Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
In the same Plate, you have the design of a Brick Cornice, and the Names of the
Mouldings, are:
A. Scima recta, or Ogee.
B. Scima reverfa, or Scimatium.
C. Corona, or Plancheer.
D. Ovolo, or Boltel.
E. Cavetto, or Cafement.
O. Joint of Morter.
In which Cornice, the Corona, or Plancheer, ought (according to the Rules of
Architecture) to Sail over, or project more; but the length of a Brick being but
about 8 Inches when its head is rubbed for hewing, it will not hang, if it fail over,
more than is fhewn in the Draught, which is about 3 Inches and an half. But if you
would make it to project more, then you muft Cement pieces to the ends of your
bricks for tailing, or to make them longer: Of which Cement there is two forts, one
is called cold Cement, and the other is hot, the making and ufe whereof, we will
fhew towards the latter end.
Moxon here addresses the problem of insufficient length of a brick stretcher
to both cut the moulding, yet also allow it to be sufficiently tied-back into the
backing brickwork in order to securely project, or 'oversail', beyond the stated
3½ inches (90 mm), over the lower 'Ovolo' or 'Boltel' moulding. The concern
here is to ensure that the 'Corona' moulding, laid as a header, is properly
'tailed-in' to the wall and strong enough to support the weight of the two over-
sailing moulded courses directly above. Moxon then reveals an old craft mys-
tery of 'cementing' bricks together to extend their length (1703, 286):
There are two forts of Cement, which fome Bricklayers ufe in Cementing of
Bricks for fome kind of Mouldings, or in Cementing a block of Bricks, as they
call it, for the Carving of Scroles or Capitals or fuch like, &c. One is called cold
Cement, the other is called hot Cement, becaufe the former is made and ufed
without Fire, but the latter is both made and ufed with Fire; the cold Cement
being accounted a Secret, is known but to few Bricklayers, but the hot Cement is
common.
Contemporary lime mortars for brickwork were not strong enough in setting
to glue bricks together to act as a whole. To extend a header for a securely
'tailed-in' oversailing required a 'cement' that would not fail under load and/
or through damp penetration. Likewise, for brick carving such as scrolls or
capitals, it was vital that the bricklayer used a similar 'cement' to construct a
solidly bedded 'block' of bonded bricks (also termed 'brick lumps') ready for
the 'Trade Carver' to execute the carving. This could then be done without
