GLOSSARY OF WOOD AND CABINET DOOR TERMS
GLOSSARY INDEX ......................................................Home
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Bird Peck - A patch of distorted grain and/or coloring resulting from birds pecking into the living trees, sometimes containing ingrown bark or insect residue. |
| Bird's Eye - Small decorative circular figure, most common in Hard Maple lumber. |
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Board Foot - A piece of lumber 1 inch thick, 12 inches wide, and 12 inches long, or 144 cubic inches. Lumber less than 1 inch thick is considered to be 1 inch thick. |
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Bow - The distortion in a board that deviates from flatness down the length of a board (Like an eyebrow). |
| Burl - A swirl or twist in the grain of the wood which does not contain a knot. |
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Cathedral Grain - A grain appearance characterized by a series and inverted "V" or "bell" shaped patterns, common in plain-sawn lumber. Hutchinson Products Top |
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Corner Blocks, Angle - This is a frame corner block that results in a straight 45 degree angle design across the inside corner of the door. (See also, Radius Corner Blocks). |
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Course Grain - "Rapid growth" wood with wide growth rings. Typical of the southern woods. These woods will normally have more open grain, ie; Ash, Red Oak, Hickory, Pecan. |
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Cup - The distortion of a board that deviates flatwise from a straight line across the width of the board. |
| Defects - Common defects include knots, worm holes, bird pecks (bark pockets), wane, stain, pitch, checks, unsound burls, shake and split. |
| Deciduous - The term given to broad leaved trees which shed leaves annually. (i,e., Ash, oak, walnut. ~ Hardwood trees) |
| Edge Placement - Defines which outer edges of a product will be machined with the chosen Edge Profile. Typically this is "All 4", meaning all 4 outer edges of one Door or Drawer Front. Another common edge placement is "4P", which means all 4 outer edges of a Pair of doors. In a "4P" placement, the center edges where the Pair of doors meet is left as a straight profile. "T&2" means the Top and 2 sides of one door, the bottom edge is left straight. "T&2P" means the Top and 2 sides of a Pair of doors, The middle edges and the bottom edges are left straight. "TBL" means theTop, Bottom and Left side of one door. "TBR" means the Top, Bottom and Right side of one door. "T&B" means only the Top and Bottom edge of one door. |
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Edge Profiles - A machined shape on the outside edges of a Cabinet Door or Drawer Front. We offer 5 Lip Edge Profiles, and 17 Overlay Edge Profiles, 3 of the Overlay Edge Profiles are Finger Pull Edge Profiles.
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| European Hinges - Refers to 32mm style hidden hinges that do not show on the front of the door. These require special mounting holes drilled in the back of the doors that in some cases are not compatible with some of our Edge Profiles. Compatible Edge Profiles with European style hinges are marked with an "*" in our catalog and product literature. Edge Profiles # 6, #9, #11, #12, #14, #17, #21, and #22 are recommended for European style hinges. Hutchinson Products does not sell hinges or drill for hinges, European or otherwise. |
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Face (Face Measurement) - The flat surface on the front of the frame part, measured from the outside edge to the "Face Reveal" (the point where the sticking pattern begins). |
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Face Reveal - The inside boundary of the face, the point where the sticking pattern begins. |
| FAS - Firsts and Seconds is the top grade of hardwoods recognized by the National Hardwood Lumber Association, NHLA. To this "Best of the Best" grade of lumber, we add color and texture requirements so that the lumber we purchase is of the highest quality. |
| Fiberboard - Panel board made from wood fiber or pulp mixed with adhesive and bonded under pressure and heat. Often used as a plywood substitute or as the core material of veneered plywood. |
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Figure - The pattern produced in a wood surface by annual growth rings, rays, knots, deviations from natural grain such as interlocked, curly, and wavy grain and also irregular coloration. |
| Finish Size - Measurements that reflect the actual completed size of our product. Normally somewhat larger than the opening sizes. |
| Flat Panel - Typically a 1/4" thick panel made from our custom MDF core, finish grade plywood faced with the same variety of wood veneers as our lumber. These panels may be modified by machining the face of the panel with; Saw Kerfs, V-Grooves, or V-Beading. |
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Flat Panel Door - A door frame using a 1/4" thick flat panel insert with vertical panel grain. Flat Panel Doors are available in all of our various designs and both frame types, Quarter Round Frame & Shaker Frame. (See also, Frame Types, Design, Flat Panel). Hutchinson Products Top |
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Flat Panel Drawer Front - A door frame using 1/4" a flat panel insert with horizontal panel grain. This small door will be mounted onto the front of a cabinet drawer box. These are normally a Straight Design with 1 1/2" top and bottom rails. The minimum FP DF height is 5". Flat Panel Drawer Fronts are available in both frame types, Quarter Round Frame & Shaker Frame. |
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Frame Types - We offer two different door frame types, Quarter Round Frame or Shaker Style Frame. The Quarter Round Frame uses rail and stile sticking that is a quarter round pattern. The Shaker Style Frame uses rail and stile sticking that is a square face flush pattern. |
| Grain - The direction, size, arrangement and appearance of the fibers in wood or veneer. |
| Hardwood - General term used to designate lumber or veneer produced from temperate zone deciduous or tropical broad-leaved trees in contrast to softwood, which is produced from trees which are usually needle bearing or coniferous. The term does not infer hardness in texture or density. Each year 55% more hardwood is grown than is harvested in this country. There is twice as much hardwood timber today than in 1952. |
| Heartwood - The non-active or dormant center of a tree generally distinguishable from the outer portion (sapwood) by its darker color. Heartwood is more decay-resistant than sapwood. |
| Hidden Hinges - There are two general types of hidden or concealed hinges, Fully concealed or Semi-concealed. Fully concealed hinges when mounted to the cabinet face and the cabinet doors will not be easily seen from the front side of the cabinet. Semi-concealed hinges will generally show only the hinge pivot knuckle from the face side of the cabinet. There are many variations of both general types. (See also, European Hinges). Hutchinson Products does not sell hinges or drill for hinges. |
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Insert - This is the part of the door that fills the space inside the door frame. The Insert might be a raised panel, a flat panel or even a piece of glass if the door is a Plastic Stop door. Hutchinson Products Top |
| Kiln Conditioned - Obtaining a similar moisture content in all the "core" or center of the boards in the kiln charge. This is usually done by injecting steam into the kiln during the beginning of the drying process. Later, after the kiln process has removed the excess moisture in the boards, steam is again injected into the kiln to relieve stress created in the boards. |
| Kiln Dried - Wood that has been artificially dried, moisture removed, by forcing dry heated air to circulate around the lumber in and enclosed building, so as to achieve a uniform moisture content required for a specific end-use application, generally 6 % to 8 % for most hardwoods. Kiln drying also kills bugs and larvae that infest all green lumber. |
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Knot - A circular, woody fiber in a board that once formed the base of a branch or twig growing from the trunk of a living tree. |
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Knots, Pin - Sound knots 1/4" inch or less in diameter containing dark or speckled centers. |
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Knots, Sound, Tight - Knots that are solid across their face and fixed by growth to retain their place. Hutchinson Products Top |
| Lazy Susan Door - A special door that conforms to the inside corner of a cabinet. Typically, this door(s) is assembled in the shape of an "L", forming and inside 90° corner. These special doors are either hinged to the face of the cabinet corner opening in front of the Lazy Susan, or they can be mounted directly to the Lazy Susan inside the cabinet corner and turn through the opening as the Lazy Susan is rotated. |
| Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) - A panel or core product manufactured from wood fibers combined with a synthetic resin or other bonding system. MDF is manufactured with a minimum density of 31 lbs. per cubic foot up to 55 lbs. per cubic foot by the application of heat and pressure by a process in which the the fiber bond is substantially created by the addition of adhesive. We prefer an MDF product made from Pine fibers only. It is 40% lighter in weight, can more easily be machined and it sands and paints fabulously. |
| Mitered Doors (Picture Frame Doors) - Doors in which the corners of the outer frame members are cut at a 45° angle (mitre) and then assembled in a "butt joint" fashion. This is how picture frames are typically built. |
| Moisture Content of Wood - Percentage of moisture present in wood; degrees of dryness. The weight of the water contained in the wood, usually expressed in percentage of the weight of the oven-dry. (Oven-Dry weight refers to 100% dry weight ... zero moisture content.) 8% moisture content means that 8% of the total wood weight is water. |
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Mortise - The groove in the stile that the coped rail tenon (tongue) fits into. This is the same groove that the panel also fits into and is incorporated into the rail and stile sticking cutters. |
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Mull (Mullions) - Are vertical door frame parts, placed between door stiles, that connect door rails. Mulls have stile sticking machined on both edges and both ends are coped with tenons. Mulls are used only with straight designs or straight design variations. Hutchinson Products Top |
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Mull Stile(s) - Are vertical door frame parts which separate multiple curved design top rails but connect to a common straight bottom rail. Mull-stiles have stile sticking machined on both edges and one end is coped with a tenon. |
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No Panel Frame - A regular door frame without a panel insert. |
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Offset Center Rail - A horizontal center rail that is not in the center of the door, vertically. (See also, Center Rail). These Offset Center Rails can be located either by ratio (2/3 top - 1/3 bottom), or by fixed dimension, (0" top - 12" bottom), or (24" top - 0" bottom). |
| Opening Size - Measurements that reflect the actual and true cabinet openings. |
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Panel (Panel Insert) - That part of the door which fits inside the frame, normally with vertical grain. Hutchinson Products Top |
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Panel Configuration - In a multiple panel door it is the number of panels wide by the number of panels high. An example would be a 6 Panel door could have a panel configure of; (1w x 6h), (6w x 1h), (2w x3h), or (3w x 2h).
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| Panel Only - A raised panel or flat panel with no door frame around it. Can be any design. |
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Panel Profile - The machined edge profile of the raised panel, called the "Raise." We offer 4 different Raised Panel Profiles; Swoop Raise, Step Raise, Hip Raise and Tulip Raise. The Flat Panel is still another Panel Profile. All Panel types may have their face side modified by Saw Kerfs, V-Groves or V-Beads machined in the same direction as the panel,s grain. |
| Pecky - Pockets of disintegrated wood caused by localized decay, or wood areas with abrupt color change related to localized injury such as bird peck. Pecky is sometimes considered as a decorative effect, such as bird peck in Pecan, Hickory, or Pecky Cypress. |
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Plain Sawn Lumber - Plain sawing is the most common method of sawing and consequently most lumber is plain sawn. Plain sawn lumber is obtained by making the first saw cut on a tangent to the circumference of the log and the remaining cuts parallel to the first. This method provides the widest boards and the least waste; therefore, it is the most economical. Plain sawn (tangential grain) is easily recognized by its cathedral (Gothic arch) effect on the face of the board. The end grain will have semi-circles. Plain sawn lumber is easier to kiln dry.
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Plastic Stop - A strip of brown or white vinyl shaped retainer that fits snugly in a machined groove in the door frame for the purpose of holding a glass panel, or other type of panel insert, in place. Our Plastic Stop retainer is easy to remove and reinstall whenever required. |
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Plastic Stop Door - A type of door frame machined to accept a removable vinyl retainer which secures the panel insert in the door frame. Plastic Stop Doors are available in all of our various designs and both frame types, Quarter Round Frame & Shaker Frame. |
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Quarter Round Frame - Hutchinson Products offers two types of door frames, the Quarter Round Frame and Shaker Frame. The Quarter Round Frame has a quarter round bead on the inside edge of the frame (Sticking pattern), that holds the insert panel in place. Whenever placing an order, please specify which type of frame you require. There is no difference in price, only preference. |
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Quarter Sawn Lumber - Quarter sawn lumber is produced by first cutting the log into quarters and then sawing each quarter perpendicular to the growth rings. All of the boards sawn thus are of radial grain. When looking at the end grain, the annual growth rings will be at 90° to each face. In softwoods, quarter sawn lumber is termed "vertical grain" or "edge grain". Quarter sawn Red Oak, White Oak and Ash produce a medullary rey (flake) grain figure in the board's face while in Mahogany it produces ribbon stripe. This method of sawing produces relatively narrow boards and creates more waste. Quarter sawn lumber is also more difficult to kiln dry. For these reasons and the special handling involved, quarter sawn lumber is much more expensive than plain sawn.
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Radius Corner Blocks - Cabinet door frame decorative block(s), in the shape of 1/4 of a circle, added to the inside corner of a straight door frame. They may be installed in one, two, or all inside corners of the frame. They are used to modify the design of a Straight Door. (See also, Corner Blocks). |
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Rail(s) - Are the horizontal parts of a door frame that connect two stiles. Each door frame will have a Top Rail and Bottom Rail that can be of different Designs. Multi-panel doors, could also have one or more Center Rails. Slab doors can be made will one or two End Rails. Rails have Rail Sticking machined on the inside edge(s) and both ends are coped to fit into the Stile Sticking. (See also, Center Rail(s) and End Rail(s)). |
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Raised Panel - A panel made of Wood or MDF with an Panel Profile (Raise) machined around the panels edge. This Panel Insert fits inside the door frame. We offer 4 different Panel Profiles to choose from. (See also, Insert, Panel, Panel Profile). |
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Raised Panel Door - A door frame using a raised panel insert with vertical panel grain. Raised Panel Doors are available in all of our various designs and both frame types, Quarter Round Frame & Shaker Frame. (See also, Frame Types, Design, Raised Panel). |
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Raised Panel Drawer Front - A door frame using a raised panel insert with horizontal panel grain. This small door will be mounted onto the front of a cabinet drawer box. These are normally a Straight Design with 1 1/2" top and bottom rails. The minimum RP DF height is 6 1/2"". Raised Panel Drawer Fronts are available in both frame types, Quarter Round Frame & Shaker Frame. |
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Rift Sawn Lumber - Rift sawn lumber begins the same way as quarter sawn, by first cuting the log into quarters and then sawing each quarter separately. Then the angle of the cut is changed slightly so that fewer saw cuts are parallel to the medullary rays, which are responsible for the flake effect. This method of sawing accentuates the vertical grain and minimizes the flake, common in quarter sawn. Also, like quarter sawn lumber, this method of sawing produces relatively narrow boards and creates more waste. Rift sawn lumber is also more difficult to kiln dry. For these reasons and the special handling involved, rift sawn lumber is much more expensive than plain sawn.
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| Sapwood - The lighter colored wood growing between the heartwood and bark. |
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Saw Kerf - Decorative straight sided grooves
sawed into the face side of a panel. The straight grooves are
cut in the same direction as the panel grain, parallel to each
other and spaced on 2" centerlines. The kerf will be 1/8"wide
by 1/8" deep. |
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Shaker Frame - Hutchinson Products offers two types of door frames, the Shaker Style Frame and the Quarter Round Frame. The Shaker Style Frame has square flush sticking on the inside edge of the frame (Sticking pattern), that holds the insert panel in place. Whenever placing an order, please specify which type of frame you require. There is no difference in price, only preference. |
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Slab Door - This is a 3/4" thick ,vertical grain, solid wood, flat faced, door with no frame. Typically it is constructed of 3" to 5" wide rippings of wood, edge-glued together. Slab Doors are not 5-piece door construction and are a much less stable product. The "Cupping" tendency of Slab Doors can be contested by adding an End Rail to one end or to both ends of the Slab Door. (See also, End Rail(s). Slab Doors are subject to a greatly reduced warranty because of there instability. We do not recommend this product to our customers, but we will manufacture them to the best of our technology if the customer so desires. |
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Slab Door End Rail(s) - Horizontal piece(s) glued across the end of a slab door. The glue joint is a mortise and tenon which is a very strong joint and helps make the door resistant to cupping. Hutchinson Products Top |
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Slab Drawer Front - A 3/4" thick horizontal grain piece of wood with an edge profile machined on the edges that will be mounted of the front of the drawer box. (See also, Edge Profiles). |
| Softwood - The non-porous wood of any cone-bearing, needle-leaved tree, regardless of whether the wood is in fact hard or soft ... ie; pine, fir, hemlock, etc. |
| Split (Split Opening)- A verbal shorthand used in ordering to indicate there are two doors covering the given opening, as in; The opening is 29"wide by 24"high, split. This results in the width being divided by 2, and two doors in the opening. (See also, Doors per Opening). |
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Square Foot - An area 12" x 12" or the equivalent of 144 square inches without regard to thickness. (See also, Board Foot).  |
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Square Footage - Calculated by multiplying the finish size width (inches) by the finish size height (inches) and then dividing that result by 144 (inches), rounding the answer to 2 decimal places. An example would be a door 18 1/4" width by 26 5/8" height would equal 485.91 square inches divided by 144 would equal 3.37 square feet. |
| Standard Hinges - An extremely non-specific and imprecise term describing a great variety of hinge types; butt, lip, strap, overlay, concealed, semi-concealed, fully concealed ...etc. Just about any hinge that is not associated with the European 32mm system. |
| Steamed - A process (Carmelization), in which certain woods (primarily walnut or cherry), are steamed in vats for the purpose of darkening the lighter colored sapwood to blend with darker colored heartwood. |
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Sticking - The pattern machined on the inside edge of the rails and stiles. It covers the edge of panels and holds them in place. It is physically part of the rails and stiles, but is not counted as part of the width of the rails and stiles. For example, our standard frame is 2 inches wide. But the actual part, including the sticking, is 2 1/4 inch wide because the sticking extends 1/4" towards the door center, and covers the edges of the door panel. In our Shaker Frame, the sticking is flush with the frame surface, so it can be deceptive. In the case of Shaker Frames, the 1/4" inch sticking looks like part of the face frame. So a 2 inch wide rail or stile looks like it is 2 1/4 inches wide. That extra 1/4" is the flush face sticking. |
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Stiles - The outside vertical pieces of a door frame, with stile sticking machined on the inside edge. Each door frame will have a one left stile and one right stile. (See also, Mulls, Mull Stiles, Center Stiles)
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Tenon - The tongue, or tab, part of the cope cut that fits into the mortise(groove) of a rail and stile door frame joint. |
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Top and Bottom Design - A door frame with the same curved design in both the top and bottom rails. |
| Twist - Spiral warpage of a board. The board is no longer flat. |
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V-Bead - A decorative groove cut into
the face side of a panel. The cut is made with a special cutting
tool that is shaped like a wide "V" with a half round
bead setting in the bottom of the "V" cut. The straight
grooves are cut in the same direction as the panel grain, parallel
to each other and spaced on 2" centerlines. The groove will
be 1/4"wide by 1/8" deep. |
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V-Groove - A decorative groove cut into the face side of a panel. The cut is made with a special cutting tool that is shaped like a "V". The straight grooves are cut in the same direction as the panel grain, parallel to each other and spaced on 2" centerlines. The groove will be 1/8"wide by 1/8" deep.
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| Veneer - A thin sheet of wood, rotary cut, sliced, or sawn from a log or flitch from a thickness of 1/100" up to 1/4". |
| Warp - A generic term that includes all variations from a true plane surface ... bow, sidebend, cup, or twist. |
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Wood Qualifiers - Appalachian - Lumber logged from the region along both sides of the Appalachian mountain range, running thru western Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York. Calico - A wood that has been selected to contain both heartwood and sapwood in the face side of the same board, ie; Calico Hickory. Central - Lumber that is logged from a region that includes eastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Clear - No knots on the front of the door. Small, minor defects are permitted on the back side. Dark - Lumber that is selected for all heartwood on the face of the board. Knotty - Knots are allowed on the front side, solid or cracked but structurally sound. Natural - Lumber that is not uniform color selected, but is as it was sawn from the log and graded. Northern - Lumber logged from states that are adjacent to the Canadian border, from eastern N. Dakota, Minnisota, Wisconsin, Michigan, northern Pennsylvania, upper New York, Vermont, New Hamphire, and Maine. Paint Grade - Fine grained woods that are free of knots but will have mixed heartwood and sapwood in the face of the boards, ie; Poplar, Brown Soft Maple, Natural N.Birch. Rustic - Permits all knots and other defects on the front and edges, including color variation. Southern - Lumber logged from a region that includes eastern Oklahoma, eastern Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, western Kentucky, western Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, S.Carolina, N.Carolina, and eastern Virginia. Uniform Color - This is lumber that is kiln dried, graded, surfaced, and then sorted by face color so that the boards in one shipment are all in the same color tone family. Western - Lumber that is logged from a region that includes all states west of a line from central N.Dakota to central Texas. White - Lumber that is selected to have all sapwood in the face of the boards. Hutchinson Products Top |
