Sooooo..... being nonprofessional, I found myself doing a double-take when
magazine articles use the word "width" when I would have expected "length",
or vice versa.

It took a couple decades, but I finally came to the conclusion that "width"
means "across the grain"...."length", along it.....irrespective of the
actual dimensions of the board (a board could be much wider than its length,
and up until my new understanding I would have reversed the words, to apply
"length" to the longest dimension).

And then p29 in the current WOODSMITH, in discussing how to make crossgrain
splines, says to "cut the splines to width (length)." aaaaack!
I do see what, in their normally helpful way, they are talking about.....but
got me to thinking.


Which led to my overthinking things and now I have a need to know.

Let's say you have a board that is 1" thick, 3" wide, 6" long.
The "ends" are where the grain shears off.
The "edges" are the thinner sides.
The "faces" are the wider sides.

But if I were to rip a thin strip off ...say 1/2" wide, so that the smaller
"board" is 1 x 1/2 x 6...have the "edges" and "faces" changed places?
Is the "edge" still the thinner (1/2") side?
If I rotate that board axially, the wider side (1") looks like a "face" to
me. Or is there some subtle grain differentiation that I don't get?

Or did I overthink myself into stupidity?

john