Words Heard Around the Bench

The four notes borrow a handful of terms from our shop floor. Here they are in plain English.

Iron

The flat steel blade inside a hand plane. Kept keen, it lifts a single ribbon of wood.

Chatter

The stuttering noise and rippled surface you get when a blade is dull or set too deep.

Shaving

The thin curl a plane takes off the board. A long unbroken one is a sign that everything is right.

Kerf

The slot a saw blade leaves behind. Every cut removes a little width, which is why marks go on the waste side.

Story stick

A strip of scrap wood with all the key lengths for one piece marked on it, so nobody has to read a tape again and again.

Offcut

The leftover end after a cut. Good shops keep the useful ones in a bin under the bench.

Run-down

The seconds a machine needs to come to rest after the switch is off.

Close-up

The end-of-week routine: crossing off the calendar, sweeping, and hanging tools back in their places.