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under construction 3-31-08 also under construction is an entry on bandsaw blades

Glossary F

Face Frame: 

Fairing off:  Associated with boat building, fairing off means to scoop out a curved surface to gain an even, flowing curve.

     A device on a saw or other cutter to hold the stock in contact with the fence/table. Comprised of multiple slots cut comb-like into the end of a board and then attached the saw so that the tips of the tines place pressure against the stock as it is fed.

Files, Rasps, etc.: under construction 6-8-08 definition coming

Files are available in three different types of cuts: single cut, double cut, and rasp. Single cut files are made with a series of parallel cuts running diagonally across the file. This type is used largely for work on softer materials such as brass, lead and wood. Double cut files are made with two series of cuts crossing one another. Such files are for machine shop work in general.

The rasp—with single projecting teeth—is used for wood, for hot iron and for softer metals. These types of files are available in varying sizes and in many shapes including flat, square, round, triangular (three square), half-round, etc. In addition to this variety of styles, files are obtainable in several cuts termed as, rough, middle, common or bastard, second, smooth, dead-smooth and double-dead smooth.

Source:Home Craftsman 4 1935 July-August page 260.

Source: Nicholson File Co, File Filosophy booklet, 1956, in opd.

Files and rasps are valuable in furniture making. The file -- much more than a smoothing tool — is a cutting and shaping tool, with rows of geometrically arranged burrs, or cutting edges, cut into the flat paddle of steel, as the illustration above illustrates.

A farrier's rasp is an excellent tool for preparing a rough piece of wood for the lathe. Where only a small quantity of material is required to be removed it will be found to be more convenient than the axe or paring knife. JOHN PHIN

Files are made of tool steel.

By a method that John Jacob Holtzapffel (sic) [Charles Holtzapffel, Turning and Mechanical Manipulation, by C. Holtzapffel, 1846, volume II, page 827 -- will fix this situation when I create a separate page on files] describes, the workman sits with the heel of a small anvil almost between his knees. The file blank — which was first greased — is held tightly against the top of the anvil by two leather straps, pressure being exerted by the workman's feet. The first cut is made nearest the off-end of the blank with a special chisel — always wider than the file to make a clean cut — held approximately at an angle of 55° to the perpendicular. The cutting edge of the chisel is slightly blunt, since the object is to indent the steel of the blank — not actually to cut it free. The angle of the chisel makes a cut that pushes the steel up into a sharp ridge. On half-round files, two or three joined cuts were necessary to reach over the curved surface. Source: Aldren Watson, Country Furniture New York: Crowell, 1974, page 99

Files were ideal for finishing the surface of end-grain wood such as the narrow edges of a dovetailed drawer front. The joiner found files just the thing for smoothing molding rounds, cleaning out inside curves, rounding corners, and often as a substitute for glasspaper (a forerunner of sandpaper).

For smoothing fine bead moldings, the tang of an old file could be sharpened (with another file) and then bent in a matching hook. This improvised tool did as nice a job as a piece of freshly broken glass, which by the way should be deemed a "tool" in its own right. And files were useful, too, in making patterns or wooden templates. These were generally sawn from quarter-inch pine or basswood, and carefully shaped and faired up to exact contours, a job that a file did better than anything else. On large patterns such as those for chair seats, thin battens were nailed across the grain to prevent their splitting and warping. A hole bored in one corner provided a simple means of storing the pattern, hung on a peg in the wall. From these templates which were more accurately carved than cut, parts of furniture could be easily duplicated, though not in the sense of interchangeability that we are familiar with today.

For smoothing fine bead moldings, the tang of an old file could be sharpened (with another file) and then bent in a matching hook. This improvised tool did as nice a job as a piece of freshly broken glass, which by the way should be deemed a "tool" in its own right. And files were useful, too, in making patterns or wooden templates. These were generally sawn from quarter-inch pine or basswood, and carefully shaped and faired up to exact contours, a job that a file did better than anything else. On large patterns such as those for chair seats, thin battens were nailed across the grain to prevent their splitting and warping. A hole bored in one corner provided a simple means of storing the pattern, hung on a peg in the wall. From these templates which were more accurately carved than cut, parts of furniture could be easily duplicated, though not in the sense of interchangeability that we are familiar with today.

Files were of course used for sharpening axes, cold chisels, screw bits, gimlets, and many other small tools.

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Fillet: A narrow flat Molding, separating other moldings.

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

Finger Joint:

Firsts and Seconds(FAS): A grade for Wood, it designates the quality of a piece of wood.

Flat Sawn: Wood cut tangentially from a log, where the Grain falls in a lateral direction, rather as in the more ideal, Quarter Sawn, the Grain is from top to bottom, or Vertical Grain.

Flathead Screw: The head of a Screw that, in shape is flat, rather than round or oval. Flathead screws are designed to sit flush in a Countersunk hole.

Floating Tenon: See Tenon -- Tenon, Biscuit, Floating Tenon, Spline, Tongue, and other similar Joints are treated in one entry.

Flush: Level or even with the adjacent surface.

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

Folding Rule: [definition below is borrowed from w f m goss, bench work in wood, rev ed, 1905 - section#18]

18. Rules are measuring strips, and are usually made of Boxwood. Their size is expressed by their length in inches or feet, as a "6-inch rule," a " 2-foot rule".

For convenience, using small brass hinges, they are made to fold, -image in  goss] and one is said to be "two-fold" when made of two pieces, "four-fold " when made of four, and "six-fold" when made of six pieces. Fig. 28 shows a four-fold rule.

To preserve the rule from wear, the better class are "bound" by a strip of brass which covers each edge : others are "half-bound," having only on edge covered and still others are "unbound," having no edge protection.

Carpenters' rules are usually graduated to eighths of inches on one side, and to sixteenths on the other Besides the regular graduations, other numbers are frequently represented ; but their purpose is so varied that their interpretation cannot be given here.

Sources: W F M Goss, Bench Work in Wood, rev ed, 1905 - section #18; Harvey Green, Wood: Craft, Culture, History  New York: Viking, 2006, page 434.

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Foot-Powered And Hand-Powered Woodworking Machines:

Dismiss the idea that foot-powered stationary woodworking tools are toys. In the London-based weekly Work, 1889-1893 -- a magazine dedicated to woodworking, metalworking, and numerous other crafts -- advertisments for these tools appeared issue after issue, and numerous articles focused on their use in shops. (Notice its subtitle: an illustrated magazine of practice and theory for all workmen, professional and amateur. In Work, at least one article described the use of a jig for cutting dovetail joints on a foot-powered table saw.) in addition read what the New Yorker, A L Hall, says about making a Morris chair in 1908.

Or, read the article by Victor J. Taylor, "English Oak Table: Reproducing an Arts and Crafts Classic," Fine Woodworking no, 48 (Septermber/Octorber, 1984), pp. 72-75, which gives instructions on making Barnsley's famous "hayrake" table (this link leads to a photo of a copy of the Barnsley table):

... An influential figure in the English Arts and Crafts movement around the turn of the century, Sidney Barnsley designed and made this massive oak table in 1924. Trained in London as an architect, Barnsley, along with his brother Ernest and their friend Ernest Gimson, was disenchanted with the impersonal, mass-produced furniture churned out by the machinery of the industrial age. So the three left urban life behind and retreated to the idyllic English countryside. In this peaceful setting they planned to make furniture that emphasized craftsmanship and integrity of design.

Sidney Barnsley was the loner of the trio. When differences arose among the three partners, he went his own way, hand-crafting all the pieces that came out of his workshop.

His only machine was a large hand- and foot-powered circular saw.

Source: Francis Chilton-Young; Paul Nooncree Hasluck, Work; an illustrated magazine of practice and theory for all workmen, professional and amateur. Weekly v. : ill. ; 30 cm.London : Cassell, 1889-1893; David. Denning, The Art and Craft of Cabinet-Making: A Practical Handbook to the Construction of Cabinet Furniture, The Use of Tools, Formation Of Joints, Hints On Designing And Setting Out Work, Veneering, Etc.; Together With A Review Of The Development Of Furniture. London: Whittaker, 1891. 320 pages. A woodworker's manual dedicated to "amateurs and beginning professional woodworkers", Denning's Chapter 6, "Tools", includes attention to foot power and hand power tools available in England in the 1890s. Kenneth L. Cope, American Foot Power and Hand Power MachineryAvoca, NY: Martin J. Donnelly Antique Tools, 2001. 135 pages.

Below is pasted portions of the blurb about American Foot Power and Hand Power Machinery's purpose, contents, and editorial slant:

American ingenuity and the dramatic style of the Victorian Era complemented each other no better than when they were combined to create beautiful, yet thoroughly functional machinery. In this copiously illustrated paperback, antique tool researcher and author Kenneth L. Cope captures the spirit of the short-lived world of hand and foot-powered machines.

The result of nearly ten years of research, the book combines hundreds of period illustrations of human-powered devices of every sort with Cope's detailed research into the histories of the producers of the machines. This book covers hundreds of large and small makers--many of whom were previously undocumented. An index of trade names helps locate historical information about manufacturers.

Eight collectors of American hand and foot powered machinery -- in a separate Appendix -- give commentary-- including pricing information -- about evaluating specific machines.

Forstner Bit:

From Philip Leon, "Name Brand Tools", Popular Woodworking, December 2006, page 104

... Another eponymous product, the Forstner bit, was named for Benjamin Forstner (1834—1897). This popular bit forms flat-bottomed holes in wood, especially useful to woodworkers. Forstner was born in Pennsylvania but migrated to Salem, Ore., in 1865, where he was a gunsmith until 1889. His knowledge of metallurgy, boring and rifling helped him develop the bit that was originally called the "Forstner Flange Bit" or the "Webfoot Auger." He patented his bit design in 1874.

Like Phillips, Forstner turned to the great factories in New England to take his invention into full production. The Colt Patent Fire Arms Co. of Hartford, CT, fractured the bits with a short center point and sharp cylindrical rim. Having perfected strong bits that could provide accurate boring of gun barrels and cylinders, Colt adapted Forstner's bit for drilling wood.

The Forstner bit won a prize at the Centennial Exposition of 1876 and another at the World's Fair of 1883. His business arrangement with Colt was lucrative; Colt paid Forstner a royalty for the rest of his life, and he died a wealthy landowner. Today you will see these bits spelled Forstner or Forstner and sometimes Foerstner. ...

From: Louis V. Newkirk, Organizing and Teaching the General Shop, Peoria, IL: Charles A Bennett, 1947. page 43 " alt=" " title="Forstner bit in use" align="left" height="277" width="216">

This young fellow is intently learning how to use the drill press and the Forstner bit in a course in General Shop, probably in a Chicago school in 1947