Some Interesting Facts About Woodworking

A business leader, Bill Schantz is the owner and CEO of Mid Atlantic Financial, LLC, a holding company for insurance companies, Harper Financial and Bedrock Financial. Outside of work, one of Bill Schantz’s favorite pastimes is woodworking.

Woodworking has become exceedingly popular in America, especially among senior adults. It is pursued not only as a hobby but also because of the enormous health benefits woodworking offers. Here are some interesting facts about woodworking:

1. The dowel is used by woodworkers to join pieces of wood together. However, in the 1950s a Swiss carpenter named Herman Steiner invented a joiner which was proven to be stronger than the dowel. His invention, called “biscuit joiner,” resembled a wooden disk that looked like a biscuit. The biscuit joiner is inserted into the slots made in the pieces of wood and joined together permanently using glue.

2. A nun belonging to the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, more popularly known as Shakers, was credited for inventing the circular saw in 1813. Sister Tabitha Babbitt saw some men working in a nearby sawmill who struggled with ripping logs into lumber using a two-man pit saw. Sister Tabitha, who was then using a spinning wheel, incorporated the elements of the spinning wheel with a circular disc with sharp teeth in the perimeter.

3. Band saws were used in Britain as early as 1809. However, band saws during those times were not durable because the welds broke quickly. In 1846, a French woman named Anne Crepin solved the welding problems and since then, band saws became a practical tool for ripping logs into lumber.