Glossary W

Wainscot: A wooden lining of an interior wall, usually panelled. [need image]
The meaning of paneling of wood on the walls of a room is first recorded in English in 1548 (Barnhart)  "Wain" is an Old English form of the German wagon, meaning "wagon" or "cart," and "scot" comes from the German schot, originally a type of fine oak panel. The "wagon" connection, according to Philip Leon, evidently is suggested by "a medieval wagon partially enclosed with Pan­els separated by Stiles," where "the lower portion [of the wagon panelling is thought to resemble] of a wainscoted room".

(Sources:  Robert K Barnhart, ed, The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology (New York: H W Wilson, 1988, page 1215; Philip Leon, "Woodworker Meets Wordworker," Popular Woodworking April 2002, page 88.)

---

Wane: In in wood, rough sawn or planed, where bark from the original tree still remains.  

---

Warp:

---

Western Red Cedar:

---

Wheelwright:

Source: see  R A. Salaman, Dictionary of Woodworking Tools, Newtown, CT: Taunton Press, 1989, rev ed., pages 503-519, for a superb coverage of this topic, marginal to woodworking, as we know the meaning of that term today.

---

Wind: [as in wind caused by uncommon growth of a wood's grain]

---

Winding Sticks:

---

Windsor Chairs:

---

Wood Screws:

 

---

Wood Anatomy:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

---

Wooden Age:

---

Woodworker:

 

---

Woodworker's Manual(s): Any book that is gives info on woodworking, whether how-to-do-it  -- "processes" --  or projects to build -- "products" -- is a woodworker's manual. Each chapter of my online history of the amateur woodworking movement includes an annotated list of woodworker's manuals published during that same decade. In addition, on the manuals access page -- if you scroll down -- is a chart that shows the numbers of woodworker's manuals published over a century, decade-by-decade. 

Temporarily I am throwing in this pot the background in Ray Stombaugh on  textbooks and manuals:

From Stombaugh pages 157-158:

Manuals Speaking of conditions prevailling in IA before the turn of the 20th century, STomaugh argues that several cities included in courses manuals for the guidance of both teachers and pupils. ? Beardsley points to the printed course of manual training in Chicago as the first manual ever printed by any board of education. [266 : 206-- 266. CHICAGO, ILL. Forty-Fifth Annual Report of the Board of Education   1899. pp. 205-207.] Textbooks Stombaugh: Some of the leaders in industrial arts today (1936) feel that altogether too many teachers in the work are failing to make use of books and printed materials. [7 : 146 -- 7. ERICSON, EMANUEL E. Teaching Problems in Industrial Arts. Peoria, Ill.: The Manual Arts Press, 1930. 433 P.; 68 : 140 -- 68. ERICSON, E. E. "The Use of Books in Shop Teaching." Industrial Education Magazine, XXX : 140-141, October 1928.; 113: 131-132-- 113. SMITH, HOMER J. "A Defense of the Textbook." Industrial Arts and Vocational Education, XXI : 121-122, April 1932; Source: Stombaugh..] Ericson and Smith give several reasons for the attitude of industrial arts teachers against textbooks, and proceed to list reasons why textbooks should be used in industrial arts classes.  Historically, the first textbook seems to be one by the Boston Industrial School Association felt the need for a textbook and immediately set about preparing one. (Channing Whitaker Woodworking Tools How to Use Them 1884 )[Date?] ; Source: Stombaugh.  In 1906, Crawshaw raised the question of why the best books and best methods of teaching were not demanded in the industrial arts the same as they were in the other school studies. [62 : 9 -- 62. CRAWSHAW, FRED D. "Practical and Educational Manual Training in the Public Schools." Manual Training Magazine, VII : 90-92, January 1906: Source: Stombaugh..]  As late as 1920, MacDonald criti­cized industrial teachers for making too little use of books in their classes. At that time he said it was the exception rather than the rule for shop teachers to refer their pupils to printed information. The majority of them, he said, were still attempting to supply infor­mation in verbal form. [91 : 46 91. MACDONALD, D. J. "Fostering Self-Directive Ability in Pupils." In­dustrial Arts Magazine, IX : 45-50, February 1920; Source: Stombaugh.]  A few years later Vaughn and Mays divided teachers into groups who used textbooks and groups who opposed their use. Both these groups felt that a fund of information related to the work being done should be constantly accessible. [33 : 140 33. VAUGHN, SAMUEL J. and MAYS, ARTHUR B. Content and Methods of the Industrial Arts. New York: The Century Co., 1924. 397 P. Source: Stombaugh.]  With the increasing amount of printed ma­terial in the several industrial arts subjects, even though each pupil may not be provided with a textbook it would seem that there is little excuse for pupils not having access to a good shop reference library.

 

---

Woodworking:  

 

THE term "woodwork" in the heading of these articles was selected as being more inclusive than "cabinet-making" or "furniture-making," for the principles enunciated are applicable to a much broader range of work, though, as already intimated, it is not the intention of the writer to treat specifically of those branches in which large timbers are used. Many general principles, it is true, apply equally in all wood construction, large or small; yet methods are considerably modified by the size and character of the thing designed. The framing of a house, for instance, differs materially from that of a bookcase, and the con­struction of a barrel has little in common with that of a chest. The difference in principles of construction between large and small work is due to various causes. The elements in the latter must be much larger in relation to the size of the structure, not only because the strength of a piece of timber diminishes as the square of its length (supposing breadth and thickness to diminish proportionately), but also because the smaller article is subject to relatively greater strains. No framed house, for example, of ordinary construction, would withstand the strains which a trunk has to bear at the hands of the gentlest expressman. The use of the brace, so common in house-building, is comparatively rare in smaller work, especially cabinetwork, where the relatively large framework and the use of glue render the article suffi­ciently rigid without it. Furthermore, the provision for warping and shrinkage is an object of much greater concern to both the cabinet-maker and joiner than to the carpenter, who constructs only the frame-work of houses, because in interior work the greater part of the framing is exposed and liable to close inspection, and the lumber used is in much wider pieces, relatively, than the carpenter has to deal with, and consequently requires greater skill in its disposal. Source: WILLIAM F. VROOM, CONSTRUCTIVE DESIGN IN WOODWORK. Manual Training Magazine 4 (January 1903) page 84

 

---

Woodworking as Culture:  

Question: How does one become an amateur woodworker? Among outsiders to woodworking, when observing craftsmen working on a project, like, say, routing the edge of a table top, or, simply using a plane to smooth a warped board, the almost universal question is, "How did you learn how to do that?" Sometimes, of course, these questions are easily answered:

"I just started, without any knowledge of the tools or skills, but slowly I became more proficient, and found that, with practice, I could do it."
 

In other instances, fewer than we would like, some amateur woodworkers have been fortunate enough to take course(s) in woodworking, maybe while in high school, or later, at an evening class in a community college. In still other instances, this same question cannot be answered easily. Instead, woodworkers have to fall back on responses like, "I am not sure, but …."

In my own case, while I did take a woodworking course in high school – I think is it was grade ten -- this experience was not enjoyable. Instead, I had little respect for my teacher, and really didn't get much out of it at all. My initiation into woodworking -- squaring a board with a plane -- was not sufficiently motivating, evidently. Likewise, the results of my other attempts at woodworking, i.e., working by myself at home, while more satisfying, and using the hand tools, such as an Atkins hand saw, a number 5 Stanley hand plane, and a Stanley adjustable square, were at the time disappointing, although not always. (Highlighted terms are defined in the glossary.)

These tools were given to me on my 10th or 11th birthday by my uncles, and I still have them, over fifty years later. Why was I disappointed in my initial results of woodworking? My results never matched my expectations. You soon find out that sawing a board with a hand saw takes much skill, skill that is not learned quickly, and for a teenage boy, one had to be resolved to accepting less than [good] results. (Further, years later, in retrospect, I have concluded that I am a power tool woodworker, that I prefer power tools over hand tools.)

Fortunately, unsatisfactory results did not kill my motives to continue woodworking. Maybe it was because still another factor entered the picture: economic need. Previously, I am convinced, it was from a response to my creative juices that drove me to woodworking. Still, I am not certain.

What are the components of woodworking? I can't put it better than Stephen Shepherd:

Only one half of the art of woodworking is in knowledge of the wood. The other half is knowledge of the tools and the ways of using them." From page 2 of Shepherd's Compleat Early Nineteenth Century Woodworker. Green River Forge G.S.L.C.,Utah, 1981

While Shepherd is a professional woodworker, his words of wisdom also apply to amateurs. http://www.ilovewood.com/

Green's Wood: Craft, Culture, History is the first book in my experience that looks at the "culture of wood", or maybe it's "the woodworking culture". Whatever, upon spying it, I realized a heretofore unrecognized truth about amateur woodworking: amateur woodworking is a "culture", similar to a "participatory" sport, like golf or tennis or racquetball, but -- at least in my experience -- has not gotten such recognition. Why? This neglect of observation is obvious, in my view, though, for the following reason: Woodworking is an activity engaged in by "insiders", who are not taken to introspection about their activities, while "outsiders" who may be looking in -- and possess the analytical skills needed to expose woodworking as a culture -- fail to understand the chemistry involved.

An academic book that includes sections on woodworking, and written by someone who betrays himself as an outsider is Hobbies: Leisure and the Culture of Work in America  Written by Steven M. Gelber. His book [more on this later]

(Sources: Stephen Shepherds Compleat Early Nineteenth Century Woodworker. Green River Forge G.S.L.C.,Utah, 1981; Harvey Green, Wood: Craft, Culture, History. New York: Penguin, 2006.)

---

Woodworking Magazines:

---

Woodworking Tools: [incomplete entry 8-14-07 -- if you're interested in the history of Woodworking Tools, keep tuned in, because I will be updating this entry regularly.]

The image on the left is a  1919 illustration by Harry E. Wood, then Director of Manual Training for the Indian- apolis Public Schools. Wood co-authored -- with James H Smith -- Prevocational and Industrial Arts Chicago: Atkinson, Mentzer, 1919. This illustration is on page 3. While is shows its date by being limited to hand tools it nonetheless points out essential features that newbie woodworkers will surely apreciate.

---

The Concept of Woodworking Tools:  Click on this link for a mental account I have for the concept of "woodworking's cutting edge".

Sources: [to be annotated later -- the classic Tunis books, on tools and implements of pre-20th century American life should also be considered; also Aldren Watson's three books on tools and furniture making.]

1872: John Richards. A Treatise on the Construction and Operation of Wood-Working Machines: Containing a History of the Origin and Progress of the Manufacture of Wood-Cutting Machinery Since the Year 1700. London, New York: Spon, 1872.

The classic. I am waiting for this book to be digitized and uploaded by  Google Print 

1883: C. P. B. Shelley. Workshop Appliances, Including Descriptions of Some of the Gauging and Measuring Instruments, Hand Cutting Tools, Lathes, Drilling, Planing and Other Machine-Tools Used by Engineers Sixth edition, revised and enlarged London: Longmans, Green, 1883, Chapter II, pages 31- 73, is "On Hand Tools for Cutting Wood".

1937: Herman Hjorth. Modern Machine Woodworking. Milwaukee: Brusce Publishing, 1937.

Hjorth taught woodworking during the middle decades of the last century in the Bronx and served in several other influential capacities in Industrial Arts circles. Chapter 1 focuses on the historical development of major stationary woodworking tools. Provides bibliography, but does not link textual discussion to sources cited at cends of chapters. I have the 1960 ed.

1952:  Judson H. Mansfield. "Woodworking Machinery: History of Development From 1852-1952" , Mechanical Engineering ? December 1952.

1960: William F Holtrop and Herman Hjorth. Modern Machine Woodworking. Milwaukee: Brusce Publishing, 1960. 280 pages.

1971: Daniel W. Irwin,  Power Tool Maintenance. McGraw-Hill, 1971.

The most sought after manual for the maintenance of all major stationary woodworking tools. Twenty-two chapters cover belts, pulleys, bearings, lubrication, motors (wiring and controls), parts and service info, all major stationary woodworking tools, and portable electric tools.

1979: Scharff, Robert. The Complete Book Of Home Workshop Tools McGraw-Hill, 1979.

Similar to the also dated Holtrop and Hjorth (above), but still useful, this book helps amateur  woodworkers select and use hand and power tools in the home workshop. Describes the tools, explains how to use them correctly and safely and how to care for them.

1989: R A Salaman. Dictionary of Woodworking Tools, c. 1700-1970, and tools of allied trades. Revised ed. Newtown, CT: Taunton Press, 1989. 546 pages.

1962: William L. Goodman. Woodwork from the Stone Age to do-it-yourself. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1962.

1964: William L. Goodman. The History of Woodworking Tools. London: Bell, 1964. 208 pages.

1964: Eric Sloane. A Museum of Early American Tools. New York: Ballentine Books, 1964. 108 pages.  

1998: Sandor Nagyszalanczy. The Art of Fine Tools. Newtown, CT:  Taunton Press, 1998.
 

---

Woodworking Tools "Encyclopedias" 

For the numbered results, below, using the Worldcat bibliographic database with terms su= "Tools" and su= "Encyclopedias," yields the first four books, but not # 5. Book # 5 is very much like the others, including that probably some of the same people had a hand in assembling the materials that the books contains, although this is speculation. The discrepancy in the subject heading is an example of the anomalies in cataloging books. (Any attempt to explain more about such discrepancies would end in needless details.) As the note below details, # 6 and #7 have additional features.

1. 2001: Duginske, Kim Carelton Graves, Bruce Marshall, Dick Onians, Mario Rodriguez Tools : a complete illustrated encyclopedia. New York : Simon & Schuster Source, 2001. Libraries Worldwide: 267.

2. 2001: Duginske, Kim Carelton Graves, Bruce Marshall, Dick Onians, Mario Rodriguez Tools : an illustrated guide. London : Marshall in association with Garrett Wade Co., 2001. Libraries Worldwide: 15.

3. 1992: Albert Jackson and David. Day. Tools and how to use them: an illustrated encyclopedia. New York : Wings Books ; Avenel, N.J. : Distributed by Outlet Book Co., Libraries Worldwide: 104.

4. 1978: Albert Jackson and David. Day. Tools and how to use them: an illustrated encyclopedia. New York : Knopf, 1978. Libraries Worldwide: 1141.

5. 1978: “by the editors of Consumer Guide”. The Tool catalog : an expert selection of the world's finest tools. New York : Harper & Row, ; 1978. 288 p. : ill. ; 29 cm. ISBN: 0060108592. Among the contributors to this volume are the following professional woodworkers: Ernie Conover, R J DeCristoforo, Matt Zurawski

The next two items -- by the two British tv broadcasters in #3 and #4 above -- contain more features than any of the volumes above, but also help newbies become familiar with the tools of woodworking:

6. 2005: Albert Jackson and David Day. Collins Compete Woodworker’s Manual. London: Collins, 2005. 352 pp.

7. 1989: Albert Jackson & David Day Collins Complete Wood Worker's Manual. London: Collins, 1989. 320 pages.

Each respective edition, the publisher boasts, is “the most comprehensive illustrated guide to woodworking tools, materials, techniques & constructions ever published.” In addition to to the handtools, power tools, machine tools, of the volumes above, these two volumes -- 1st and 2nd editions, actually -- include woods of the world, designing & plans, woodturning, workshops, joints, bending, veneering, marquetry, carving and finishing. French and English translations. Latest ed. 2005.

---

 AMATEUR WORK. This is the title of a new "Monthly Magazine of the Useful Arts and Sciences." Number 1, Volume 1, commenced with November, 1901. The first number bears every indication of coming usefulness as it sets out to interest amateurs in [numeous pursuits, including woodworking].... There is plenty of room for this magazine.... Amateur Work has 24 pages of reading matter and cover; size of page 10" x 7" inches. Published by F. A. Draper, 85 Water Street, Boston, Mass. Subscription, $1.00 a year.AMATEUR WORK. This is the title of a new "Monthly Magazine of the Useful Arts and Sciences." Number 1, Volume 1, commenced with November, 1901. The first number bears every indication of coming usefulness as it sets out to interest amateurs in [numeous pursuits, including woodworking].... There is plenty of room for this magazine.... Amateur Work has 24 pages of reading matter and cover; size of page 10" x 7" inches. Published by F. A. Draper, 85 Water Street, Boston, Mass. Subscription, $1.00 a year.

---

 

Workpiece:   Sometimes you think that writers for Woodworking Magazines work in a sort of schizophrenic state. Stock (ie, rough, unfinished wood) being used in a woodworking project becomes a workpiece. Noting that, I began using the term, but always with a sense of disbelief. Why Workpiece?

---

Workshop: Woodwork shop, homeshop, the area designating the space where woodworker's ply their skills. Typically, because of the space needed for safe operation of power tools, homeshops never seem large enough. If you're interested in seeing more detail about workshops, how they developed over the 20th century, check the section on workshops in each of the chapters

Document 2: "My Workshop at Home," by A L Hall Suburban Life [Countryside Magazine] Vol 7 november 1908 One of several documents that I am posting for my online History of Amateur Woodworking Movement. The article is one of a very few that, so far, I have located for this era, early 1900s. Remember, at the turn of the 20th century, electrification was limited, probably only “direct current”. (Only later, ca 1916, did cities begin to be wired for Alternating Current.) Notice (highlighted below) that for Mr. Hall, the even the luxury of direct current was still not available. His saw, for example, is “foot-powered”, which creates astonishment, for me at least, when you see the picture of the Morris chair (below) that he constructed out of White Oak. From my reading of the article posted below, Hall was a fairly affluent “businessman”, only able evidently to be at home during the weekend. The article does not indicated the location of his home, but I imagine it is suburban New York. Full text of Document 2: "My Workshop at Home," by A L Hall Suburban Life [Countryside Magazine] Vol 7 November 1908:    TO have a workshop in one's own home, well supplied with tools, where simple pieces of furniture can be made on the lines of one's own choosing, is to have a source of unlimited pleasure always at hand. I have such a shop, where I spend many hours, and find in it no little satisfaction. When we moved into our present home, a house of moderate size, the rear room on the second floor was given to me for a den, and was fur­nished according to the usually accepted idea of what a man's sanctum should contain to soothe his weary nerves. I had, also, the usual tools which are to be found about almost any commuter's or suburban residence -- a couple of saws, a hammer, a plane or two, and a square. These were kept in a kitchen closet, and had as neighbors the pots, pans, and other large and necessary culinary utensils. I suspect that my wife begrudged the room which they occupied. Anyway, one evening she suggested that the den be turned into a workshop for my benefit. The suggestion was acted upon at once, and inside of two hours the room had been stripped of its comfortable furnishings, and the old bench from the cellar and the few tools I owned substi­tuted. The giving up of the den for a workshop may seem to some to have been a hardship, but such was not the case. My business permits me to spend only the week-end at home. When I had the den, I would occupy it only long enough to attend to my mail, the balance of the time being spent with the family in the general living-room, so that the den was really used for only an hour or two each week. Read More

 

How to plan a workshop Walter Durhahn, author of "Walt's Workshop" TV program, tells what you need for a home workshop   I know the deep satisfaction of working with tools and wood. I also know the economic advantages of being able to "make it yourself." So it does not surprise me to find that more Americans than ever before are interested; woodworking (one survey reports it the number 2 home hobby) and therefore in having a home workshop. This is one hobby you can start at any age, and with the simplest equipment. If you are starting from scratch, it is better to make a modest start and master one tool at a time than to set up an elaborate shop with a bewildering array of tools. But you will find that hand-tool skills develop with normal patience and application, and that power-tools have such built-in accuracy that you need comparatively little skill. If you do not already have the few essential tools for home repairs, these should be your first purchases:      hammer. saw. tri-square, screw driver, hand drill. pliers. and an adjustable wrench. As you feel the urge to build things, you will want a work bench with vise and a couple of saw horses; also a jack plane, a few chisels, framing squat coping saw, brace and a few auger bits; a level, possibly a soldering iron. and a cold chisel. All this equipment can be housed in a corner of the garage basement. or attic. Later, for a complete home workshop you will want power tools and machines. The House of Ideas has an excellent layout for a practical workshop Along one side of the garage. in a spar just 5' x 13'. are a work bench, too cabinet, and three basic machine o power tools—8" table saw. 10" ban saw, and tool grinder. Since these are on casters, and since one or both eat can be temporarily moved out while working on a big project, the shop ca be rearranged and expanded at will.   Source: Walt Durbahn, House and Garden 103 January 1953, page 88

The two items above exemplify how woodworkers made accommodations for workshop space in the early and middle parts of the twentieth century. Below, you see a fraction of what Scott Landis, a senior editor at Fine Woodworking, says about the space woodworkers can set aside for their activities.

The Basement Workshop The basement is one of the most common workshop locations. Outside of the southern United States, most houses in North America have one. For many woodworkers, the basement is a natural first workshop. It may require some juggling of household functions and appliances, such as laundry, furnace and freezer space, but most basements can be converted to a workshop with a minimum of expense. The structure is more or less complete, and all of the major services — electricity, water, sewer and telephone—are close at hand. ... (Landis notes several "drawbacks" inherent to basement shops, and makes suggestions about how other woodworkers have solved, or partially solved these problems.) The Garage Workshop The garage is probably the second most popular workshop location. It offers many of the same benefits of the basement shop without some of the drawbacks. ... Because it is often attached to or located near the house, the garage retains nearly as much access to family and home as the basement, but with enough physical separation to minimize the intrusion of dust and noise in the living area. ... Access for materials and equipment in a garage shop is hard to beat. A large door will enable you to drive your plywood and machinery right into the shop and cart your projects out the same way. Since most garages are located above ground on a concrete slab and are built of lumber, they present no real obstacles to insulation or partitioning, and additions are easily added. ... If there aren't enough windows, they can be installed in the walls and roof without major structural disruption. The increased exposure of walls and ceiling in the garage means that you'll spend more money either insulating or heating the shop (or both) than you would in a comparable basement workspace. ...           [A]dditional wiring may be required to hook up the garage.... Source: Scott Landis, The Workshop Book, Newtown, CT: Taunton, 1998, pages 23-27.