Everything about Woodworking totally explained
Woodworking is the process of building, making or carving something using
wood.
History
Along with stone, mud, and animal parts, wood was certainly one of the first materials worked by primitive human beings.
Microwear analysis of the
Mousterian stone tools used by the
Neanderthals show that many were used to work wood. Indeed, the development of civilization was closely tied to the development of increasingly greater degrees of skill in working these materials.
Among early finds of wooden tools are the worked sticks from
Kalambo Falls,
Clacton-on-Sea and
Lehringen. The
spears from
Schöningen (
Germany) provide some of the first examples of wooden hunting gear.
Flint tools were used for carving. Since Neolithic times, carved wooden vessels are known, for example from the
Linear Pottery culture wells at
Kückhofen and
Eythra. Examples of
Bronze Age wood-carving include trees worked into
coffins from northern Germany and
Denmark, and wooden folding-chairs. The
site of
Fellbach-Schmieden in Germany has provided fine examples of wooden animal statues from the
Iron Age. Wooden
idols from the
La Tène period are known from a sanctuary at the source of the
Seine in
France.
Two ancient civilizations that used woodworking were the
Egyptians and the
Chinese. Woodworking is depicted in many ancient Egyptian drawings, and a considerable amount of ancient Egyptian
furniture (such as stools,
chairs,
tables,
beds,
chests) has been preserved in tombs. As well, the inner coffins found in the tombs were also made of wood. The metal used by the
Egyptians for woodworking tools was originally
copper and eventually, after 2000 BC
bronze as ironworking was unknown until much later. Commonly used woodworking tools included
axes,
adzes,
chisels,
pull saws, and
bow drills.
Mortise and tenon joints are attested from the earliest
Predynastic period. These joints were strengthened using pegs,
dowels and leather or cord lashings.
Animal glue came to be used only in the
New Kingdom period. Ancient Egyptians invented the art of
veneering and used
varnishes whose composition isn't known as
finishes. Although different native
acacias were used, as was the wood from the local
sycomore and
tamarisk trees, deforestation in the Nile valley resulted in the need for importation of wood, notably
cedar, but also
Aleppo pine,
boxwood and
oak, starting from the
Second Dynasty.
The progenitors of Chinese woodworking are considered to be
Lu Ban (魯班) and his wife Lady Yun, from the
Spring and Autumn Period. Lu Ban is said to have brought the plane, chalkline, and other tools to China. His teachings are supposedly left behind in the book
Lu Ban Jing (魯班經, "Manuscript of Lu Ban"), although it was written some 1500 years after his death. This book is filled largely with descriptions of dimensions for use in building various items—such as flower pots, tables, altars, etc.—and also contains extensive instructions concerning
Feng Shui. It mentions almost nothing of the intricate glueless and nailless joinery for which Chinese furniture was so famous.
Materials
Historically, woodworkers relied upon the woods native to their region, until transportation and trade innovations made more exotic woods available to the craftsman. Woods can be sorted into three basic types,
hardwoods, typified by tight grain and often derived from deciduous trees,
softwoods, typically from evergreen trees, and man-made materials, such as
plywood and
MDF.
Woodworkers
Further Information
Get more info on 'Woodworking'.
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