Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A groove or notch made by a cutting tool, such as a saw or an ax.
- n. The width of a groove made by a cutting tool.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A Middle English preterit of carve.
- n. A cut; an incision; a stroke with a weapon.
- n. A channel or cut made in wood by a saw or other cutting-instrument.
- n. In a cloth-shearing machine, the wool taken off in one passage through the cutter.
- n. A layer of hay or turf. [Prov. Eng.]—5. That which is cut; a Cutting.
- To cut (a strip or bar of wood) with one or more kerfs for the purpose of bending it.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A notch, channel, or slit made in any material by cutting or sawing.
Etymologies
- Middle English, from Old English cyrf, a cutting; see gerbh- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“The new study found that the "kerf" - which is the amount of germanium wasted during the slicing process - was 22 percent less when a 75-micron diameter electrified wire was used to cut the wafers, compared with the conventional wire saw method.”
“Raymond used it, -- for he said that he had bent the teeth out so as to make the saw cut a good wide kerf, and so he might have supposed that the kerf was the cut in the wood which a saw makes in going in.”
“Its efficiency depends upon (1) the narrowness of the saw cut or "kerf," and (2) upon the force required to drive it thru the material.”
“Methodically they opened the "kerf," each face almost as smooth as though it had been sawn.”
“Begin your Notch 1, or the "kerf," as it is called, by chopping two marks, the upper one, A, at a distance above the other, B, equal to half the thickness of the tree.”
Young Knights of the Empire : Their Code, and Further Scout Yarns
“You can then chop one side of the log half-way through and turn around and chop the other side until the second notch or "kerf" is cut through to the first one on the opposite side, and the two pieces fall apart.”
“All he had were handtools: gravers, tiny thin kerf saws, jewel cleavers, bruters and dops.”
“The 4″ deep hole for the aluminum dowel is drilled thru both the wood and kerf at the same time.”
“By mike, November 16, 2009 @ 7:42 pm did you guys fabricate the metal dowels and kerf plates in house?”
“The 1/4″ kerf plate is 1″ deep and glued in using a two part epoxy.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘kerf’.
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Coal Mining Terms
Coal mining has engendered fascinating subcultures in industry, labor, music, folklore, environment and energy. It has a rich vocabulary as well, and I've encountered some gorgeous mining words. I...
firedamp, scrip, bituminous, anthracite, company store, blackdamp, brattice, bug dust, tipple, whitedamp, float dust, fly ash and 133 more...
chained_bear I rather like it myself. Oct 14, 2008
asativum This is a glorious word. Oct 14, 2008
chained_bear "Kerf, the sawn-away slit in any piece of timber."
—Falconer's New Universal Dictionary of the Marine (1816), 210 Oct 14, 2008