A chamfer is an angled cut used in various industries, from woodworking to jewelry cutting. The term comes from the Old French baivel, meaning “to yawn,” and is often used to create soft edges and bridges in ornamental finishes. In architecture and design, a chamfer or sliding bevel is a tool used to measure and draw angles.
A chamfer is simply an angle formed where two surfaces meet. By definition, it cannot be at a 90° angle, although all other angles are perfectly acceptable. The term is widely used in all kinds of industries to describe everything from a jewelry setting to a knife blade; the meaning is usually quite clear from the context.
The origins of this term appear to lie in the Old French baivel, which derives from bayer, “to yawn”, a reference to the generally large angle of a bevel. People have been using the word as a verb since around 1600, when bevelled edges were coincidentally very popular in architecture.
Commonly, the term is used to describe an angled cut. In woodworking, for example, many pieces of furniture are chamfered to create soft edges and to make it easier to transition from one surface to another. An angled edge that connects two surfaces is known as a chamfer; bevels are often used to create bridges in ornamental finishes or on furniture legs. Angles are also used in jewelry cutting to bring out the brilliance of a stone; diamonds can have multiple bevels, for example, creating a highly refractive surface that makes the stone sparkle.
In architecture and design, a chamfer or sliding bevel is a tool used to measure and draw angles. The tool consists of two arms mounted on a hinge with a built-in protractor that indicates the degree of an angle. Using this device, someone can ensure that an angle is measured and described correctly; this can be crucial when making architectural drawings. These tools are also sometimes used by artists and designers who want to create precise angles in their work.
In conversations with people in certain industries, people may feel slanted edges referred to as chamfers, such as for a lock’s strike plate, which is classically chamfered so that the lock slides in and out easily. Construction workers may also talk about beveling the edge of something when they talk about cutting an angle, as might be the case when cutting a railing to create a smooth edge so people don’t hurt themselves on the sharp point of a 90 angle. °.
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