Hand tools
Hand tools for cabinetmaking come in a bewildering variety. There are specialist tools for every possible niche activity, but you can break them down to just a few key categories. Always buy the best quality you can afford – good tools will repay you in accurate work and time saved, but bad tools will just frustrate you.
Planes
Bench planes in metal or wood are used for smoothing, squaring, edging and giving a crisp surface for finishing. Start with a no.5, or jack plane. It will do most of what you need. Then you can think about a block plane for working end grain, a smoothing plane for cleaning up a rough surface, and perhaps a jointing plane for producing accurate edges to make tabletops. Low-angle versions of all these planes often do a better job. Don’t worry, though: you’ll never run out of planes to buy.
Specialist planes are used for jobs like moulding, grooving, rebating, shaping and cleaning up joints. Among the most useful is the shoulder plane, which helps you make precise mortice and tenon joints as well as rebates. You might not want to go much further, especially since many of the jobs these planes perform can now be done with electric routers.
Scrapers are worth buying for cleaning up difficult areas of grain. They’re essentially just small rectangles of tool steel, which you sharpen in a particular way to produce a burr that will work where a conventional plane won’t. They’re cheap, too, and produce a better finish than sandpaper.
Saws
Handsaws are something you won’t be able to do without. Again, get the best you can afford. A good, sharp handsaw cuts straight and fast. A cheap handsaw will only cause you grief.
Backsaws are the small kind that have a stiff bar (often in brass) running along the top of the blade. Start with a medium-size cross-cut tenon saw, which will do most jobs quite adequately. Then move up to a dovetail saw with the teeth cut in a “rip” pattern, for cutting dovetail joints along the grain. Japanese saws, which come in various configurations for different jobs, are an affordable alternative to western-style backsaws. You’ll also need a panel saw, a long flexible saw that doesn’t have a back. You can buy these now with hardpoint teeth that cut fast.
Other tools
Chisels are also indispensable. There are two main types: bevel-edged chisels, for producing dovetails and other general jointing work, and mortice chisels which can chop the deep slots used in mortice and tenon joints. At the outset you should be able to get by with a 6mm, 12mm and 18mm bevel-edged chisel: these three will get you through most situations.
Other tools you’ll need include a wooden or rubber mallet to use with your chisels, and a decent hammer. Make sure the heads of these striking tools can’t fly off! Get some good-quality marking and measuring tools, too: even the best saw is no good if the line you’re cutting to is in the wrong place. Stainless steel rules and a 100mm or 150mm engineer’s square are definitely worth having. A set of decent pencils is vital, and a couple of good screwdrivers as well – one for slot-headed and one for Pozidriv or SupaDriv screws.
If you find the prices of new hand tools daunting, or if you’re keen on acquiring some desirable collectables, then look for secondhand and antique tools at market stalls, boot sales or specialist dealers. Old chisels, made with harder steel, may even cut better than new ones. Antique tools can look beautiful, too – although the rarest can cost you thousands.
