Carpentry And Woodworking

                       Carpentry And Woodworking

 

A lot of persons have been asking for this so today is  part one of covering the absolute basics in both  woodworking and carpentry terminology not only  will today cover the terms but I’ll also  intertwine some tools as well because it plays  such a huge part in understanding the terminology 

                                                            

now I will break down the woodworking and carpentry  lesson into four major sections:

lumber, plywood, measuring and  marking which is a combined section and hand tools  now I’ve laid this out in this way to make  it easier for you to navigate around especially  in the future when you need a quick refresher. One of the most important groups of terms to  learn right out of the gate is to learn about  the material in which you'll be using to build  all your stuff, so for this purpose both lumber or wood will refer to construction  material that is used to build houses  and material that is used to  build furniture so with that  let's dive into learning about some of  the basic terms used for lumber or wood.

                                                                                      

 In its raw form wood can be broken up into two  categories hardwoods, and soft woods hardwoods they come  from deciduous trees that is trees that drop  their leaves like oak cherry or maple so the  poplar is considered a hardwood but  by no means is this actually hard like maple so  why is it a hardwood, simply because it came from a  tree that drops its leaves. Another important thing  to know about hardwoods is that they grow slower  and the wood fibers are more dense making the wood  much stronger soft.

 Softwoods on the other hand  come from conifer trees  like pine fur,  cedar and of course they have needles and not  leaves softwood trees grow faster and produce  wood that is less dense and in general weaker than  hardwood rough cut lumbers are lumbers that are well rough and in most cases you can still see  the saw marks from the mill. Rough lumber is  sold by the quarter inch in its thickness and its  width can vary just depending on what's available. 

 In your area for example a four quarter board  measures around one inch thick, a six quarter  inch, and a half an eight quarter two inches and  twelve quarter three inches lumber like this can  be used for rustic projects or it could be sized  down by using a jointer and a planer for furniture. 

                                                                

Moving on the term face is used to describe  the large flat part of the board while the edge  is used to describe the smaller edge of the board  end grain refers to the end of the board where the  end of the grain is most visible grain or grain  pattern is a visual look that the grain makes  as it runs through the board it's what makes wood  so beautiful once the lumber does get sized down  it's called dressed lumber that is lumber that has  been sized and shaped and smoothed to a nice flat  surface for example s4s which stands for surfaced  on four sides is lumber that is found at most big  box stores it's dimensioned and finished on four  sides ready to use there's also s2s lumber which  is surfaced on two sides both faces are planed but  as you can see the edges are still raw and rough. 

 

Dimensional lumber is lumber that is sized  to a standard final dimension like framing  lumber like a two by four two by six or two by  eight and it also refers to a one by four or  one by six and so on but don't be tricked with  these numbers because dimensional lumber is sold  using its rough size not its actual size so for  example when you buy a two by four at the store  it doesn't measure two inches by four inches but  measures an inch and a half by three and a half  inches and a one by four doesn't measure one  inch by four inch but measures three quarters  of an inch by three and a half inches most often  the lumber that we've been discussing has been  kiln dried meaning that it's been put inside of a  kiln a kiln is basically a big oven to reduce the  moisture content of the lumber wood that is wet  will eventually dry out and shrink on its own but  by using a kiln that does it in a more controlled  environment that's slower producing a much better  product at the end however in the woodworking and carpentry world  there is a product called pt lumber or pressure  treated lumber which is really wet, this lumber  is treated with chemicals that resist rot and  insects which makes it a great choice for outdoor  projects no matter what wood you buy, there are six  common defects to look out for, number one is a cup  a cup is when the board or the lumber is curved up  in this direction on the face of the wood, number  two is a twist. A twist is when the board twists  this way and one end in the opposite direction in  the other number three is a crook. A crook is when  the board or lumber bends to the right or to the  left in the direction of the edge of the material.  Number four is a bow a bow is similar to a crook  but this time the board bends in the direction of  the face. Five is a check. A check is when the board  or lumber has a crack but the crack doesn't go  all the way through the thickness of the material  and number six similar to a check. The split  is when the crack goes all the way through the  material.

 

Plywood is a man-made wood product that  is made from multiple layers or plies of thin wood  veneer, these veneers are then glued together at 90  degree angles to each other to produce a flat  large stable sheet of material. Plywood is often  graded by its surface and how many plies it has.  For example the fewer the plies the weaker the  plywood, or the less stable it is the more

 

plies it  has, the more stable it is the stronger it is for  example a half inch construction grade plywood  has four plies sold in four by eight sheets  and has a pretty rough surface even after it's  been sanded. The next type to look at is finished  plywood finished plywood has one or two

 outside  thin veneers oftentimes hardwood that produces  a really good smooth surface for example this  sheet of finished plywood came from home depot  and it has two thin outer veneers of birch and  five interior plies for a total of seven plies. 

 

The last type of plywood to look at  is baltic birch and here in the u.s  baltic birch might be the highest level or quality  of plywood that you can buy.

The term square in carpentry and woodworking  refers to checking the squareness of the faces  edges or the ends of boards, it also refers to  checking if something you're building has equal  diagonal measurements which verifies that it is  indeed square, the term square is also used to  label a group of tools that are specifically  designed to mark and check for squareness. 

 

 Let's look at four of them the first is a  precision square, these squares are made out  of metal with little to no moving parts that's  what makes them so precise the second is the  speed square, this tool is used mainly in carpentry  but it also can be used in woodworking as well  third, is the combination square this tool is great  at so many things around the shop and it provides  very accurate angles and it can be used to set and  measure depth as well, lastly is the framing square,  the framing square is used for framing houses and it's also really good  at checking cabinets for square before nailing.

 

The  next term or tool to look at is a sliding bevel  sliding bevels are great for laying out different  angles, or for transferring those angles from one to another a straight edge refers to any  straight material used to mark, measure, or cut  straight lines.

 

                                                                             

 When you're  working with rough lumber these white charcoal  pencils work fantastic. The last term I want  to cover in this section is the term layout. Layout  simply means to measure, mark, and arrange all the  needed components to complete a project, this term  can also be used as a verb so for example someone  might say I’m going to go and lay out that window. 

 

Let's start this section off by talking about  handsaws. Hand saws are a general term and can be  used to describe many different types of saws the  first type is what I’ll call a traditional saw  these are the classic looking handsaws that most  people can easily recognize nowadays these saws  come in all different shapes and sizes and most of  them though still cut on the push stroke meaning  that they cut mostly in the forward direction next  are pool saws also known as Japanese saws they  are absolutely fantastic saws, great for control  flexibility and require less effort because they  cut on the pull stroke. The last saw to look at is  the back saw, the back saw again is a general term  it's used to describe any saw that has a stiffened  rib along the back of the saw this rib greatly  reduces any flexing that the blade may encounter  while in use because the less flex the straighter the cut. Let's shift gears real quick and talk  about two terms as it pertains to cutting wood.  the first term is kerf the curve of the blade is  how wide the blade is and ultimately how wide of a  cut it leaves behind in the wood the second term  is off cut. The offcut is any piece of material that you don't want or the waste after the cut is  finished, the offcut isn't necessarily always waste.  though it may simply mean the piece that you're  not intending to use after the cut is complete.

All  right let's finish this off by talking about  a few terms and tools used for shaping wood. First  up is the wood chisel there are many different  sizes and shapes available and they're all great  tools for shaping wood next is the hand plane  hand planes again is a general term so for example 

 

   

 

I have a block plane here that is used to shape  edges of stock and to remove material where needed. 

 

                                                                         

 The other plane I have is a jack plane and as you  can see it's much larger than the previous one and  this one's great for general purpose planning and  for shaping and flattening one term that's used  often around things that need sharpen like  chisels and planes is the word hone.

 

 

 Hone  simply means to sharpen something. The last  tip we're going to look at today is this. The wood rasp, wood rasps like all tools come in  many different sizes and shapes but they're all  great for quickly roughing out and shaping edges  and the faces of stock.