I‘ve had complaints from my staff that I talk too much about the history of the conservatory and not enough about the skills we use today to make our lovely looking conservatories. So here are a few words about some of the most important people in our business who work in our workshops – our carpenters.Let’s start off by looking at the word “carpenter”, a word derived from the Old French word carpentier that was in turn derived from the Latin carpentrius (artifex) – carriage creator.
So interestingly the carpenter was actually named after the carriage rather than the creator/maker. I guess in ancient Rome if you wanted to grab the attention of a carpentries as he walked to the forum that’s what you would shout, in much the same way as you might shout, “Oi chippie!” today.
Today carpenters who have finished their apprenticeship are often called craftsmen, but a century ago they would probably have been known as a “journeyman” because they had some experience but still travelled from town to town to learn further skills and techniques at different workshops. Their aim in doing this was to become a “master” and improve their craftsmenship – or in today’s language a master craftsman.
Your typical master craftsman use many different skills in working with wood and these are just a few of the terms they use, some of which will apply to the work done in building a conservatory in our workshops:
- Bead – a small rounded, raised profile, routed along the edge of a board.
- Chamfer – a bevelled cut along the edge of a piece of wood, usually at 45 degrees.
- Dovetail Joint – a joint using interlocking sections shaped like a doves tail to join pieces at 90 degrees.
- Dowel – a cylindrical wooden pin used to align and hold two adjoining pieces in a joint.
- Mortise – a rectangular hole cut into a piece of wood to accept a tenon.
- Mortise and Tenon Joint – a joint created by putting a square peg (tenon) in a square hole (mortise).
- Spokeshave – a tool used to shape curved surfaces, consists of a blade fastened between two handles.
I’m continually amazed at the workmanship our guys put into the construction of our conservatories and our customers are equally delighted. Sitting in a finished conservatory admiring the finish is something you can enjoy as well sometime soon, if you make an appointment to meet one of our design consultants!
