Handmade woodworking tools are designed to ease the work of weekend hobbyists and professional craftsmen. Accordingly, tools are classified as professional, semi-professional, and amateur. Dedicated tools are created for almost every woodworking operation.
The 21st century can be described as the century of synthetic materials. They are everywhere - we wear synthetics, eat synthetics and live among synthetics, which is why a person's craving for natural products and materials, including products made from natural wood, is so strong.
Working with wood is available to everyone. This is a very easy-to-process material from which you can create almost anything - from a garden bench to a highly artistic panel or a carved portrait. But for the full processing of wood, one desire is not enough. We need the appropriate tools, which can also be mastered by almost every amateur to work with his hands.
The main types of tools for wood
To facilitate working with wood, the human mind has created many different tools that can be classified according to various criteria. It is most convenient to subdivide tools for woodworking into types according to the following parameters:
• hand tools;
• portable power tools;
• woodworking machines.
The actual hand tools include an ax, a saw, a hammer and a hand drill or brace, which should be in the arsenal of every craftsman. To them you need to add a plane, a jointer, a square, a measuring tape.
For a finer surface treatment, you need to stock up on a set of sanding paper, varnish and a brush. Sealing of edges, grooves, various kinds of connections is carried out using a set of chisels. Here is almost the entire list of tools that you need to get started.
Electrically powered tools
In the process of passion for woodworking, a number of tasks inevitably arise that cannot be solved using the above set of tools. For more complex and productive work, there are power tools for wood. Their list is so large that here we will restrict ourselves to only the most necessary ones.
Jigsaw. Despite the name, this is a full-fledged saw that can cut boards and beams up to 8-10 cm thick. At the same time, this tool is also suitable for curly sawing from plywood or thin boards, cutting drywall and thin metal sheets. A set of interchangeable files makes this tool versatile. True, it is suitable for working with small amounts of material.
The hand circular electric saw is a more powerful tool, designed for sawing large volumes of boards or beams in the longitudinal or transverse direction. Some models combine a saw and a jointer. But it is much better to purchase a separate circular saw, and separately a jointer. It is much easier to work with them at the same performance.
An electric drill of medium power, preferably with a reverse, but without an impact mechanism. When working with wood, it is not needed. The drill should be chosen so that it can be operated with one hand. This is very important when working with small parts and at height. Sooner or later, you will have to do something while standing on the stairs. Then all the delights of a balanced drill are especially felt.
A manual router is needed when performing complex work, for example, when making your own furniture, window frames, stairs. It is not difficult to use it, but provided that you are not a beginner in working with wood and that you have mastered the simpler tools well.
A sander is essential for finishing the surface. It is desirable that there are two of them - tape and corner. They process various types of surfaces with high quality. The angle machine is good when used in hard-to-reach places and on embossed surfaces, and the tape machine is more convenient to use on large flat areas.
What is important to consider when choosing a power tool
When buying a power tool, it is very important to pay attention to some important parameters:
• never buy the cheapest and most expensive tools;
• do not buy the most powerful mechanisms;
• follow the advice of trusted people, not the recommendations of sellers;
• do not believe the advertisements.
These theses need some explanation. The cheapest tool will fail at the most inopportune moment. When you buy the most expensive tools, you overpay 30 percent for the brand, not for the quality of the product. The most powerful machines are usually the heaviest. You can work with them, but for a very short time. It is best to immediately discard low-power and too powerful from the list of proposals, stopping in the middle of the list.
