The Carpenter's Hands

 The Carpenter’s Hands

By Bobby Neal Winters

In taking up woodworking, I’ve stepped into a new world.  No, new is not right, the world is not new, it is old, but it is different.  There’s a different language, different customs, different things to learn, but they are old things for the most part.

Man is a tool using animal. We use tools to do things, but we use tools to make other tools.  We’ve used this ability to leverage ourselves out of the mud. And to talk about our tools, to teach others how to use them, we’ve created words. Words have been some of our most important tools.

As I sit here, there is a tool called a “wheel marking gauge” that is just to my left hand.  It is a device to which I was happily ignorant as little as a week ago, but having learned of its existence I had to have one.

As you might’ve guessed, it’s a measuring device.  It can be used for a variety of applications, but when I first saw it on YouTube it was being used to make a mortise and tenon joint.

I had heard of a mortise and tenon joint in the past, but until recently that phrase was just a collection of syllables. These are words that come into the English language through Old French. A mortise is a hole and a tenon is a projection you put into a hole. What were two separate things, are now one.  Something new has come into the world.  

The mortise and tenon joint is a way that you join two boards together without nails or screws and maybe not even glue. The tenon must fit very tightly within the mortise, and, as a consequence, measurements must be precise.

As I typed the word measurement, the image of a tape measure popped into my head, so I figured it might have yours too.  I need to knock that thought out of both of our heads.  The type of measurement needed for this is much more exact than can be accomplished with just a tape measure.  

In transferring the measure of the mortise to the board out of which you are going to cut your tenon, you can’t use just a tape measure or ruler or anything that would cause you to write down a number.  There would always be rounding off, and you would always be wrong.

Because of this, they need a wheel marking gauge. You can set the device to the exact size needed on the mortise board and transfer it directly to the tenon board without changing it to a number in between.  The wheel gauge I have does have measurements calibrated on its axis, but you would never need to look at them when you are transferring the measurements.  They are there for other needs.

Having praised the wheel marking gauge, let me say that not everyone uses them.  There are those who’ve made their own measuring device that works in a similar way. It's made mainly of wood, but with a single nail through it to do the marking.

There are two breeds of woodworkers on the internet: The Power Tool folks and the Hand Tool folks. The hand tool people use very sharp chisels to cut their mortises and sharp Japanese saws to cut their tenons.  The hands of those who do this are rough, but amazingly skilled. There is something there to be admired.  

It makes me want to do my woodworking better. It makes me want to be a better writer.  Heck, it just makes me want to be better.

Bobby Winters, a native of Harden City, Oklahoma, blogs at redneckmath.blogspot.com and okieinexile.blogspot.com. He invites you to “like'' the National Association of Lawn Mowers on Facebook. Search for him by name on YouTube. )