With so many options, determining the best woodworking tools isn’t easy. In this brief article, we hope to shed some light on the best woodworking tools for a DIY woodworking shop.
There are definitely several key tools that you will need in order to set up a proper, functional, modern day woodworking shop.
Keep in mind that you could easily spend hours searching the internet for the best woodworking tools. You could easily spend several thousand dollars on tools before you realize it.
Another danger is that you will rely more on them as the craftsman than you. You could spend all the money in the world on the best woodworking tools, but at the end of the day theres absolutely no substitute for theskill to know how to use each tool.
What well try and do in this article is come up with a small list of the most essential/important tools youll need to set up an inexpensive yet full-range woodworking shop.
We also cover a few small but essential tools that you will need to complete your shop.
The Tools: What Do You Need And What Do You Not?
First, lets think about the basic things youre going to be doing in a woodworking shop:
- Reduce/cut wood to size
- Straightening/planing/jointing edges and faces so theyre completely flat
- For joinery, cut grooves
- Preparing/sanding paint/finish
When alls said and done, you really only need a handful of tools to do everything above, and to do them well. And in our opinion, youre much better off learning to do everything on one or two tools (i.e. A table saw is a better choice than purchasing a different tool for each task.
Jigsaw
From there, youll want to invest in a jigsaw.
Although you may not use your jigsaw as often as your table saw, it is still necessary because they are capable of cutting curves.
Plane
Any woodworker who is serious about their craft should be able to plan a piece of wood. This means getting it from its rough, unmilled state to where its completely flat, square and ready to be made into a piece a furniture.
There are several ways to do this, and not one of them is really right or wrong. The most convenient way would be to use a power jointer and planer, but these are big, expensive machines that arent too practical for the beginning woodworker. (Check out our article here on the differences between a jointer and a planer).
You could also go old school and use a combination of hand planes. Although hand planes are cheaper than big power tools like a planer and can be used for a variety of purposes, they do require skill, patience, practice, and patience in order to get good results. If youve got the time, theres absolutely no substitute for learning how to hand plane, and youll quickly earn the respect of your fellow woodworkers.
All things considered, the easiest and most practical way to plane a piece of unmilled wood is to use a router. You can pick up a halfway decent router fairly inexpensively, and the good thing about investing in one is that theres truly no limit to what you can do with it – planing a piece of wood is just one of a million different things a router can be used for.
Circular Saw
Also, before we forget or go any further, we feel we need to talk about the circular saw. Like the table saw, the circular saw is another invaluable power tool youll find yourself using all the time.
Do you require both an a circular saw and a table? No. Will your woodworking/DIY life be infinitely more convenient by having both? Yes. You don’t have to buy the most expensive saws – you can easily pick up a circular saw as well as a table saw for about €70 if you shop wisely.
Sander
Lastly, youll need something to finish off your woodworking pieces and prep them for paint, stain, or whatever youre going to be finishing them with.
A dual-action random orbit sander is the best choice. There are other options out there (belt sander, orbital sander, detail sander, etc), but the random orbit is definitely the best all-around, all-purpose choice. You can also use hand sand to reach any tricky corners or edges that the RO can’t reach.
Hand Tools
So that about does it for the big tools. To make your shop a full-range woodworking facility, you will still need some small tools.
Chisel
First, youll need to get a good chisel, or better yet, a good set of chisels. For the best use, get a if you only have one. However since chisels are cheap investments, youll probably want to go ahead and get a 3-piece set – most of which will come with a , , and 3 cm.
You wont use a chisel all the time, but when the time comes that you do need one, theres no substitute for them – you can use them for carving out recesses and notches, cutting joinery grooves, chopping corners, shaving rough surfaces, and scraping glue and caulk. A must-have for any woodworking shop.
Level & Speed Square
A level and a speed square are also necessary for marking straight edges and writing lines. You can also use the pivot points on speed squares to turn them into protractors for marking angles and curves.
Practical Use Of Each Tool
To summarize, lets take a look back at our list of the essential things youll be doing in the woodworking shop, and supplement it with what tools youll need to get each job done:
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Cutting/ripping wood down to size
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Table saw (*our recommendation)
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Circular saw
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Router (*our recommendation)
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Hand planes (low angle block, jack, jointer, and smoothing)
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Power joiner and planer (two different machines – very large and expensive)
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For joinery, cut grooves
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Table saw (*our recommendation, but you’ll need to make jigs).
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Chisel
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Router
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Random orbit sander (*our recommendation)
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Hand/block sander
Buying Guide For The Best Woodworking Tools: Our Top Picks
For most of these tools, weve already written up detailed buying guides. Instead of writing detailed reviews of all the top choices, we will simply list our top picks for each tool.
While performance is a huge consideration, the ultimate goal with this list is to help you set up the best woodworking shop you can for the best overall value.
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Table saw: We recommend DeWalt’s 7491RS. Although it is a little expensive, this saw is an absolute treasure. Click here for a complete review and our table saw buying guide. Also, for a much cheaper table saw option, this Craftsman Evolv 25 cm is pretty decent one at a fantastic price, though its no comparison to the DeWalt.
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Jigsaw: 7-amp Bosch JS470E (click here for the full review and buying guide).
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Woodworking Router: 1.5hp DeWalt DWP611PK combination kit (for our complete guide to buying a router, click here).
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Random Orbit Sander DeWalt DWE6420 13 cm
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Circular Saw: DeWalt 7DWE575SB (Click Here for the complete circular saw buying guide).
Best Woodworking Tools
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Chisel Set: (For the record, we LOVE chisels we couldnt pick just one set, so heres a few different options for you to mull over)
Summary / Bottom Line
So remember, the goal in setting up your first woodworking shop is to try and have as few tools as possible, while at the same time making sure you have everything you need to cover all the basic tasks.
Most of what you invest in will depend on your budget: if money (and space) are not much of an issue, go ahead for instance and invest in a full on jointer, planer, router, table saw, scroll saw, band saw, and all the other goodies.
For the majority of people who want to build a workshop, all they really need is a tablesaw, jigsaw and something to plan with. These, in our opinion, are the best woodworking tools for your DIY shop.
