Your Tool Kit - Cutting wood for your Projects

Depending on what type of work you are considering to undertake, your selection of tools may vary but there are a few basics you might want to consider. You need to be able to cut your wood, fix pieces together, smooth the components, clamp pieces together, shape your pieces and final finish.

In the next few post I will discuss the various tools that can be used to carry out these operations. They will vary and some can be multi functional.

There are many tools for cutting wood for your projects, we have discussed circular saws previously and here are a few more options to think about.

Hand Saws - a must have for any wood worker. They are very versatile and great for cutting smaller parts, breaking down larger pieces and much more. Saws can be bought for specific tasks such as cross cutting or rip cutting or a combination of the two.The teeth are set a certain angles to make each of these operations, and needs to be considered when sharpening your saws. Other saws such as tenon saws, flush cutting saws, dovetail saws and Japanese saws are other options for specific tasks. You can spend a lot of money purchasing good quality saws but if you are not going to be using them on a daily basis then you might want to look at cheaper alternatives and there are plenty out there to choose from. I personally have a cross cutting saws, a rip saw, a tenon saw and a flush cutting saw and I use all of them regularly.

Jig Saw - a very useful tool that can cut both straight and also curved cuts. They can also be used to cut wood and metals and everything in between depending on the blade selection. They can be battery operated or corded depending on your choice. They have their limitations like depth of cut and the diameter of a circle it can cut. They also don't leave a very smooth cut surface and need to be cleaned up with either a rasp or sander. Keeping this in mind it is suggested you cut on the waste side of the line and then clean up down to this line so you maintain accuracy of your cut and piece. Like many tools you have in your tool kit, as you get to understand their operation and limitation you will become quite skilled at using them and find more and more uses for them.

Mitre Saw - again, a very useful tool to have in your kit. They are mobile and can be located to just about anywhere that has a good solid base upon which to sit them. Sometimes, you can buy them with a stand included that has extendable sides allowing you to cut long boards to length. They can cross cut pieces with ease as well as various angles, the most popular being a mitre cut or 45deg angle cut. They are quite versatile, but like most tools have some limitations. Depending on the size of the saw you will be limited in the width you can cut as well as depth. This can be overcome by turning the piece around or over and finishing off the cut. Please be careful doing these procedures as they can be tricky and safety has to be your number one priority. You can add stop blocks onto the set up so you can do repeatable cuts of a certain length which can save time and speed up the cutting process.

Band Saw - Another versatile tool with many applications depending on what type of work you are doing. The can cross cut, rip cut and cut around curves. They are very useful for re-sawing boards to make thinner pieces for a project as well as breaking down smaller logs into useable boards if that might be what your into. In other words creating your own lumber instead of buying it from a store, a sometimes cost effective approach, if you have access to logs. The band saw has long blades that run on two big fly wheels and can vary in width, number of teeth and usually are quite thin so you aren't loosing a great deal of material when cutting as you would with a circular saw, mitre saw or table saw as their blades are usually around the 3mm in thickness. This doesn't sound like much but at times every millimetre counts. The blades are flexible to a point which allows them to cut around curves but you need to bear in mind the capabilities of each blade you have on the saw as the thinner ones can cut around tight curves but the wider ones require a much bigger arc.

Scroll Saw - these are little gems and for those doing quite intricate work or working with smaller pieces they can be very useful. Like the bandsaw there are various sizes of blades available, number of teeth and so on. They use straight blades and are fixed at both ends and the blade runs up and down as opposed to the band saw where the blade runs around the fly wheels in a continuous band. If you are cutting a section out of a board in a decorative pattern you will need to consider that a pilot hole needs to be drilled first in order to insert the blade through before cutting. Depending on whether you have a pinned or non pinned blade this hole may need to be quite big so bare this in mind when creating your design. They can cut quite tight curves and at times even a 90deg angle can be achieved with great skill required as well as the appropriate blade.

Table Saw - the big daddy of saws, so to speak. These are usually very powerful units and a great deal of care needs to be taken when using them. If not treated with a great deal of respect you can get some nasty injuries. Things like kick back has pieces of wood flying at you at great speed and force and can do serious damage, even break bones and of course the blade can quickly take off a finger before you realise. A bit over the top some may say in my description but all very possible, just check out any of the You tube videos or Facebook groups and you will see users who have suffered these types of injuries and they have been using these machines for years but had a momentary lapse of concentration and accidents happen even if you are working safely. I have experienced kick back on more than one occasion and its scary. I have managed to dodge most of the pieces flying but just before Christmas 2016 I wasn't so luck and had the end of a finger smashed open and the tip broken. Yes it repaired its self in time but definitely a wake up call.

These units can be purchase for between $500 and $1000 for a small set up that is quite suitable for the home handy person to several thousand for the serious wood worker. Keep an eye out for specials or second hand sales as you can pick up some good deals. These units are great for rip cutting and cross cutting wood at any length, so long as you have it supported both entering the saw and exiting so as not to bind up the blade. They usually come with a sliding fence that allows you to cut boards to set widths repeatedly and you can quite easily build your own cross cut sled which gives you even more flexibility. The blades come in varying sizes, teeth configurations and you can purchase things called dado stacks which are a number of blades stacked together and allow you to make a wider cut in one pass. You may need to make various clearance plates for your saw depending on what your doing and these you can make also yourself. There are many jigs you can make or buy for the table saw allowing you to perform many different tasks. Check out some videos on You tube of what other crafters have made for their saws to get some ideas.

I use every one of these saw types listed above and almost on a daily basis depending on what is required on any given project. They did not all come at once, I gathered them as I needed them and could afford. I now have a range of saws that fit my needs based on the work I do. As you can see there are a variety of suppliers and types for each different type of saw. Consider carefully what projects you will be doing and be mindful of the expense involved in the purchase of any of these tools. Do your research before buying and get the best you can afford at the time.

Please remember to read and understand all of the instructions that come with your tools and be careful as you can never be too safety conscious.

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