Woodworking Tools
Most people have a few basic woodworking tools around the house. A saw, hammer and nails, an assortment of screws, a straight-blade and Philips head screwdriver are all you need for many home repairs and small projects. But hobbyist and professional woodworkers often accumulate vast collections of exotic woodworking tools, enough to fill a two-car garage or even more space.
Woodworking hand tools include carving tools of many kinds: broad-bladed knives for removing lots of wood in one stroke and tiny razor blades for carving scrimshaw and other delicate work. A plane is a device that shaves thin strips of wood from a piece to level and smooth its surface.
Clamps of many kinds are used to hold wood firmly in place while it is drilled or nailed, and while glue dries. C-clamps are common, and pipe clamps that slide up and down lengths of pipe to hold large pieces together. Corner clamps hold lengths of wood together at specific angles while they are fastened to one another; this his useful in applications from picture frames to intricately inlaid geometric intarsia work.
Woodworking power tools include drills, drill presses, table and band saws, sanders and grinders, and a variety of woodworking hand tools. Lathes are common in woodworking shops, where they turn everything from bowls to pool cues while a knife removes wood from the rotating piece. Electric powered sanders save a great deal of time and effort in woodworking projects. Dremel brand rotary tools use tiny bits and attachments of many kinds to give woodworkers very fine results.
Japanese woodworking tools are considered more efficient and easily controlled by some woodworkers. A Japanese hand saw, for example, is thin and flexible. It cuts only on the pulling stroke and so does not need to be rigid to avoid bending on the push stroke. This type of saw cuts a very thin kerf, the amount of wood removed from a piece to make room for the saw to pass through it. Flexible Japanese saws can be used to cut off the tops of wooden pegs flush with floor boards, too.
Wood burning tools are like soldering irons, but they heat to lower temperatures. Wood burning tools are used to make burnt designs in wood, not for cutting or drilling. An artist may use wood carving tools to make a bas relief design in a piece of wood, and then highlight its contours burnt shades ranging from black to tan using wood burning tools.