Beginner Woodworking and Carpentry Terminology Part 1

a lot of you been asking for this so today is 
part one of covering the absolute basics in both   woodworking and carpentry terminology not only 
will today's video cover the terms but i'll also   intertwine some tools as well because it plays 
such a huge part in understanding the terminology   now if i zoom out a bit on the video 
and hover over the timeline below   you can see that it's actually broken up into 
four major sections lumber plywood measuring and   marking which is a combined section and hand tools 
now i've laid this video out in this way to make   it easier for you to navigate around especially 
in the future when you need a quick refresher   one of the most important groups of terms to 
learn right out of the gate is to learn about   the material in which you'll be using to build 
all your stuff so for the purpose of this video   both lumber or wood will refer to construction 
material material that's used to build houses   and material that's used to 
build furniture so with that   let's dive into learning about some of 
the basic terms used for lumber or wood in its raw's form wood can be broken up into two 
categories hardwoods and soft woods hardwoods come   from deciduous trees that is trees that drop 
their leaves like oak cherry or maple so the   poplar i have here is considered a hardwood but 
by no means is this actually hard like maple so   why is it a hardwood simply because it came from a 
tree that drops its leaves another important thing   to know about hardwoods is that they grow slower 
and the wood fibers are more dense making the wood   much stronger soft softwoods on the other hand 
come from conifer trees trees like pine fur   cedar and of course they have needles and not 
leaves softwood trees grow faster and produce   wood that is less dense and in general weaker than 
hardwood rough cut lumber rgh is lumber that is   well rough and in most cases you can still see 
the saw marks from the mill rough lumber is   sold by the quarter inch in its thickness and its 
width can vary just depending on what's available   in your area for example a four quarter board 
measures around one inch thick a six quarter   inch and a half an eight quarter two inches and 
twelve quarter three inches lumber like this can   be used for rustic projects or it could be sized 
down by using a jointer and a planer for furniture   moving on the term face is used to describe 
the large flat part of the board while the edge   is used to describe the smaller edge of the board 
end grain refers to the end of the board where the   end of the grain is most visible grain or grain 
pattern is a visual look that the grain makes   as it runs through the board it's what makes wood 
so beautiful once the lumber does get sized down   it's called dressed lumber that is lumber that has 
been sized and shaped and smoothed to a nice flat   surface for example s4s which stands for surfaced 
on four sides is lumber that is found at most big   box stores it's dimensioned and finished on four 
sides ready to use there's also s2s lumber which   is surfaced on two sides both faces are planed but 
as you can see the edges are still raw and rough   dimensional lumber is lumber that is sized 
to a standard final dimension like framing   lumber like a two by four two by six or two by 
eight and it also refers to a one by four or   one by six and so on but don't be tricked with 
these numbers because dimensional lumber is sold   using its rough size not its actual size so for 
example when you buy a two by four at the store   it doesn't measure two inches by four inches but 
measures an inch and a half by three and a half   inches and a one by four doesn't measure one 
inch by four inch but measures three quarters   of an inch by three and a half inches most often 
the lumber that we've been discussing has been   kiln dried meaning that it's been put inside of a 
kiln a kiln is basically a big oven to reduce the   moisture content of the lumber wood that is wet 
will eventually dry out and shrink on its own but   by using a kiln that does it in a more controlled 
environment that's slower producing a much better   product at the end however in the carpentry world 
there is a product called pt lumber or pressure   treated lumber which is really wet this lumber 
is treated with chemicals that resist rot and   insects which makes it a great choice for outdoor 
projects no matter what wood you buy there are six   common defects to look out for number one is a cup 
a cup is when the board or the lumber is curved up   in this direction on the face of the wood number 
two is a twist a twist is when the board twists   this way and one end in the opposite direction in 
the other number three is a crook a crook is when   the board or lumber bends to the right or to the 
left in the direction of the edge of the material   number four is a bow a bow is similar to a crook 
but this time the board bends in the direction of   the face five is a check a check is when the board 
or lumber has a crack but the crack doesn't go   all the way through the thickness of the material 
and number six similar to a check the split   is when the crack goes all the way through the 
material plywood is a man-made wood product that   is made from multiple layers or plies of thin wood 
veneer these veneers are then glued together at 90   degree angles to each other to produce a flat 
large stable sheet of material plywood is often   graded by its surface and how many plies it has 
so for example the fewer the plies the weaker the   plywood or the less stable it is the more plies it 
has the more stable it is the stronger it is for   example this half inch construction grade plywood 
has four plies sold in four by eight sheets   and has a pretty rough surface even after it's 
been sanded the next type to look at is finished   plywood finished plywood has one or two outside 
thin veneers oftentimes hardwood that produces   a really good smooth surface for example this 
sheet of finished plywood came from home depot   and it has two thin outer veneers of birch and 
five interior plies for a total of seven plies   the last type of plywood to look at 
is baltic birch and here in the u.s   baltic birch might be the highest level or quality 
of plywood that you can buy for example this piece   of 13 millimeter or three quarter inch here in the 
united states has two thin outside veneers and 11   interior plies for a total of 13 plies making 
this a very strong and very stable material   all plywood no matter what it is comes in multiple 
thicknesses so just know that the examples that i   just showed you is just the tip of the iceberg of 
what's out there the first term to explore here is   the term square in carpentry and woodworking it 
refers to checking the squareness of the faces   edges or the ends of boards it also refers to 
checking if something you're building has equal   diagonal measurements which verifies that it is 
indeed square the term square is also used to   label a group of tools that are specifically 
designed to mark and check for squareness   let's look at four of them the first is a 
precision square these squares are made out   of metal with little to no moving parts that's 
what makes them so precise the second is the   speed square this tool is used mainly in carpentry 
but it also can be used in woodworking as well   third is the combination square this tool is great 
at so many things around the shop and it provides   very accurate angles and it can be used to set and 
measure depth as well lastly is the framing square   the framing square is used for well you guessed 
it for framing houses and it's also really good   at checking cabinets for square before nailing the 
next term or tool to look at is a sliding bevel   sliding bevels are great for laying out different 
angles or for transferring those angles from one   piece to another a straight edge refers to any 
straight material used to mark measure or cut   straight lines so for example here i have two 
metal straight edges that are great for small   layout tasks and small projects and here i have a 
larger straight edge that can actually be clamped   to something like plywood to help cut a straight 
line now when it comes to measuring larger   items the metal tape measure is a good choice and 
as you can see it comes in different sizes and   different shapes when it comes to actually making 
the marks a good old number two pencil works great   so does a carpenter's pencil and when you're 
working with rough lumber these white charcoal   pencils work fantastic too the last term i want 
to cover in this section is the term layout layout   simply means to measure mark and arrange all the 
needed components to complete a project this term   can also be used as a verb so for example someone 
might say i'm going to go and lay out that window   let's start this section off by talking about 
handsaws handsaws is a general term and can be   used to describe many different types of saws the 
first type is what i'll call a traditional saw   these are the classic looking handsaws that most 
people can easily recognize nowadays these saws   come in all different shapes and sizes and most of 
them though still cut on the push stroke meaning   that they cut mostly in the forward direction next 
are pool saws also known as japanese saws they   are absolutely fantastic saws great for control 
flexibility and require less effort because they   cut on the pull stroke the last saw to look at is 
the back saw the back saw again is a general term   it's used to describe any saw that has a stiffened 
rib along the back of the saw this rib greatly   reduces any flexing that the blade may encounter 
while in use because the less flex the straighter   the cut let's shift gears real quick and talk 
about two terms as it pertains to cutting wood   the first term is kerf the curve of the blade is 
how wide the blade is and ultimately how wide of a   cut it leaves behind in the wood the second term 
is off cut the offcut is any piece of material   that you don't want or the waste after the cut is 
finished the offcut isn't necessarily always waste   though it may simply mean the piece that you're 
not intending to use after the cut is complete all   right let's finish this video off by talking about 
a few terms and tools used for shaping wood first   up is the wood chisel there are many different 
sizes and shapes available and they're all great   tools for shaping wood next is the hand plane 
hand planes again is a general term so for example   i have a block plane here that is used to shape 
edges of stock and to remove material where needed   the other plane i have is a jack plane and as you 
can see it's much larger than the previous one and   this one's great for general purpose planning and 
for shaping and flattening one term that's used   often around things that need sharpen like 
chisels and planes is the word hone hone   simply means to sharpen something the last 
tip we're going to look at today is this   the wood rasp wood rasps like all tools come in 
many different sizes and shapes but they're all   great for quickly roughing out and shaping edges 
and the faces of stock well that does it for   part one next week in part two we're going to be 
covering power tools types of cuts types of trim   and molding and window and cabinet parts i hope 
this video has been helpful for you thank you so   much for watching and subscribing to the channel 
i look forward to seeing everybody next week bye

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