Woodworking

Woodworking is the process of building, making or carving something using wood.

Terminology

Woodworking, due to its long history, has developed extensive jargon and has preserved many archaic terms that are otherwise out of use.

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• applied carving: background which is worked separately and then applied, rather than being worked in place
• bead: a semicircular piece of moulding
• bolster: shoulder
• burl: wood with a convoluted, complex grain, usually taken from cancerous growths on trees
• cannel, channel: the concavity of a gouge blade
• chip carving: incised surface decoration, usually geometric
• chops: a type of vise
• conversion: reduction of a whole log into pieces suitable for working
• crook: longitudinal bending to one side, caused by uneven seasoning or grain
• crotch: the section of a tree where a branch divides from the trunk, or the trunk divides in two; typically an area of convoluted grain
• crossgrain: working perpendicular to the grain
• cup: longitudinal bending forward or backward, caused by uneven seasoning or grain
• devil stone: a coarse, hard dressing stone used in sharpening tools, grinders, and other stones
• dressing stone: a rough sharpening stone usually used on other stones
• dutchman: a diamond-shaped patch of wood used to repair surface blemishes and knotholes
• end grain: the grain at the end of a piece of wood which is perpendicular to the surface
• fence: a piece of lath or scrap fixed to the bench surface to prevent movement of the work
• figure: naturally occurring decorative patterns in wood, usually due to medullary rays
• firmer: a chisel bevelled on both sides instead of only one
• fishtail chisel or gouge: a chisel or gouge with a splayed end
• flat gouge: a gouge with minimal curvature, used for finishing and smoothing
• flitch: a board in which the round of the trunk is still visible, a rough-cut board
• flute: a deep channel cut in wood; occasionally denotes the cannel of a gouge
• foxing: a yellow-brown discoloration of wood due to fungal infection
• fretsaw: a saw with a very fine toothed blade used for delicate cuts in thin material
• frosting: regular indented patterns created with a special-purpose punch called a froster
• grain: the longitudinal fibers in wood
• green: unseasoned wood
• hardwood: wood from an angiosperm tree, i.e. a tree in the division Magnoliophyta; Despite the name, not necessarily very hard or dense wood (e.g. balsa is a hardwood)
• heart shake: a shake radiating out from the heartwood
• heel: the corner of a chisel, knife, or gouge bevel which meets the back of the blade and polishes the cut
• hollow grinding: a concave bevel on a chisel, gouge, or knife
• incannel: the concave surface of a gouge; a gouge sharpened on the concave surface
• interlocked grain: grain which has multiple longitudinal directions in alternating layers, typical of many tropical hardwoods, and very difficult to work and to produce smooth surfaces
• outcannel: the convex surface of a gouge; a gouge sharpened on the convex surface
• reed: a series of beads in a row
• riffler: a paddle-shaped rasp
• ring shake: a shake occurring between annual rings
• saw rasp: a rasp with saw teeth
• scorp: a drawknife with a curved, sometimes completely circular blade
• scraper: a flat blade with a burred edge used for smoothing
• scrollsaw: a motorized fretsaw
• seasoning: reducing the moisture content of wood before working to prevent cracking, splitting, and other damage due to drying
• shake: a crack or split in wood, caused by damage or drying
• slip: a shaped stone used for sharpening non-flat blades such as on gouges
• snib: a wooden toggle used to hold the work on a table
• softwood: wood from a gymnosperm tree, i.e. trees in the divisions Pinophyta and Ginkgophyta; Despite the name, not necessarily very soft or light wood (e.g. douglas-fir is a softwood)
• spalting: a fungal discoloration in wood where brown spots are outlined with fine black lines &ldash; often considered a desirable feature
• split: to longitudinally separate wood along grain layers
• sweep: the curvature of a gouge, ranging from flat (little curvature, but not actually flat else it would be a chisel) to deep or quick
• tear out: small flakes and rough patches on interlocked grain in wood, usually left by machine tools
• twist: longitudinal twisting of wood due to uneven seasoning or grain
• undercutting: cutting away from an edge to increase the sense of relief or thinness
• veiner: a small deep gouge
• veneer: very thin slices of wood used for inlay or to cover surfaces
• wane: an edge of a sawn board where the bark or surface of the trunk remains
• wasting: quickly removing wood during carving, usually with an adze, knife, or rasp
• waste: wood that will be removed in the finished work, often retained during working as a handle