When starting off with woodworking as a beginner, you are not going to have all the tools necessary to build. This is why you should first concentrate on buying some of the basic hand tools which are needed for woodworking.
A woodworker, in general, should have tools to measure, cut, shape, join and other safety equipment. You are not going to need all the tools there is which a woodworker needs at once.
You can start by buying the essentials and slowly buying the rest of which are required by some specific projects. Start by making a list of what you have if you happen to have any at your house or at the place where you plan to start your shop.
Essential Woodworking Hand Tools for Beginners
There are many tools you need for woodworking and home improvement projects. Some of them are necessary for each and any kinds of projects and some of them are for the larger projects.
Let us find out the woodworking hand tools list with pictures and their proper uses to have a perfect performance in our future works.
Using an1.25-Inch Chisel
A good quality chisel is what you really need to buy because you are going to need to use it most of the time you are working. It is best to buy a set of chisels but since you are just starting off, you can get a 1.25-inch chisel because it is the most versatile one and one that sees the most use.
You are going to need to use a chisel to clean up joints of glue. You will need it to pry open certain things, change the shape of wood as needed, to clean up mortises, rabbets, and dados along with many other things. It even works well for scraping glue or old veneer.
Proper Use of Block Plane for Woodworking
Block planes are extremely handy for flattening edges of a piece of board. This is a very common thing many woodworkers run into during multiple projects and having a block plane around helps a lot.
When building furniture, jigs or when working on any other shop projects, a block pane always has a useful role to play. These can also be used to hand-shape round over edges or even chamfer the edges on a finished piece of board.
Sharpening Kit is Among Basic Woodworking Hand Tools
A sharpening kit is going to really come in handy as you keep on using your tools once you keep going through projects, especially the beginner woodworking projects.
You will figure out pretty quickly how badly a chisel or a block plane needs sharpening fairly quickly after some use because its usefulness lies in its sharpness. Try to buy good quality sharpening kits.
Some people recommend using Japanese whetstones and blade honing guides which are great at sharpening blunt tools until they are razor-sharp with a mirror finish.
Quick Clamps As Woodworking Hand Tools and Their Uses
Quick clamps are genuinely useful for multiple reasons. These clamps are really fast to set up, very quick and easy to release and easy to use. They provide a lot of practicality to a woodworker’s shop and are very easy to store away.
These essential tools can be used for various purposes. You could use them while sanding when working on the joints when gluing pieces together, and there are a lot of other uses. These are a necessity in a shop and help when working.
Bar Clamps is Useful Furniture, Benches, Etc
Bar clamps are available in many different styles and lengths. It does not matter what you are doing, say you are making furniture, workbenches or anything else, bar clamps are essential when gluing two pieces together.
There are ones that are like a screw style C clamp and there are others which are similar to quick clamps. These are available at any home store or on any online shopping sites where you can find these. They are very cheap and help out a lot for most woodworking projects.
Sanding Block for Flat Surface of the Woods
Sanding is something nobody likes to do but especially when they are just using their hands. So it is among the essential hand tools for woodworking you need in different projects.
All woodworkers still have to do it and sanding blocks make it very comfortable and quick to do the job while also maintaining a flat wave-free surface so that the finished quality is outstanding.
There are a few different styles of the sanding block. There are ones that are just a bar of wood, aged woods by processing or plastic which are not that great.
You will also find ones that are padded so that your hands are comfortable, while also having a steel sanding face to keep the sanding surface as flat as possible.
Go to a nearby shop where you can buy these items and try what bests suit your style and what you are comfortable with because all of this boils down to personal taste and preference.
Just invest a little in a good sanding block and you will see the benefit of this in the finished project. Even though power sanders are used when working on bigger projects, sanding blocks must be used on smaller ones to obtain the best results possible.
Standard Shop Tools are Necessary for Proper Woodworking
Your shop will require a lot of miscellaneous items that anyone with a shop should own. These are just some of the basic hand tools unlike the hand tools, especially for woodworking.
You will be needing them to tighten a screw, to unbolt nuts, to beat down on nails to attach pieces of food together or just bend a steel hanger. If your shop has power tools, you will most definitely need these for adjustment.
These hand tools typically include Philips head screwdrivers, flat head screwdrivers, Allen keys, wrenches, utility blades, hammers, pliers, wire strippers, crimpers and anything else which you might need.
Using a Square for Projects Accuracy
Do not cheap out on a square because this is what makes your projects accurate. Get a good carpenter’s square to be as accurate and precise as you can be.
It is not only about woodworking skills and techniques that are necessary for accurate works, sometimes the tools and gears have a large impact.
It is possible to buy a standard square and get away with it but you will benefit the most if you buy each type of squares.
A Framing Square
A framing square is one of the most important woodworking hand tools for beginners. It will allow you to square up projects when working on joinery and allows you to create square cuts on larger pieces of wood or any other material.
It is the same in this case as well, do not buy the cheap ones, just get a good quality one for just a bit more. Some people suggest buying a drywall T square which comes in really handy for some situations especially when working with plywoods.
For the most part, for essentials, a framing square is going to be good enough and will provide plenty of the help needed.
18-Inch Ruler is Handy for Measuring
An 18-inch ruler is going to come in handy almost always. Try to keep it in a very accessible location in your shop such as leaving it hanging on a screw on the wall or on any one of the legs on a workbench.
You can buy other sizes or rulers but most woodworkers seem to find this the best compromise between a 12 inch and a 36-inch ruler more often than not. It is really useful when drawing straight lines because of its straight edge.
Moreover, it is helpful when measuring between 2 points on board but it is a lot faster to use a tape measure when measuring from the end of aboard. It also helps in to make marks on aboard.
Tape Measure Is one of the Traditional Woodworking Hand Tools
Buy yourself a good quality tape measure because it is one of the core essentials of any woodworking shop.
It should also be in a very accessible place and it helps when measuring quickly and accurately. Buying a good quality tape measure will ensure that the readings are accurate and the return spring will keep working for years to come.
It can be used to check for squareness once you have nailed or glued pieces of board together by measure the diagonals and checking to see if they are equal.
Torpedo Level: A Fine Woodworking Hand Tools
A torpedo level is really helpful and not that expensive considering the assistance it provides. It just like any other level shows how level and flat a surface is to the ground.
A torpedo level comes in really handy when you need to check the level on something very wide or spread apart.
Center Punch for Drilling Accuracy During Woodworking
So you have drill and you need to drill holes. How many times has it happened that the drill bit keeps dancing around and finally starts drilling a bit off from where you wanted to initially drill.
A cheap but really effective tool is a center punch. A center punch improves accuracy by a lot.
It is just like a pen and when you need to drill a hole somewhere, but the center punches on top of it and presses the button to create a small indentation on the surface which keeps the drill from moving around.
Using a center punch to start the hole will make your job of drilling holes much more accurate and also will not leave the surface around it all scuffed up as it may happen sometimes.
Especially when working with steel. Pine or spruce generally need a center punch to be able to drill holes accurately.
Hand Saw: One of the Most Useful Woodworking Power Tools
There are times when a table saw or a miter saw are just not what you need because it is just is not practical. Maybe you just need to trim a piece of board or maybe a dowel.
That is when a hand saw is the best choice. There are different types of hand saws. Typically there is a finishing hand saw, a backsaw and a hack saw.
It has a lot fewer teeth than finishing hand saw blade which leaves a rough finish but it is faster than a finishing blade. Once you are done sewing, you can just hand plane and sand the edges to make it smooth.
If you already happen to buy or have a circular saw or a miter saw then it is recommended that you buy a hand saw with a finishing blade on it so that it is more useful.
However, if you do not have a circular saw or a miter saw and you need a hand saw to make the main cuts, then get a standard cross cutting hand saw.
Last Few Words
If you are starting woodwork and are planning on getting the essentials a beginner would need, these are all the items you will need. You do not need much more, just this to get your first projects going.
Once you feel like you have mastered the technique of using hand tools, then start thinking about purchasing better equipment such as power tools.
Yes, power tools will make your life easier but it is important to learn how to use hand tools because you cannot always use power tools especially when working on the details of a small size project.
It is also a lot less expensive to buy hand tools to at least get started.