Woodworking is the activity or skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making, wood carving, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning.
Along with stone, clay and animal parts, wood was one of the first material worked by early humans. The development of civilisation was closely tied to the development of increasingly greater degrees of skill in working these materials.
Historically, woodworkers relied upon the woods native to their region, until transportation and trade innovations made more exotic woods available to the craftsman.
With the advances in modern technology and the demands of the industry, woodwork as a field has changed. We are now able to mass-produce and reproduce products faster, with less waste, and often more complex in design than ever before.
Rechargeable power tools speed up the creation of many projects and require much less body strength than in the past. Skilled fine woodworking, however, remains a craft pursued by many. There remains a demand for hand-crafted work such as furniture and arts, however with rate and cost of production, the cost for consumers is much higher.
Description source:
Wikipedia
View the original image at Queensland State Archives:
Digital Image ID 12007
