Carpentry Glossary - F
Facade: generally one side of the exterior of a building, especially the front, but also sometimes the sides and rear. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"
Face: a piece of lumber's wide surface; also refers to the wide surface showing the better quality or appearance
Face Nail: a nail driven in perpendicular to a piece's surface
Factory Lumber: lumber intended to be cut up for use in further manufacture. Graded on the percentage of the area which will produce a limited number of cuutings of a specified size and quality.
Fading: loss of color in wood, usually from exposure to UV light.
Fascia: vertically oriented strips of wood which cap the ends of rafters and lookouts on the lower edge of a roof. May be used to attach the rain gutter to.
Faux Finishing: applying a coating of finish to one material in order to make it look like another material, for example, painting wood so that it appears to be brick and mortar.
Featherboard: a safety device used when working with stationary routers or power saws such as table saws or band saws. The purpose of a featherboard is to prevent fingers from slipping into the saw blade. A feather board may also help ensure an accurate cut by securing a workpiece against the fence. Several parallel cuts in the direction of the grain create fingers or "feathers" that flex in the direction of workpiece travel, preventing the workpiece from being dragged backwards by blade friction. Commercial featherboards are usually made of plastic.
Fenestration: the placement or arrangement and sizing of a building's windows and exterior doors.
Ferrule: crimped metal collar reinforcement on a hand tools, such as a file or chisel, where the shaft of the tool meets the wooden handle.
Fiber Board: generic, broad term referring to sheet material manufactured from wood, cane or other vegetable fibers. Includes chipboard, particle board, and hardboard.
Fiber Saturation Point: stage of the drying or wetting of wood at which the fiber cell walls are saturated and cell cavities are free of water. Assumed to be 30 percent moisture content, based on oven dry weight. Shrinkage occurs. when wood drops below this point.
Finial: an ornament at the top of a gable, flagpole, stair newel or other feature of a building or furniture.
Finish Carpentry: detail woodwork that is visible when construction is completed; includes molding, door and window frames, base trim, chair rails, cabinets and flooring.
Finishing Nail: thin nail used in trim and moldings or other places where nail holes must be small. Has a small, semi-spherical head that is intended to be unobtrusive and can be easily covered with putty. The smaller head gives it a weker holding strength than normal nails.
Fire Stop: a stop or block used in a building's wall in between studs in order to prevent the spread of smoke and fire through air spaces.
Fire Wall: a wall subdividing a building which is intended to restrict the spread of fire.
Flashing: thin continuous pieces of sheet metal or other impervious material used in roof or wall construction to prevent the passage of water into a structure from an angle or joint.
Flat Cut: wood sawn parallel to the annual growth rings, also called flat grain or flat sawn
Flat Roof: a roof that is level, or pitched slightly to provide drainage.
Flat Head: type of screw with slotted head, mating screwdriver is a flat blade, hence the name. The standard screw drive system.
Flush: condition in which two adjacent surfaces are even, or in the same plane
Footing: at the base of a foundation wall, column or pier, the spreading course or courses.
Foundation: the supporting portion of a structure below the first floor construction or grade, including footings, that transfers loads to the earth.
Framing: a building's timber structure that gives it it's strength and shape; includes interior and exterior walls, roof, floor and ceiling.
Frieze: boxed cornice wood trim member attached to the structure where the soffit and wall join.
Furring: long thin strips of wood or metal used to make backing surfaces to support the finished surfaces in a room. Furring refers to the backing surface, the process of installing it, and may also refer to the strips themselves.