Gloassary A

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Glossary A

ASTM standards for Screws, i.e., #4, #6, #8, etc:    An international voluntary group, ASTM International has set a uniform standard for the dimension of Wood Screws, Machine Screws and Self-tapping/Sheet Metal Screws, from sizes 2 to 14 shank size. (Larger numbers refer to larger shanks.) Normally, ASTM size is followed by a dash and the number of threads per inch, if threaded. Machine screws have similar markings for sizes, from 000-12, sometimes 14, with a dash, followed by the number of Threads-Per-Inch. These are standards agreed upon by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM International).

From wikipedia entry on ASTM:

ASTM International is an international voluntary standards organization that develops and produces technical standards for materials, products, systems and services. It was formed in 1898 in the United States as the American Society for Testing and Materials by a group of scientists and engineers, led by Charles Benjamin Dudley, who wanted to address the frequent rail breaks plaguing the fast-growing railroad industry. The group developed a standard for the steel used to fabricate rails.Today, ASTM International maintains more than 12,000 standards....

Adhesives: See Glues and Gluing

Aesthetic Movement (1875 - 1885): [working draft]

The Aesthetic Movement emerged out of the design reform movement during the 1860s and 1870s, in which the chief impulse was "Art for Arts sake". There developed a fever for collecting artistic works, and home interiors became expressions of artistic taste, generating the term, "Household Art". The underlying principles of the movement emphasized "art in the production of furniture". A reaction to the highly elaborate products of mainstream Victorian taste, aestheticism stressed simple forms and uncluttered surfaces. often, ornament was placed asymmetrically. At the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876, Americans were exposed to art objects from a variety of nations and times, thus style was much influenced by Japanese decoration, late 17th- and early 18th-century English domestic design, and blue and white Chinese porcelain. Where they could, designers included examples from Greek, Persian, Moorish, Egyptian and other exotic styles. Elaborately, for those who could afford it, homes were designed and decorated through the collaborative efforts of designers, architects and craftsmen. Typical motifs included sunflowers, fan shapes, peacock feathers, and bamboo.

As a movement, Aestheticism was seen as a reaction to the excesses of mid-century revivals. The aim was to reunite the beautiful and useful. Surface decoration became important, using motifs from nature. Natural forms -- simplified, stylized and flattened into patterns -- were combined, leading to the use of contrasting materials in marquetry and other flat surface decoration. While detail of surface decoration was intricate, color schemes were more subtle, so that the whole became a unified form when viewed from a distance. Furniture tended to be rectilinear?

After-Market: "After-market" defines a Jig or other type of accessory designed to upgrade the utility of a tool, usually a power tool, that, developed by a craftsman in a shop, has been patented and placed on the market. A ready example is the Biesemeyer Fence for Tablesaws. After-market as a term evidently originated in the auto industry in the 1930s. After market accessories are, at bottom, Jigs, and more than anything else, demonstrate conclusively that woodworking is a 'bottom-up" activity. [more on this later.]

Air Cleaner: Usually located high in the center of a shop, the Air Cleaner is designed to remove the very small particulates that the Dust Collector misses.

Air-Dried: See Kiln-Dried

Adjustable Square, see Combination Square.

Adze: [photo coming] An axe-like tool used for scooping, cutting, or slicing away the surface of a Workpiece, especially where Coves, or other types of concave-shaped contours, such as Windsor Chair seats, are needed. Actually a Scorp is more likely to be used on Windsor chairs, because adzes, being larger, would make that operation awkward.

According to Lew Larason, NY-PA Collector Canandaigua, NY,

"Sometimes, another tool that worked faster than the scorp was used - a gutter adze. This tool primarily was used to cut grooves in wood such as a gutter or spout. The adze has a longer handle than a scorp and could be used to rough out a saddle."

More likely, adzes are used by timber-framers, ship wrights (for wooden boats), carpenters, coopers (wooden-barrel makers), and others who engage in constructing larger projects than chairs.

An adze's iron blade sits at right angles to the handle, and its curved shape allows the blade to tilt slightly upwards toward the handle's end. Paul Hasluck describes and illustrates three models of adze: the English pattern, Scotch pattern, and American pattern. Also, according to Hasluck,

"The adze must be sharpened from the inside, and when its action is considered ..., it is clear that the curvature of the face of the adze-iron must be circular, or nearly so. ... The edge of an adze often is so keen as to cut through a horse' hair pressed against it. It is not pleasant to contemplate an error of judgment or an unsteady blow, but practice brings great skill ..."

The tool's ancient origins are documented by the Oxford English Dictionary and W L Goodman's The History of Woodworking Tools (London: Bell and Sons, 1964). Among numerous references, the OED locates mention of an adze, ca 880, in a chronicle of the Anglo Saxon king, Alfred the Great.

Descriptions of the adze are also featured in two books frequently cited in the history of woodworking: Joseph Moxon’s 1683 Mechanick Exercises and Henry C. Mercer’s 1929 Ancient Carpenter’s Tools. The Handyman's Book, the 1903 guide by the indefatigable writer on woodworking, Paul N. Hasluck, usefully includes drawings, background and instructions in the use of the adze:

"The Indian workman uses the adze for producing curved surfaces, and holds the tool so near its head that the hand touches the metal, the blows being delivered chiefly from the elbow."

Sources: W L Goodman, The History of Woodworking Tools,London: Bell and Sons, 1964; Joseph Moxon, Mechanick Exercises 1683; Henry C. Mercer, Ancient Carpenter’s Tools, 1929; Paul N. Hasluck, The Handyman's Book, 1903; Oxfored English Dictionary. (Mercer’s book is also available in several other editions, including a Dover reprint.Hasluck's book is available in a cheap paperback reprint: Tiger Books International; Lew Larason, "ANTIQUE POTPOURRI: Early Woodworking Tools Used to Make Windsor," 2005.)

Allen screw and wrench:
According to English professor and amateur woodworker, Dr. Philip Leon, "the Allen screw and wrench (also called the Allen key, hex key or hex head wrench), was trademarked in 1943 in the United States by the Allen Manufacturing Co. in Hartford, Conn" It evidently existed earlier in Europe by about three decades. Dr. Leon adds that [a]lthough H. M. Allen, owner of the Allen Manufacturing Co., did not invent this screw and wrench, his name became the eponym for the adapted American version. Source: Philip Leon, "Name Brand Tools", Popular Woodworking, December 2006, p. 104.
The earliest us in Google News Search is 1952, where several newspapers contain ads for 98 cents sets "allen screws and wrenches."

Alternating Top Bevel (ATB): A set of saw teeth where, in an alternating pattern. The Carbide tips of the teeth are ground at an angle. Usually associated with crosscutting blades.

This small illustration gives us a rough notion of the blade's teeth configuration. (The illustration comes from Oldham's website, which I believe is excellent, certainly worth your time if you're curious about teeth configurations on circular saw blades.)

Amateur woodworker: Those who love the material and the work of their craft more than anything else about it. (Krenov, 1977, page 6)

What is an amateur woodworker?

For professional woodworkers' satisfying clients is the "bottom line". For amateur woodworkers, the client is the "self". Thus, if the amateur woodworker has a degree of self-respect, he/she will not be satisfied with amateurish results. Indeed, it is not difficult to visualize that frequently amateur woodworking is equal -- not superior -- to professional results.

The periodical, Amateur Work, Vol 1, 1902, p. 64, says this about defining what is "amateur work". Amateur Work's motivation for this discussion of the meaning of amateur in that magazine was generated by the unexpected accolade that it received in an issue of the professional trade periodical, Modern Machinery. In the review of Amateur Work published in the December 1901 issue of Modern Machinery, the article's anonymous author defines as amateur "a lover of any art or science, though not a professor of it."

Ostensibly, a person who engages in woodworking purely for pleasure, as a hobby. Nonetheless, defining what is an "amateur" among woodworkers is tricky. When, for example, does an amateur become a "professional", that is, earn enough from woodworking to be eliminated from being considered an amateur? Because, in selling his projects, he earns money? However, if a woodworker cannot sustain he and his family on the earnings -- say it was $1200 per year -- would that still make him a professional woodworker? And what about somebody, say like Wallace Kunkel, a teacher of woodworking techniques, who made the odd piece for himself? Is he a professional?

A commanding figure among amateur woodworkers during the 1970s, James Krenov defines amateurs as "those who love the material and the work of their craft more than anything else about it." (Krenov, 1977, page 6)

A master craftsman, a product of years of self-indentured training under as an apprentice under an earlier generation of "masters", was of course a "profesional" woodworker, but not -- in my opinion at least, in the same sense as a professional today.

[See discussion in later issue of HC 1939, for an account of formation of professional woodworkers and annual show, starting in 1938. Shortly thereafter, in January, 1940 a letter from a Maine professional woodworker, L. H. E. lamented that, while in the account of the Connecticut Craftsmen, professional groups at New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and Massachusetts were mentioned, Maine was not. L H E continues:

In Maine about a year ago the Dept. of Education appointed a man to head the Maine craftsmen and later they formed what is known as the "Maine Craft Guild". A fine building was opened on No. 1 trail called "State of Maine Industries, Inc." A grading and pricing committee meets here to inspect and price the merchandise placed on sale by any member.

Sometime within a few months they are going to have a showing of merchandise of the craft members so that the owners of gift shops can see what is being made here in Maine and to place their orders for products. During the holidays they had a display in several places and some of my merchandise was in both displays. This past summer have had articles on sale in four different parts of the state. One was a large order for cash, the others on consignment.

I bought my first power tools in May, 1936 and have been adding to them since. My shop is in the basement 23 feet long, 13 feet wide with a board floor, sheathed walls, three full size windows to the south and a full-size window and door to the east.

A year ago last spring my son wanted me to build him a boat and he sent for plans of Horizon. Completed it looks just like the picture in your magazine. ...

Apprentice/Apprenticeship: [rough initial notes for draft]

The connection between the industrial education movement and the child labor and compulsory education movements is extremely close. Until the late nineteenth century, child labor was not only acceptable but praiseworthy. But child labor in industrial society was another matter. Here was no benevolent system of apprenticeship education but a system of cheap, easily discarded labor which depressed the wages of adults and broke the spirits and bodies of the children. In the early 1900s, spurred on by the muckraking of John Spargo, Robert Hunter, Edwin Markham and others, Progressives launched a crusade against child labor. 7 [   7 John Spargo, The Bitter Cry of the Children (New York, 1906); Robert Hunter, Poverty (New York, 1904), pp. 223-60; Edwin Markham, Benjamin B. Lindsay, George Creel, Children in Bondage (New York, 1914); Jeremy P. Felt, Hostages of Fortune: Child Labor Reform in New York State (New York, 1965); Robert H. Bremner, From the Depths: The Discovery of Poverty in the United States (New York, 1956), pp. 76-80, 212 ff.]

From article the article by James Sullivan, Charles R. Richards, Isaac L. Kandel, and James Phinney Munroe“, Apprenticeship and Education”, In Paul Monroe, ed., Cyclopedia of Education, v 1, New York: Macmillan, 1911, pages 156-161. :

United States.—Since the term "apprentice" is loosely used to designate almost any shop learner or employee below the journeyman, it is important to point out that fundamental to true apprenticeship is the indenture, a legal instrument, in the terms of the laws of New York, “whereby a minor is bound out to serve as a clerk or servant in any trade, profession, or employment, or is apprenticed to learn the art or mystery of any trade or craft." An indenture implies mutual obligation of service in preparation for a definite occupation, and apprenticeship is therefore a sharply defined and strictly limited type of vocational education. The variations in the type are many; yet they may reasonably be classified into two main groups: the old apprenticeship, in which there were close personal and even domestic relations between master and apprentice, with little, if any, provision for definite education; and the new apprenticeship, in which the personal element has practically disappeared, but in which there is a continually growing emphasis upon both intensive and extensive training.

Decline of Apprenticeship [adapted from Ray Stombaugh, page 12]

Both Victor J Smith ("Factors in the Development of the Manual Arts in the United States." Industrial Education Magazine, XXVIII : 360-363, May, 1927) and E E White ("Technical Training in American Schools." N.E.A.Proceedings and Addresses . . . , 1880. pp. 222-228) refer to the consciousness of the public to the decline of the apprenticeship system and a desire on its part for some form of training which would continue to supply the increasing demand for skilled workers. Davis makes the statement that,

The last fifty years have produced great changes in our social condition. The extensive use of machinery in the mechanical arts, the minute division of labor, and other causes, have abolished the apprenticeship system so general throughout New England in former years. . . . [See MASSACHUSETTS. Thirty-Ninth Annual Report of the Board of Education . . . , 1874–75. p. 220.]

Thompson lists the limitation of the number of apprentices by trade unions as another reason for the decay of apprenticeship. ("The Decay of Apprenticeship; Its Cause and Remedies." N.E.A. .. . Proceedings and Addresses . . . , 1881. pp. 246-25). E. A. Apgar, in 1879 ("Technical Education." U. S. Bureau of Education. Circulars of Information, No. 2, 1879), and W. G. Eliot, in 1880 (Twenty-Fifth Centennial Address. Washington University, February 22, 1882. p. 2), and L. S. Thompson, in 1881( "The Decay of Apprenticeship; Its Cause and Remedies." N.E.A. .. . Proceedings and Addresses . . . , 1881. pp. 246-251) refer to the decline of apprenticeship and the need for some kind of training to replace it. All of these men suggest "ingrafting" a course of technical instruction upon the public school curricula. With respect to such instruction, Thompson said,

We cannot revive apprenticeship if we would, and perhaps we would not if we could. What we purpose to do in the common schools is that we give a technical or practical tendency to all our teaching. We would not change the curriculum of studies so much as our methods of instruction. The great substitute for the loss of apprenticeship is education — general education — that which gives quickness to mental perception and skill in the use of the hands (Thompson, 248).

Thompson was placing the value of manual training on the conception of formal discipline. Of special interest is that part of his address which shows a vision of a situation which was soon to face a machine civilization:

Versatility is the great need of the laborer in this age of machinery, so that when some machine is invented that does his work better and more rapidly than he can do it himself, he may be able either to run the machine or turn his attention to something else. A general education such as is given in our common schools and colleges by teachers who understand and insist upon the practical bearings of what they teach, best fits the laborer for turning from one vocation to another. (Thompson, 248).

In 1927, Arthur Beverly Mays surveyed “training” in The Problem of Industrial Education. (New York: Century, 1927. 418 p.) In the book, Mays emphasizes how the impact of the Industrial Revolution has changed society, with considerable discussion of the decline of the apprenticeship program and the emergence of power machinery, emergence of mass production, and the decline of certain types of skills and the emergence of other types of skills (ie, machinists).

MODERN APPRENTICESHIP IN THE INDUSTRIES

Apprenticeship didn’t just go away, though. Instead, it was “adapted” to conditions that prevailed in a rapidly industrializing America. The old apprenticeship system of the old guilds did not meet the conditions of modern industry. Nor did young Americans enjoy the “indentureship” agreements that necessarily had to be signed. The young worker of the factory era did not work for a master mechanic -- a man with a personal interest in both the apprentice and in the ideals of craftsmanship –- but instead works for a thing, a corporation. To here This difference is significant, and its influence on the whole personnel problem of manufacture is far-reaching. Industrial employees, in their conversation, rarely refer to men in executive positions but almost invariably they speak of "the company." For one to think of himself as working for "the company," "the government," "the county," or "the city," makes for a very different attitude of mind from that produced by the thought that he works for Mr. Goldsmith or Mr. Cooper whom he knows personally. Thus the modern relationship between employer and employee is an impersonal, institutionalized relationship and the old system of apprenticeship, which was essentially personal in character, has to be greatly altered to be made adaptable to the new industrial condition. Not only does traditional apprenticeship have to be adapted to a situation characterized by the impersonal nature of large corporate institutions ?

Overall, Mays takes a programmatic view, with a “macro” perspective, but without neglecting consideration for the individual. Mays argues that the old manual training, now rendered obsolete by several social and technological forces, needs to be (is being) replaced by what was being called “Industrial Arts” (IA). While manual training was identified for the most part by woodworking, IA came to be identified by a considerably larger array of activities, including machine-shop work, electric wiring, auto-mechanics, house carpentry, concrete work, furniture construction, pattern making, foundry work, printing, plumbing, "home mechanics" courses and various other types of shop work.

With the many shifts in American society taking palace in the 1920s, it was thought that IA fit more readily into general education requirements, i.e, many visualized IA as one of the requirements, along with science, social science and the arts, as an essential component of being ‘educated” in the early part of the 20th century. Again, in the mind of the general public, Manual training was mostly identified with woodworking.

Sources: James Sullivan, Charles R. Richards, Isaac L. Kandel, and James Phinney Munroe. “Apprenticeship and Education”, Paul Monroe, ed., Cyclopedia of Education, v 1, ny Macmillan, 1911, pp 156-161; Arthur B. Mays (1887-1966) The Problem of Industrial Education New York: Century, 1927. 418 pages; Douglas, Paul H., American Apprenticeship and Industrial Education. New York: Columbia University, 1916; United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Labor and Public Welfare. The role of apprenticeship in manpower development: United States and Western Europe. Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1964.

Arbor: The shaft to which the circular saw blade is attached to and rotated by a power saw's Motor.

Etymologically, arbor is borrowed,circa 1660 from the French arbre, which itself is originally Latin, tree, hence arbor. According to OED: a. "The main support or beam of a machine (e.g. of a crane or windmill)", or b. "The axle or spindle on which a wheel revolves, esp. in clocks and watches".

1659 J. LEAK Water-works 28 To the Arber of the said Pinion there shall be a Wheel having 32 Teeth.

1727-51 CHAMBERS Cycl. s.v. Crane, The modern crane consists of several members... the principal whereof is a strong perpendicular beam, or arbor. 1759 PULLEIN in Phil. Trans. LI. 27 Two wheels..fixed upon one common arbre. 1847 CRAIG Arbor-chuck..a chuck, consisting merely of a spindle, generally made of metal, projecting from the mandril of the lathe, used in turning and polishing rings, hollow cylinders, etc. 1857 DENISON Clocks & Locks 4 The prolonged arbor of the centre wheel.

An Axle, Shaft, or hefty Pin, for holding cutting tools. The term is also applied to a shaft on one end of which a piece of work may be screwed while the other end is held in a machine.

Source: Home Craftsman 4 May-June 1935 page 220.

In woodworking, on the Table Saw, the Radial Arm Saw, and most other saws, using either Induction or Universal Motors, the shaft extending from the Electric Motor, to which the Blade mounts, or, more often, on its own assembly, driven with a Belt(s) by the Motor.

In the illustration on the left -- it's from Herman Hjorth's article on "How to Operate Your Power Tools: The Circular Saw, Part 1", Home Craftsman 17 May-June 1948 , pages 24-26, 52-54 -- the arbor is on the right side.

An arbor resembles a Shaper's Spindle, the metal rod that drives the Shaper Cutter. See Trunnion and Tilting Arbor/Tilting Table. (more on this comparison later 2-10-07)

Today, in light of the fact that most large Routers include accessories like a Router Table and router Collets accommodate Bits with 1/2" Shanks, the features traditionally defined the differences between Shapers and Routers are becoming blurred. On the left, for example -- a 1/2" arbor assembly designed for a large router's collet, and currently available from several distributors like CMT and Grizzly -- smaller scale shaper cutters are mounted on routers.

(What needs to be understood, though, is the exceptional speed obtained by the router's Universal Motor -- it rotates normally at 21,000 to 24,000 RPMs -- could make these "arbors" potentially dangerous; a shaper's cutter is designed for 10,000 or less RPMs, with at least a 3/4" spindle. To use this 1/2" arbor in a router safely, the rotation speed of the router should be reduced to at least 10,000 RPMs.)


In the Shaft/Arbor/Spindle mechanism on such combination tools as Shopsmith and Supershop, illustrates graphically the concept of how Arbors and Spindles perform similar functions, but with different sorts of cutting edges:

The arbor -- usually in a horizontal plane -- with the circular saw blade, the stacked dado, the molding head. The spindle, on the other hand, functions most frequently in a perpendicular position, as in the shaper, the drill press.

(Yet to be accounted into this equation is the lathe and the jointer/planer, where the Shaft/Arbor/Spindle mechanism is, for the most part, on a horizontal plane. See the rough draft of this discussion about the Woodworker's Cutting Edge .)

Arts and Crafts Movement:

Auger:

Auger Bit:

Axe: