What Do You Call a Group of Woodworkers? A ’Grove!’

A “grove” is the new term for a gathering of woodworkers.

Thanks to Bill Lattanzio, we now have a collective noun to describe a gathering of woodworkers – a “grove.”

Bill was the first of several readers who suggested “grove” as the most appropriate term for a group of woodworkers. The blue-ribbon task force advisory panel steering committee I chaired also selected “grove” as the winning entry.

Webster’s New World College Dictionary (The official dictionary of Popular Woodworking) defines a grove as:

1. A small wood or group of trees without undergrowth;

2. A group of trees planted and cultivated to bear fruit, nuts, etc.; orchard

So a grove is where you can find strong, useful material along with a fruit or nut every now and then. Sounds like a gathering of woodworkers to me …

There were a lot of great entries in the contest: a “flannel” of woodworkers; a “knot” of woodworkers; a “panel” of woodworkers; and many more.

Bill wins a copy of the four-volume set of “The Practical Woodworker.” This set of books offers a wealth of information on early 20th-century woodworking techniques of interest to any grove of woodworkers.

Thank you to all the readers who posted suggestions here and on the Popular Woodworking Facebook page. I know there’ll be splinter groups who disagree with this decision, but I know we can all chip away our differences if we drill down deep enough. OK, I’ll stop now.

Along with all the pins-first, tails-first; hand vs. power; bevel-up vs. bevel-down debates, we can discuss this new term at the 2015 Woodworking in America conference Sept. 25-27 at the Sheraton Crown Center in Kansas City, Mo.

After all, isn’t part of the fun of woodworking the “spirited” discussions with other woodworkers?

–Mike Wallace