From hand planing to CNC — the history of the machine carpenter trade

As a wood machinist you work in a trade that has roots in ancient carpentry but today is about as much programming and controlling machinery. To understand why the trade looks as it does it helps to see how craft and machinery met.

§The pure hand carpentry

For a long time, wood was processed exclusively with hand tools: plane, saw, chisel and compass. The carpenter read the wood, assembled it with precise joints and created everything from furniture to windows by hand. It required great understanding of the material and many years of training, and the quality lay entirely in the craftsmanship. That understanding of wood and joints is still the foundation of the trade.

§The machines make noise and high noise over time damages hearing permanently. Use hearing protection when the machines run — it is a damage that cannot be repaired so prevention is the only thing that works. Many older craftspeople have reduced hearing precisely because hearing protection was not a given back then.

With industrialisation came machines that could saw plane mill and drill faster and more uniformly than the hand. It made it possible to make things in series instead of one at a time. The carpenter now also had to be able to operate and adjust machines and part of hand skill became the ability to set up a machine correctly. Speed and uniformity increased but the requirement for material understanding did not disappear.

§The computer and CNC

The major shift came with computer-controlled machines. A CNC machine follows a program that precisely tells it how to cut mill and drill — the same workpiece can be made again and again with high accuracy. The wood technician became someone who draws in CAD plans and programs the machine and who monitors and quality-assures a production rather than doing each cut by hand.

§Robots and automation

In recent times, robots and a higher degree of automation have entered modern timber industries. The trade today encompasses both craftsmanship, machine operation, CAD/CAM, programming and robot technology. This means that the woodworking machinist must be able to do several things at once: understand the wood, master the machine and manage a production that must be both precise, efficient and of good quality.

§Timeline — the development of machine joinery

§What the story teaches a machine joiner

The machine carpentry trade has gone from pure hand to a blend of hand machine and computer. What has held throughout is the understanding of the wood and what makes a joint strong and a part precise. Machines change fast but the one who both knows the craft and can master the technology is the trade's strongest combination.

“A machine can cut accurately — but it's still the woodworker who must know where and why the cut should be.”