T YPES OF J OINTS You need to master many small techniques in order to become a proficient carpenter. You may wish to keep this book handy in the shop so that you can refer back to it as you go along. It would be difficult just to read through this material and jump right into carpentry work. An apprentice period of working in the shop is required in order for you to work safely and efficiently. There are dozens of different woodworking tools in most theatre shops. Some of them were mentioned in the previous chapter. The tools in this chapter are so commonly used and so complex that they deserve some special attention. Of special interest are the table saw, the radial arm saw, the power miter saw, and the band saw. This chapter also covers some general woodwork- ing terms and practices. Marking lumber and cutting it to size is an essential skill in any woodworking shop. Three main types of basic joinery cuts comprise the lion's share of wood- working. Ripping wood means cutting it along or with the grain. Because the grain in a piece of lumber gener- ally runs along the length of the board, rip cuts tend to be very long. You might rip down some pieces of 1×12 lumber so that they become 1×3s instead. Cross-cutting is done across the grain, at a 90-degree angle. It is often associated with trimming boards to length. You might cut some random lengths of 1×3 down to a specific length like 9-10 1 2 . Miter cuts are used to trim the ends of boards or molding to some angle other than 90 degrees. The most common of these would be a 45-degree angle cut, such as might be used to make a picture frame. There are many, many combinations and permutations of these types of cuts, but it seems helpful to begin with some way of organizing these different concepts to make them easier to remember. Curved cuts, such as can be done on a band saw, or using a jigsaw are also important. There are some special names for the way that wooden parts fit together. When the end of one cross-cut board hits directly upon another one at a 90- degree angle they are said to be butting into one another, and if you nail them together like that, a butt joint is created. If you connect two boards together so that their faces are overlapping one another, this creates a lap joint. If you cut away half of the material from either board so that the overlap then keeps the faces of the two boards on the same plane, you will have a half lap. Connecting two boards using a thin piece of plywood creates a covered joint. 256 IllustratedTheatreProductionGuide2ed