31 Essential Tools You Need for Woodworking

Woodworking is more than an activity, or a skill, or anything you call. Very few trades will give you as much scope of exercising your talents as it does. Not a lot of people can enjoy the job to their utmost capability even with undivided attention. Can you figure out why? It's either the lack of access to the right tools or knowledge about most of them that stand in their way of fulfillment.

Because I’ve been in this work for several years now and got the privilege of using dozens of them, I’m going to enlighten your domain of knowledge about the hand and power tools plus some multipurpose gear which you’ll find useful one time or another.

 

23 Hand Tools for Carpenters and Woodworkers

Every tool under this section is dependent on the energy you apply as the operator. It means you need to have specific skills to get the most of them. However, many of these products are suitable for beginners and professionals alike.

 

#1 Axes & Hatchets

All kinds of axes, adzes, and hatchets belonging to this category are technically chopping tools. Examples include adze with a small curved head and straight head, carving hatchet, carpenter’s and splitting axe, etc.

 

#2 Hammers and Mallets

When the very woodworking job you’re handling requires hitting, nailing, or giving blows on wooden frames, assemblies, brushes, handles, and gouges; you’ve two distinguished kinds of tools, such as hammers and mallets which come in different types and are useful for applying varying degrees of pressure/weight on related objects.

Hammer & Mallet Types	Useful For
Woodworker Hammer	Pulling nails or tips, making lever or slits
Ball Pen Hammer	Hitting or nailing tips into a piece of wood (more useful for metal working)
Cross-Peen Hammer	Lifting or placating the layers of sheet, straightening deformed nails, driving small nails
Cabinetmaker Hammer	Nailing nails or tips, hammering small points on the wood with greater precision
Joiner’s Mallet	Chisel work, mortise chopping
Carver’s Mallet	Driving gouges and various other tools for making intricate carvings, heavy lifting, detailed woodworking crafts
Journeyman’s Mallet	Reaching tight spaces, fine joinery (chopping the waste lying between dovetails)
Dead-blow Mallet	Absorbing tremors during the hammer strike to minimize damage to a precision work or struck wood surface, difficult joinery works like driving wood/furniture pieces (as in driving pegs into holes)
Rubber/Soft Mallet	Simple joinery tasks without losing the delicateness of wood and finishes

 

#3 Carving Tools

Carving knives, Japanese carving gouges, sets, veiners, V-tools, etc. are some of the most commonly used hand tools for woodworking.

 

#4 Chisels

A woodworking tool as sharp and purposefully designed as a chisel is always good at jobs like cutting, curving, and shaping wood effectively and fast. You may come across eight types of them depending on the design and efficiency.

Chisel Types	Useful For
Bench Chisels (with Beveled Edge)	Accessing and finishing dovetails
Heavy-Duty Bench Chisels (Beveled Edge)	Boatbuilding, timber framing, and other complicated joinery tasks
Registered Chisels	Timber framing and some general woodworking tasks
Paring Chisels	Shaving off thin wood while fitting joints, dressing mortise sides
Mortise Chisels	Cutting mortise joints, chopping out joints, getting rid of the waste wood
Mortise Chisels (Sash)	Chopping deep and shallow mortises (e.g. the ones in the muntins and mullions of a window)
Heavy Duty Mortise Chisels (Sash)	Handling deep mortises without drilling out the unwanted materials
Japanese Bench Chisels	Cutting softwoods with zero crumblings, protecting tropical exotic woods from the natural abrasion

 

#5 Files & Rasps

Hand rasp, saw rasp, round rasp, taper file, precision needle file, pocket rasp are some of the popular woodworking tools in this category.

 

#6 Hand Saws

These low-risk woodworking tools are useful when you have to cut wood pieces into different shapes to join them together and finally carving a wooden object. Common hand saws are back saw, bow saw, carcass saw, compass saw, coping saw, crosscut saw, dovetail saw, French flush-cut saw, fretsaw, Japanese saw, keyhole saw, razor saw, rip saw, traditional handsaw, and veneer saw.

 

#7 Knives

Although these hand tools belong to the group of carving tools, their versatility, and particular utilities make them a standalone category which includes woodworking knife, marking knife, pocket knife, dovetail marker, traditional hand-forged knife, knives with square point and taper point, etc.

 

#8 Vises

Woodworking vises hold the workpiece using a couple of jaws controlled by a screw-based mechanism. There’re four types of vises, such as Engineer's Vise, Face Vise, End Vise, and Leg Vise

 

#9 Clamps

The purpose of using clamps is to tighten a workpiece to the work surface. The most common types include C-clamps, Pipe Clamp fixture, Deep throat bar clamp, Handscrew Clamp, One-handed bar clamp, Spring Clamps, Ratchet action bar clamps, Miter clamps, Kant twist clamp, Locking clamp, Quick action clamp, Edge clamp, Parallel clamps, Bench Clamps, and Spring clamps

 

14 Other Hand Tools

·         Planes & Spokeshaves

·         Punches

·         Scissors & Snips

·         Abrasives, Sandpapers, and Scrapers

·         Sharpening Tools and Stones

·         Wrenches, Pliers & Sockets

·         Screwdrivers

·         Tool Sets

·         Turning Tools

·         Gauges

·         Calipers

·         Inspection & Metering

·         Squares & Triangles

·         Tape Measures & Rulers

 

4 Power Tools for Woodworkers

Most of the power tools intended for woodworking or carpentry and deliver advanced services which require both professionals as well as DIY enthusiasts to become versed in operating them and follow caution.

 

Saws

Arguably, saws make the largest selection of tools including both hand and power variants. Since you already have the list of hand saws, it’s time to know about the motor-powered types.

Power Saw Types	Useful For
Band Saw	Making smooth cuts, irregular shapes, ripping/resawing lumber into thinner/slicker slabs
Jigsaw	Cutting woods maintaining varying density and thickness
Track Saw	Cutting angles on large wood pieces, mitering carcase sides, and cross-cutting large pieces to different lengths
Scroll Saw	Cutting intricate joints, curves, dovetail joints, etc.
Circular Saw	Making straight cuts
Miter (Drop) Saw	Making accurate crosscuts using a selected angle, cutting trim and molding quickly
Table Saw	Ripping lumber, making cross-cuts, miter-cut, squares, dados, rabbets, etc., and applying shapes to wood edges
Reciprocating Saw (Sawzall)	Making crude cuts, cutting wood with nails
Radial Arm Saw	Making crosscuts, complementing the use of miters, bevels, rabbets, etc.

 

Sanders

These power tools are known for their efficiency and precision in making furniture and cabinetry.

Sander Types	Useful For
Belt Sander	Removing roughness of wood and preparing it for less aggressive power tools
Random Orbital Sander	Removing roughness on large wood pieces and polishing them
Disc Sander	Sanding difficult areas and outside curves, removing a lot of wood quickly
Finishing Sander	Fine finishing a workpiece

 

Grinders

Two types of grinders are usable when it comes to woodworking. They are angle and bench grinders. You can use an angle grinder for woodworking but with adequate caution. Bench grinders are usually intended for sharpening other tools. So, it may not sound like a typical woodworking tool. But it really pays off!

 

Drill Machines

The use of a drill press becomes noticeable when precision drilling matters and you need to make large-diameter holes maintaining accuracy. Similarly, a power drill allows you to make round holes with a specific diameter for all of them.

 

4 More Tools for Special Functions

The following tools are essential but require special knowledge and technical know-how.

Jig: These are excellent tools to keep if you have a table saw. Whether you want to handle tapering, panel-cutting, tenons, making strong and beautiful drawers and joints, the best dovetail jigs will take your efforts to a more progressive level.

Router: Different furniture items and wooden objects come with variably shaped edges. What do you think makes it possible? A router with a wide variety of bits makes it happen.

Jointer: In order to carry on your woodworking efficiently, the need for flat, square edges is always inevitable, and a jointer does just that plus a few things more like salvaging warped or bowed stock.

Surface Planer: It’s a modern, technologically sound version of the woodworking tool used to be employed for making a smooth surface. These power tools do the job of planning the surface of wood evenly and smoothly in just a minute or two.

 

Some Accessories and Extras to Expand Your Comfort Zone

·         The Rip Fence

·         The Miter Gauge

·         Power Vacuum and Dust Collection (for managing the dirt and flying dust which can be detrimental to your health)

·         Feather Boards (for holding the workpiece against a sharp cutting head)

·         Tool Storage (to store the tools you frequently use)

·         Metal Detector (to make sure that no unwanted metals or tools interfere with your actions)

·         The Work Bench (to get your project done on a dedicated space)

·         The Saw Horse (to extend your workspace beyond the workbench)

 

Final Words

This list may contain specific tools that many woodworkers don’t even use in a decade, but, trust me, none of them are useless if you know what to do with them. In addition, I’ve got a few more words to say. Guess what?

I didn’t tell you any name that will keep you safe while working your way with the above items. So, I recommend you pay attention to the outfit. Nothing gaudy but safety goggles, latex gloves, hearing protection, protective clothing (according to code and standard), and rubber footwear will do fine.

Finally, keep the relevant instruction manuals within reach because you can’t risk letting anything go wrong after all, and don’t hesitate to ask me anything about the trade.

Happy woodworking!