Tools for Woodwork
The process of building products using wood as the primary material is called wood-working. This may also include the process of carving something from wood.
Wood was one of the first materials to be used by our ancestors. Along with mud, stone and parts from animals, wood were turned into tools. As civilizations develop, so did their tools. This is proportional to the degree of skills involved by the people of the civilization.
Wooden tools created by our primitive ancestors were located in Lehringen. Some spears were found in Germany. Wooden weapons for hunting and flint tools for carving show that primitive people were already knowledgeable on how to create materials that would help them obtain their needs.
There are two ancient civilizations that are often mentioned when woodworking is the subject matter. These are the Egyptians and the Chinese. This is because woodworking has been shown in their ancient sketches and drawings.
Also, a vast amount of Egyptian furniture like chairs, tables, beds, stools and chests have been encased in tombs. Preservation of such materials shows that the ancient Egyptian people were inclined to use wood. Coffins that were located in the tomb were also out of wood.
Egyptians used metal for their woodwork. Copper and bronze were the main tools for woodworking. These were turned into adzes, pull saws, axes, chisels and bow drills.
Ancient Egyptians were the first civilization to do veneering. They were also the first to use varnish, therefore resulting to what is now termed as “finishes.” They used native acacias and the wood from the sycamore and tamarisk trees.
As for the Chinese, wood working was said to have started when Lu Ban and his wife Lady Yun brought plane and chalkline to China. This was during the Spring and Autumn period. From them on, Lu Ban’s teachings were said to have been recoreded in the book “Lu Band Jing” or “Manuscript of Lu Ban.”
This was written 1500 years after he died. The book is complete with elaborate descriptions of the necessary dimensions in building different kinds of furniture like tables, altars and flower pots.
In the modern times, these are the tools a woodworker must possess:
* Measuring and Marking tools
_ protractor, tape measures, rules
- scratch awls, marking knives, marking gauges
- plane gauges in order to figure out how flat the surface it
- hygrometers in order to figure out how much water the wood has
- levels
- winding sticks
- combination squares, try squares, straightedges
* Cutting tools
- hands saws like the rip saw, cross cut saw, keyhole saw, bow saw, coping saw, tenon saw, gent’s saw and dowtail saw
- power saws like the chainsaw, radial arm saw, miter saw, band saw, scroll saw, hole saw, table saw and circular saw.
* Shaping tools
- hand planes like the smoothing plane, shoulder plane, spear plane, rabbet plane, scrub plane, block plane and jointer plane.
- jointer and thickness planer
- router
- rotary tools
- gouge and chisel
- drill press and chisel mortiser
- knifer
- rasp
- lathe
- other hand shaping tools like the adze, axe, froe, drawknife and spokeshave
* Assembly tools
- screwdriver
- mallet and hammer
- hand or power drills
- clamps like the F-clamp, G-clamp, C-clamp, miter clamp, bar clamp, band clamp and sash clamp
* Finishing tools
- sandpaper that can be used alone. It can be used with power sanders like belt sander, palm sander, orbit sander, disc sander or sanding blocks
- steel wool or bronze wool for polishing and applying stain
- file
- scraper
- spray guns used to apply lacquer
- brushes for applying varnish
* Accessory tools and furniture
- workbench or the bench or table where one sits or stands. This is where the woodworking process takes place
Kinds of workbench
1. dog hole or a round or square hole that allows clamping and holding devices to be attached
2. bench dog or a peg that is inserted into a dog hole that lets in the clamp pressure
3. hold fast or the rod that is bent when put into the dog hole. It is used to put boards into position
4. vise or a clamping apparatus that holds wood in various positions during woodworking
5. bench hook that is laid against the wood that can be pushed during woodworking.
- Sawhorse is the four legged stand that often comes in pairs. It supports long boards, sheets and panels.
Realizing the Value of a Woodwork
There are things in life that we value so much. These are the priceless things that we take care of ever since we have become conscious of this world we live in.
There are also things that we do not recognize right away. These are things that have so much value in them, only we do not have that realization even if that thing is right before our eyes.
Take the woodwork for example.
You may have great plans for your household and it is a good thing to actually aim for improvement in your abode. However, if you have not paid attention at all, these endeavors will actually require some good amount of money to be put into action.
Definitely, cabinets and furniture items are not that affordable to the ordinary household if all these details have to be fulfilled. There would be some good amount of sacrifice to give way to this.
Now, if you will only go out in the market and check out these embellishments you want for the household, you will realize that they are mostly woodwork and these woodworks do not come off cheap.
Then you realize that there must be so much value in a woodwork considering that it has to take some considerable amount in your budget just to bring home one.
What Is Woodwork?
Woodwork will pertain to anything or any item that is made out of wooden material. It can include doors, tables, benches, windowsills, cabinets and furniture.
Woodwork Value
What really is the value of a single woodwork? Is it really worth your every cent? Has the market only taken advantage of the changes in the economy to justify the high prices?
There is no definite formula to get the exact value of a woodwork but it will help if you start by acknowledging that woodwork is done by woodworking or generally speaking, carpentry.
Woodworking is a craft. As such, it requires more than just materials and labor. The whole project will require some considerable amount effort, dedication and skills on the part of the person doing the woodwork.
Furthermore, this woodwork is not the typical commercial item that you see in the market that is mass-produced.
A woodwork is unique in itself. There may be other items that are of the same kind, but there will definitely be a unique quality in one woodwork that you cannot see in another.
This can be attributed to the fact that the carpenter or woodworker came up with the product with his bare hands. Thus, there is only the perseverance of human industry and none of the mechanical but impersonal precision.
Thus, when you look at one piece of woodwork, it is like looking at the work of art of the woodworker. Every little detail in it, including the curves, the cuts and the contours will be something that came out of the hard work of one person.
Realize It Yourself
You may want to engage in woodworking yourself. Try doing your own woodwork and you will realize just how valuable this thing could be considering the aspects taken into account just to finish a project.
Start studying a woodworking plan. You will see the details that have to be comprehended before one proceeds with the work. This will help you realize that mental processes are involved in woodworking. It is not all manual labor.
Do a survey of the materials needed in various stores and shops. Determine the rate and prices of every material that you have to use. You will realize that these do not come cheap.
If ever there are some affordable materials in the market, you have to take the initiative and extra effort to locate them.
Try executing the woodworking plan with the materials at hand. You will see how much estimations and measurement you have to take care of before you finally get it right. Of course, this goes only for those who are not well-trained in the field.
If you do want to get the right training, you still have to take up a woodwork course.
Conclusion
Evidently, woodworking is no small matter. There are many elements involved and so many skills employed. The value of a woodwork is definitely something that you cannot underestimate.
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