10 Power Tools to Get Started in Woodworking
Published 4/14/22 by Natalie Schmidt, MBA
Modern power tools greatly reduce the time required to perform many operations in woodworking. Heavy sawing, planing and boring can be accomplished with far less time and energy, and with increased accuracy. Getting started in woodworking can be intimidating, but we're here to help get you going. We recommend the 'buy once, cry once' approach by purchasing high-quality tools from the get-go, rather than needing to buy the cheap stuff over and over again.
Here are the top 10 hand power tools to get you started in woodworking.
1. Cordless Drill & Driver
A drill & driver set should be the first cordless power tools in your shop. Pre-drilling holes into work pieces is often essential to prevent wood splitting and ensure a perfect drive of screws into the wood. Other applications include pre-drilling holes for cabinet or furniture hardware. The best impact drivers allow control to drive screws into workpieces.
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2. Dust Collector
Maintaining a clean workspace is imperative to protecting your lungs against dust particles with dust collection. It starts with a HEPA dust collector that can be used in tandem with tools as they run or to pick up wood particles later. A dust extractor specializes in extracting the dust as it is created, hooking up directly to the tools as they run.
If you're in need of a powerful dust collector at a reasonable price, look no further. The Fein Turbo I and Turbo II dust collectors come packed with options to best fit your wood shop cleaning needs. Festool also offers a wide range of dust extractors built to be used with the tools, depending on your needs. They have offerings from a small portable 12-gallon capacity to an auto-clean dust collector.
3. Electric Hand Planer
The power hand planer shaves off small chunks of wood, providing you with a tool that flattens surfaces quickly to better accurately join surfaces together. Another use case is dimensioning rough lumber to a smaller dimension.
Most power planers come equipped with an adjustable fence for planing bevels and chamfers, adjustable depth cut and parallel guides. The best planers come with a port to connect a dust extractor for a cleaner workspace.
The main advantage of portable power planers is saving valuable floor space. After planing the wood to get a smoother surface, we recommend to then sand for an optimal finish.
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4. Pocket Hole Jig
While not technically a power tool, jigs are an essential part of corner clamping- picture frame 90 degrees, cabinets and face frames. They are great for any woodworking project that requires a strong and accurate square corner joint. Jigs can also be used to create the holes for shelf pins to get accurate space for shelf heights.
The most popular jig among the various options is the pocket hole jig which allows you to drill repeatable pocket-hole cuts for production work. Saving time, saves money. The pocket holes can then be easily concealed with plugs to completely hide the screws for cleaner workpieces.
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5. Portable Joiner
Joiners, not to be confused with jointers, simply cut pockets into wood with a bit that are filled with tenons to join pieces of wood together. Gone are the days of hand chisel mortise and hand sawn tenons with a portable electric joiner.
Keep in mind that not all joiners are made equal. The Festool Domino 500 and Festool Domino XL 700 create the strongest holds on the market and are recommended for serious hobbyists and professionals. In contrast, Triton dowel joiners are good for joining smaller workpieces and are an affordable option starting out.
6. Miter Saw
If you're cutting small width lumber, trim or crown molding, a miter saw is a must. Accurately and quickly make straight cuts, angled cuts, mitered cuts or beveled cuts. Since it is portable, it makes a great space-saving addition to any shop or worksite. The average blade size tends to range from 10 to 12 inches. Increase your cut capacity with a miter saw.
7. Nail Gun
Nailers come in all shapes and sizes from pneumatic brad nailers to cordless finish staplers. Fasten baseboards and quarter round in a flash then cover holes with a small amount of caulk to finish them off. Senco offers the highest-quality woodworking nailers for a range of applications including cabinet and furniture making to framing and flooring installation.
8. Handheld CNC
Instead of starting off with a traditional hand router, we recommend the Shaper Origin and workstation. It has revolutionized the woodworking industry as the first self-adjusting handheld CNC router.
It is as simple as uploading your file, scanning the workspace tape and getting started cutting. The possibilities are endless in what this power tool can do, from creating custom guitars, engraving signs to making repeatable cuts.
9. Circular Track Saw
Sometimes you'll need to create cuts on the go and need something even more portable that a miter saw; that's where a track saw comes into play. Make perfectly straight cuts when using a circular saw built for use with tracks.
Make tear-out free cuts with lumber and sheet goods with the highly-rated Festool TSC 55 or Metabo KT 18 LTX 18V cordless circular saw.
10. Electric Portable Sander
The main types of portable sanders consist mainly of belt, disc and finish sanders. We recommend an electric random orbit finishing sander which will remove existing or prevent marks in the wood that other types of sanders cause.
Electric sanders are great for removing paint, varnish, stain and any other kind of finish.
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With these 10 tools, you should be well on your way to building out an essential collection of tools. At Beaver Industrial Supply, we only offer high quality tools from reliable manufacturers, so whether you're a professional or a hobbyist, you can be sure that your shop is outfitted with the best. Shop all tools online at beavertools.com; give us a call at 314-773-5999, or stop by our showroom at 2111 January Ave, St. Louis, MO 63110.