This section is from the book "Elementary Principles Carpentry", by Thomas Tredgold. Also available from Amazon: Elementary Principles Of Carpentry.
In the practice of modern carpentry, iron is extensively employed for securing the ends of pieces of timber, and in various ways to strengthen the joints.
When placed at the lower end of a post or strut, subject to compression only, it is called a " shoe," and for this purpose cast iron, from the ease with which it can be moulded to shape, and its capability of resistance to crushing, is most commonly used. Iron shaped to receive the end of a piece of timber liable to extensile or transverse strain, is called a "socket," and is most frequently made of wrought iron. The drawings at the end of this work show a variety of modes of applying shoes and sockets in the carpentry of roofs, centres, coffer-dams, etc.
* ' Phil. Mag.,' vol. lxiii., 1824.
 
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