Frames and supports in 15th and 16th-century Southern Netherlandish painting

CHAPTER I 30 109. Roubo 1977, 60. 110. Boison 1911, 33. Cross-saws (fig. 6: 21) served for sawing the wood to size. In the 15th and 16th century these took the form of framesaws (or bowsaws). The blade is mounted on a frame that comprises two cheeks in hardwood joined by a stretcher slotted into a loose mortise. For the stretcher, Roubo prescribes pinewood, a light wood that is less likely than others to bend. 109 The blade engages in slits at the end of each cheek and is secured by rivets driven through the cheeks and blade. The blade is held in tension by twisting the rope with a key, which then slots into a mortise in the stretcher, or simply rests against the stretcher. After use it was important to release the tension. In a variant of this saw, the blade could pivot relative to the axis of the frame, allowing the carpenter to saw in another axis than that of the tool. In the 15th century we find the scroll saw or coping saw. This saw is constructed like a ripsaw or a cross-saw, but differs by the narrowness of the blade, which allows it to cut along a curved trajectory. The blade can be mounted in a metal frame (fig. 6: 22). From the 13th century onwards sawing began to be mechanized. Watermills and windmills were used to operate saws in both the north and south of Europe. These mills and machines helped accelerate the disappearance of what was once a prosperous profession, and which only died out totally at the beginning of the 20th century. 110