Week 3 - Trade Terms

Adjustable wrench: A smooth-jawed wrench with an adjustable jaw used for turning nuts and bolts. Often referred to as a Crescent® wrench due to brand recognition.

Ball-peen hammer: A hammer with a flat face that is used to strike cold chisels and punches. The rounded end (the peen) is used to bend and shape soft metal.

Bell-faced hammer: A claw hammer with a slightly rounded, or convex, face.

Bevel: To cut on a slant at an angle that is not a right angle (90 degrees). The angle or inclination of a line or surface that meets another at any angle except 90 degrees.

Box-end wrench: A wrench, usually double-ended, that has a closed socket that fits over the head of a bolt.

Cat’s paw: A straight steel rod with a curved claw at one end that is used to pull nails that have been driven flush with the surface of the wood or slightly below it.

Chisel: A metal tool with a sharpened, beveled edge used to cut and shape wood, stone, or metal.

Chisel bar: A tool with a claw at each end, com-monly used to pull nails.

Claw hammer: A hammer with a flat striking face. The other end of the head is curved and divided into two claws to remove nails.

Combination wrench: A wrench with an open end and a closed end.

Dowel: A pin, usually round, that fits into a cor-responding hole to fasten or align two pieces.

Fastener: A device such as a bolt, clasp, hook, or lock used to attach or secure one material to another.

Flats: The straight sides or jaws of a wrench opening; also, the sides on a nut or bolt head.

Foot-pounds: Unit of measure used to describe the amount of pressure exerted (torque) to tighten a large object.

Hex-key wrench: A hexagonal steel bar that is bent to form a right angle. Often referred to as an Allen® wrench.

Inch-pounds: Unit of measure used to describe the amount of pressure exerted (torque) to tighten a small object.

Joint: The point where members or the edges of members are joined. The types of welding joints are butt joint, corner joint, and T-joint.

Level: Perfectly horizontal; completely flat. Also, a tool used to determine if an object is level.

Nail puller: A tool used to remove nails.

Newton-meter: A measure of torque or mo-ment equal to the force of one Newton applied to a lever one meter long.

Open-end wrench: A non-adjustable wrench with a fixed opening at each end that is typically different, allowing it to be used to fit two differ-ent nut or bolt sizes.

Peening: The process of bending, shaping, or cutting material by striking it with a tool.

Pipe wrench: A wrench for gripping and turn-ing a pipe or pipe-shaped object; it tightens when turned in one direction.

Pliers: A scissor-shaped type of adjustable wrench equipped with jaws and teeth to grip objects.

Points: Teeth on the gripping part of a wrench. Also refers to the number of teeth per inch on a handsaw.

Punch: A steel tool used to indent metal.

Ripping bar: A tool used for heavy-duty dis-mantling of woodwork, such as tearing apart building frames or concrete forms.

Round off: To smooth out threads or edges on a screw or nut.

Square: Exactly adjusted; any piece of mate-rial sawed or cut to be rectangular with equal dimensions on all sides; a tool used to check angles.

Striking (or slugging) wrench: A non-adjust-able wrench with an enclosed, circular opening designed to lock on to the fastener when the wrench is struck.

Strip: To damage the head or threads on a screw, nut, or bolt.

Tempered: Treated with heat to create or restore hardness in steel.

Torque: A rotating or twisting force applied to an object such as a nut, bolt, or screw, using a socket wrench or screwdriver. Torque wrenches allow a specific torque value to be set and applied.

Weld: To heat or fuse two or more pieces of metal so that the finished piece is as strong as the original; a welded joint.

Carpenter’s square: A flat, steel square commonly used in carpentry.

Combination square: An adjustable carpenter’s tool consisting of a steel rule that slides through an adjustable head.

Planed: Describing a surface made smooth by using a tool called a plane.

Plumb: Perfectly vertical; the surface is at a right angle (90 degrees) to the horizon or floor and does not bow out at the top or bottom.

Rafter angle square: A type of carpenter’s square made of cast aluminum that combines a protractor, try square, and framing square.

Try square: A square whose legs are fixed at a right angle.

Kerf: A cut or channel made by a saw.

Miter joint: A joint made by fastening together usually perpendicular parts with the ends cut at an angle.

Tang: Metal handle-end of a file. The tang fits into a wooden or plastic file handle.

Tenon: A piece that projects out of wood or an-other material for the purpose of being placed into a hole or groove to form a joint.