Before entering into a description of the different tools used by joiners, and the various joints employed by them, the following is a list of some of the terms and shop colloquialisms in general use:-

Stuff

A comprehensive term, covering wood generally.

Kerf

A saw cut, not through the wood.

Wrought

Planed up. Sometimes written wrot.

Straight Grained

Having the grain free from twists.

Sticking a moulding means working it with a plane.

Quartering

Small square timber, anything between 2 1/2 and 4 1/2 inches.

Rank Stuff

Coarse-grained wood.

Sound Stuff

Free from all defects.

Neat Size

An exact dimension.

Cast

To twist or warp.

Check

A name sometimes applied to a rebate.

In The Clear

An exact dimension between two points.

Core

The chips cut from a mortise.

Cramping Up

Closing up framed work with a cramp.

Old Woman's Tooth

Another name for a router plane.

Out Of Winding

Perfectly true and free from twists.

Scribing

Cutting the end of a moulding to fit the face of another moulding, or filling the edge of a board to an irregular surface.

Shake

A split along the grain of a board.

Wood Screw

Applied to screws used for wood to distinguish them from those used for iron.

Shooting

Planing up the edge of a board.

Light Size

The distance between the interior edges of a frame.

Slack

A slack joist means a badly fitting joist.

Rebate

A square sinking on the edge of a board or frame. Pronounced as if spelt rabbit.

Planted

Mouldings worked on separate pieces and fixed to framing are termed "planted on."

Quirk

The narrow sinking at the side of a bead.

Arris

The edge of a piece of timber, or any external angle.

Breaking-Joint

When pieces of wood are joined together so that the joints are not in a straight line, they are said to break-joint.

Butt Joint

A joint between two square ends.

Die Square

Applied to timber the section of which is truly rectangular.

Doatiness

A spotted or speckled appearance of timber, due to incipient decay.

Escutcheon

The metal shield to a keyhole.

Donkey's Ear

\A form of mitre shoot.

Face Mark

A pencil mark made on wrought stuff indicating the face.

Feather Tongue

A tongue cut across the grain diagonally.

Horns

The projecting ends of a frame.

Frenchman

A sawing tool, shaped thus A ^, made with two boards.

Cross-Tongue

A tongue cut straight across the grain.