ORDER XV.—WORKERS IN WOOD AND FURNITURE

Sub-order 1.—Workers in Wood

485.—Wood Carvers; Carvers and Gilders; Picture Frame Makers

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carver, animal

a carver q.v. who carves animals and figures upon furniture and other woodwork, or as separate ornaments.

carver, wood carver

carves designs on wooden articles, e.g. furniture, cabinets, church ornaments, screens, panelling, etc., with hand gouges, chisels, punches and mallet; works, by hand, small portions of carvings or moulding for ornamentation of carriages, railway carriages, tram cars, etc.; clamps piece of wood to bench, and sketches outlines of design in pencil, balancing effects of light and shade and taking account of wood grain; cuts away wood with gouges and chisels and finishes cut surfaces according to effect desired; sometimes specifically designated, according to class of work done, e.g. architectural wood carver, cabinet carver, chair carver, ecclesiastical wood carver, stick carver.

carver, composition

carves designs on mirror or picture frames, etc., made of a composition of plaster of Paris and gum, using a chisel and mallet.

carver, letter; wood letter carver ; letter cutter, wood letter cutter, wood type cutter

a carver q.v. who cuts out from wooden blocks with hand and machine tools, large letters used in printing posters, etc.

carver's froster ; froster (wood)

roughs groundwork of carving with a punch.

carver, stock (small arms)

a carver q.v. who cuts ornamental devices on grip of gun stock, taking care to keep gun balanced.

compo moulder, compoer, compo press hand ; composition press man

makes up a composition of whiting, glue, and, if required, colouring matter, by hand; puts mixture into hopper head of a power-driven compo moulding machine; passes wooden hacking, for picture frame moulding, etc., into machine, which automatically spreads composition on hacking and moulds it to desired form with a profiling tool; after composition has been partly hardened, passes it. if further decoration is required, into another machine, fitted with roller dies, which impress required decoration upon it; cf. compo press worker (567).

composition frame maker

a picture frame maker q.v. using composition mouldings.

composition gilder

a gilder q.v. who specialises in gilding composition mouldings.

composition mounter, composition ornamenter, composition ornament decorator

applies composition ornaments to picture or other frames, with glue and/or small nails or screws.

composition press man

see compo moulder.

cutter, block cutter (wallpapers)

a wood carver q.v. who carves wallpaper designs on wooden blocks for printing wallpapers.

cutter, letter; wood letter cutter, wood type cutter

see carver, letter.

embosser

puts wood, after it has been softened by steaming, in a press, and applies pressure by moving lever so that wood is embossed with a die of required pattern.

embossing machinist, wood embossing machinist

passes strips of wood into a machine fitted with gas-heated top and bottom patterned rollers or dies, which impress pattern on wood, giving it an embossed or carved effect.

froster (wood)

see carver's froster.

gilder

(i) gilds chairs, picture frames, etc., by coating them with size and whiting, and then with size and oil, applying gold leaf, and burnishing;

(ii) decorates railway carriages, sewing machine covers, etc., by gilding, by process described above, by applying bronze lacquer with brush, or by laying a paper transfer on work, and passing a heated iron over transfer to cause decorative pattern, imprinted on transfer, to adhere to work, afterwards damping transfer and removing paper.

letter finisher, wood letter finisher

trues up, smooths, polishes and puts final finish, with fine hand tools, upon large wooden letters cut by wood letter carver q.v.

mount cutter

see picture frame mounter.

ornament maker (wood)

as for carver.

Oxford frame maker, Oxon frame maker

a picture frame maker q.v. who specialises in making Oxford frames, i.e. frames with corners carved in a Gothic pattern.

picture frame fitter-up

fixes picture in mount; inserts and fixes glass and picture in frame; tacks on wooden backing, over which he pastes brown paper; screws in rings for picture cord; sometimes also cuts glass.

picture frame joiner

saws mouldings to required length for frame, shoots or planes ends true, and glues and nails pieces together to form frame; or glues and nails together mouldings which have been cut to size by machine.

picture frame maker

cuts mitres from stock frame moulding; glues and tacks up to make throughout cheaper class of picture frame, including fitting up with glass, mount, and back.

picture frame mounter ; mount cutter

cuts and bevels mount, or inner framing to picture, made of cardboard or of thin wood, using a mount cutting knife or machine.

picture framer

assists customer to select frame from stock to suit picture, or to select frame moulding from stock; in latter case makes up frame, see picture frame maker; (if a mounted picture) fits up picture frame, see picture frame fitter-up.

picture frame strainer maker

makes wooden frames on which strainer q.v. stretches canvas or other material; measures wood and cuts to size; cuts and tenons cross battens; haunch mortices at corners to receive tapered tenons and tightening wedges and at centre to receive batten; assembles and glues battens in place.

strainer, picture frame strainer, artist's frame strainer

strains canvas or other material for oil paintings, etc., on wooden frames, fastening to edges of frame with short nails; drives wedges into mortices in corners of frames to increase its size and so tighten canvas.

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From: A Dictionary of Occupational Terms Based on the Classification of Occupations used in the Census of Population, 1921,
Ministry of Labour, 1927. Digitised by Peter Christian, August, 2016.   This text is in the Public Domain.