Strictly speaking, the business of the Carpenter is only with the larger portions of buildings and the rough timber frameworks which support them, and his principal tools are the _axe_ and the _adze_, for chopping and roughly smoothing timbers; the _saw_, for sawing beams and planks; the _chisel_, for making mortis holes for joining beams together, and for cutting and paring wood; the _chalk line_, a line rubbed with chalk, and used to make a straight line upon a board or beam, to mark the direction in which it is to be sawn; the _plumb rule_, already described amongst the Builder’s tools; the _level_; the _square_; the _compasses_; all of which have been described in previous trades; the _hammer_; the _mallet_, and various sorts of nails. The other tools represented in the engravings belong more properly to the _Joiner_, but as the trades of the Carpenter and the Joiner are almost always united, we will speak of all the tools as belonging to one business. Carpenter’s work, then, consists of the framing roofs, partitions, and floors, in making the various joints used in beams, ties, rafters, and joists for supporting floors, and the proper way of supporting buildings by posts and girders. The Carpenter requires to be strong and active, that he may properly handle the heavy timbers on which he has to work; he should have a knowledge of the science of mechanics, that he may be able to provide for the strains and thrusts to which the different parts of his work are exposed, and supply the proper means of resisting them; and he should also be able to understand how to make what are called “_working drawings_,” that he may “set out,” or properly draw a plan of the work he has to do, from the designs of the Architect. The Carpenter being concerned with the portions of a building which are made of timber, you will be better able to understand his trade by a short description of what these are; and we will then speak a little of the _Joiner_, whose trade is generally confounded with that of the Carpenter. First: Partitions, or inner divisions of a building, may be either of brick, stone, or wood; and, in the latter case, they are generally “framed,” or supported in a more solid framework, which should form a portion of the main building, that is, of the outer wall; and should be quite independent of the floors, which should not support, but be supported by them.