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This is the practice of dividing production into specialised roles such as design, machining, assembly, finishing and quality control.
What is labour specialisation?
This is the outer protective covering of a tree.
What is bark?
This manufactured board is made from thin veneers glued together with alternating grain directions.
What is plywood?
This thin, compressed-wood insert fits into matching slots in adjoining boards.
What is a biscuit?
This finishing process enhances timber colour while allowing the natural grain to remain visible.
What is staining?
This adjustable tool is used to set out or transfer angles.
What is a sliding bevel?
This younger, active wood participates in transporting water and dissolved minerals.
Sapwood
Alternating grain directions in plywood help improve this property and reduce movement in one direction.
What is dimensional stability?
This process involves assembling and clamping a joint before adhesive is applied.
What is dry cramping?
Name one criterion that can be used to compare oil-based and water-based finishes.
What is drying time, appearance, application, cleanup/odour, or durability/use?
Give one disadvantage of labour specialisation.
What is less variety, dependence on specialised workers/machines, production disruption, reduced motivation, fewer broad skills, or communication problems?
This older inner wood generally provides structural support and is not the main active water-conducting tissue.
What is heartwood?
These fittings are designed for furniture that needs to be assembled and dismantled repeatedly.
What are knock-down fittings?
Give two reasons biscuits are used in timber-widening joints.
What are aligning adjoining boards and increasing the area available for adhesive?
This defect consists of cracks or separation extending into a board, commonly from an end.
What is a split?
Name four strategies a furniture manufacturer can use to minimise timber waste.
What are accurate planning/cutting lists, optimised layouts, suitable stock sizes, reuse of offcuts, repair/rework, separating waste, efficient machinery settings, and accurate worker training (any four)?
This thin growth layer produces new cells that contribute to tree growth.
What is the cambium?
Unlike dedicated knock-down fittings, these are generally intended as permanent fasteners.
What are nails?
Put these biscuit-joint stages in a sensible order: glue, mark out, cut slots, dry assemble, clamp.
What is mark out → cut matching slots → dry assemble/check fit → apply adhesive and insert biscuits → clamp and check alignment/squareness?
This distortion occurs when a board's corners are no longer in the same plane.
What is winding (wind)? or Twisting (twist)?
Explain why paying attention to grain direction during machining can improve the finished component.
What is reducing tear-out and producing a smoother, better-quality surface by cutting with attention to the timber fibres?
This tissue transports water and dissolved minerals from the roots through the plant.
What is xylem?
Explain one advantage of plywood in furniture construction.
What is improved dimensional stability, with alternating veneer grain directions helping reduce splitting or movement in one direction?
This decorative process uses thin veneers arranged or inlaid to create a pattern.
What is marquetry?
Why should timber be inspected for defects before machining?
What is to identify defects that could affect appearance, strength, machining or jointing, allowing unsuitable stock to be avoided or the component to be planned around the defect?