Carpentry and Joinery Glossary A-Z Part 5

Don’t know your monkey tail from your lamb’s tongue?! Continuing on from our previous parts of our Carpentry and Joinery terms, this post sees us looking at L-M and explaining exactly what a monkey tail bolt and lamb’s tongue is!

Quick links – A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

L

Label
A hood moulding. A moulding above a window or door and terminated by corbels.

Lambs Tongue (Right)
A flat Ogee moulding, commonly used on Skirting Boards.

Laminated
Built up of several thin layers of timber.

Landing
A wide resting place at the top of a flight of stairs. If the landing is equal in width to two flights, it is a half space landing. If it is only as wide as one flight, then it is a quarter-space landing.

Lantern
A projecting erection above a roof, with glazed sides.

Lap Joint or Lapped Joint
A joint between two pieces of timber that overlap one another.

Lap Mitre or Lip Mitre
An angle rebated joint with a small mitre at the corner to avoid end grain showing on the face.

Latchet Door
A small door built within a larger door or gate. An alternative name for a Judas Gate or Wicket Gate.

Lath
A long strip of timber, very thin and narrow, used for forming a key for plastered surfaces or for carrying tiles and slates.

Lattice
Any work in which narrow strips of timber cross each other to form an open network.

Lean-to
A roof with only one slope, usually formed against the side of a building.

Ledged Door
A door consisting of boards and ledges and with no outer frame.

Lining-out
Marking out the timber prior to sawing.

A Lattice work panel

Lintel or Lintol
A horizontal beam across an opening, usually carrying a wall above.

Live Knot
A firm, sound knot.

Lock Block
A block in the framing of a flush door or gate, to provide a fixing for the lock.

Lock Rail
The middle rail of a door, carrying the lock.

Log
A felled tree with the branches and bark removed.

Louvre
Inclined boards, which admit light and air, but exclude the rain.

Lumber
An American term for sawn timber.

Lych Gate
A covered entrance to a Churchyard. Also known as a Corpse Gate.

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M

Mallet
A hammer with a large wooden head, normally used in a workshop for either framing up (putting a jointed frame together) – knocking the assorted frame members together and also when chiseling out (the use of a mallet rather than a hammer saves damaging the handle of the chisels.

Mansard Roof (Right)
A roof of double-pitch on both sides.

Mantelpiece
The shelf over a fireplace. Usually applied to the ornamental surround, or front of the fireplace.

Mantel Tree
The lintel of a fireplace.

Margin
The narrow strip mitred round the hearth of a fireplace.

Margin Lights
Narrow panes of glass at the sides of a sash.

Marigold Window
A rose window, or Catherine wheel window.

Marquetry (Right)
Inlaid work of thin veneers from differently coloured woods forming intricate pictures and patterns.

Marquise
A large canopy, hood, or shelter at the entrance to a building.

Matchboarding
Tongued and grooved boards with a veed or beaded edge.

MDF
Short for Medium Density Fibreboard, a engineered timber product made from residual Softwood and Hardwood. Recently the subject of health scares as Urea-formaldehyde is used to bind the MDF together.

Medallion
A circular or elliptical raised tablet or pane, with carved or inscribed surface.

Medullary Rays
The radiating bands of cells in timber trees, which produce silver grain.

Meeting Rails
The rails in sliding sash windows, which meet in the middle of the frame.

Meeting Stiles
The middle stiles of double/folding doors and double casements.

Member
Any important piece in structural framework. Also, an individual part of a moulding.

Mezzanine
A floor introduced between the levels of the main floors.

Mitre
The intersection of two pieces or mouldings forming an angle.

Mitre Box
A rectangular box, or trough, used for sawing mouldings to any required mitre.

Mitred and Cut String
A stair string cut to the shape of the steps and mitred for the risers.

Mitre Dovetail
A secret dovetailed joint with the appearance of a mitred joint.

Monkey Tail Bolt (Right)
A surface-mounted bolt with an elongated handle, usually used for securing the tops of one door of a pair of double doors to their frame. The name monkey tail refers to the elongated handle.

Mortice or Mortise
A recess formed in one member to receive a projection (the Tenon) which is on another member.

Mortice Lock
A lock sunk into the edge of a door stile, so the body of the lock is not visible on the face of the door.

Moulding
A piece of timber of which the rectangular section has been shaped into various contours for ornamentation.

Mount
To plant or fix on to the face.

Mullions
The vertical divisions in window frames.

Muntins or Muntings
The vertical divisions in framing between the stiles and the Mullions, also known as Glazing bars.

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If you think you’ve got a Carpentry or Joinery term that we’ve missed, or you’ve got a question, then please use the comments section below and we will respond.