Rod will perform less than well in carpentry (5)
I believe the answer is:
dowel
'well in carpentry' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'rod will perform less than' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'perform' could be 'do' (both can mean complete an action) and 'do' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for dowel that I've seen before include "Lowed (anag.)" , "Pin that holds two pieces of wood together" , "Linking peg" , "Peg for joining wood" , "Pole" .)