David Howard wrote:
Garrett Wollman wrote, on Mon, 06 Oct 2014 04:50:01 +0000:

In woodworking, a spline is a long (and perforce rigid) bar of material
used to join two grooved work pieces (essentially acting as a two-sided
"tongue"), running cross-grain and providing greater strength than a
simple butt joint by greatly increasing glue surface area. I suspect
the same sense exists in metalworking as well.
With that as a starting point, I find the woodworking use of "spline" here.
http://www.woodworkersjournal.com/re...tsWithSplines/

I wonder if the woodworkers know that a "spline" means a curved line?
http://autocadtips.files.wordpress.c...ader.jpg?w=640
http://help.autodesk.com/cloudhelp/2...886CB2A345.png


I didn't read everything above.. but maybe the use of spline by
woodworkers is more closely related to the "splint"--like you would use
on a broken finger.