subject: 5 Hand Tools You Can't Live Without [print this page] A well equipped workshop is the initial step to making sure you are ready and able for any do-it-yourself home improvement project. With a few basic workhorses, you can saw, nail, sand, shape and sharpen the way the experts do it.
The Top Five Tool List
You will find thousands of tools on the shelves of the hardware store and the work benches of seasoned do-it-yourself experts, however, if you were to break them down into categories, they all do some of the exact same things. And so, with five basic pieces of hardware being your foundation, you can build anything and then work from there to build your own workshop.
The first power tool to possess is a circular saw. With this, you can cut straight lines and large curves. Setting a board on the top of 2 saw horses, can create a work area to hold wood being cut.
Next, for larger wood working projects, a table saw or radial arm saw is in line. Selecting one which rotates to different angles is essential should you intend to cut picture framing or crown mouldings for your house. The angles allow you to create the 45 degree mitre cuts for a best fit.
Third, the well- equipped workshop has an electric sander. All of this work can be done by hand, but the electric belt sander provides every piece of wooden a professionally finished look. It prepares long strips of moulding or the edges of table tops and other furniture for staining or painting.
Fourth, every wood working workshop should have a router. This handy tool allows you to create woodworking patterns and grooves that take a piece of furniture or moulding from that plain look of the Shaker style to the ornate French provincial elegance.
Finally, maintaining your saws as well as other tools is simpler with a grinding wheel or knife sharpener. These will let you maintain blades and keep them cutting the fine details and patterns that take your handicraft up a notch from amateur to professional.
Solid Brands for Solid Quality
You will find a few brands of tools that the name on its own creates an image of quality. Makita, Ryobi, Rockler, Rockwell, Sears Craftman, Snap-On, Hitachi, and Rigid are all names you are able to rely on. The costs in these brands differ a little, but with any of them, you can rely on a quality tool which will last decades. It's really worth the investment.
Adding On
Once you've stocked your workshop shelves with the basics, you can put a few of the luxuries that make the jobs much easier and smoother. Of course, there are the smaller devices for example gluers and clamps that keep projects together while you work. But to that, you can add electric nailers, dovetail jigs, jet tools and much more to make life simpler.
A well organized workshop with all of the basics is the ideal way to work. Perhaps your first huge project could be building the workbench that will work as your foundation for a lot more projects to come.
