under construction 3-31-08

Glossary D

Dado: Also Gains, Grooves and Rabbetts. Dado Set, and Dado Head -- treated on a separate webpage

Design: For a woodworking project, a mental plan, set to paper -- a chair, a table a bureau, a workbench -- in the form of a measured drawing, diagram or other similar representation. Design adds to plan an emphasis on both purpose/utility and artfulness, thereby suggesting a definite pattern. Design, primarily, is used in reference to a completed work, and indicates the degree in which artistic order, harmony, and integrity are achieved, in spite of diversity, in the parts, and where "beauty" results from unity in variety. In other words, from one perspective, aesthetics, design presents an important consideration: Is the appearance of a completed object satisfying to the eye? Read More

Diamond Match: A veneering term, it applies to the manner in which veneer is laid. When the face veneer of plywood is so laid as to form a diamond figure it is called a "diamond match." (Home Craftsman 4 November- December 1935 p. 94.

Do-It-Yourself Movement: The idea that rather than being dependent upon an expert doing something for you -- like a master Carpenter constructing your house, you take it upon yourself to "do-it-yourself", by "learning how on the job".(This entry will be supplemented by my discussion in Link content Chapter 7

The Oxford English Dictionary shows that the phrase has a long history, tracing back to 1616. Even William Penn, in 1693, used it. According to Catherine Dean, the phrase "do it yourself" first appeared in print around  1912. Another source [which I have to locate] traces the concept -- "home improvement" --  as leisure activity associated with  the introduction of the first "power" tool, the treadle-driven scroll saw, popular during the 1870s and 1880s. But its current meaning evolved in the 20th century, with the big push coming in the post-WW II era.

Sources: Carolyn M. Goldstein, Do It Yourself: Home Improvement in 20th-century America Washington and New York: National Building Museum and Architectural Press, 1998. 109 pages. Review by Catherine Dean; See bibliogrphy in glossary folder; also what can be found on: "Do It Yourself: Home Improvement in 20th-century America." National Building Museum, 401 F St. NW, Washington, DC 20001.

Dovetail: An interlocking Joint consisting of a series of Mortise and Tenon members whose sides are cut at an Angle other than a right angle to prevent the joint from being pulled apart. It is inserted from the side.

Source: Home Craftsman 4 March-April 1935, page 172.

Dovetail joints have a long history. For example, Laszlo Katz shows an Egyptian dovetail for a box that traces back to 3400 BC. Egyptian, XI Dynasty (Ca. 2133-1991 B.C.)  XI Dynasty Toilet chest, Thebes. XII Dynasty, during the reign of Amanemhet IV.The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Dowel: Dowel, Biscuit, Floating Tenon, all serve a similar function:

Dowel Screw: A Dowel threaded on both ends. (home craftsman 4 November- December 1935 p. 94)

Draw Knife or Drawknife: also Drawing Knife, Draw Shave; Draft Shave; Shaving Knife) according to R. A. Salaman's Dictionary of Woodworking Tools Rev Ed. Newtown, Ct: Taunton, 1989, pages 175-183. Etymologically, claims, Salaman, "The modern form [of Draw Knife] is depicted by [Joseph] Moxon ... [Mechanick Exercises on the Whole Art of Printing (1683-4). 1703. Reprint. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1970] -- among carpenter's tools, and by [Denis] Diderot and J. D'Alembert   Encyclopedie, Chez Briasson, Paris, 1751among cooper's tools. (A translated version of Diderot's Encyclopedie is searchable on the  ARTFL Project, but subscription needed.) Draw Knife is in neither Webster's Dictionary (1st ed.) 1828 nor Webster's Unabridged Dictionary 1913 -- both searchable on  ARTFL Project -- but Draw Knife is in Webster's New Dictionary 2d ed 1952.

The common form consists of a flat or curved blade made in sizes from 8 to 18 in long and up to about 21 in wide. The blade is normally chisel-shaped in section and bevel-ground on its front edge. Tapering tangs at both ends of the blade are bent at right angles to the cutting edge and are fitted with wooden handles, usually turned, with the end of the tang clenched or riveted over. These tools are used in many different trades for the removal of surplus wood and for rounding and chamfering. In operation the work may be held between the bench and the user's chest, but more often in a Shaving Horse, Brake, or Vice, and the tool drawn towards the user.  Drawing Knife is included in a group of Viking Shipwright's Tools c. A.D. 100 in the State Historical Museum in Stockholm. Tools of this type were widely used in medieval Russia for smoothing a surface after using the Axe or Adze, but no examples have been noted in medieval illustrations in the West.   Source: R. A. Salaman. Dictionary of Woodworking Tools. Newtown, Ct: Taunton, 1989, page 175.

First called the "drawing knife" because you drew it toward you, the drawknife (or snitzel-knife, as some Pennsylvanians called it) came to America before the Pilgrims. But only with the emergence of the snitzelbank, or Shaving Horse, which made it simpler to hold the article being shaved, did the drawknife become a most favored tool. There are probably more ancient drawknives extant than any other antique tool. The drawknife was used to taper the sides of shingles, to rough-size the edges of floor boards and rough-trim paneling before planing them, to fashion axe, rake, and other tool handles, and to make stool legs, ox yokes, pump handles, and wheel spokes. It is easy to see why the draw-knife was so popular! The final finishing on much drawknife work was done by our next tool, the spokeshave and scraper. Source: Eric Sloane, A Museum of Tools. New York: Ballantine, 1964, page 38.

... For over twenty years, I've built in dimensional lumber, as it's called — four sides and two ends — or used peeled factory logs of roughly uniform thickness to build log houses. I like the precision and angular lines of a square, plumb, straight structure; when the last nail is set, something in my left brain smiles a square, straight smile, exactly plumb with the end of my nose. But now my right brain is asking for a little creativity in the matter. That's reason-able. The pony won't mind a bit if his house lacks miter cuts and perfectly square in-side corners. He won't care if it's a little rustic. And it's been too long since I worked with my drawknife, bitbrace, and chisels. Jeff Taylor. Tools of the Trade: The Art and Craft of Carpentry. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1996, page 128 (Taylor's entire discussion of the Drawknife is occupies pages 125-130.)

A Scorp is a curved Draw knife, or, alternatively, according to Salaman,Dictionary of WoodworkingTools, 1989, page 176, Cooper's Round Shave. (Scorp, not Scorper, is the term used by the Canadian-based Lee Valley Woodworking in their mail-order catalog for these tools. In my local community, this curved draw knife is called "Scorp".

Sources: "Draw Knife, Scorp", Home Craftsman 4 March-april 1935, page 172; Jeff Taylor. Tools of the Trade: The Art and Craft of Carpentry. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1996, page 128 (Taylor's entire discussion of the Drawknife is occupies pages 125-130.)

Drill Bit: under construction

Drill-chuck: a chuck in a Lathe or drilling-machine for holding the shank of the drill bit.

Drill Press: click here for entry on drill press

A power tool for drilling or boring. It evolved from the hand tools for drilling/ boring, such as the Brace and Bit applied to contrivances of many kinds for boring holes in metal, stone, and other hard substances, from a pointed steel tool to an elaborate drilling machine.

Drills, Taps and Dies:

(Source: Tubal Cain, Drills, Taps, and Dies Swanley, England: Argus Books, 1976)

Drivescrew: A screw that is driven home or nearly home with a hammer instead of a screwdriver.

Source : Home Craftsman 4 November-December 1935 page 94.

Dust Free: A finish is dust free when it has sufficiently dried that any dust collecting from the surface will not adhere. Ex: Four-hour varnish will be dust free in four hours.

Source: Home Craftsman 4 September October 1935 page 44.