Woodworkers and History of Wood Working:
Carving Through History for a Shiny Finish

 With ages people have managed to turn the most ordinary materials into works of art. Sculptures have been made from plastic, marble and stone as well as bronze, brass and mud.

But one of the most spread materials is wood and woodworkers are actually in every country all over the world. People involved in woodworking are American, Japanese as well as citizens of other countries.

Woodworking is the process of making furniture or art from wood. There are many professions connected with it like carpentry, cabinet making, joinery or anything that involves wood.

The art of woodworking emerged with Egyptians and Chinese. Because of its long history woodworking has developed its own set of terms some of which are outdated, and others are still in use.

The tools used are measurers, sharpeners, carvers, cutters and finishers. There are two types of wood hard and soft. The hardwood comes from angiosperm, or fruit, or flower bearing tree and the softwood comes from gymnosperm, or cone bearing tree.

The wood workers look for some characteristics in the wood. One such is spalting or discoloration due to fungal infection. There should not be interlocked grains or multiple layers of grain as it is in the tropical hardwood because this makes smoothing and working more difficult.

They also season the wood before they start working with it. Thus the moisture content is reduced when they start cracking or splitting the wood. The wood that is not seasoned is named green wood.

Before the wood is carved it is measured and marked to position the places where it should be carved or where some things will be attached like hooks and guides. The tools of the woodworker are sharpened with a dressing stone. The devil stone is a hard dressing stone that is coarse enough to sharpen the grinders.

The wood workers can carve, sharpen and cut the wood. With the use of special tools like chisels and blades, he or she can imprint images, shapes, corners, grooves and frames into the wood.

One of the tools is the curious Dutchman that is a diamond-shaped wood patch. It is used to smooth blemishes and knotholes on the wood's surface. Then a shine is given to the wood that represents the native grain.

Woodworking is a craft that is enjoyable to learn and with beautiful products to poses. It is good to learn woodworking and see like all the others how you can carve into the art of history. You too can be a good woodworker.