ted between the front and back rails, into
which they may be gained.

[Illustration: Fig. 296. Opening for Drawer Cut Out of Front Rail of
Table.]

For the making of the table top see edge-to-edge joint, p. 172. Dress
up the top to size, taking special pains with the upper surface. If
the grain is crossed, use the veneer-scraper, Fig. 151, p. 92, then
sand, first with No. 1, then with No. 00 sandpaper, finish the edges
carefully, and attach to the frame.

For fastening the top to the table rails, several methods are used.
The top may be screwed to the rails by the screws passing thru the
rails themselves either straight up, Fig. 297, A, or diagonally from
the inside, B, or thru blocks or angle irons, C, which are screwed to
the inside of the rails, or thru buttons, or panel irons, D, which are
free to move in a groove cut near the top of the rail. The last
method is the best because it allows for the inevitable shrinkage and
swelling of the top.

[Illustration: Fig. 297. Methods of attaching Table Top to Rails.]

_Chairs_ may be so simplified in form as to be possible for the
amateur to construct. The two front legs and the rail and stretcher
between them offer little difficulty because the angles are square.

The two back legs, may, for the purpose of simplification, be kept
parallel to each other and at right angles to the seat rails between
them, as in Fig. 298, A, and not at an angle as in B. The joining of
the back will then offer little difficulty. The principal difficulties
lie in the facts that for comfort and appearance the back of the chair
should incline backward both above and below the seat, and that the
back of the seat should be narrower than the front. By keeping at
right angles to the floor the part of the back legs which receives
the seat rail, the side seat rails will meet the back legs at a right
angle in a side view, Fig. 298. The back legs should be slightly
shorter than the front legs, as shown in D.

[Illustration: Fig. 298. Chair Construction.]

The second difficulty involves the making of inclined
mortise-and-tenon joints, A, where the side rails fit into the legs.
The making of these can be facilitated by laying out a plan of the
full size and taking the desired angles directly from that. It is
common to reinforce these joints with corner blocks glued and screwed
in place as shown in A. If there are additional rails below the seat
rails, the easiest way to fit them in place is first