Glossary G

Gains

See Dado

Gauge

General Shop

A important concept from the Industrial Arts era of technology education, it refers to the program established in the 1920s which combines manual training, drawing, and home economics into Industrial Arts.

Out of General Shop emerged the concept vital to the history of the amateur woodworking, the homeworkshop movement.

[notes, to be edited] …By 1908, Lois Coffey had begun to attract attention for her work from the state department of education in Illinois. While at Macomb, Coffey, probably aided by several other teachers, set up the first "general shop," in which students alternated through experiences in shopwork, drawing, and home economics. This eventually led to the integration of manual training, drawing, and home economics into "industrial arts," a term Coffey was using by 1909. (Famously, Industrial Arts was coined as a term in 1904, by Charles Richards) William E. Warner's interpretation of the "general shop", Policies in Industrial Arts Education: Their Application to a Program for Preparing Teachers, would later revolutionize industrial arts, and Warner would later credit Bonser with the general shop theory.(see P. Gemmill, "Industrial arts laboratory facilities-Past, present, and future", in Martin, G. Eugene,ed., " Industrial arts education : retrospect, prospect Bloomington, Ill. : American Council on Industrial Arts Teacher Education, 1979)...

Source: Patrick N. Foster "The Founders of Industrial Arts in the US", Journal of Technology Education 7, no 1 (?)

Gestalt

Gimlet

Glues and Gluing

[under construction -- need to deal with difference between "set time" and "cure time"]

Sources: William Tandy Young, "A Working Guide to Glues" Fine Woodworking ; Lon Schleining, "Gluing and Clamping Strategies", Fine Woodworking 141 March-April 2000, pages ?; R. Bruce Hoadley “Woodworking adhesives, used correctly, are stronger than wood” Fine Woodworking ?; William Tandy Young  “A Working Guide to Glues”  Fine Woodworking ? ; Edward Wright “Understanding Hide Glue” [Video ] Fine Woodworking ; Scott Gibson “All About Adhesives” Fine Woodworking ? ; Matt Berger “All About Epoxy” Fine Woodworking  ;    Matt Berger “All About Assembly and Glue Up” Fine Woodworking   ;      Niall Barrett “Polyurethane Glue” Fine Woodworking  ; Nick Engler “Sticking with Hide Glue” Fine Woodworking

needs editing: Sharpen With Sandpaper Fine Woodworking Archive by Brent Beach "Produce razor-sharp chisels and plane blades in less time, with less mess"; Sandpaper: Scott Gibson, "Choosing Sandpaper", Fine Woodworking ?; Strother Purdy “Making Sense of Sandpaper” Fine Woodworking.

Golden Rectangle

Also known as the "Golden Ratio" "Golden Section" and "Golden Mean"

From the Greeks, the Golden Rectangle -- a mathematical formula of great visual elegance -- is arrived at by bisecting a square and using the diagonal of one half of the square as a radius to extend the dimensions of the square to become a "Golden Rectangle." Click here for an extended entry

Grain

In woodworking, a term applied to the arrangement of wood fibers; working a piece of wood longitudinally may be either with or against the grain; a cross-section, or transverse, cut of wood is called cross grain.

The rings of a tree indicate its annual growth, and also the growth in each season. In general, trees that grow rapidly (and thus have wide rings) produce timber that is not as strong as a tree that grows slowly. The fast-growing tree produces a coarse grain, the slow-growing tree a close or fine grain. These refer to the cross-section grain of the tree, of course. The grain made by the vertical fibers is referred to as the straight grain—the one that is most usually worked in carpentry. Coarse-grained woods that produce a rough-textured surface include oak, walnut, and chestnut. Fine-grained woods that make a compact, smooth surface include maple, birch, and pine. Most lumber used at home presents a flat-grain surface. For burl design effects, a cross grain can be used. A further distinction in the way wood is cut is reflected in the grain pattern. When the timber is sawed so that the annual rings form an angle of 45 degrees or more with the wide faces of the board, the term quarter-sawed is applied to hardwoods, and vertical or edge grain to softwoods. When the angle is less than 45 degrees, the term plain-sawed is applied to hardwoods and flat grain to softwoods. Source: Robert Campbell and N. H. Mager, How to Work With Tools and Wood, New York: Pocket Books, 1952, page 133 ;    The image above and the quoted passage below comes from the 1927 Stanley Tools woodworker's manual;  the  image on the right above comes from the  1952 Stanley  Tools  Woodworker's  manual. CHAPTER II: How to Become Skillful Craftsmanship is a combination of knowledge on how to use tools and of skill with the hands. An old carpenter has more tricks of the trade than he could possibly teach and no two carpenters' tricks are the same in every instance. These tricks are a part of the day's work. They come from cut and try or the trial and error method. You could start today and in half an hour learn all by yourself several things about tools and wood. If you took a plane to a piece of white pine you would discover shortly that when you attempt to push the tool against the grain you would not make a smooth cut, yet when you push the plane with the grain you make a smooth cut which, with a sharp plane, is almost as smooth as though you had sandpapered it down. Lesson One. You have learned never to plane a piece of wood until you have examined it to see what way the grain runs. You will learn to plane always with the grain unless you have a special finishing job requiring a special type of work. There is no way of learning such facts except by trying. Source: Stanley Tools, How to Work With Tools and Wood -- For the Home Workshop New Britain, CT: Stanley Rule and Level Plant, 1927, page 11. (Note: Be assured that I know what "grain" in wood is; I am, however, enamored of the efforts by such woodworkers as Walt Durbahn, and wish to do what I can to sustain the heritage that he and numerous others leave in our past tradition of woodworking.) Sources: Stanley Tools, How to Work With Tools and Wood -- For the Home Workshop New Britain, CT: Stanley Rule and Level Plant, 1927; Walter E. Durbahn and  J. Ralph  Dalzell, Dictionary of Carpentry Terms. Chicago:  American Technical Society, 1947; Robert Campbell and N. H. Mager, How to Work With Tools and Wood, New York: Pocket Books, 1952; Paul Harrel, "Designing Along the Grain", Practical Design: Solutions and Strategies -- Key Advice for Sound Construction from Fine Woodworking  Newtown, CT: Taunton, 2000; ;  Harvey Green,Wood: Craft, Culture, History. New York: Penguin, 2006.

Grindstone

Device for keeping a keen edge on a tool made of steel — chisels, plane irons, and the like —  the lumbering grindstone, running under dripping water and turning ever so slowly, could do a lasting job.

No grindstone should be exposed to the weather; it injures the woodwork, and the rays of the sun will harden the stone, so that in time it will become useless; neither should it be allowed to run in water, as the part remaining in it softens and wears away faster than the other portion. The water should be dropped or poured on.... By attending to these rules cabinet-makers will be saved much vexation and expense. Source: Richard Bitmead; Aldren Watson, Country Furniture New York: Crowell, 1974.

Grit

A measure of the coarseness of an Abrasive, such as Sand Paper. The higher the number, the finer the grains. (The number is the number of grains per inch.)

Groove

A furrow running the length of the board with the grain. See also Dado. Also the Groove in the top of a table on Table Saw, or other power tool that employs a Table as part of it assembly. The groove is used to guarantee that, in relation to the saw's Blade,  the Miter Square, Sled or other similar Jig slides accurately on the tool's table.