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