Glossary
Woodworking Machine Operator Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential woodworking machine operator terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key woodworking machine operator vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in woodworking machine operator training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Board foot
- Lumber volume unit.
- CNC router
- Computer-controlled cutter.
- Dust collection
- Removes sawdust.
- Edgebander
- Applies edge tape.
- Feed rate
- Cutting speed.
- Grain
- Wood fiber direction.
- Kerf
- Width of a saw cut.
- Kickback
- Wood thrown back by a saw.
- Moisture content
- Water in wood.
- Moulder
- Shapes trim profiles.
- Nesting
- Arranging parts on a sheet.
- Router bit
- Cutting tool.
- Spoilboard
- Sacrificial table surface.
- Tearout
- Splintered edges.
- Wide-belt sander
- Sands panels.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Woodworking Machine Operator practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Woodworking Machine Operator training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.