (cubic inch, .099); hornbeam, 47; cast iron, 451 (cubic inch, .26); wrought iron, 485 (cubic inch, .281); iron-wood, 71; ivory, 114; lignumvitae, 83; cast lead, 708.5 (cubic inch, .41); sheet lead, 711.6; marble, 145 to 170; mercury, 848 (cubic inch, .49); Honduras mahogany, -35; Nassau mahogany, 42; Spanish mahogany, 53; maple, 42; white oak, 45 to 50; live oak, 70; white pine, 27 to 34; yellow pine, 32 to 40; rubber, 58; spruce, 29; silver, 653.8 (cubic inch, .377); steel, 499 (cubic inch, .288); diy sand, 117; sandstone, 140; water, 62.5; sea water, 64.18; cast zinc, 437 to 450 (cubic inch, .25); gold, 1,203 lbs. 10 ounces.

To distinguish Right-hand from Left-hand Loose Butts. - Take one in your hands, and open it so that the side having the countersunk holes for the screws will be up; then draw it apart, having the pintle pointing from you; then, if the part containing the pintle is in your right hand, it is a right-hand butt; if it is in your left hand, it is a left-hand butt. (See Plate 36. Fig. 91 shows a right-hand loose butt drawn apart, and Fig. 92 shows a left-hand loose butt.) The part of the butt containing the pintle belongs on the door-jamb, or door-frame. Right-hand butts go on right-hand doors, left-hand butts on left-hand doors. A door opening from you to the right is a right-hand door: one opening from you to the left is a left-hand door.

To find the Proper Angle to cut the Mitre of a Sake-moulding Mitre-box. - If the building is square, or has square corners, the mitre for the rake-moulding will be an angle of 45° let fall perpendicularly, when the moulding sets at the same slant as the roof. If the building is not square, then the angle for each corner of the building may be found by bisecting the angle formed by the side and end of the building (see Plate 1, Fig. 2): then the mitre for the rake-moulding will be the angle, found as above, let fall perpendicularly. Set a bevel to the angle found, and mark the angle on the top of the mitre-box, as shown in Plate 36, Fig. 90, a 6, representing the angle: then draw a line square from b to c. (If the building is square, the distance from a to c will be equal to the width of the box from outside to outside, from b to c.) In Fig. 89 we have shown the mitre-box set at the same slant as the roof, so that the angle on the side of the box stands perpendicularly; then lay off a c at right angles with a 6, making the length of a c the same as the length of «c in Fig. 90; then draw the line cdwith the bevel used to draw the down bevel at a b (which is the same as the down bevel of the rafters); then, to lay out the mitre on the box, make a c, Fig. 90, the same length as a c?, Fig. 89; then square across from c to b, join a and b, which gives the actual angle to cut the mitre, so that, if the building is square, an angle of 45° let fall perpendicularly would describe this angle on the box, when the box is set on the same slant as the roof, as shown in Fig. 89. For convenience of workmen, we have laid out the mitres to cut rake-moulding mitre-boxes. They are as follows, and bevels can be set to the required number of degrees, by the use of the protractor on Plate 8: -

9£ *Wd

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The angle of the mitre for 1/3 pitch is about 40°. The angle of the mitre for 2/3 pitch is about 37°. The angle of the mitre for square pitch is about 35°.

These are the angles for square buildings, and will not answer for other than square buildings.

Given the Diameter, to find the Rise for any Chord or Span. - It sometimes occurs, that it is desired to describe a segment of a circle of great radius; but the amount of rise is not known. For example: A building of brick or stone is to be constructed on part of a street which is curving; the radius of the curve being, say, 150 feet. The stone-cutter wants a pattern made to use for shaping the underpinning, the window-sills, etc.: he wants the pattern 8 feet long, so as to do for all the stone-work. Now, here we have an 8-foot segment of a 300-foot circle. It is impossible to make any thing like a true curve of that size by means of a line used as a radius. If we knew the amount of rise, we could describe the curve by means of the triangular frame described in Plate 3, Fig. 8; but, although the amount of rise is not known, it is a very easy matter to figure it out. The rule is as follows: Subtract the square of the chord or span from the square of the diameter, and extract the square root of the remainder. Subtract this root from the diameter, and halve the remainder, which gives the rise. To illustrate. The diameter being 300 feet, the square of the diameter is 300 x 300 feet, which is 90,000 feet. The square of the chord or span (8 feet) is 8x8 feet, which is 64 feet, which, subtracted from the square of the diameter, leaves 89,936 remainder, the square root of which is 299.893+, which, subtracted from the diameter (300 feet), leaves .107 remainder, half of which gives .053.") feet as the rise, which we multiply by 12 to get the number of inches, which gives .642 inches. By referring to our table of decimal parts of an inch with fractional equivalents, we find that this is practically § of an inch rise. Now, knowing the rise, and the chord or span, we can describe the curve by means of the frame arrangement described in Plate 3, Fig. 8.