Grampa's Workshop - woodworking, woodworking projects, woodworking plans

Someone has told you they just got 200 board feet of some beautiful quarter sawn red oak. You know that sounds pretty good but,,, you don't REALLY know what the heck it means. Just how much wood is that, and what's with that quarter sawn stuff? Right? Then you're just like I was when I first started. Hey, there's still a bunch of terminology I'm not sure of!

Thanks to a great suggestion from Michel Mousette of Québec Canada, Grampa's Workshop will be supplying that resource for you from now on. Easily reachable from the main menu of our site, check here when you're stumped.

"But that's not all!" If anyone has got a definition of a term which you don't see here that you think would be helpful and you'd like to share with others, please send it along to me at the address below, and I'll add it to this page!

For the longest time, I didn't know "the terminology" for various types of warping in boards.
Here's a table to show you what different types of warping are called. Then you won't feel
the way I used to, when poring over the lumber bins at a lumber supplier.
Now we won't feel like such dummies when telling the guys what we don't want! ;-)

Joinery	Method(s) by which two or more pieces of lumber are attached - the way the wood is cut or shaped to fit together plus anything else that is added to the resulting joint such as glue or hardware (nails, screws etc.) Gary Cowan - Vienna, Ontario, Canada
Miter Joint	A means of joining 2 pieces of wood together usually at 90° - each cut at 45°, like a picture frame. A weak joint which can be strengthened by using dowels or a spline. Eddie Benson - Alabama, USA
Sand Paper Grit	Sandpaper Grit Rating: Number of granules of grit per square inch. The more grits per inch, the smaller to fit into that area - ie:400. The fewer per inch, the larger they can be and so lower numbers are more coarse - ie: 50. Jim Mitchell - Ontario, Canada
Chamfer	A straight flat shaped surface resulting from a cut that creates an edge at an angle different from 90 degrees. Usually done using a saw blade or router bit.
Crosscut	Cutting across the grain of the wood.
Rip Cut	Cutting with the grain of the wood, or lengthwise in the board.
Dado	A groove cut in a board across the grain used often to receive the end of a shelf. Usually cut with a table saw or router.
Rabbet	Also usually cut with a table saw or router, but on the edge of a project piece to accept another piece of the project running perpendicular to it. Often cut on the rear inside edges of the top, bottom and sides to accept the back.
Feather Board	A device used to hold your stock in contact with the fence/table as it's being worked on. It is a board of your choice with many slots cut into the end of it, attached to the saw or router, so the tips of the slots place pressure against the stock as it is pushed past the cutter.
Flathead Screw	Screw head designed to be flush to the wood's surface in a countersunk hole.
Hardwood	Wood from a decidous tree - they loose their leaves like oak, maple, poplar. Note: Not all hardwoods are harder than all softwoods. Those terms are general classifications only.
Softwood	Wood from any of the many coniferous trees - they don't loose their leaves which are often needles ie: pine, fir, spruce, cedar. Note: Not all softwoods are softer than all hardwoods. Those terms are general classifications only.
Spline	A means of joining two boards together at/by their edges. It's a thin rectangular strip centred, inserted and glued into a matching groove you've cut into each board.
Tear-out	Pieces of wood that separate from a surface of a board as you work on it with a tool, usually at the exit point of the blade or bit from the wood.
S4S	Means surfaced four sides, indicates the lumber has been planed smooth on all four sides.
Mortise & Tenon Joint	A mortise is a non round hole, nowadays usually cut with a router, in a piece of wood, for the purpose of accepting a tenon for joinery purposes. A Tenon is a projecting end grain tongue of wood usually cut or formed with a router or table saw. It is formed so as to fit snuggly into it's mating mortise which has been cut accordingly. The tenon is inserted into the mortise and when glued, makes a very neat and a very strong means of joinery.
Bevel	To chamfer an edge at an angle.
Biscuit	A small piece of compressed, overdry wood used as a floating tenon for joining wood. When inserted into pre-glued slots cut in both boards, it swells and makes a very strong joint when the glue dries.
Combination Blade	A blade that can be used for both crosscutting and ripping wood. An actual rip or crosscut blade will do a better job for their intended purposes, but the combination blade will produce quite acceptable cuts for most purposes.
Counterbore	A flat bottomed hole which can be made with a Forstner bit or counterboring bit.
Countersink	A hole with a bevelled sides to accept the sloped sides of a flathead screw.
Lap Joint	A method of attaching two pieces of wood. Half the thickness is removed - using a table saw or router - from both pieces so the joint will be the same thickness as the original stock.
Mitre gauge/fence	A means of securely passing the work piece past the blade or bit wile being cut. Usually can be adjusted to a specific angle. The application of a piece of sandpaper to this piece, aids in keeping the work piece in place as it's moved past the cutter.
Pocket Screw used with a pocket hole jig.	A means of attaching face wood together on the back side. A pocket hole jig is used to drill a pilot for a screw at an acute angle. This is used where the screw pockets will not be visible at all, like face frames of a cabinet. Special drill bits are made with a thin bit at the end of a wider bit. The thinner portion drills the pilot hole for the screw while the thicker part drills away material to allow the screw head to be buried. Seen only fom the inside or rear (if at all), this makes for a very firm joint.
Lumber Measurement	The thickness of lumber is read in quarters of inches. four-quarters - 4/4 five-quarters - 5/4 six-quarters - 6/4 eight-quarters - 8/4 etc.
Surfaced lumber that has been planed smooth may vary slightly in thickness.	4/4 surfaced = 3/4" to 13/16" 5/4 surfaced = 1" to 1 1/8" 6/4 surfaced = 1 1/4" to 1 3/8" 8/4 surfaced = 1 3/4" to 1 7/8"
A Board Foot	One Board Foot is a unit of measurement that is: 1 foot square by 1 inch thick (or 144 cubic inches multiply the length in feet times the thickness in inches times the width in inches and then divide by 12 length' x thickness" x width" / 12 = 1 bf
Distressing	Intentionally marking, gouging or scratching a finish to give the piece an antique look.
Forstner bit	A specialty wood cutting bit that makes a clean, flat bottom hole, and should only be used with a drill press. Can be used at extreme angles.
Kerf	The slot formed by a saw blade when making a cut.
Kiln dried	(hot-air dried) Wood dryness below the moisture content attainable by air drying. Usually 6-8% mc. Kiln dried wood will pick up moisture whenever it is in a moisture bearing environment.
Moisture content	The percentage of moisture in a piece of wood compared to the same piece when it is thoroughly dried.
Quartersawn lumber	When properly sawn, a log is cut into quarters. Each quarter is then processed by cutting a single board off of one face, then cutting the next board from the opposite face, and cutting from alternating faces until the quarter is completely cut. Being cut from the inside out, more and better grades of wood are harvested and with less waste.
Resaw	Ripping lumber into narrower pieces. ie: cutting a 3/4" thick board down the thickness so as to get 2, 1/4" thick pieces after planing. Resawing is best done on a bandsaw because of the thinner blade - less wood loss to the blade.
Sapwood	The outer growth rings which are the physiologically active part of a living tree. Sapwood is usually lighter than heartwood, and lacks decay resistance.
Thickness Planer	A tool used to resurface a board and/or to reduce it's thickness.

If you'd like to help us make this list more inclusive,
please send us your terms and definitions and we'll gladly add them.

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