Bench Work

Candidates are required to demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of the safe use of the bench tools and their component parts listed below:

Clicking the image will take you to a YouTube link to access further information about some of these tools.

HAMMERS & NAILS

CROSS PEIN HAMMER

A cross pein hammer is designed for light nailing work. The cross pein end is used to start a panel pin between your finger and thumb before the rest of the pin is driven in using the striking face.

claw HAMMER

A claw hammer is designed for heavy nailing work and removing nails.

pincers

Pincers ten to be used to remove thin nails, nails that claw hammers cannot grip, or nails that have been accidentally bent during hammering

nail punch

A nail punch is used to drive the head of a nail or panel pin below the surface of the wood.

WORK BENCH

work bench

One of the most important pieces of equipment in any workshop is the work bench and bench vice. Whether you are cutting, drilling, chiselling or sanding a piece of wood, it is often easier and safer to secure the work piece.

bench vice

The bench vice is mounted on to the underside of the bench so that the jaws are level with the top. The metal jaw tend to be covered with wooden jaw pads to prevent them from damaging any fagile material being held in place.

bench hook

Also known as a sawing board, it is mainly used when sawing wood across the grain. By using a bench hook, you will prevent your work bench from being damaged when the saw breaks through the wood.

HAND TOOLS

bradawl

A bradawl is a hand tool used to make pilot holes in wood for small screws or large nails, and for marking centres in wood to guide a drill. To create a pilot hole with a bradawl, the small metal tip is held across the grain then the handle is twisted into the wood.

hand drill

The hand drill is used to accurately drill small holes in wood. It is quick and easy to operate and can accommodate drill bits with a shank of up to 10mm. It is a useful tool for quickly drilling a hole in a confined space.

hand brace

The hand brace is a powerful drilling tool that is used to accurately drill large holes in wood.

CUTTING

SAW TERMINOLOGY:

HEEL: The end closest to the handle TOE: The end farthest from the handle

FRONT: The edge with the teeth BACK: Opposite from the front (the top edge)

TEETH: Small sharp points along the cutting edge of the saw

RAKE: The angle of the front face of the tooth. Teeth designed to cut across the grain (crosscutting) are generally not as steep as teeth designed to cut with the grain (known as ripping)

TEETH PER INCH (TPI): As a rule, a saw with a higher number of TPI gives a finer finish than larger toothed handsaws with a much smaller number of TPI.

Tenon Saw

The Tenon saw is traditionally a general purpose saw used to make straight cuts in wood such as tenons or other work of similar size. The solid steel or brass back fitted to the saw blade helps keep the blade in tension and provides sufficient weight to feed the saw through the wood.

coping saw

Coping saws are designed for cutting curves, shapes and slots in wood. The teeth of a coping saw blade point backwards towards the handle, cutting on the back stroke rather than the forward stroke.

rip saw

A rip saw is used to make a cut parallel to the direction of the grain of the workpiece. When you cut along the grain, this is known as ripping.

crosscut Saw

A crosscut saw is used to make a cut at a right angle to the direction of the grain of the workpiece. When you cut across the grain this is known as a crosscut.

panel Saw

The panel saw is a finer-toothed crosscut saw. It is for cutting across the grain and gives a finer finish than larger toothed crosscut saws. It is also used for cutting manmade boards such as plywood.

CHISELLING

Wood chisells have two main uses, pairing and chopping wood. Pairing refers to the removal of small shavings using only hand pressure, and chopping refers to removing large areas of waste wood by driving the chisel with blows from a mallet.

parts of a chisel

HANDLE: The handle tends to be round in shape and is made of wood or plastic

FERRULE: The ferrule is a brass or stainless steel ring which is fitted to the handle to protect it from splitting when the tang is fitted into it or when it is struck by a mallet

TANG: The tang is the part of the blade that fits into the handle to fix them together. It is usually square in shape which tapers to a point

BLADE: The blade of a chisel comes in a variety of shapes depending on its use and is made from strong, tool steel.

CUTTING EDGE: The cutting edge is found on the end of the blade and us honed to a razor-sharp edge

bevel edge chisel

The bevel edge chisel is a good general purpose chisel. It has a thin blade which is bevelled along its length on both sides. The bevel edge chisel is not designed to withstand the force of heavy mallet blows.

firmer chisel

The firmer chisel is a good purpose chisel that is mainly suited to heavier work cutting deeper joints. It has a thick, flat rectangular blade with square edges and no bevel.

mortise chisel

Mortise chisels are used with a mallet to chop out mortise. A mortise is the rectangular slot found in a mortise and tenon joint. The mortise chisel has a much thicker and stronger blade and has two ferrules fitted to prevent the handle from splitting with the repeated mallet blows. It also has a leather washer fitted between the blade and the handle to act as a shock absorber.

PLANES AND PLANING

Planes have two main uses, planing wood down to a specific size and smoothing he surface of a piece of wood. The two most commonly used hand planes in a school workshop are the jack plane and the smoothing plane. The two planes are similar in appearance, only their lengths are different.

JACK PLANE

The jack plane is a general purpose plane which is mainly used to plane wood flat and down to size. It is the long length of the body that helps to create a flat surface, particularly on long lengths of wood.

SMOOTHING PLANE

The smoothing plane is much shorter than the jack plane. The lighter, shorter smoothing plane, as its name suggests, is used to smooth the surface of wood prior to applying a finish. It removes thin shavings of wood to leave a clean, smooth finish.

SETTING A PLANE

The 4 main parts of the jack and smoothing plane that you should be familiar with are the cap iron, cutting iron (blade), adjusting lever and adjustment nut (wheel). The cap iron and cutting iron are held together with a screw, they are removable for sharpening and maintenance.

ADJUSTING THE PLANE

Once the cap and cutting iron have been fixed in place the final setting and fine tuning of the blade can be done. Turn the adjusting nut (wheel) until no more than 0.5mm of blade is protruding before using the adjusting lever to get the cutting edge parallel to the sole.

plough plane

The plough plane is used to cut a groove parallel to an edge. The plough plane has a depth stop to determine the depth of cut made by the blade and an adjustable fence which controls the distance from the groove to the edge of the wood.

rebate plane

The rebate plane is used to cut rebates along the edge or across the end of a piece of wood.

combination plane

As the name suggests, the more sophisticated combination plane combines the functions of a variety of specialist planes in one tool.

block plane

The block plane is intended to be used one handed for small, fine, light work. It is particularly suitable for trimming end grain, mitres and running chamfers.

bull nose plane

The bull nose plane is another plane that is intended to be used one handed for fine, intricate work. It is particularly suitable for trimming end grain the shoulders of tenons and finishing rebates.

hand router

The hand router is used to level off the bottom of through and stopped housings. The hand router makes sure the joint is cut down to a precise depth and is consistently flat across the joint.

spoke shave

A spoke shave is mainly used to shape all kind of curves on workpieces. There are two types of spoke shave, a flat-bottomed spoke shave is used to smooth an outside curve whereas the round-bottomed spoke shave is used to smooth an inside curve.

THINGS TO DO AND THINK ABOUT

State why a sawing board/bench hook is used when sawing a piece of wood
Identify a bevel edge and mortise chisel
State the reason why a ferrule is fitted to a chisel handle
State the purpose of the tang
State the purpose of the leather washer found on a mortise chisel
State the purpose of a cap iron on a plane
State the names of all the different types of plane
Describe how you would prevent a hand router from cutting below the required depth

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