How Good Is Your Carpentry Vocabulary?

"Allen keys" are used to tighten and loosen a specific type of fastener with a hexagonal head. These are often used in carpentry, especially on parts of wood that are presented because they look neater than screws.

A carpentry plane is an important tool for a carpenter. It has a blade which can be set to take off large pieces of wood or for finer work. It is used to shape wood or to remove thin layers, for example from the bottom of a door that might be jamming.

There is no point if a piece of wood a carpenter is trying to make a shelf out of is not straight. Even when he hangs a shelf, he would use a "level" to determine that it is indeed hung straight. This small tool has a liquid viewer where if you line up an air bubble in a particular area, you know a shelf is indeed level.

A band saw has a continuous looped blade that is able to cut large pieces of wood. To do this, the wood must be fed toward the blade as it spins.

Often, a solid base is needed when making large wooden structures. Here, supports take the form of "anchor bolts" which then will hold structural pieces in place.

A "batten" is a small strip of wood that a carpenter will cut to size. It is then used to cover a joint that is used between two pieces of siding. Basically, it is used for aesthetic purposes.

And all along you thought a stair is just a stair. Well, no, because the horizontal part of it, the place where you put your foot is known as the "tread"!

Carpentry drawings or plans, especially when it comes to building a wooden house, are extremely important. These show the exact layout of the building from every possible angle, including the side.

"Rafters" are the large wooden structures that form part of your roof. Typically, they form a V-shape. In some houses, ceilings are left out to show off the rafters and extend the overall height inside.

The last thing a carpenter wants is lumber that is "bowed," especially longer planks. It can be corrected, however, usually through the process of steaming and bending it back into place.

Sometimes, a carpenter will need to know a point exactly below another, and at varying lengths. To find them, simply use a "plumb bob". This is a simple device consisting of a string and a weight and easily used.

"Slabbing" means taking a floor plan for a wooden house, drawing it on the already finished slab and identifying where the walls would be after framing by drawing chalk lines to represent them.

The way the "grain" of a wood runs is important to know. To get a better finish for a piece that you need to chisel for example, you would chisel with the grain.

A chisel is a woodworking tool used to shape wood. It has a sharpened beveled metal tip to remove pieces of wood and is guided by a carpenter who holds onto a small handle.

While the part where your foot lands on a stair is the "tread", the "stringers" are vertical pieces of wood that support the "treads" and the "risers". This gives stairs their strength.

If you were using a "brace and bit," the chances are you were living in a time before electrical hand-held tool or you just like antique tools. A "brace and bit" is an old-school drill. To drill into a piece of wood, a carpenter would crank a handle which would engage gears to turn the drill bit.

"Calipers" are tools with two arms that are used to mark and measure accurately while working with lumber. It looks a little bit like a compass that you would use in math class.

The overall finish of a piece of a wood such as a table or desk is of utmost importance. And where screws will be showing, it is usual to use a countersink bit to ensure the head of the screw also sinks away in the wood, providing a flush and neat finish.

A "rear elevation" is simply the drawn plans for the back of a wooden house. These are crucial for carpenters in the building trade.

But you knew that, right? Well, I hope so! Hammers come in all shapes and sizes with a claw hammer the choice of carpenters. Why? Well, it can easily pull out any nails that might have bent while they were pounded into wood.

Outfitting your kitchen with new countertops and cupboards can be expensive. Often, instead of using an expensive wood for countertops, carpenters can save their clients money by using thin sheets of an expensive wood glued onto chipboard, for instance. This is known as "veneer".

When two wooden panels meet perfectly, they are said to be "flush", if not the lower one is said to be "shy" while the raised one would be "proud".

Fret saws are for fine saw work while cutting thin pieces of wood. Fret saws have a large, U-shaped body and a very small, thin blade.

Dowels are round pieces of wood of varying circumference. They are used to plug holes, join pieces of wood together and for many other purposes in carpentry.

An "awl" is a very simple instrument used in carpentry to punch a small hole in wood. This can then be used to set a nail or screw, making it easier to hit them or turn them into the wood.

Sometimes, a carpenter will choose to "cross cut," which means cutting through the grain of a piece of wood. This effectively rips the wood fibers, and using a saw with finer teeth makes the task a little easier.

For lumber to be in prime condition, ready to use, it needs to dry out sufficiently. Just think about it, a tree is filled with water and sap, it cannot be used straight after it has been cut down. It needs to be dried out. Lumber that is not sufficiently dry is known as "green lumber".

The easiest way to beautifully finish off a piece of wood is to give it a light sanding. This is easily achieved by using an electric sander. There are many options to choose from, but a mouse sander is the best for small, detailed work.

This specially manufactured building board is formed from compressed wood and glued wooden pieces. It is often used as a partition.

"Beading" is simply using a small piece of wood as a decorative piece. With a half-round profile, "beading" is used mostly to give an ornamental edge.

"Filler" is a friend of a carpenter, especially when repurposing an old piece of wood. Once he has taken out older screws or nails, filler is used to fill up the holes and then sanded for a clean finish.

A dovetail joint connects two pieces of wood at a right-angle. The two pieces fit together using opposite joints which look like dovetails and which slide together.

A "speed square" is a carpenter's tool that is triangular in shape. It is essentially a try square, combination square and framing square all in one.

A "story pole" is a marked 2x4 that is used to determine the height of a landing when constructing stairs. It also shows exactly where risers should be placed.

When it comes to building a wooden house, carpentry plans and drawings are extremely important. These show the exact layout of the building from every possible angle, including the front.