Fretwork is an interlaced decorative design that is either carved in low relief on a solid background, or cut out with a fretsaw

Fretsaw

The fretsaw is a saw used for intricate cutting work which often incorporates tight curves. Although the coping saw is often used for similar work, the fretsaw is capable of much tighter radii and more delicate work...

, coping saw

Coping saw

A coping saw is a type of hand saw used to cut intricate external shapes and interior cutouts in woodworking or carpentry. It is widely used to cut moldings to create coped rather than miter joints. It is occasionally used to create fretwork though it is not able to match a fretsaw in intricacy of...

, jigsaw

Jigsaw

Jigsaw may refer to:* Jigsaw , a tool used for cutting arbitrary curves* Jigsaw puzzle, a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of interlocking pieces- Film and television :* Jigsaw , a 1949 film noir...

 or scroll saw

Scroll saw

A scroll saw is a small electric or pedal-operated saw that is useful for cutting intricate curves in cases where a jigsaw or coping saw is not appropriate. It is capable of creating curves with edges...

. Most fretwork patterns are geometric in design. The materials most commonly used are wood

Wood

Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...

 and metal

Metal

A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...

. Fretwork is used to adorn furniture

Furniture

Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...

 and musical instrument

Musical instrument

A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...

s. The term is also used for tracery

Tracery

In architecture, Tracery is the stonework elements that support the glass in a Gothic window. The term probably derives from the 'tracing floors' on which the complex patterns of late Gothic windows were laid out.-Plate tracery:...

 on glazed windows and doors. Fretwork is also used to adorn/decorate architecture, where specific elements of decor are named according to their use. e.g. eave bracket

Bracket (architecture)

A bracket is an architectural member made of wood, stone, or metal that overhangs a wall to support or carry weight. It may also support a statue, the spring of an arch, a beam, or a shelf. Brackets are often in the form of scrolls, and can be carved, cast, or molded. They can be entirely...

, gable fretwork, baluster fretwork.

Fretwork patterns originally were ornamental designs used to decorate objects with a grid or a lattice. Designs have developed from the rectangular wave Greek fret to intricate intertwined patterns. A common misconception is that fretwork is fretwork because it was done with a fretsaw. Actually the pattern is a fretwork whether or not it was cut out with a fretsaw.

Computer numerical control (CNC) has brought about change in the method of timber fretwork manufacture. Lasers or router/milling cutting implements can now fashion timber and various other materials into flat and even 3D decorative items.