Beginner's Guide to Woodworking by Tim Sousa - HTML preview

POWER TOOLS

As stated earlier, you certainly can get started in woodworking with just some simple hand tools. If you're really serious about woodworking, though, some good power tools will make things easier and faster for you. As with hand tools, you certainly don't need to rush out and spend a lot of money on power tools. You can just buy what you need as you need it. Be sure to buy quality tools. Good power tools are solidly built, and they will have sufficient power to get the job done.

Power tools can be divided into two categories, handheld and stationary. For many jobs a small hand held tool will do the job, but for others you'll need a larger, stationary piece of equipment.

Handheld Power Tools

A good electric drill is an essential addition to any woodworking shop. The most common use is to drill holes in wood. There are many attachments for an electric drill to increase the versatility. You can buy paint mixers, sanders, screwdrivers, grinders and many other attachments to extend the use of your drill.

A good drill to start with, would be a 3/8", variable speed, reversible, corded drill. Make sure you have a long enough extension cord to reach the parts of your shop where you may need to use the drill. You can also buy cordless drills, which take their power from a rechargable battery pack. If you do buy a cordless drill, make sure that it has enough power to do the job.

A circular saw is a saw with a circular blade, rotating at high speed. Circular saws are generally used for straight cuts through a piece of wood. A variety of blades are available, depending on what cut needs to be made. Some blades are designed to make a quick, rough cut through a piece of wood, while others are designed to make cleaner cuts without leaving rough edges. The fewer teeth on a blade, the rougher and quicker the cut. Conversely a blade with more teeth generally cuts slower but more cleanly. Other blades are available for cutting through concrete or other materials, although you probably won't need a masonry blade for woodworking.

Many circular saws have a base which is adjustable, so that the blade can cut at an angle, rather than just a straight 90 degree cut. This is useful if you need the edge of the cut beveled. Some saws also come with a guide, which rides along the edge of the piece of wood, ensuring a straight, parallel cut.

A jigsaw, or saber saw has a narrow blade, which moves up and down to make a cut. Because of the narrow blade, jigsaws can cut curves as well as straight lines. Like circular saws, the base of the jigsaw can be tilted to cut at angles. Guides are available for saber saws for making straight cuts parallel to the edge, as well as guides to cut circles and curves of a consistent radius. Jigsaws can also be used for inside cuts. You can simply drill a hole in the middle of the piece of wood, and then insert the blade of the jigsaw and start cutting.

As with circular saws, the number of teeth per inch determines how fast and how cleanly the saw will cut. The width of the blade on a saber saw determines how sharp a curve can be cut. A narrower blade will cut a much sharper curve than a wider blade.

A router is an extremely useful tool in the woodshop. Routers are used to carve out material in a piece of wood, or to shape the edges. There are many different bits available for different types of work. A straight bit is useful in carving grooves in a piece of wood, or carving a recess in the wood. For shaping the edges of your wood, you can choose from a wide variety of shapes, from simple to complex.

At some point in time, you'll want to sand your work, to make it nice and smooth. Electric sanders are much faster and easier to use than a hand held sanding block, or just a piece of sandpaper. There are two kinds of handheld sanders.

A belt sander carries a belt of sandpaper around two rollers. These sanding belts come in a variety of grades, from rough to smooth, for a variety of sanding needs. Generally a belt sander can remove a lot of material in a short amount of time, and they're good for sanding large areas.

A sheet sander has a sheet of sandpaper attached to a vibrating pad. These are less agressive than belt sanders, and are better used for a final smoothing. Sheet sanders come in various sizes. Larger sanders are used for larger areas, while small detail sanders are also available for getting into corners and small areas.

Other sanders include sanding disks, which can be installed on your electric drill, or small sanding drums, intended for use on a drill or a small rotary tool.

Stationary Power Tools

The table saw is the workhorse of the wood shop. The table saw consists of a sturdy frame with a work table. Mounted underneath the table is a motor and a circular blade, which can be adjusted for various depths and blade angles. Attachments are available to allow a wide slot to be cut in the piece of wood. Table saws come with a rip fence, so that you can accurately cut pieces to the right size. A miter gauge holds wood at a precise angle to the blade, allowing straight or angled cuts.

With a table saw, you can quickly cut a large piece of wood into smaller pieces. You can do this yourself, if you have some support for the wood, or you can get someone to help hold the large pieces of wood, and help you to guide them through the saw.

A stationary jigsaw serves the same purpose as a handheld jigsaw, or a coping saw. It is used to cut intricate curves and shapes in a piece of wood. A thin saw blade is pulled up and down by the motor. The thinner the blade, the sharper the curves that can be cut. These saws are not designed for a lot of heavy cutting, but more for intricate detail.

A radial arm saw is a circular saw which is mounted on an arm, which can be moved to any angle needed. The saw itself can also be tilted to various angles. These saws are useful in cutting compound angles on a piece of wood. A radial arm saw is good for cutting a lot of identical pieces from a long, narrow piece of wood. If you attach a wooden block, or a stop to the table, you can be sure that all the pieces of wood that you cut will be the same length.

A band saw is another saw designed to cut curves in a piece of wood. The saw blade is a narrow, ribbon shaped blad, attached at each end to form a continuous band. This band goes over rollers at the top and bottom. As with other saws, the width of the blade determines how sharp a curve can be cut. Also the number of teeth per inch determines how quickly and cleanly the saw will cut.

Band saws are versatile, and generally are good to have in the shop. The downside however, is that they can be difficult to set up, and it is not as easy to change the blade on a bandsaw as it is with other saws, such as a table saw.

A stationary belt sander is very similar to the handheld belt sander. A belt goes around two rollers, which move the belt. The work to be sanded is supported on a table, and pressed against the belt. As with handheld belt sanders, a stationary belt sander can remove a lot of material.

A disk sander is like the belt sander, except the sanding medium is on a rotating disk, rather than a belt. Again, the work is supported on a table, and pressed against the sanding disk.

Spindle sanders are useful for sanding inside curves of a woodworking piece. A spindle sander has a table, with a motor mounted underneath. A cylinder with a sanding drum mounted on it sticks up through the table. Different sized drums are available for spindle sanders. For larger pieces you can use a larger drum, for smaller pieces and smaller curves you can get a smaller, narrower sanding drum.

A jointer consists of two tables, with a rotating knife in between them. One of the tables is set at the same level as the knives, while the feed table is set lower. Jointers are used to plane the edges of a piece of wood. This will ensure a straight and true edge.

A planer is a used to straighten the faces of a piece of wood, and make the wood thinner. The wood is passed between a pair of rotating knives, one above the wood, and one below it. If your wood is slightly too thick, the planer will remove material to make the wood thinner. A planer will also ensure that the faces of the wood are smooth and flat.

A drill press is a drill, mounted in a frame with a work table. A handle on the side brings the drill down to the table, where your work is supported. A drill press is much more precise than a handheld drill. The table can be tilted, so that holes can be drilled at different angles. Drum sanders and other attachments can be used with the drill press for sanding and finishing a piece of woodwork.

A lathe is one of the most fun tools to use. There is just something about the feeling of warm wood shavings cascading over your hands as you work on a lathe. A piece of wood is clamped into the lathe horizontally. When the lathe is turned on, it rotates the wood. Various chisels and gouges are then held against the wood to shape it. Lathes are typically used in creating table or furniture legs, or turning a square piece of wood into a cylinder. Bowls and other vessels can also be created on a lathe.

Power tools can certainly be fun to use, and they certainly look impressive sitting in your shop, but you shouldn't spend a lot of money on power tools that you won't need. Evaluate the kind of woodworking that you'll want to do, and buy your tools accordingly. If you're going to be doing a lot of small projects, with small pieces of wood, then a scroll saw or band saw will serve you better than a table saw. Conversely, if you're making furniture, and working with larger pieces of wood, then a table saw will definitely serve you well.

So, now that you've bought your tools and set up your woodshop, you need something to work on. In a wood shop, the obvious material needed is... wood.