Carpentry and Joinery Glossary A-Z Part 6

Explanation of terminology used in Joinery and Carpentry N-O

Have you ever seen naked timber? Or would you know a noggin if you fell over it? Are Old Women’s Teeth more than just dentures?! In this latest installment, more interesting and unusual woodworking and joinery terms will be explained; hopefully you will understand more about Old Women’s Teeth by the time you have read this!

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N

Naked
The structural timbers of a building before the finishings are applied.

Neat Size
The exact size after preparation.

Needle
A horizontal timber placed through a wall as a support.

Newel (Right)
The post which carries the handrail to a flight of stairs.

Noggins
Horizontal timbers placed between the studs of a partition.

Norfolk Latch
A fastening for a gate or ledged door operated by the thumb and also known as a thumb latch or Suffolk latch.

Nose
The bottom of the shutting stile of a door.

Nosing
The rounded edge to a flat face/surface.

Notch
A trench formed in one piece of timber to receive another piece.

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O

Ogee
A moulding consisting of a convex and a concave arc. The contour is lake a narrow inverted letter S.

Old Woman’s Tooth (Right)
A tool for levelling the bottom of grooves or trenches.

Open Floor
A floor in which the the joists are exposed, and not covered by a ceiling.

Open Roof
A roof in which the principal members are in view, and not enclosed by a ceiling. A common example is quite often found in Churches.

Open String
A cut string in stairwork.

Oriel or Oriel Light (Right)
A window projecting from the face of a wall and supported by either brackets or corbels.

OSB or Oriented Strand Board
Also known as Sterling Board. OSB consists of long strands, wafers or flakes of timber generally up to 150mm long by 25mm wide. As with Plywood, OSB contains several layers, the two exterior/face layers of strands being aligned in the long direction of the panel and inner layers being either randomly aligned or set up in a crossing alignment.

Outter String
The string farthest from the wall in stairwork.

Out of Wind
Not warped or twisted.

Out to Out
Measurements taken on outsides of a piece of framing.

Over-door
An ornamental finish to a door head, a Pediment.

Overlay
Applied to any thin covering, such as Veneer or Strip Flooring.

Ovolo
A convex moulding in the form or a quarter circle or Elipse.

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Think we’ve missed something out? If you’ve got a carpentry or joinery term you think we’ve missed then please use the comment box below to send it to us!