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WEB-EXCLUSIVE: Woodspeak -- A Basic Woodworking Glossary Don't know a mortise from a tenon? Here are 30 basic woodworking terms to get you off on the right foot.

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A commercially made jig for making angled cuts on a table saw.

Jig -- A woodworking aid for controlling the tool or locating the work-piece for added safety or accuracy. A device used to make special cuts, guide a tool, or aid in woodworking operations. Similar in function to a fixture. The main difference between fixtures and jigs is that a jig may be designed to move or slide as it is used. Fixtures, on the other hand, are usually a stationary aid, brace or support. (See also fixture.)
As seen in: Wood Works, episode 613, Jigs and Fixtures Tour

Joinery -- The process of connecting or joining two pieces of wood together through the use of various forms of wood joints. In fine woodworking, common forms of joinery include dovetail joinery, mortise-and-tenon joinery, biscuit joinery, lap joints, spline joints, etc.
Joinery techniques are featured in just about every episode of DIY's series Wood Works.
Wood Works Episode Guide

• Woodspeak Tip: Avoid confusing joinery with the term "jointer" -- a woodworking tool used to straighten and square a board's edge. Making matters more confusing, there is also a tool known as a biscuit joiner -- sometimes called a biscuit jointer -- that is actually used in creating biscuit joinery.
  

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	A kerf cut with a table-saw blade.
	Laminate strips being shaped in a bending form to create a curved lamp-stand.

Kerf -- The groove left in a board when cut by a saw blade. (Example: Small kerfs may be cut in a tenon to provide the glue with space to move when gluing a tight mortise-and-tenon joint.)

Laminate -- The process of gluing layered materials together. Also, the layers of material that are glued together in the process of laminating. In general construction, laminate frequently refers to the plastic or manmade material glued to a wood substrate to form a protective surface -- such as in kitchen countertops. In fine woodworking, several thinly sliced layers of wood may be glued together to form a wooden laminate --which may, for example, be placed in a bending form to create a curved wooden surface.
As seen in: Wood Works, episode 512, Contemporary Bent-Laminate Lamp

MDF -- Medium-density fiber board. A special type of tempered hardboard sheet-material characterized by a finely sanded, smooth finish . Available in a range of thicknesses. Suitable for many basic household construction projects and cabinet-making. Frequently used in fine woodworking to build mockups, templates, jigs and fixtures.

A miter-jig used for cutting 45-degree angles.

Miter -- The woodworking joint created when two boards are cut at an angle to one another. The most common miter joint is the 45-degree mitre -- such as the cuts used to build square or rectangular picture frames. (May be used as a verb or noun.) A miter gauge may be used to assist in making miter cuts at the table saw. A miter jig is extremely useful as well.
As seen in: Wood Works, episode 613, segment 1: Jigs and Fixtures for the Table Saw

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