Woodworking Jargon

4:54 pm Crafts, Glossaries
Arris: the sharp corner formed by the meeting of two adjacent surfaces of a board
Astragal: narrow, half-round molding
Backlash: slack or play in the adjustment mechanism of the plane
Baller: tool used to round over the end of a dowel
Barefaced Joint: joint in which one or more of its shoulders are eliminated
Bead: traditional decoration often used with a tongue-and- groove joint to hide the gap between the boards
Bedding Angle: angle at which the frog or bed of the plane holds the plane iron
Bench Planes: planes used to smooth the face and edges of a board
Bevel: angle other than 90 degrees; inside surface that is sharpened on a plane blade, chisel, or other cutting tool; tool used to mark angles; it consists of a stock or handle and an adjustable blade and the edge of the stock rests against the edge of a board and the blade rests across the face: also called a bevel square or sliding T bevel
Bow: distortion in a board that causes the face to curve from end to end. If you place the face of a bowed board on a flat surface the center of the board will rest on the surface while the ends are above the surface
Block Planes: small planes that fit into the palm of your hand used primarily for trimming
Block Cushion Grainer: wood-graining tool used to mechanically reproduce wood grains; it has a rubber face that is covered with concentric, semi-circular grooves
Boxing: process of adding a new piece of wood to the front of the mouth of the plane
Burnished surface: surface that has a smooth, polished look
Cabinet scraper: scraper with a cast-iron body that holds a scraper blade
Camber: slight convexity, arch, or curvature
Cambium: layer of cells just beneath the bark of a tree where new growth occurs
Carcass: basic box or frame of a cabinet
Chalking: dusty film of pigments left on the surface of weathered paint
Chamfer: beveled cut on an edge
Cheek: part of the joint that is parallel with the face or edge
Clearance angle: angle formed between the work and the underside of the cutting edge of the blade
Closed-grain: wood with no easily discernible pore structure; does not require filling to achieve a smooth finish
Combination Plane: any plane that can be used for more than one job
Common Pitch: refers to a plane iron held at 45 degrees to the work by the frog or bed
Compass Plane: plane used to make convex or concave shapes
Corner: on a board the corner is the place where the face, edge and end meet
Crook: distortion in the edge of a board that causes the edge to curve from end to end; when the edge is placed on a flat surface the center of the edge will touch the surface while the ends are above the surface
Cove: concave molding cut into the edge of the board
Crosscutting: process of cutting a board at approximately a right angle to the grain direction
Cutting Angle: angle formed between the work and the top of the blade
Dado: flat bottomed recess cut into the face of a board across the grain
Dress: improve or smooth the surface of the wood
Dust Nibs: tiny bumps in a finished surface caused by dust particles landing on the wet finish
Edges: the narrowest surfaces of a board that are approximately parallel with the grain direction
Edge-Grain Wood: term applied to quarter-sawed wood, particularly softwood
Ends: narrowest surfaces of a board that are approximately perpendicular with the grain direction
End Grain: wood surface that has been cut at a 90″ angle to the length of the cells, often the end of a piece of lumber; end grain absorbs finishing material to a greater degree than other wood surfaces because open-cell cavities are exposed at the surface
Face: the four surfaces of a board that are approximately parallel to the grain; or the two widest surfaces of a board also called sides; or the widest surface of a board with the least number of defects is sometimes called the best face or select face
Filler Stick: wax-based wood putty in stick form available in a variety of colors and frequently used to fill nail holes after a finish has been applied
Fillet: flat section on a molding used to separate a section of the molding
Filling: process of packing the pores of open-grained wood with filler to create a smooth surface.
Fish Eyes: small, round depressions in a finished surface; frequently caused by contamination of the finish with silicones
Flat: finished surface with no gloss
Fluting: decorative molding that is frequently used as a decoration on table legs
Fore Plane: plane about 18 inches long used to surface or dress rough lumber
Grain: orientation of the fibers in the wood, or a term used to describe the visible pattern of pores and growth rings on a board; pattern produced by the annual rings in a piece of wood; also refers to the direction of the wood fibers
Grinding: coarse wearing away of a softer material by the abrasive actions of a harder material
Grit: abrasive particles used in coated abrasives
Groove: a flat-bottomed recess cut into the face of a board with the grain
Gutter Plane: plane with a convex sole and iron that can be used to make large architectural moldings such as the cove molding
Hand Scraper: simple scraper that consists of a steel blade that is held in your hands
Hardwood: wood derived from broad-leafed trees; has no relation to the actual hardness of the wood
Heartwood: wood from the center portion of the log. It is generally darker and more decay-resistant than the younger sapwood
High spots: areas of the board that are thicker or wider than the rest of the board
Honing: giving a keen edge to a plane iron
Jack Plane: a plane 12 to 17 inches long that is used to remove saw marks from lumber and cut down high spots
Jointer: a plane 22 to 36 inches long that is designed to make an edge straight and square with the face of the board
Jointing: making an edge straight and square with the face of the board
Kerf: a cut made in a board with a saw.
Knot: the intersection between a limb and the trunk of a tree that shows up in sawed lumber as a round, oval, or spike shaped area that is darker and harder than the surrounding wood
Length: the dimension of a board running parallel with the grain
Match Planes: planes used to make tongue-and-groove joints; these planes are used in pairs: one plane cuts the tongue and the other plane cuts the groove
Microbevels: small, secondary bevels at the tip of the plane iron
Mill Marks: marks left by a planer that give the surface of a board a wavy appearance
Mitre Joint: a joint that is cut at an angle; when two boards meet at 90 degrees, the mitre angle is 45 degree
Mortise and Tenon Joint: a joint in which a projection called a tenon on one board fits into a pocket called a mortise in the other board
Ogee: a molding with an S-shaped profile
Open Grain: the appearance of wood with large, visible pores that must be filled with paste filler to achieve a smooth surface; there are two types of open-grained wood: ring-porous and diffuse-porous: ring-porous woods like oak and ash have large pores at the beginning of each annual ring and diffuse porous wood like Philippine mahogany have large pores evenly distributed throughout the wood
Particle Board: a man-made reconstituted wood product that is made from very small wood chips or particles bonded together with glue under heat and pressure
Patina: the condition of a wood and its finish that develops over time; it is characterized by a smooth, worn surface and darkening of the wood; also includes the build-up of waxes and oils that have been applied to wood over time and the scars and marks that are acquired through use
Pointer: a tool used to taper the end of a dowel.
Pores: small openings in the surface of a board
PSI: Pounds per Square Inch; a way to measure the pressure of compressed air
Quarter-Sawed: wood that has been cut so that the annual rings form an angle of 45″ to 90″ with the surface; also called edge-grain, vertical-grain, or quarter-sawn
Quirk: the small groove that defines the edges of the bead
Radius Plane: a plane used to round or chamfer the edges of a board
Raised Grain: a condition that occurs when water causes wood fibers to swell so that some stand above the surface of the board
Rake Angle: the angle formed between the top of the cutting edge and a line perpendicular to the work surface
Rank Setting: the setting of a plane iron (blade) that will make a heavy cut
Reed: a series of beads cut side by side
Ripping: the process of cutting a board approximately parallel to the grain.
Rotary-Cut: wood that is cut by rotating a log against a fixed knife to produce a continuous sheet
Rounder: a tool used to make dowels or round stock
Router Plane: a plane used to smooth the bottom of a recess, which is a cut indentation in a piece of wood
Sandpaper: a coated abrasive with a paper backing
Sapwood: The new wood near the outside of a tree; generally lighter in color and more prone to decay than heartwood which is in the center of a log
Sash planes: a special moulding plane used to make windows
Scraper: a tool used for the final smoothing of wood
Sharpening Angle: the angle that you hold the blade at while you hone it on a whetstone
Shooting Boards: boards with straight, true edges that are used to guide the plane
Shoulder: the part of the joint that is cut 90 degrees to the face or edge of the board; a joint only has a shoulder when that part of the board that fits into a joint must be thinner or narrower than the rest of the board
Sides: the two widest surfaces of a board, also called faces
Siphon-Feed Gun: a spray gun that uses atmospheric pressure to deliver liquid from the cup to the nozzle
Skew: to set something at an angle
Slipstone: small whetstone that is rounded or tapered
Smooth Plane: plane 9 or 10 inches long used to smooth the surface of a board,
Softwood: wood produced by trees that have needles rather than broad leaves
Stick: the board that the moulding is cut into
Striking: the process of cutting mouldings
Stopped: a cut or joint that ends before the edge or end of a board. For example, a stopped dado ends before the front edge of the board.
Stropping: process sometimes used when sharpening a plane blade in which a piece of leather that is impregnated with a fine abrasive is used to make the cutting edge very sharp
Tack Rag: piece of cheesecloth that has been treated so that it attracts dust
Tampico: natural filament derived from plants in the cactus family; it is resistant to chemicals and is used primarily in brushes used to apply chemical stains
Tannin: acid found in wood; it forms different-colored compounds when it reacts with certain chemicals; most chemical stains depend on a reaction with the tannin in wood
Taper: gradual angle cut on one or more faces of a board
Tear-Out: condition that occurs when the grain of a board changes direction and the plane blade starts to chip the wood
Temper: the correct heat treatment of a tool’s metal, to make it stay sharp longer
Tongue And Groove Joint: a two-part joint in which a projection on one board called a tongue fits into a groove on the other board
Tuning: the process of adjusting all of the working parts of a plane to their optimum positions and removing all imperfections in the casting left from the manufacturing process
Turning: piece of wood that has been shaped on a lathe
Twist: a distortion in a board that results in the ends of a board not being parallel. When the face of a twisted board is placed on a flat surface, one corner of the board will be lifted off the surface.
Universal Plane: any plane that can be used with cutters of different sizes
Veneer: a thin sheet of wood; face veneers are usually made from expensive wood species and applied over cheaper wood’s core; veneers are made from inexpensive woods like fir and are used for the inner plies in plywood; veneers may be produced by rotary process, slicing or sawing
Warp: any distortion in the shape of a board caused by changes in the moisture content of the wood
Water Stain: a clear, permanent aniline dye stain that uses water as its solvent; it will raise the grain of the wood
Wet Or Dry Sandpaper: sandpaper that uses waterproof glue to attach the abrasive particles to a water-resistant paper backing
Whetstones: abrasive stones used to sharpen edge tools
Whitewood: wood that has not yet been finished
Wood Putty: a doughy product used to fill nail holes and defects in wood.

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