When I was young I was always the kid who got to help Dad fix things. We'd fix leaky faucets, broken fences, wrecked cars, old doorknobs, you name it. I loved finding the tools Dad needed and handing them to him. I loved the socket wrench because it had lots of parts that fit together. I loved the set of wrenches that stacked on top one another in their case. I loved the array of screwdrivers and chisels, but I especially loved the power tools—the drill and the circular saw. Those two were the extent of my father's power tools. You see, he wasn't a builder, he just had the tools necessary to fix things around the house.
No matter that he had only two power tools, I thought they were pretty neat. At Christmas time and Fathers' Day, I would pour over the newspaper adds from Home Depot and Sears and imagined my own set of tools. Since I've always loved building things, I pictured a workshop furnished with all the tools and machines I would need to make dressers and shelves, chests, toys, anything that I could think of. This has always been of interest to me, and I hope someday to achieve my desire.
While I'm not currently able to afford such a thing, neither do I have a place wherein to house my tools, I still look around for the things I will one day purchase for my creative outlet. Following is a list of tools I've found along with a brief description.
A drill
There are high speed and high torque drills for all your drilling needs.
An array of screwdrivers
Big ones, small ones, electronic ones.
A hammer drill
Hammer drills are different from regular drills in that they have a hammering function which can be turned on or off. When turned off, it is just a normal drill, but when turned on, it helps to break through brittle surfaces. These are used specifically for masonry. I imagine if I purchased one of these I wouldn't get a regular drill because this can do the same things as a regular drill, plus more. However, they are a little more expensive than regular drills.
A rotary hammer
A rotary hammer does similar things to a hammer drill on a larger scale. The name deemphasizes the drill function by denoting it as “rotary,”indicating that the hammer function is more important. Rotary hammers are like small, hand-held jackhammers. They drill and hammer, but you can't turn off the hammer function as you can with the hammer drill. These tools are used for more serious hammer drilling activities.
A sander
There are a number of sanders out there, some big, some small, some for delicate, finishing work, others for general sanding on a gross scale.
A belt sander has a large piece of sand paper that runs on a belt. These sanders are used before the project needs delicate finishing.
A sheet finishing sander is for more detailed work. It is a smaller tool that can be held in one hand.
A corner sander is smaller still. It has a pointed corner that can access smaller spaces. It is used for finishing and detail.
A router
A router is a tool that routes or hollows out areas in a piece of wood. There are a number of exchangeable bits, each used to create a unique pattern. Routers can have either a fixed base or a non-fixed base. Routers without a fixed base are called plunger routers.
A saw or two or three
There are a bunch of different saws.
A table saw is a circular sawing disc protruding from a table. A motor is attached to the disc and rotates it. The table is used to support the material being cut.
A reciprocating saw consists of a small, straight blade that moves back and forth in a gun-like body. It's cut is fairly messy, and so is used primarily for demolition purposes.
A jigsaw is similar to a reciprocating saw, save for its lack of mobility (the body is not a hand-held item), its vertical orientation and its finer cutting. Jigsaws are used to cut irregular shapes in wood.
A circular saw is like a portable table saw, minus the table. The saw is moved along the piece of work being cut rather than the piece of work being passed by the saw as with the table saw.
A vacuum
Lastly, a vacuum is an essential asset simply because wherever a lot of wood is cut, a lot of sawdust is created.
Now that a list (though not by any means conclusive) has been established, it's important to note that any one of these tools will need replacement parts sometime or another. It's a good idea to have some on hand, be they Bosch parts, Makita parts, DeWalt parts, Milwaukee parts, Porter Cable parts or Skil parts. These can be bought in the store or online at the manufacturer's website or specialized places such as eReplacement Parts.
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