Ripping, in a good way

Some carpentry terms sound a lot more violent than they deserve.

In the first picture, for example, Arnold is ripping a board -- cutting along its length, in this case with the blade at an angle -- and Frank is helping with the thin pieces as they come from the table saw.

(Behind them, Franklin is working on the second coat of drywall "mud" on the soffit in the kitchen.)

In the second picture, they're nailing the angle-cut board flat against the intersection of the ceiling angles, "killing" the gap between the two planes.

Ideally, you apply similar solutions to the same questions throughout a house -- so in the the upstairs guest room, the valleys will have a similar beveled board; the hills will have two boards that have been beveled to make one slim cap like a V.