WOODWORKING QUIZ for 4 Aug 04

[Ralph Jones]

Good Evening Friends,
Back in the good old days when we used to install ceiling joists and the the rafters, we had to cut off a corner of the ceiling joists or sometimes called the ear, that stuck above the rafter.

What tool was usually used for this operation?

Respectfully,

[duckman]

G'day Ralph,

I've cut and pitched a lot of roofs in my time, but I've never had to remove an 'ear' from a ceiling joist. What size (typically) timber were you using for both rafters and cj's?

Hooroo...

Mark.

[Ralph Jones]

Hello Duckman,
The code calls for a minimum of 2 x 6 for ceiling joists and rafters and when you cut the birdsmouth in the rafter there would sometimes be an ear sticking up and this was the reason for having to cut it off as it would raise the sheathing, if it were not cut off.

Respectfully

[duckman]

Hello Duckman,
The code calls for a minimum of 2 x 6 for ceiling joists and rafters and when you cut the birdsmouth in the rafter there would sometimes be an ear sticking up and this was the reason for having to cut it off as it would raise the sheathing, if it were not cut off.

Respectfully

6 inch ceiling joists?:eek: :eek: :eek: Yowza!!

Back in the old days of 'stick built' roofs here, 5 x 1 1/2 rafters @ 20 inch centres (125 x 38mm @ 500mm centres) and 4 x 1 1/2 ceiling joists @ 20 inch centres ( 100 x 38mm @ 500mm centres) was the most common for tiled roofs. Iron roofs varied somewhat.

I'm always interested to learn how others build houses. Thanks for the info. Ralph.

Hooroo..

Mark.

[Christopha]

Ralph, as an apprentice it was my job to go round the roof knocking off the "ears" with a hammer and chisel..... although I think the technical term for the at the time was " those paininnabum sticky up bits!"

[Ralph Jones]

Good Evening Friends,
It is good that we all can learn from different folks the different building methods of the construction of a building from around the world.

The answer for the quiz is the apprentice would chop the ear off with a hatchet till it was flush with the rafter, or who ever was not busy at the time. I would like to have a dollar for each and every one I chopped off.

Thank you for your support.

Respectfully,

[Toggy]

Ralph,

there's a bit of difference between your softwoods and our good old Aussie hardwoods.

Ken