Timbers - EdexcelShaping

There is a variety of equipment and processes used with timber, for example:

• hand tools for marking out, cutting and shaping, eg engineer’s square for marking lines at 90° to an edge
• machinery, eg circular saws and bandsaws
• digital design and manufacture, eg laser cutters and computer numerical controlled (CNC) routers

Cutting

There are a great many saws used to cut timber - some suit long straight cuts on thicker planks, and others suit curves and complex shapes:

• rip saw - for ‘ripping’ through and rough cutting thicker planks and boards
• tenon saw - for cutting straight lines with accuracy
• coping saws, jig saws and scroll saws - all for cutting thinner pieces of timber, and can cope with curves too

Shaping

Timber can also be drilled by using a variety of different drill bits, which work by twisting into a piece of timber:

• twist drills - used to simply drill a hole of a fixed diameter into a piece of timber
• countersink bits - used to profile a hole so that the top of a screw can sit flush with a surface
• forstner bits - used to drill flat-bottomed holes
• hole saws - used to cut large holes

As well as cutting and drilling, there are other skills to develop to shape timber:

• chiselling - used to remove timber, usually up to a cut or between two cuts, eg in the production of wooden joints such as dovetails
• planing - used to smooth the edge of a piece of timber by running a sharp blade in the direction of the grain, or can be used at an angle to produce a chamfered edge
• abrading or sanding - used to achieve a profiled shape or smooth surface finish by removing fine particles, normally the final stage in shaping the timber and done by hand or with a machine (belt, disc or orbital)
• hand sanding, using:
  • abrasive paper such as sand or glass paper
  • files
  • rasps - have larger teeth than a file that can leave marks in the wood
  • surforms - similar to a cheese grater in appearance, used for rough shaping but again leaves marks in the wood

Turning

A lathe works by spinning a piece of timber at speed. While the timber is turning, a wood-turning tool is pushed into the timber to change its shape. Some timber can be held in place by compressing it from end to end. This would allow a spindle or cylinder to be shaped. Another way to hold the timber in place is to screw it to a faceplate - the timber then spins on the lathe, and this would allow a bowl to be turned.

Carving

Wood carving uses chisels to cut away at the wood and produces a piece of artwork. It has been mostly replaced by CNC machinery because of its labour-intensive nature.