Woodworking Hand Tools

A variety of woodworking hand tools are used for woodworking. These can be divided into hand tools, power tools and woodworking machinery, Listed below is the mot common of woodworking hand tools for the woodworking beginner and pro.

Hammers - The most used woodworking hand tools would have to be the claw hammer. Aside from the industrial sector, the claw hammer is probably one of the most commonly found household tools. Claw hammers come in several different sizes and are generally measured by weight. The name claw hammer comes from the v shaped section opposite the head that is used for removing old or damaged nails.

Mallet - Mallets are mostly made from wood, although you can also find nylon and rubber headed mallets. As a traditional woodworking hand tool the mallet is used for light tapping of wooden parts, usually when assembling joints for gluing. They also are used when tapping the head of chisels. Mallets are not designed to be used ad heavy duty 'persuaders' but more for tapping timber that you might not want to damage or bruise.

Measuring Tools - Tapes, and rulers. Tape measures are available in different lengths, for me the most versatile length is 8 meters long, try to get tapes and rulers with both metric and imperial scales. The other must have is a folding rule, when opened up will measure 1 meter. A steel straight edge is also a very useful woodworking hand tool and again can be obtained in various lengths, the longer you can afford the better.

Squares - are important woodworking hand tools for accurate marking and measuring. The basic tool here is a framing square or a carpenter square; along with other types and styles of square these are for marking off for cutting purposes. These include combination squares that comprise of a head and blade, the head usually has a 45 degree bevel for marking a 45 angle. Also handy to have is an adjustable bevel square; these are for accurate marking of angles. Again a variety can be obtained including those with calibrations for precise angle measurements. Try squares are often used in furniture making.

Shaping woodworking hand tools - The plane is a for reducing timber thickness and the shaping of wood. They are for cleaning up rough sawn lumber and preparing for a smooth finish. Several types and sizes of planes are used in woodworking from small block planes to those designed to cut joints or plane decorative moldings.

Similar to a plane as far as purpose goes is a spoke shave. These tools are designed for removing or shaving timber that has rounds and curves, are held in two hands and pulled towards the body.

The saw is the most necessary of woodworking hand tools for without it you won’t make anything. While much cutting is now done using power saws there is still the need for hand saws in the workshop, and to learn how to use them properly.        .

 The various types of hand saws are;

Rip Saw - for cutting along the grain Used for cutting planks, plywood or custom wood sheets and other larger timbers.

Crosscut Saw - for making cuts perpendicular to the grain

Miter Saw - Generally used in conjunction with a miter box ( a guide to hold the saw for accurate cuts) miter saws are useful for smaller work such as picture frames and cutting moldings. Miter saws are also available as a woodworking power tool.

Keyhole Saw - is a long, narrow saw used for cutting small, often awkward features in various building materials such as drywall and plywood?

Coping Saw -  A coping saw is a type of woodworking hand tool used to cut intricate shapes and interior cutouts. For use in woodworking and carpentry, it is widely used to cut moldings to create coped rather than miter joints. It is also occasionally used to create fretwork. A coping saw consists of a very thin blade stretched between the ends of a C-shaped frame, to which the handle is attached. The blade is easily removed from this frame, so that it can be passed through a drilled hole in the middle of a piece of wood, reattached, and start cutting from the middle of the piece.

Fretsaw - Similar to the coping saw but more capable of cutting more intricate curves.

Finishing woodworking hand tools - Top of the list here is sandpaper. There are many varieties of sandpaper with 'garnet' being the commonly used in woodworking. The size of the grit or abrasive is measured with low numbers (e.g. 60) being the most coarse and high numbers (e.g. 400) being the most fine. For fine woodwork finishing you would expect to use about 240 grit for the final rub down.

Files, brushes and various scrapers also qualify as woodworking hand tools, as do woodworking chisels...