AY Honors/Woodworking/Answer Key

Woodworking

Collect and label five different kinds of wood used in woodworking. Tell the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Pine Pine is the most commonly available wood in North America. Its primary advantage is that it is relatively cheap. This is because is grows rather quickly. Another characteristic of pine is that it is soft. This can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. The advantage of a soft wood is that it is easy to work. The disadvantage is that it can break easily; delicate joinery that works fine in hardwoods will not hold up in pine.

Oak Oak is a very common hardwood. It is a tough wood that holds up well when stressed. It was often used in shipbuilding because of this touchness. Additionally, oak is fairly workable up until it is seasoned. Seasoned oak is very hard, which makes it difficult to cut, bore, plane or drive a nail through. This is an advantage in the finished product, but a disadvantage when trying to make something. When using oak, it is best to use unseasoned wood, and let it season once the object has been made.

Maple Maple is a light colored wood that can be found with highly figured grain. Figured grain is difficult to work with, but makes for a beautiful piece of furniture. Maple is also great for toy making because it does not easily splinter and stands up well to the abuse of even the most destructive of children. Maple is also commonly available, and thus, is relatively cheap for a hardwood.

Walnut Walnut is a dark hardwood. Its color is one of its chief advantages, and is probably wood most often "copied" by staining lighter, cheaper woods. Walnut also has figured grain and is fairly hard. It holds detail well, so it can be used in making intricate joints. It is also relatively expensive for a native hardwood.

Cherry Cherry is another hardwood that is commonly used in furniture making. Its color starts off as a medium brown and then slowly turns to a dark, beautiful reddish hue over time. It takes a nice finish, and has no need for stain. It is a little cheaper than walnut, but still fairly expensive.

Poplar Poplar is classfied as a hardwood, but it is relatively soft (though still harder than pine). Because of its softness, it is easy to work.

Elm Elm is a hardwood that is highly resistant to splitting. Because if this, it was the only wood used to make the hubs of wooden wagon wheels. It has a highly figured grain that entwines, and tangles itself in all directions - this is what makes it so difficult to split, but it also makes it difficult to plane.