Choosing Essential Tools for Woodworking

Lathe
When it comes to wood turning, the lathe is the indispensable tool for producing chair legs, bowls, and balusters. Workpieces are suspended over a metal bed, spun at high speed, and shaped using special chisels and gouges.

The wood to be turned is fixed between the “headstock” and “tailstock” of the lathe. The headstock houses the motor that spins the workpiece; the tailstock is adjustable, moving along the length of the bed to fit workpieces of various lengths. Once the piece is locked in place, the tool rest is positioned about an eighth of an inch away from the piece, just below its center line. The spinning workpiece is then shaped using a chisel or gouge held fast to the tool rest. Face-plate turning, in which the workpiece is fastened with screws to the face plate of the drive spindle, enables the woodworker to produce bowls and other hollow goods.

Thickness Planer
Planers are usually identified by the width and thickness of the stock they will plane. A 12-inch model will suffice for most home workshop jobs. Don’t force the piece into the planer: the machine has a feed control that adjusts the speed at which the stock passes the cutterhead.

Radial Arm Saw
The radial arm saw is basically a portable circular saw that glides on an adjustable arm suspended over a fixed cutting surface. The blade and motor are connected to the arm by a yoke, which is adjustable along both horizontal and vertical planes, enabling the saw to be swung in a variety of directions.

For cross-cut work, position the board flush with the fence at the rear of saw and draw the blade across the wood. The bevel lock allows the saw to be tilted for cutting angles; set it to the desired angle using the protractor on the saw housing. The saw can be swivelled right or left for mitering, or even turned a full 90 degrees for ripping. The blade can also be raised or lowered using a crank. The size of the saw is determined by the dimension of the blade the saw can accommodate. Many models use 10-inch blades, which will cut stock up to 3 inches thick.

Scroll Saw
Also known as a jigsaw, the power scroll saw might as well be called the gingerbread saw: That’s what it does best, cutting tight curves, angles, and intricate shapes. The scroll saw blades, called “jeweler’s blades” are short and straight. They’re clamped at the top and bottom and cut in a reciprocating (up-and-down) motion.

Most models have variable speeds, but the scroll saw is designed to cut precisely not quickly. Feed the wood to the saw flush to the saw table. Scroll saw blades are thin and easily broken, so take care not to bend, twist, or put too much pressure on the blade. Drill holes in the waste stock at the tightest corners to facilitate clean and neat cuts. The depth of the saw throat determines how large a piece of wood can be cut on a given saw; 16 inches is a common and generally useful size.

Table and Belt Sander
This is that rare two-for-one deal in which two tools have been effectively made one. The stationary belt sander uses a closed loop of paper that travels at speed around a pair of cylindrical drums. One drum is driven by an electric motor, the other is spring-loaded to maintain belt tension. Powered by the same motor, the stationary disk sander uses sanding disks that spin on a backing plate.

On both the belt and disk sanders, the workpiece is presented to the tool (the opposite is true of portable belt and hand-held disk sanders which are presented to the work; as a result, they are particularly useful in sanding oversized workpieces). On stationary sanders, an adjustable worktable or fence can be fixed in front of the sander to position the workpiece during sanding. Belt sizes vary greatly, with four-inch wide, two- or three-foot-long belts being usual, as are four- to eight-inch diameter disks.

Band Saw
The band saw is great for freehand and curved cutting, but its depth of cut also makes it suitable for sawing thick lumber. The table tilts on many models, allowing for angle cuts. Band saws come in many sizes but for most home workshops a good choice is a 12- or a 14- inch model (the dimension indicates the size of the workpiece that can be presented to the blade; a 12-inch band saw will saw to the center a 12-inch piece).

Blade size is another consideration: the variables are the number of points (teeth) per inch; the width and gauge (thickness) of the blade; and the kinds of teeth. Fewer teeth make for a faster but coarser saw cut; more teeth for finer work or for cutting metal.