Craft Project: Materials, Tools and Methods

Decided before the tool is picked up

A craft project is marked on whether the finished thing matches the drawing and does the job it was made for. That sounds like it is about skill with a tool, and skill matters, but most of what decides the outcome is settled before any tool is touched. Which material suits the job. Which joint or which bond will carry the load and stay together. How accurately the work is set out at the very start, because everything built afterwards inherits that. A piece set out a few millimetres out of square at the beginning is out of square everywhere by the end, and no amount of care later will bring it back. This module is the knowledge behind the making, which is what a written paper can ask you about: the names of the joints and bonds and what each one is for, how the materials and fixings are chosen, what quality control actually means on a job, and how to evaluate a piece you made yourself. It is not a guide to using tools. Selecting and handling tools safely is the subject of its own topic on this course, and that is where it belongs.

Words from the workshop and the site

Five terms used across both craft routes. Two of them are constantly confused with each other.

What does each job need?

Which joint, and why?

A drawer front is pulled outwards every time the drawer is opened. Which joint suits that corner best, and for what reason?

• A dovetail, because the interlocking wedge shapes cannot be pulled straight apart
• A butt joint, because it is the simplest to make accurately
• A mortise and tenon, because it is the strongest joint there is
• A mitre, because it hides the end grain and looks neat

Two craft routes, one set of habits

The controlled assessment can be taken in timber or in brickwork. The materials could hardly be less alike, and the working habits are almost identical.

The order of a craft task

Five stages of a small craft project. Put them into the order that avoids starting again.

• Read the drawing and list every material, component and fixing it needs
• Set the work out accurately and check the setting out before building anything
• Build or cut in the order the drawing implies, checking as each part is added
• Finish the surfaces and fit the remaining components
• Evaluate the finished piece against the drawing and against the job it has to do

What quality control actually means

Quality control is not one action at the end. Which THREE of these are what it actually consists of?

• Checking each stage against the drawing as the work goes along
• Knowing in advance what a good result looks like, so there is something to check against
• Correcting a fault at the point it is found, rather than carrying on and hoping
• Inspecting the piece carefully once it is finished
• Keeping the finished piece clean and well presented

You cannot inspect quality in at the end

This is the single most useful idea in craft work and it is worth stating plainly, because it is the difference between a project that goes well and one that is started twice. Inspecting a finished piece tells you what it turned out like. It cannot change what it turned out like. If a wall has gone out of plumb over six courses, discovering that at the top does not bring it back, and if a frame was set out out of square, finding that after the joints are cut means the joints are wrong too. So quality has to be built in rather than checked in, and that means three habits during the work rather than after it. Know what good looks like before starting, which usually means reading the drawing properly and deciding what tolerance you are working to. Check at every stage that could carry an error forward, especially the setting out, since everything inherits from it. And when something is out, stop and correct it there, because the cost of correction only ever rises. There is a second reason this matters for the written paper. An evaluation that says the piece was checked at the end reads as weaker than one that says what was checked at each stage and what was corrected. The second answer describes a craftsperson at work. The first describes somebody hoping.

Complete the craft sentences

One complete horizontal layer of bricks in a wall is _____. The pattern that stops joints lining up one above another is _____. Work that is truly vertical is described as _____. Marking out the position and lines of the work accurately before anything is built is _____.

A small frame, start to finish

Take a simple timber frame to be made from a supplied drawing. Follow the decisions rather than the actions. First the drawing is read all the way through, and every piece, fixing and component is listed before anything is picked up, because discovering a missing component halfway through costs a session. Next the joints are chosen, and each is chosen by the force it has to resist: the frame corners will be twisted whenever the frame is handled, so a joint with a tongue seated inside a slot is the right family of answer, and a simple butt joint pressed together and screwed is not, because it would rely entirely on the screws. Then the setting out, which is where the project is really won or lost. The lines are marked from a single reference edge rather than from each previous mark, so that small errors do not accumulate along the length, and the setting out is checked for square before a single cut is made. During the work each part is checked as it is added, against the drawing and for square. At the end the piece is evaluated, and the useful evaluation is specific: it names what was checked, what was found and corrected, what still differs from the drawing and by roughly how much, and what would be done differently next time. That last sentence is worth more marks than a paragraph saying the project went well.

Find the evaluation that earns marks

Five sentences from five different evaluations of a made piece. Tap the ONE that would earn the most credit.

• The project went well and I was pleased with the finished result.
• I worked hard on it and finished within the time allowed.
• The frame was checked for square after setting out and again after the first two joints; one corner was slightly open, so that joint was re-cut before the rest were made.
• If I had more time the piece would have been better.
• The materials I was given were not the best quality.

Write the evaluation

An evaluation is judged on how specific it is. Choose the option in each gap.

The craft run

Five quick questions on craft knowledge. Three lives.

Three decisions on a project

You have been given a drawing for a small timber frame and a working session to plan it. You are deciding how to approach the work. Work through three decisions.

• What do you do before anything else?
• The frame will be twisted whenever it is lifted. How do you choose the corner joint?
• Two joints in, you find the setting out was slightly out of square. What now?

Plan and evaluate the project

You have been given a drawing for a small timber frame that will be lifted and carried in use. Explain how you would approach the work and how you would evaluate the finished piece. Write about the knowledge and the decisions, not about how to use any tool.

• Say what you would do with the drawing before starting, and why
• Explain how you would choose the corner joint, naming the force it has to resist
• Explain why the setting out is checked before anything is built
• Describe what quality control would look like during the work rather than at the end
• Finish by explaining what makes an evaluation specific enough to earn marks