What Are The Essential Woodworking Hand Tools For Beginners?
Woodworking is the art and process of turning wood into a useful or desired piece. Woodworking is considered to be a skill that always has a future considering how important woodwork is and also the development of technology.
Woodworking Hand Tools List: Must-Have Tools To Get Started
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However, even with the advancement in technology that makes woodwork easy and fun, hand skills are always unique and essential to learn and understanding the basic structure and delivering pieces flawlessly. It is essential to own hand tools to perfect these skills.
In fact, a beginner should start with hand tools that will make them understand the beauty of the art they acquire.
List Of Basic Hand Tools For Woodworkers
Here is a list of hand tools that will make it easier for a beginner to indulge in the art of woodworking;
1. Wooden Workbench
A wooden workbench acts as a plain when it comes to woodworking. A wooden workbench can be purchased or built. A wooden workbench could be built by a beginner.
You need to ensure that the wooden workbench you are opting for is sturdy and stable. This is going to be the base of every upcoming project for a woodworker and it has to be perfect
Make sure there are attachments and fixed places that would be comfortable for you.
2. Jack Plane
A Jack hand plane is a medium-sized hand plane. Because of its average size, this will be mostly used and always has to be kept within reach when woodworking. Therefore the best quality has to be chosen.
The thing to look for when purchasing hand planes is the handle grip and the blade angle. These determine the life of the hand plane.
3. Block Plane
Block planes are used to trim joints, apply chamfers, trim grainy ends, etc.
It is used greatly when creating artwork and traditional wood pieces that can be seen with all the old woodworkers.
It was traditionally used widely by woodworkers and they even kept it inside their aprons.
4. Handsaws
Two handsaws one cross-cut and one rip cut are necessary for any beginner.
Handsaws are used to roughly assume the size of the piece and cut the wood.
Both specific types of handsaws are required to cut different types of wood.
The quality of the blade and the grip and stability of the handle has to be tested before buying them.
5. Miter Box And Saw
The miter box and miter saw allow a beginner to achieve a perfect cut at any angle or length. This saves a lot of time for any woodworker.
Angles and squares have to be always cut in this art craft. The saw glides back and forth through the sturdy Miter box. The angle of the frame could be adjusted to get multiple angles.
Even though it is handy in convenient in multiple ways, it still comes at an affordable price allowing it to be accessible.
6. Coping Saw
A coping saw is cheap and affordable, yet very useful in woodworking.
It can be used for creating rough shapes in cardboard and removing waste from the nooks and corners of your work. It is a handy tool.
It even comes with replaceable blades which are affordable. It can be used to give perfection and character to the woodwork.
7. Bench Chisel Set
A chisel is the most used tool in woodworking by most people.
Therefore it is good to invest in an expensive and high-quality chisel set.
The most comfortable handle and the accuracy of the blades have to be looked at when buying a chisel.
8. Combination Square
A combination square is technically a try square with a measuring scale. It is very useful.
A combination square makes sure that the amendments made in the wood pieces are accurate in length and angle.
The accurate measurements needed in woodworking could be delivered through this hand tool. A combination square comes in a vast price range.
Even so, it is preferable to invest in a great quality combination square as it is always used in a woodworker’s den.
9. Try Square
A try square is a hand tool that is used to make sure that the angles are exactly right angle in woodwork. It is a tool that is very important in woodworking, especially for beginners.
Being new to woodworking, it is necessary to check all right angles since a minor irregularity in the shape can lead to a lack of stability and finish in the final piece. A try square is not difficult to make and can be made by a beginner.
Although, if you plan on buying a try square, it is better to opt for a metal try square. The length of the try square could be around 9 to 12 inches.
10. Sliding Level Square
A sliding level square is a hand tool that is used for marking angles in your wood piece. Any angle could be set on a sliding-level square.
Once the angle is set, it becomes easy for repeating the same angle anywhere needed.
It is important to ensure the stability of the Sliding Level square and also verify that it can hold that angle without getting loose for multiple hours.
11. Pair Of Dividers
Dividers and compasses have been used traditionally for multiple years. Traditional Woodworkers rarely take measurements of their reference piece with a folding rule or tape measure.
They measure pieces with a divider and transfer the measurement to the new wood.
Dividers can also be used to outline curve ends. It is recommended that a woodworker should own at least one divider that measures between 6 inches and 9 inches.
12. Marking Gauge
The marking gauge is made for transferring measurements that have to be applied at multiple places. A locking mechanism is installed in this hand tool in order to keep the gauge in place.
A marking gauge is necessary to give perfection to the piece of art you are making. There are a lot of Marking gauges available in the market which is not ideal for usage.
The tightness of holding the gauge and the overall quality of the marking gauge has to be assessed before making the final decision.
13. Measurement Apparatus
There are mainly two types of measuring apparatus that commonly help with woodwork. One is a “folding rule” that can be used when cutting boards. The other one is a tape measure.
A tape measure comes with a lower budget in comparison to the folding rule. They can be used for rough measurements. They both could be used in woodworking.
A suitable size for a folding rule is 24 inches. The folding rules come at a pretty affordable price.
14. Marking Knife
A marking knife is used when cutting with the saw and chisels. It provides an outline of where to cut the wood and also succeeds in not surpassing the line.
A marking knife is very important and it should be precise to get accurate lines in tight spots. Even though an old knife seems to be a substitute, it cannot be used.
The marking knives should be purchased carefully after making sure of the sharpness and work as marking knives do not always work properly.
15. Hand Tool Sharpening Supplies
The key to perfect woodwork and easier working of wood is having sharp tools. There are times when the woodwork never comes along.
Most of the time, it is because the woodworking hand tools’ sharp ends are bland. It is important to sharpen your tools frequently so that they are sharp.
A chisel and a saw are some of the hand tools that perform poorly without sharp ends.
16. Wooden Joiner Mallet
A wooden joiner mallet is necessary for traditional woodworking. It has multiple purposes that help with woodworking greatly.
Some of the uses of the Wooden Joiner Mallet include hitting your chisel so that it goes deeper resulting in an easy cut towards the joints of the piece to be cut, wooden pieces could be joined by hitting with the mallet, and it can also be used to drive dowels. It is not necessary to purchase a Wooden Joiner Mallet.
You can make it too as making it is something that could be done even by a beginner because of the easy design and non-complicated steps.
17. Working Clamps
Working clamps are absolutely necessary to own when purchasing a beginner’s woodwork hand tool. Working clamps hold the wood pieces together tightly when the glue is applied between the joints of the wood until the glue hardens.
Before buying a working clamp, it is recommended to see how many working clamps you need by putting wooden joints together without glue. The amount of glue required by each woodworker is unique and adjusted to their convenience. This is why the test must be done before purchase.
Wrapping Up
As mentioned above, these are the hand tools that are necessary for a person who plans on beginning woodworking. Woodworking is a complex form of art that is appreciated greatly and has potential forever.
Woodworking is not something that is going to die down within a few years. The technology related to woodworking is developing which makes woodworking easier and more enthusiastic. There are also no limitations to expressing your thoughts in woodwork.
