Woodworking Tools

Here are the best tools for woodworking. Once you find learn about this you will be ready to buy woodworking tools like a champ. I get a lot of questions about what tools people should use to start woodworking. Come find out what the best quality tools are to get the job done. The most common one is what tools do I need? If you are trying to start woodworking there are a few tools you will want.

Woodworking Tools by Hand

There are power tools and hand tools. The hand tools are a little safer but more importantly, make your pieces look handmade. Well…Let us dig into the hand tools. They are all pretty self-explanatory but I will give a brief description of them. These are in no particular order.

Hand Saws

• Hand Saws: A wood saw worked by one hand. Not sure if there is a better way to say that…This is more technical…though. This is used for straight rough cuts. Most should recognize this woodworking tool as it is very much so commonly used.

Planes

• Planes: A hand plane is a tool for shaping wood using a cutting blade over the wood surface. This tool helps you flatten the piece of wood. Think if you had a piece of wood that had bark on one side. This tool will remove the bark. At the same time, it is removing the bark it is also starting to flatten out the piece of wood.

Chisels

• Chisels: A chisel is a tool with a characteristically shaped cutting edge of the blade on its end, for carving or cutting. You can use a mallet, or hammer to help aid in cutting. This is nice for taking out chunks of wood in slim spaces. If you have a smaller chisel you can use it for better contouring. Chisels are often used to carve out dovetails.

Hammers

• Hammers: This is a tool with a heavy metal head mounted at the end of a handle. Since this is woodworking some would prefer using an all wood mallet. It can be used to drive nails or with a chisel. Some hammers have the ability to remove nails too. Pretty nice to know you do not have to be perfect.

Rasps

• Rasps: This can be a file or similar tool with a roughened surface for scraping, filing, or rubbing down wood. You might see this used on other materials too. I would think of this as a big nail file for woods and metals.
  

Leveling Tool

• Leveling Tool: Use this tool for establishing a flat plane. The rudimentary models use a small glass tube containing colored alcohol or similar liquid and an air bubble. There can be multiple tubes sealed and fixed horizontally and vertically in relation to the flat plane. The block or framing is usually made of a composite material or metal but sometime you will still see them made out of wood too. Both the upper and lower surface are smooth. Some models come with a scale as well.

Other Basic Woodworking Tools

• Basic Tools: This is a catch-all. I would include screwdrivers, both Phillips, and flat head. Any miscellaneous sandpaper or glue. I would also put in here a socket set for when you are putting together furniture with various hardware.
  

Those are just the hand tools. Now here comes the power tools…. Be careful, more power isn’t always needed.

Woodworking Tools w/ Power!

This is another resource for power woodworking tools if you are just beginning. These will be corded tools, because this list of tools require power. Here is a list of tools that you will need to gain perfect pieces with less effort.

Woodworking can be a lot of fun. But again I want to say be safe. Keep your hands away from moving parts. Use common sense, plan ahead and never rush.

You don’t want to be the guy selling a cabinet stained in blood… YUCK! All jokes aside be safe and keep all your digits. A good set of ear protection would be worthwhile to invest in as well.

Hand Drills

• Hand Drills: While these can be non-powered, I’m specifically speaking about the powered version. No in days you can find these cordless with a lot of driving force. A hand drill generally limit the hole size that can be made with the drill bits.

Routers

• Routers: This is a tool used to “rout” out an area in the face of wood. You find this used to create bevels too.

Orbital Sanders

• Orbital Sanders: These sanders use a rotating motion to get more “strokes”. This is much faster than hand sanding but you will have to be careful because it can go fast…yikes!

Lather

• Lathes: I had to look up the best way to say this one. “a machine for use in working wood, metal, etc., that holds the material and rotates it about a horizontal axis against a tool that shapes it.” -dictionary.com

Power Saws

• Power Saws: Similar to the power sander, it uses a reciprocating motion to speed up the sawing process.

Planers

• Planers: You use this to flatten a surface. You can also cut to thickness. They come in both a portable version about the size of a hand plane but most use a small table planer.

Drill Press

• Drill Press: This is like the big brother to the hand drill. You will use this to make large holes. This woodworking tool is stationary, either on a table or it has it’s own stand.

Joiner

• Joiner: Don’t confuse this with a planer. While you will use the planer to flatten your work piece, a joiner is be used to get the angle in relation to that flat surface you created with the planner. This one is a little confusing I know.

CNC Machine

• CNC Machine: This will require you to learn com CNC code. Also much easier if you use CAM software. I wrote a post about how to make your own CNC machine. But honestly, it would probably be easier to buy one. PureWoods makes a line of CNC machines that are worthwhile to look at.

Not Just The Best Woodworking Tools

Phew, that was a lot about woodworking tools!

Now you know most of the best woodworking tools, next it is time to go out and get started making something. Check this out, Ted McGrath has put together some plans. That post gets into it a little.

That is it for the woodworking tools for now. Check out the rest of the Woodworking, we do more than just woodworking here, but you are here because this is what you love!

Do you need ideas for Woodworking?

I wrote a post earlier about building your own woodworking mill here. I didn’t realize at the time people would need to ideas for their woodworking projects.  There is a butt load of plans out there. Most of them are scattered across different books and I’m sure there are a lot of forums. Personally, I don’t want to try to compile all of them.

Sandra’s Story

Let me tell you about Sandra. Sandra had the same issues as many of us. She had all the skills to do the job but none of the ideas. She just needed that little boost to get moving.  It all started with wanting to start a new hobby. Sandra picked woodworking. It is an old craft, a beautiful craft, a great craft. So “why not?” she says. She reads books, joins Facebook groups, even took a class at the local community college. Sandra really enjoys working with her hands and seeing the shape and form that comes from a block of wood.

For More Info

While a weekend fair, she walks past a booth of woodworking. Nothing there was anything special or was it that great of quality. She then looked at the price, “OMG!!!” They are charging $50 for a jewelry chest. For reference, you can get Red Oak for around $7.99 a 1/4″ x 1-1/2″ x 48″ per piece. But now what? She knew the money could be made. She knew she could do it better and that is what put her on the path to an extra $700 a month. Where did she start? Where did she get her ideas from?

How Do You Get Started?

If you are like me you want to start woodworking fast. Just ask yourself, how many woodworking plans can you come up with off the top of your head? I know I can’t think of many. But let us break this down into categories. You have furniture, toys, art, and even tools. If we look at the furniture you can do chairs, benches, cabinets, bed frames, armoires, dressers, chests.

This brings me to Ted Mcgrath. He has put together 16,000 Woodworking plans. These are easy to do and don’t require super special tools. granted I bet it would be easier with the woodworking mill… lol. This guy has spent years putting this together and building things from wood. Like many of us, he had a grandfather that was good with his hands. Mine was, but he was more into electronics though. I’ll tell that story later.

Ted Mcgrath is also a great resource for anyone that wants to make money with this hobby. I mentioned before this would be great for those who like going to swap meets or even if you want to start a small eCommerce site. But seriously with 16,000 plans, you will not run out of ideas for things to make.

Besides the money you can make, being a maker is really satisfying. Don’t let the new age electronics guys have all the fun and make all the money. Woodworking is still a skill set that is needed and desired.

Ok, so enough about wood. I don’t want this to turn into a blog about only woodworking. I like other hobbies too…lol

But one last thing, I almost forgot. If you want the 16,000 plans you can find it here for $67.

Do it now and get started, might change your life. I doubt it though but it might. Buy woodworking plans to save you time in trying to figure out what to do. Let’s not forget you need the proper tools to do this too. Here are Best Woodworking Tools. Share this with your friends

Don’t forget to check out the rest of my site here.

How Do You Use a Hammer?

Hammers are our friend don’t be afraid to use them.

So what is the most effective method to use a Hammer?

Well, to begin with, I felt kinda dumb trying to teach you how to use a hammer. The vast majority of us have seen youngsters trying to hammer square pegs into round holes with toy hammers before the age of two. But they are just having fun no understanding how it works. All things considered, the futile act of repeating dumb things over and over again was presumably encoded in the human hereditary program a long time before hammers existed.

However, there is an appropriate hammering procedure. I think it is much like a large number of abilities that we underestimate. But not everyone knows what they are doing. I have seen a lot of experts swinging hammers while thinking they were the best but did they really know what they were doing? In the event that you know everything, just let this be a reminder to reinforce your already great habits. But who knows, you may not know everything and you might learn something about hammers today.

Holding The Hammer

This should come easy. Regardless of whether you’re nailing a twenty-penny nail or a finishing nail, the grip is the same. Wrap your hand around the handle. There are two ways you can do this, either place your thumb over the index and middle fingers or you can place your thumb above the index finger making contact with the handle.

You will want to make sure you hold the hammer closer to the bottom of the handle. When you hold it there you will get the most mechanical advantage. Let the weight of the hammer work for you, it is designed to be held there.

If you are not comfortable with your grip placement you can always choke up a little on the handle. The advantage to that is you will gain more control, but you will lose power. That means more swings to drive a nail.

But understand once you get comfortable you need to be at the end of the handle. When you use the hammer properly you will notice that you bend fewer nails. When you grip the end of the handle you have a better angle to strike the nail on the head, again making it easier to drive the nails.

Swinging The Hammer

First things first. Grab a nail. Hold the nail with the sharp point perpendicular to the material you want to drive the nail through. Before you swing, rest the hammer’s face on the head of the nail. Right now everything should be lined up ready for your swing.

Raise the hammer up a little, and hit the nail head a few of times, tapping the nail into the wood until the point is far enough in that is will stand on its own. Make sure you are holding the hammer firmly but with care. Aim at the head at the nail, swing with control knowing you want to drive the nail. Do not swing trying to end up below you material. The idea is to give a strong hit but also minimize damage.

Again let the weight of the hammer do some of the work for you. The more advanced sledgehammer works this way. A large portion of your work is really done toward the start of the stroke. Do not try to drive the nail all in one blow.  Give the nail head ample power but with control. Keep safety in mind.

When you strike the nail at times the hammer will want to bounce back. Keep a firm grip at all times. Even when you go to raise the hammer to make sure you still have a firm grip on the handle. You don’t want the hammer flying out of your hand ruining someone else’s day. Once you get good you can use the bounce to gain momentum on the backstroke.

If your shoulder or elbow feel out of place when you are striking the nail you might be too tight. It takes some practice but with time you will get a feel for what it is like to get a clean strike on the nail.

Always!! Wear your security glasses when you are using your hammer. Especially if you are working with brittle material that can chip and end up in your eye. Even the most gifted of craftsmen miss every so often. don’t be the guy working with his favorite hobby only to end up blind because of pride in looking good.

Types of Hammers

You probably already knew this, but there are a few different hammers for different jobs. Everyone digs into their projects to find themselves asking for a larger or smaller hammer depending on the job needed. This can be a real safety concern. You can really hurt yourself if you use the wrong hammer. For what it is worth, that is usually the case for most tools. I have put together a short list of popular hammers people use to do their jobs. This is not an exhaustive list. So feel to do more research on your own. Make sure you click on the images to check out the hammers on Amazon.

16-ounce Claw Hammer

This is the hammer you drew up in grade school. This is the hammer that Bob the Builder uses. The claw on this hammer has a large sweeping bend. This is what makes it great for removing nails. This allows for a lot more leverage than other hammers, see below. So if you only get one hammer let is be this one. Because most likely it is the one you are looking for anyway.

16-ounce Ripping Hammer

You might be asking yourself, isn’t this the same hammer. Well, the short answer is no. These two hammers can perform a lot of the same tasks. What will notice on this hammer is the claw is much straighter. Not very good for removing nails, but it is suitable for many other heavy carpentry jobs.

Rubber Mallet

This mallet is not used much to drive nails. You can use this mallet to hit finished metal surfaces so it does not mar the finish. Sadly I have used this incorrectly to break a bolt loose by hitting a wrench with this mallet. I am still alive but I do not advise. U

Soft Face Hammer

When dealing with delicate assemblies but you still need some umff, turn to the soft face hammer. This hammer can still drive nails but once you get to the end it is less likely to leave a large dent on your last swing on wood. If you are working on a metal surface you won’t even noticed that you were using a hammer. You might be asking, “How do they do that?” Well, as the name suggests the face of the hammer is made out of something softer like plastic or rubber. Because of this, you will have to replace it due to wear.

Wooden Mallet

This one might look familiar from the Bible. Moses used this to build the ark… (I joke, I kid) People who work with wood, often times called carpenters, use this hammer to hit chisels that have a large surface to strike. You must be careful with a wooden mallet. Unlike the Soft Face Hammer won’t only wear it will also splinter and break if abused. So do not try to hit smaller nails with this one.

Ball Pein Hammer

Ball pein hammers (or Peen??) help in creating the cool curved surfaces in many metalworks. These are also used to strike punches and chisels.

Brick Hammer

Sometimes this is called a masons hammer. This is used to chip away at bricks when you a laying them in cool patterns.

Upholster’s or tack Hammer

This hammer is designed to hit small tacks into the upholstery. On some models, you will even see a split face that allows the small tacks and nails to sit. This makes handling much easier.

Drywall Hammer

The serrated face of this hammer gives you a surface that tends to grip the nail head, allowing for a better strike. This also makes the same surface larger. Again easier to hit and drive nails into drywall. The back blade is best used for cutting drywall fast. This could be used fo making rough cuts for outlets.

Sledgehammer

For huge destruction, bring out the serious canons. Walls, dividers, and sidewalks are no match for a 10-pound sledgehammer. It additionally proves to be useful at state fairs when you are trying to win your young lady even the smallest stuffed animal.

Use this new skill!

Seriously one of the things I am always telling my friends is that you turn your hobby into an income stream. And I will continue to say that here. Use your gifts for good not evil (you know, your boss :-D)

Click here to find out more about some other tools to use when dealing with woodworking.