Workshop Tools & Equipment

Below are a wide range of hand tools and workshop equipment for woods, metals and plastics that you could typically find in a school workshop. Equipment for woods are sometimes referred to as Carpentry tools.

workshop tools for Woods / Timbers

Tenon / Back Saw

Used for sawing straight cuts through timbers. It has a metal 'back' keeping the blade straight making it great for cutting wood joints and straight edges.

Dovetail Saw

Very similar to a Tenon / Back saw but has finer teeth and used for sawing and cutting Dovetail wood joints.

Hand / Panel Saw

Used for sawing through long or larger pieces / sheets of timber.

Coping Saw

Used for sawing curves in wood and can cut from a variety of angles. Good for removing the waste from wood joints.

Mallet

Used to knock wooden pieces together, or to drive dowels, chisels and to apply pressure on joints.

Chisel

Chisels are cutting tools with sharpened edges at the end of metal blades. The bevel-edged chisel is a strong chisel used for cleaning up dovetail joints.

Plane / Jack Plane

Used for removing wood by shaving off small amounts until flat / level. Then used for making wood flat and smooth ready to be used.

Hand Drill

Used for drilling holes into timbers.

Flathead Screwdriver

Used for screwing in flat head screws.

Phillips Screwdriver

Used for screwing in cross head screws

Mortice Scribe

Used for marking out Mortice and Tenon wood joints.

Claw Hammer

Used for tapping in nails into woods and the clas part for removing nails.

Flat File

Common use file for removing wood / waste. The flat sides can be used to remove wood to be flat.

Half Round File

Common use file for removing wood / waste. The curved side can be used to remove from concave shapes.

Round File

Used for removing wood / waste from circular shapes or concave curves.

Bastard / Rough File

A very rough file used for removing wood / waste more quickly as it has a heavier cut.

Needle File

Common use small files for removing wood / waste in small areas and for detailing. Can be used on metals and plastics.

Bradawl

Used for marking a hole into woods ready to be drilled.

Marking Knife

Used for accurately marking across the grain of woods. In particular used for marking out wood joints.

T Square

Used for marking out 90 degree / right angles on material.

Auger Drill Bit

it is a spiral shaped tool that is used to drill holes in wood.

Drill Bit

Used for drilling holes into woods and plastics.

Smoothing Plane

Bench Dog

Adjustable strap clamp

Piercing Saw

Power tools and machines for Woods

Router

Used for removing wood such as a rebate. A router has a spinning 'bit' which can be shaped to remove wood.

Hand Sander

Used for smoothing out woods to achieve a very fine surface finish.

Power Drill

Used for drilling holes into materials from a variety of angles. It's portability make it very useful.

Wood Lathe

Used for 'turning' wooden pieces into cylindrical forms and bowls.

Workshop tools for Metals

Hacksaw

Used for sawing into and through metals (and plastics). It has a frame that holds the blade in tension and it has very fine teeth making it suitable for cutting metals (and plastics).

Junior Hacksaw

Used for sawing into and through metals (and plastics). It has a small frame that holds the blade in tension and it has very fine teeth (even finer than a hacksaw) making it suitable for detailed cutting of metals (and plastics).

Pliers

Used for holding small pieces of material and for gripping items to hold or remove. Very strong grip.

Long Nose Pliers

Used for gripping components

Snips

Used for cutting through thin sheets of metal. Like a pair of scissors but for metals.

Spanner

Used for tightening / loosening Nuts, to hold things in place.

Adjustable Spanner / Monkey Wrench

Used for tightening / loosening Nuts, to hold things in place, but it can be adjusted for a variety of sizes.

Center Punch

Used for creating the start point for a hole in metals. Following this a hole is drilled.

equipment for marking out metals

Scribe / Scriber

Used for marking out on metals.

Dividers

Used for marking out circles on metals and measuring distances.

Engineers square

Used for marking out a right angle on materials. One edge rests upon the material and the other edge creates the 90 degree right angle.

Steel Rule

Used for measuring accurately in mm.

Spring Dividers

Used for measuring metals and cyclindrical forms.

Spring Callipers

Used to set a measurement and work with cylindrical forms on a lathe - to measure the diameter.

Vernier Callipers

Used for accurately measuring work pieces. Works to 100th of a mm.

Micrometer

Used to accurately measure work pieces. Works to 1000th mm.

Centre Lathe

Used for turning metals into cylindrical forms.

Low Temperature Casting

Used for melting pewter and forming into a mould to shape the pewter.

Round nose (Ball) Hammer

Used for decorative shaping of softer metals such as copper, brass, pewter.

Anvil

Used for metal working and forging

General tools and equipment

G Clamp

Used for holding pieces of work together or holding a work piece on a machine (Pilar drill) or clamping pieces of material together.

Machine Vice

Used for holding work pieces in place so they can be drilled. Especially useful for metals (which get hot when drilling).

Vice Grips

Used for holding work when heated, especially metals, to keep the hands out of the way.

Sash Cramps

Used for clamping pieces of work in places when joining together (usually timbers and glue). Used commonly for table tops to create much larger flat pieces of timber.

Quick Grip / speed Clamp

Used for quickly clamping materials

Power Drill

Used for drilling holes into materials

Hand Orbital Sander

Used for sanding scratch cut marks out of materials to ensure a smooth finish

Hand Plane Sander

Used for removing wood to give a smooth finish before sanding

Workshop equipment for woods, metals & Plastics

Power Fret Saw

Used for cutting through timbers and plastics with a fine finish. It has a very fine saw blade. Sometimes called a Scroll Saw or by trade name 'Hegner'.