this was forwarded to me... I guess somebody thinks I'm an expert or
something, but I don't have an answer. so what do y'all think?



This has been bothering me for a few years. Their are a
pair of words used in carpentry, and I can't for the life of me,
recall what these two words are. I had heard them many years
ago, and they have escaped my memory. If anybody can tell me
what these two words are, I would much appreciate it.
I recall that they were one syllable words. The word
"kerf" comes to mind, and that word may be similar to the words I
am looking for, but the word "kerf" means somthing entirely different.

When making certain cuts with a circular saw, the saw
doesn't make a straight butt edge at the end of the cut, due to the
circular nature of the blade. There is a little piece of wood
left over, which generally needs to be cut with a hand saw, to make
the end of the cut straight, yet not "overcutting" into the piece
you want to save.
There is a specific WORD for this little leftover piece of
wood. What is that word?

This word actually comes as a pair of words. In
different cuts of wood, there is complimentary piece leftover
wood, not the inside leftover piece, but an outside leftover piece,
which also has it's own name. That would be the other word I am
looking for.

I have often heard, when a person doesn't know how to
spell a word, someone will tell them "look it up in the
dictionary". Well, how are they suppose to look it up if they
don't know how to spell it?
I sometimes wish there were a "back door" to the
dictionary. When you know the definition of a word, but you don't
know the word, there should be some way to look it up.