Glossary

Across the grain In a direction at or nearly at right angles to the grain of the workpiece.

Alloy Steel Steel alloyed with other elements to modify its mechanical properties. Each alloying element has a different effect on the properties of carbon steel. Nickel increases toughness; chromium increases hardness; molybdenum eliminates temper brittleness and permits higher tempering temperatures after quenching; vanadium and chrome together give high impact resistance; manganese combats the effects of sulphur; silicon increases the strength of steel used for springs; tungsten increases hardness and resistance to tempering.

Anvil Blunt or striking end of centre punch; fixed flat surface of a measurement instrument such as a micrometer.

Arris Sharp edge where two surfaces of the workpiece meet.

Back iron Steel plate screwed to the front of the cutting iron to break the shaving and reduce chatter of cutter. Usually known as the cap iron; other names: top or break iron.

Batten A strip of wood fixed to work-piece to act a s a guide for a tool-Bead A narrow, half round moulding.

Bench plane Plane with flat bottom or sole, used mostly on the bench for squaring up workpieces.

Bevel Sloping edge of workpiece; tool to mark or check this.

Bifurcated Divided into two pointed or sharpened forks.

Bit Working part of drill; soldering iron; head or cutting edge of axe; cutting iron of a plane.

Blank Metal component cut to shape by pressure or stamping.

Bolster Thickening of the shank of a chisel to provide a bearing for the (usually) ferruled handle; type of cold chisel. . Bronze Age The period from about 2500BC to 500BC.

Burr Cutting edge of scraper produced by turning up edges with hard steel rod or the back of gauge; the rough edge produced cutting or boring metal.

Butt Flat surface of head of an axe; axe poll.

Cam Eccentric proj ection on rotating shaft or wheel which results in a reciprocating movement on a roller or other component in contact with it

Casting Component produced by liquid solidifying in a mould.

Chamfer Flat surface formed by taking off the arris, leaving a bevel. A part of both surfaces should remain intact A chamfer may be continuous or stopped.

Chuck Tool or bit holder on lathe, brace or drill.

Composite board Man-made sheet material manufactured by gluing together various materials such as wooden blocks, veneers, chips and fibers, plastics, asbestos, metals, papers, plaster, cork etc.

Concave Curved toward the observer.

Convex Curved away from the observer.

Counterbore Hole bored to admit the head of a screw or bolt which is intended to be sunk below the surface of the material.

Countersink To chamfer around the upper part of a hole, made with a coneshaped bit, to bring the head of a countersunk screw or bolt flush with or slighdy below the surface.

Cranked A bar or shaft or shank of a tool bent at right angles in alternate directions in the same plane.

Cutting iron The working part of a plane iron, ground and honed to a sharp cutting edge; sometimes called the cutter or cut iron. Dado A groove worked with or across the grain; groove worked across the grain with a dado grooving plane; lower third of internal wall paneling or other finish (European only).

Dimensioning Bringing down to the required size.

Dowel A round pin, usually of wood, acting as an inserted tenon to form a joint; rods of various diameters used for cutting into dowels.

Egyptian Period From about 3000 BCto300BC.

End grain Ends of wood fibers exposed after a cross cut

Face edge Edge of workpiece made straight and square.

Face side Principal squared surface of workpiece.

Fillister Rabbet plane with fixed or moving fence.

Forging Metal component produced by heating and hammering.

Frog Adjustable part of the stock of a metal plane on which the cutting iron or bit is bedded.

Flute A narrow, rounded channel. Grain Arrangement of the wood fibers along the length of a workpiece; texture or arrangement of crystals in metal.

Greek Period Civilization of the Eastern Mediterranean from about 800 BC to AD 2000.

Gullet The notch between the teeth of a saw produced by the file.

Housing Form of woodwork j oint in which one piece is fitted into a groove or rabbet in the other. The groove or rabbet may be continuous right across the workpiece or stopped at one or both ends to conceal the joint; the other piece being notched accordingly

Included angle Angle formed by the opposing faces of a point, as on a punch or drill.

Infeed The side at which work is fed into the cutter or a machine.

Injection moulding Method of producing castings by squirting hot plastic into a water-cooled mould.

Inlay Ornament composed of shaped pieces of thin colored wood or other materials, let into a contrasting wooden ground or base.

Integral Of handle, etc., shaped from the solid material of the tool or component itself. Iron Age In Europe and the Near East, the period from about 1000 BC to the Roman period-Jaws Seizing or holding members of a tool or machine.

Kerf Width of groove or slit produced by the action of a saw; the slit itself.

Knurled Ridged or milled surface on curved heads of metal screws or sides of a chuck.

Marquetry Overall ornament composed of patterns of colored veneers glued to the surface of the workpiece.

Middle ages Period from about AD 1000 to the discovery of America in 1492.

Mitreed joint A inhered j oint is formed when two pieces of identical cross section are butted together and the line of the joint bisects the angle formed by the pieces. This is usually a right angle or 90, and the angle of thernitens thu/450. Nicker Spur or spur-cutter. Offset Set to one side.

Outfeed The side from which work is withdrawn from the cutter of a machine.

Parallax Apparent displacement of an object or a graduation on a scale due to a change of position of the observer.

Paring Removing thin shavings of material with continuous pressure applied to the work with a chisel, drawing knife, etc.

Pawl A device attached to a mechanism to allow rotation in one direction only.

Pilot hole Small hole, drilled as a guide to larger boring tool.

Pitch Advance of thread in one complete revolution of screw- bed angle of plane or bit; slope of roof; rake angle of saw teeth.

Poll The butt of an axe.

Pressing Component produced by pressing in a machine called a press.

Rabbet A stepped cut made at the edge of a board so that another piece can be fitted to make a joint.

Rack Bar or part of a machine carrying teeth geared to a toothed wheel or worm, transferring circular motion of wheel or screw into rectilinear movement of the bar.

Rake angle The angle (to the vertical) of the forward edge of sawteeth.

Ratchet Part of tool or machine provided with teeth, which engages with a! oose pivoted cog or pawl, in order to confine movement to one or other direction.

Roman period From about 300 BC to AD 400.

Scribing Shaping one workpiece . (i.e. moulding) to fit exactly to the shape of another where they meet

Section Usually a drawing, made as if the object has been cut through, the view being at right angles to the surface.

Shaft Handle of axe, hammer or othei tool with a head.

Shank Stem or straight part of a tool nearest the handle.

Shank clearance Upper part of a hole for a screw to admit the unthreaded part of the shank.

Shim Thin collar or slip of metal used as packing.

Short grain Fault in sawn lumber where direction of grain is at a sharp angle to the surfaces of the workpiece (also called wild grain); potentially weak section of a joint given insufficient support by the surrounding long grain strength of the wood.

Skiving Sheet of split leather; the action of splitting thin leather.

Sole Working surface of a plane. Spigot The male end of a pipe or rod which is fined into the enlarged end of another pipe or seating.

Spoil Waste formed when drilling masonry.

Spur The sharpened point of a scribing cutter on a plane or sp iral (twist) bits and augers.

Step off Marking series of measurements on workpiece with dividers.

Stock Body or handle of tool hoi ding working part or parts.

Stone Age Period during which most tools were made of stone, roughly down to about 2000 BC in Europe.

Stopped Method of finishing chamfer with chisel cuts; rabbet or groove not running the full width or length of the workpiece.

Swarf Metal filings or shavings produced by drilling or planing.

Tempering Steel which is hardened by rapid cooling in water (quenching) from a full red heal is usually too brittle to use for cutting tools. The hardness is reduced (tempered) by heating again to a suitable temperature and then cooling. This gives a tough steel, the hardness depending on the temperature of the reheating.

Thread The spiral ridge of a screw; one complete turn of this, as the unit of measurement or pitch: e.g. six threads per inch.

Throat Aperture behind mouth of plane, etc.

Thumb gauge Home-made tool consisting of a short strip of wood with a notch at the end. Used with a pencil for marking a line parallel to the edge of the workpiece when a marking gauge would be unsuitable, for example, when chamfering.

Toe The front end of a plane stock.

Tolerance Allowable or acceptable variation in the dimensions of part of machine or workpiece.

Torque Measure of the force of rotation or twisting on a tool or machine expressed in foot/pounds or kilogram/meters.

True To make the surface of a work-piece accurately straight, level, and square to another surface.

Tungsten steel Hard steel alloy incorporating tungsten.

Universal joint Connection between rotating parts of tool or machine allowing transfer of rotation in any direction.

Vernier A small adjustable scale attached to and sliding in contact with the main scale of graduation; it enable readings to be taken on the latter to a fraction (usually a tenth) of a division. It is named after its inventor Pierre Vernier (1580-1637).

Wild grain See short grain.

Workpiece Piece of material or component which is being processed.

Worm Thread of screw or the screw itself.

Wrench sizes Wrench sizes are specified in different ways depending on the thread type of the nut they are intended to fit.

METRIC wrenches are marked in millimeters and measured across the flats of the nuts they fit (except sparking plug wrenches which are measured by thread diameter):

UNF, UNC (Unified Fine and Coarse) wrenches are marked in AF sizes. For example 9/16 AF refers to the across fiats measurement of the nut which is 9/16 in.

BA (British Association) wrenches are classified by the thread gauge number: Nos 0.15 (0.236" - 0.031").

BSW & BSF (British Standard Whitworth & British Standard Fine) are classified by the thread diameter of the bolt not the size of the head, A given wrench will fit nuts of the same size of both types of thread, however the BSF nut will fit a larger thread than the BSW, therefore the wrench will have two sizes on it e.g. 1/4BSW 5/16BSF.

ADJUSTABLE WRENCHES are classified by their overall length.