Chip Carving
Chip carving is an art form dating back to the stone age, and humans have engaged in utilitarian woodwork for a very long time. Chip carving is decorative, and it was added to functional pieces projects to give the project character.
The technique removes portions of the original piece of flat wood to create a 3-D effect. Today chip carving knives are used.
New artists start by thinking that the techniques look easy, and they begin to understand that making three angled cuts that meet at a single point below the surface of the wood isn’t that easy. Once the technique is mastered, the resulting design is exquisite.
The carving creates a design that is classically geometric in style. Chip carving is practiced in many cultures and requires chip carving knives and other tools and accessories.
Precise and even cuts add to the finished appearance of a project. Patterns are used to create symmetrical designs, although some individuals can create free-hand designs. Some carvings are ornate and detailed. Plates, wood trunks, picture frames, tables, and many other wood objects are embellished using chip carving on the finished project.
Practice makes perfect when it comes to chip carving. Following a course online, a chip carving instructional movie, or tips in Popular Woodworking Magazine will add to the artisan’s knowledge and provide resources to purchase patterns for designs. Often the instructions give a complete list of supplies and ways to alter the prints and transfer them onto a piece of wood to produce a unique piece of art.
Chip carving is similar to relief carving, when the artist carves characters, scenes, and landscapes on a piece of walnut, birch, or other types of wood.
Wood Furniture Building
Dating back to 800 BD at Gordion n the alleged home of King Midas, archaeologists found furniture crafted from wood. The furniture was inlaid with bone, ivory, or metal. Artisans used wedges, mallets, chisels, hammers, drills, plumb bobs, compasses, and other essential tools to build furniture.
Significate evidence was depicted in ancient Egyptian drawings showing different types of stools, chairs, tables, beds, and chests being built.
Woodworking and carpentry are a bit different but use the same tools. What is the difference between carpentry and woodworking?
Carpentry is the construction of a building, whereas woodworking is the crafts of carpentry, cabinet making, and related skills used to make things for wood like furniture.
Being able to take a captured idea for a bathroom cabinet and eventually turn pieces of lumber into a fine piece of furniture is an art. To discover how to put pieces of wood together to create functional furniture takes practice and tools like a saw, level, chisel, screwdriver, and other types of tools.
Wood Signs
Signs are used to share information about something. A great sign frequently informs, persuades, warns, or directs the reader.
Great wood signs can be made from birch plywood or similar wood and are often completed in a day. There are several online sights like Pinterest that provide inspiration for wood signage. Wood signs bring life to an area and inspire a garden sitting area to come alive with memorable quotes and sayings that are transferred to convey a message.
Farmhouse decor is a modern wood sign that individuals can use saws, routers, chisels, and hammers to construct.
Kitchen Projects
Just like a woodshop, kitchens have various kitchen utensils and tools. Woodworkers can build all times of customized kitchen utensils. Spoons, paper towel holders, recipe boxes, step stools, and even a knife block.
Before a woodworker dives into making kitchen gifts and projects, they need several different tools. Here is a shortlist of some handy tools.
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Ower saws.
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Hand saws.
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Planes.
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Sanders.
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Files.
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Hammer.
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Mallet.
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Drill.
Many other tools like a joiner/planer, table saw, and router makes woodworking fun, and these are great additions to a woodshop.
Many beginning woodworkers feel overwhelmed with the vast array of tools available. It’s easy to rack up thousands of dollars worth of expensive woodworking tools simply because excitement encourages purchasing all kinds of gadgets and the desire to experience them all.
The question is always, where can you find tools at a reasonable price so you can spend your money on things like wood, stain, and patterns.
Classes of Woodworking Tools
Cutting Tools
Circular Saws:
Woodworking projects seem to always start with cutting materials, and almost every component in a woodworking project begins with cutting materials. Whether it is hardwood, softwood, wood stock, or finishing strips, cutting is needed to help the wood to start taking shape.
Saws are the answer. There are many different shapes and sizes of saws, handheld saws, and electric saws.
Circular saws are electric and come in various name brands. These little beasts have the sole purpose of tearing through the wood. Most circular saws have a cord, but some are cordless. Circular saws can be used for rough and fine carpentry, depending on the blade used.
Circular saw blades come in three types:
- Ripping Blades: Cut material lengthwise along or with the grain
- Crosscut Blades: For sawing across the grain
- Combination Blades: Designed for both ripping and crosscutting
Jigsaws – Saber Saws
These saws have a saber-like blade and are typically electric. A jigsaw makes fine, intricate curved, straight, or serpentine cuts.
Jigsaws cut back and forth or up and down motion. The blades have various tooth numbers and come in composites that cut metal, wood, and plastic. The finer the tooth, the more delicate material the blade can cut.
Because jigsaws are operated with one hand, you can use your other hand to hold onto your project. This helps when cutting small intricate pieces of material. If you drill a small hole for an interior cut, you can use a jigsaw to cut circles and other shapes on the project’s interior.
Compound Miter Saws
A compound miter saw is fixed to an arm or a track and is somewhat similar to a circular saw; they are used to rip and cross-cut wood or other materials. They are pretty versatile.
Blades have a diameter of 10 to 12 inches and for ultimate cutting ability on a miter saw to cut miters, bevels, and command angels, use a quality crosscut saw blade.
To achieve miter and bevel cuts, electric miter saws can be tilted to each side.
Table Saws
Table saws are designed to work like an upside-down circular saw with the blade exposed below the tale or flat work surface. The user can adjust the depth and angle of the saw blade to achieve the desired cut. There are different table saws; cabinet table saw, benchtop table saw, and contractor table saw.
Handsaws
These tools have been around for years – a toothed-shaped blade with a wooden handle. Materials are cut through the manual action of sliding the blade back and forth. There are numerous hand saws, including ripping handsaws, cross-cut handsaws, combination handsaws, backsaws, carcase handsaws, coping handsaws, dovetail handsaws, and key hold handsaws.
The better a handsaw is, the better it performs and the less frustration you have. A sharp blade on a well-made handsaw can cut just about any material.
Finishing Tools
Planes, Shapers, and Sanders
Other cutting tools are shapers and sanders. After the initial cuts are made to fashion a rough shape, planes, shapers, and sanders are used to finish the project’s appearance.
Planes are cutting tools, and the blades shave off wood fibers making the project progressively smoother. There are many types of planers.
Sanders comes in hand tools as well as electrical wood finishing sanders. Electric sanders complete the sanding process faster than hand sanding.
Hand files shape projects and are relatively inexpensive. Quality name brand hand files will last a while; there are rasps, half-round files, and mill files. Each has its one purpose.
Rotary cutters are like hand files and use a rotary motion to remove materials. They come in different cutting grits, and hand files can also be used to sharpen blades and bits.
Assembly Tools
Once a project is cut and finished, it needs to be put together. Cutting and smoothing wood is only part of your overall woodworking process. Precision joints and the right tools are required to ensure the project comes out as you intended when you got the inspiration to make it.
Hammer
Woodworking hammers are not universal, and one size does not fit all. A carpenters clas hammer is the closest to having an all-around hammer.
Hammers are used for pounding and prying. Depending on the project, you will need to consider your hammer’s face size and weight. Claw designs come in different lengths and curves. The straighter the claw, the more capable it is of splitting materials. Making sure that the hammer has a comfortable handle and decreases the shock when sticking a nail or surface is essential. Making sure the composition of the saw is light enough to do the job but not fatigue your hand is also necessary. These are the main types of woodworking hammers:
Mallet
Hammers are not mallets, and mallets are not hammers. Mallets are large wooden or leather-headed tools with detachable handles to accommodate different types of head sizes. Mallets are softer than a hammer and designed to absorb shock instead of delivering it. Mallets leave minimal striking marks and are great for tapping wood joints together.
Power Drill
Power drills, hand drills, or brace and bit drills are used to drill holes and screw things together. A cordless power drill is ideal because there are no cords to get in the way of putting the project together. Different drills have different power. They come in keyed models or keyless chucks to change bits.
Screw Gun
Screws are ordinarily used to put things together, and they can hold tight but be removed later if needed. A hand screwdriver is helpful, but a powered screw gun makes driving screws faster and easier.
Measurement and Angle Tools
Measure twice; cut once is the golden rule for woodworking. Nothing ruins a wood project faster than a mismeasured piece of wood.
Squares
Squares are required to create and verify angles. They have measured marks on their surfaces which helps with measuring surfaces. There are framing squares, try squares, combination squares, speed squares, miter squares, and bevel squares. Dividers, compasses, and depth gauges are also invaluable tools.
Tape Measures
Tape measures come in different types: retractable steel tapes, flexible reel tapes, folding rules, yardsticks, and straight edges. Every woodworker should have at least one tape measure hooked on their belt, and all are necessary to increase the success of a wood project.
Holding Tools
Saw Horses
It is essential to have a way to hold your projects while putting them together and finishing them. Saw Horses typically come in pairs. They can be wood, fiberglass, or plastic. You can also make them instead of buying them.
Quality Work Bench
This tool is an investment that will save your back, and you will use it with every project and throughout the whole process when you build something. Some qualities to consider are if the workbench is made from solid hardwood, is adjustable for leveling, does it come with different vices, is the working surface big enough, and has built-in stops? Are there drawers for storage, and can you walk around them?
Where to find woodworking tools for an affordable price:
Pawn Shops provide pawn buying and selling services. As part of their retail inventory, most shops sell brand names tools at affordable prices. Depending on what tools are needed, pawn shops sell tools you may be looking for because they were sold previously owned tools when a customer replaced their tools with an updated model or type. Tools at a pawn shop also become available if someone used their name-brand tool as collateral for a loan and then defaulted on it.
Pawn shops carry hammers, drills, electric tools, name-brand tools, sledgehammers, chisels, files, hand saws, and power saws. Most pawn shops make sure that the tools they take into their inventory are in good working order and have all the parts necessary to make the tool work.
Woodworkers understand that their finished projects tell a story visually and often add to the overall design of a home or office. To make sure that they have the best tools in their toolbox to achieve the angle, shape, and size of their project, they will need both power and hand tools to do the job.
Supplying a woodworking shop with all the right tools can be expensive, and Woodworkers expect to pay a lot of money to buy and replace tools. Shopping at a pawn shop for regular sales is a resource for artisans.
Axel’s Pawn Shop
Established in 1990 at the same location for the last 30 years, the shop is the premier place to find good quality name brand tools for an affordable price. The Karlson Family are the friendliest pawnbrokers in the area.
Whether you need a small loan to cover unexpected expenses or a large loan to get you through a difficult situation, Axel’s Pawn Shop is here to help.
Axel’s has an online store and a large retail store full of handyman tools, hand tools, electric tools, table saws, and compressors. Come in and explore what they offer and find the woodworking tools you need access to make your hobby or livelihood better.
Axel’s Pawn Shop also has fine jewelry, gold, musical instruments, name-brand electronics, and those hard-to-find items. Are you trying to build some cabinets for your house you are remodeling, and you don’t want to pay a lot of money for tools you may only use a few times? Axel’s is the place to shop. You may decide to keep the tools longer, but if you choose not to, you can always bring them back in and sell them back to the shop.
Axel’s Pawn Shop has forms you can fill out and submit if you want to contact the pawnbrokers to see what your items are worth if you need to sell them outright. They also accept phone calls and, of course, are delighted when you stop in.
Watch their website for promotions and deals that will help you save money and opt into their nitch lists to get timely notice of items that come in or that they are looking for.
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