Woodworking

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

Topics in Woodworking

Woodworking is now a general term covering a wide range of skills and techniques.

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• carpentry – Originally a carpenter was a wagon maker but carpentry has come to mean the general working of wood. Sometimes used to cover all aspects of woodworking, at other times carpentry refers to the least-skilled level of woodworking and larger projects, such as house building.
• joinery – Either refers to (mainly in the UK) architectural woodwork or (mainly in the USA) to the joining of two or more pieces of wood together, necessary in most woodworking projects. Also used particularly to refer to the joining of wood without the use of nails, screws, or other metal fasteners.
• cabinetry, cabinet making, cabinetmaker – The practice of utilizing many woodworking skills to create cabinets, shelving and furniture; a craftsman who specializes in the making of fine furniture. Implies a very high level of skill in woodworking.
• marquetry and parquetry – The practice of creating patterns by inlaying different wood veneers; with different colours and different grains complex patterns are formed. Originally used to decorate furniture, both are now often used to produce pictures. Often regarded as a fine art form, equal to sculpture and painting. Marquetry is distinguished from parquetry by the shapes used and formed - marquetry entails the creation of organic or scenic pictures, while parquetry involves geometric shapes.
• turning – The art of turning a piece of wood on a lathe and shaping it by holding various cutting tools against it.
• Wood species – Choosing which type (species) of wood is correct for a given project.
• carving
• boat building – Professionally done by shipwrights.
• luthier – someone who builds or repairs stringed musical instruments such as guitars or violins.
• wheelwright – A maker of wooden wheels and spokes.
• cooper – A maker of casks and barrels.
• bodger – Now archaic, a wood-turner specializing making furniture and treen. Also a corruption of "botcher", a colloquial term for an incompetent workman.
• Patternmaker – a maker of wooden patterns used to create moulds for sand casting. A highly precise type of woodworking, the patternmaker must not only make the pattern to exacting standards, but also allow for metal shrinkage while cooling.

Some of these refer to special techniques such as marquetry or turning, while others refer to a specialized product such as the cooper or wheelwright.

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