Router Table Depot Blog: Woodworking Tools Router Table Depot

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Friday, June 5, 2009

If you are the type who likes building or creating things with his own hands, then woodworking is a very good craft for you. Essentially, woodworking is anything that is built or created using wood, e.g., furniture, fixtures, sculptures, etc. Serious woodworkers have elevated the craft to the level of fine art, commanding high prices for their work which, in turn, appreciate in value over time.

Any good woodworker will tell you that you cannot work well with wood if you do not have the right tools for the right purpose, e.g., different kinds of saws to cut the wood in various shapes and sizes, planes and sandpaper to smoothen the surface, chisels to carve out intricate designs, drills for holes, etc. The early versions of these tools were quite cumbersome to use and only really good woodworkers were able to utilize them with skill. The challenge was not just in the creative aspect, but also on the “taming” of the tools. As a result, really good products of woodworking took a lot of time to finish.

Fortunately, thanks to modern technology, most woodworking tools are now powered by electricity and are simpler to use than their predecessors. Creativity still belongs in the mind of the craftsman but the fulfillment has become easier to accomplish. With the modern woodworking tools, you can focus on the creative aspect of the craft.

Some of these tools include:

Routers – specialized power tools with shaped cutters that are used for cutting grooves into the wood. With these tools, it is possible to quickly carve out shapes and designs into the wood you are working on with a minimal chance of making mistakes.
Table Saws – these tools really take out the pain from sawing. Equipped with a powerful motor with a rapidly-rotating circular saw half-exposed on a portion of the work table, table saws cut through wood that is passed through it evenly and in a very quick completion time. Guides installed in the table ensure that the wood is passed through evenly and steadily for a straight cut.
Drill Presses – these power tools perform one task, i.e., drill a straight, precisely-sized hole into the wood each and every time that they are used. The advantage of a drill press versus a handheld drill is that it is more reliable and can drill through thick wood without the shakiness of the hands.
Lathes – these tools spin a block of wood to which various operations can be conducted (e.g., cutting, sanding, drilling, knurling, etc.) to create a symmetrical piece about a certain axis. Table and chair legs as well as bed posts are common examples of items that are produced by these tools. You can create one of a kind symmetrical pieces or, if you have a lathe with cloning capability, you can several copies of a particular wood piece.
Planers and Sanders – Planers make sure that pieces that are supposed to be flat are so before they are further worked on. Sanders on the other hand, smooth out the rough edges of the piece, normally prior to finishing.

by: Router Table Depot

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