Impact drivers have become very popular, especially amongst contractors. It is the best tool for driving large screws. But is an impact driver of any interest if you only need it for tasks around the house? Here is an overview of the pros and cons of impact drivers.

The impact driver looks almost like a drill but it is shorter. Additionally, an impact driver does not have a chuck like a drill, instead it has a hexagonal socket, a collet. Therefore, you can only use hexagonal bits. But it is easy to change bits, impact drivers have a quick-release feature. Like keyless chunks on drills, you don’t need any key to change bits on an impact driver.

The impact driver is a real powerhouse, it delivers massive amounts of torque. Added to the rotational movement is a rotational tapping which makes it easier to loosen tough screws. The tapping kicks in automatically when needed on most drivers. Fortunately, models that let you enable or disable the impact movement are also available. All models have a reversible motor, making it possible to both tighten and loosen screws.

Note that most impact drivers have no clutch, you can’t adjust the speed. A few of the top-end models have a clutch but they are very expensive. The lack of a clutch is seldom a problem if you are going to drive screws into wood. But for more delicate tasks, the raw power of the impact driver can damage the material.

While you can use a cordless drill to drive screws, the impact driver does a better job. But you can’t use the impact driver for drilling. If you own a lot of round shank drill bits you may prefer to keep on using your drill, rather than investing in a set of hexagonal shank drill bits. Note that impact drivers are noisier than drills.

The shorter size of the impact driver is big advantage when working in cramped spaces. Note that the high-end models with a clutch are larger, almost the size of a cordless drill.

Unless you are driving a lot of screws, an impact driver is not necessary. A cordless drill is not as good but as long as it gets the job done, you are fine. But if you are driving a lot of big screws, an impact driver can save you a lot of time. A lot of contractors use an impact driver with two quick-charge battery packs. Thanks to the two battery packs, they can work non-stop.

If you are going to use the impact driver a lot, do you yourself a favor and buy a model that uses lithium-ion batteries. You get a lot of power and at the same time a lightweight tool.

Band saws are very useful tools but mostly used in workshops rather than at home. Band saws can be used for cutting a variety of materials, not just wood. If you are into woodworking, a cheap band saw can be worth considering. It is a versatile tool and can save you a lot of time.

The band saw is older than most people think. The first band saws were developed in the first half of the 19th century. The early band saws were large but thanks to improved technology, band saws have over time become both smaller and cheaper.

As mentioned, in workshops the band saw is a very useful power tool. A band saw wastes less material than a circular saw. With the right blade, band saws can cut almost any materials. But if you are serious about woodworking, a band saw can be sound investment. But unfortunately good band saws are relatively expensive.

So for what tasks are band saws good for? If you do a lot of wood turning, a band saw is the quickest way to prepare blanks. Sawing curves and cutting wedges are examples of work done quickest and easiest with a band saw.

The band saw is the best choice for resawing. Resawing means sawing lumber lengthwise into two smaller pieces. Although resawing using a band saw looks easy, you need to get a couple of things right. First you need to use the right blade, too many teeth and you will be wasting wood. Next, the blade tension has to be right, too little tension and the blade may start move erratically. Lastly, you need to feed at the right speed. This takes some practice to get right.

But of course almost everything you can do with a band saw can also be done by cheaper tools. It will take longer and can be more awkward but you can get the same end result with other tools as well.

One of the main advantages of a band saw is that the blade is going in only one direction, no problems with kickbacks or bouncing. Most people who get used to using a band saw, can’t understand how they ever got by without one.

Obviously, a good band saw is not good enough, you need good blades as well. A good band saw with a poor blade will not produce good results. And as you probably already guessed, good blades can be expensive. But it is well worth investing in a couple of good blades.

Note that you also need to have the correct tension. Otherwise the blade will not cut optimally and the life time of the blade decreases. This means that you need to check tension regularly. Most manufacturers also recommend that you relieve the tension when the machine is not used. But be careful, too much tension is not good, the blade may break prematurely.

You can learn how to use a band saw here

The circular saw is not just for professional carpenters. It is a versatile tool, suitable for many woodworking and renovation tasks. There are supposed to be more than 40 million portable circular saws in the US alone, so it is a popular tool. Here is a short introduction to circular saws for beginners.

Note that circular saws are not just for woodworking. With the right blades, circular saws can be used to cut many other materials, for example ceramic tiles and masonry. But in this article we will focus on cutting wood. The term circular saw includes a wide variety of circular saws but here we are focusing only on the portable electric circular saw. Most circular saws are portable but a few models are too large to be handheld.

Nowadays, you can choose between cordless or corded circular saw. The cordless circular saw has a number of advantages but it is not as powerful as the corded models. If you are going to cut harder material than wood, the batteries will probably not last for long.

The worm drive circular saw was invented in 1923 by Edmond Michel. Later he and others created a company that later became Skilsaw Inc. They were successful in selling portable circular saws, even today you can hear the term Skil saw used for a portable circular saw.

Worm drive saws have the motor parallel with the blade. They have gears to increase the torque. In-line saws have the motor perpendicular to the blade.

Circular saws can be very simple but some newer models have a number of useful features. Two of the best features are the dust ejector, which blows the sawdust away from the operator’s face and from the mark where the cut is being made, and a laser, which projects a bright red line down the path of the blade travel.

By changing blades you can transform your circular saw to a new tool. Generally, you get a combination blade with the circular saw. Combination blades are good general-purpose blades for ripping and cross-cutting. But you also have a number of specialty blades. The most common are crosscut and rip blades. The crosscut blade is meant for smooth cuts across the grain. The rip blade is also known as framing blade, it is ideal for cuts along the grain. For smooth cuts in plywood and veneered stock, use a plywood blade.

Blades for wood cutting used to be made of HSS steel but carbide-tipped blades last longer and have become the most popular type of blades. Carbide-tipped blades hold their edge much longer than steel blades, they can also be sharpened several times.

Needless to say, safety is very important. A circular saw can quickly cause serious accidents. You need to pay attention to a lot of things. Always wear safety glasses, wood chips will be flying around. Make sure that the power cord is not in the cutting path. Never force the blade through a cut, allow the saw to cut at its own speed. Make sure that you are not cutting through nails, this can cause kickbacks. Make sure that the blade guard springs back over the blade before setting the saw down. Happy Sawing!

Quality finishes are very important in woodworking. A good finish can make poor woodworking product look good while a poor finish will make a good product look bad. That said, a good finish requires good preparations but the work itself is straight forward. Here is information explaining a little bit about wood finish for beginners.

Previously, preparing the wood for a coat of finish was a painstaking task. Nowadays, you can use a sander to do most of the work. In most cases, a random orbit sander or a finishing sander, also known as an orbital sander, is the best type of sander for this kind of work. If you need to remove a lot of stock, you may prefer to use a belt sander first and then a random orbit sander to create a smooth surface. Of course, you can also do the preparations manually but that will take much longer time. Generally, you first plane and then sand. Given how cheap good sanders are nowadays, it is well worth investing in a sander if you are going to do some sanding.

Often you want to use the traditional two-step finish, first stain the wood and then apply a clear protective finish. A coat of finish both enhances the look of the wood and protects it. Unfortunately, flaws can show through almost any finish. Even worse, often the finish will almost always magnify the flaws. So before applying a finish, you need to remove all flaws and blemishes. For small blemishes, wax or shellac sticks are the easiest solution. Larger blemishes can be concealed with wood filler. For larger flaws, you may need to create a patch, make a mortise and glue the patch into the mortise.

The easiest way to achieve a high-gloss finish is to use grain filler. Note that closed-grain woods have no need of grain filler. Grain filler can only be used on open-grain woods, such as ash, mahogany and oak. If you are going to stain the wood, it is easiest to apply filler before the stain.

Staining makes it possible to alter the outward appearance of the wood. Stains have often been used to make cheap wood look like expensive wood. Stains can be divided into two categories, those containing dyes and those with pigments.

Note that staining often produces uneven results. Even when you have applied a uniform coating of stain, the result can be uneven. This is because different parts of the same wood will absorb the liquid differently.

Bleaching is used to lighten the color of the wood. Bleaching can be used on its own for washing out the color of the wood. But it can also be used to prepare the wood for a specific stain. Bleaching can also be used to suppress the color difference between sapwood and heartwood.

Pickling or liming refers to a number of techniques used to give new wood the appearance of vintage antique. Although pickling can be applied to any wood, it works best with pine and oak.

Topcoat finish is used to protect the wood. The layer is very thin, often not thicker than a sheet of paper. Popular protective finishes are varnish, polyurethane and lacquer.

The jigsaw is a very handy tool, despite the small size it can be used for a wide variety of cutting tasks. Thanks to the narrow blade, you can make both straight and curved cuts fast and easily. Of course, in order to make precise and splinter-free cuts, you need to know how to use a jigsaw. But first of all you need a jigsaw. Fortunately, jigsaws are cheap power tools. But you may end up spending a fair bit of money on blades.

The jigsaw has improved a lot lately. The term saber saw is also used for power jigsaws. To keep things simple, in this article we are going to use the term jigsaw for a portable reciprocating saw. Most people use the terms jigsaw and saber saw interchangeable.

The basic function of a jigsaw is to convert the rotary movements of an electric motor into up and down movements of a blade. By changing blades you can cut different materials. Blades are available for cutting wood, metal, drywall and many other materials. Note that you also need to know what speed to use for materials, for example, ceramic tiles must be cut slowly. One popular feature of jigsaws is the ability to be able to start cutting in the middle of a work piece, also known as an interior cut. This can be done without drilling a hole first. It takes a little bit of practice but it is a useful skill, well worth learning.

Nowadays, a good jigsaw supports variable speed and orbital-blade action. These options make it easier to operate the jigsaw. You have both corded and cordless models. You can even get a pneumatic jigsaw, but they are meant for professional use. One nice feature is the quick-release blade change, which makes it easier and faster to change blades. It allows you to change blades without using any tools.

The jigsaw is a very versatile tool but the blades are also very important. The early blades were often of poor quality that tended to bend in the worst possible moment. But nowadays you can buy high quality blades without paying much. No matter how skillful you are, choosing the proper blade is very important. The Combination Blade is an all-purpose blade suitable for most straight and curved cuts. If you are going to cut very thin wood, you need a knife-edge blade.

Bimetal blades are generally more durable than HSS blades. Note that blades are available in a lot of different lengths but not all jigsaws accept every blade length. Make sure to check the manual before buying blades.

Needless to say, always be careful when using a powerful tool such as a jigsaw. You can create a lot of damage quickly if your attention wanders. Always wear safety glasses, a dust mask is also needed for many tasks. Always secure smaller workpieces to a work surface. Note that the blade will get very hot during cutting so don’t touch the blade immediately after using the saw. The blade should not make contact with the workpiece when you start the jigsaw. Let the blade come to full speed before starting to cut.

The miter saw is the best tool for crosscuts and miter joints. The manual miter saw has been around for quite some time but nowadays you also have power miter saws and compound miter saws. If you are not into woodworking you may never have heard of a miter saw but in woodworking it is a very useful tool. Here is a short miter saw introduction.

If you are into woodworking, you know that it is important to be able to do accurate crosscuts and miter joints. That’s what you use a miter saw for. The basic miter saw is very simple. It is simple a saw suspended in a metal guide. But nowadays you have also electric miter saws.

Note that an electric is a powerful tool, which can cause damage if not carefully used. Always wear safety glasses and hearing protection when you’re operating the saw. Let the blade come to a complete stop before lifting it.

People not into woodworking may be asking, what is a miter joint? A miter joint, sometimes called simply a miter, is a joint formed by cutting two pieces of wood at a 45 degree angle and then joining them, thus creating a 90 degree angle. You find such joints in frames and many other places. Note that although most miter joints are made using wood cut at 45 degree angle, other angles can also be used. The miter joint is very simple but unfortunately also a relatively weak joint.

As mentioned, the manual miter saw is the basic solution for creating miters and doing crosscuts. It is easy to use but in professional workshops it has been replaced with a motorized miter saw. It simply takes too long time to use a manual miter saw. But it is easy to use, just secure the wood in the metal frame, set the angle and start sawing. The old wooden miter box works fine, typically it has one 90 degree and two 45 degree slots. A good metal frame lets you set the angle you want to use. The saw used is generally a normal backsaw.

A motorized miter saw is a much more efficient solution. You have two types of electric miter saw, the standard miter saw and the compound miter saw. In both cases, the saw used is an electric circle saw. The standard miter saw has a fixed vertical pivot and a rotating cutting table. This makes only possible to do horizontally angled cuts.

The compound miter saw can be angled 45 degrees, that is the circular saw, in either direction. Then set to zero degree angle, the compound miter saw acts like a standard miter saw. This makes the compound miter saw a very versatile tool for woodworkers.

A sliding compound miter saw is the same as the compound miter saw but thanks to the sliding arms it can handle larger pieces of wood. But the sliding compound miter saw is more expensive than the standard compound miter saw.

The dual compound miter saw is like a compound miter saw but both its blade and motor assembly can tilt either to the left or to the right. This allows you to cut the wood in the same orientation as it will be installed.

Nowadays many miter saws come with a laser that shows you where on the workpiece the cut will be done. It is also possible to retrofit a miter saw with a laser.

Knowing how to use an electric drill is important. Every now and then a drilling task needs to be done. It is not difficult to use a drill but there are a couple of things you need to know. Drilling wood is fairly straight forward, but it is possible to create a fair bit of damage if you don’t know what you are doing. Like so much else, watching someone who knows how to drill makes it look very easy but first time you try yourself, things often turn out to be much more difficult than expected.

Before you start drilling, you need to make some preparations. Although not completely necessary, you increase your chances of success by doing some basic preparations.

Drilling wood is in most cases easy. Make sure that you have marked how deep you are going to drill. Many drills have a depth control bar that lets you set the depth of the hole. You can buy stop collars but many of them are of poor quality. If necessary, you can use masking tape to mark the depth. You simply wrap the masking tape around the drill bit tightly marking the depth. Once the tape touches the wood, you know the depth is right.

Note that if you are going to drill through the wood, you need to put a piece of scrap wood at the back there the drill bit will exit. Otherwise, the drill bit will damage the wood when it exits. Make sure that the scrap wood is tightly clamped to the wood. If you don’t have any scrap wood, you can try to prevent splintering by stopping once the tip of the bit is just through the wood, but before the rest of the bit is through. Then you carefully drill from the other side. Needless to say, this technique requires that you are good at using a drill.

Before you start drilling, mark the center of the hole by pressing a sharp object into the wood. You want to create a small indentation so that the drill bit does not slip when you start drilling.

Always start drilling slowly and don’t use much pressure. Make sure to avoid slipping or splintering. As a rule of thumb, the wider the hole, the slower speed you should use. By backing off slightly from time to time, you relieve the pressure on the drill bit. This also removes sawdust from the hole. Make sure that you keep the drill straight, otherwise the entry of the hole could become wider.

Note that you can use standard twist drill bits for metal also for wood drilling. But if you are going to drill in soft wood and need crisp holes, you should use high quality drill bits for wood. While spade bits are easy to use, they don’t make very clean holes. Forstner bits are expensive but they make very smooth holes.

Driving screws in wood is easy but also here you need to be careful not to damage the wood.

If you are not into woodworking, chances are that you don’t know what a mortiser is. Far from everyone has heard about the mortiser. Some people call it a mortise machine. While most people know what a drill press is and a lot people know that a router is a woodworking tool, few know what a mortiser is. Here is a short mortiser introduction.

A mortiser is used to cut rectangular or square holes in wood. You can use a drill press or a router instead of a mortiser but it will take much longer time and the result will not be as good. In order words, it is a useful tool for woodworking.

The mortiser is fairly old. It was invented in 1874 by Robert and Ralph Greenlee. Their Greenlee company, the company is called Greenlee Textron after it was bought by Textron in 1986, is still producing mortisers.

The first mortiser was a square chisel mortise which works almost in the same way as a traditional drill press. It combines the action of a drill bit with a hollow four-sided chisel. The drill bit makes the hole while the chisel ensures that the edges are straight. This type of mortiser is nowadays called a square chisel mortiser.

The mortiser quickly became popular amongst woodworkers. It provided a quick and easy way of making accurate mortise and tenon joints. Mortise and tenon joints have been used for ages, despite being simple they are very strong. But cutting out the mortise manually with a chisel and a mallet is a time-consuming task. Thanks to the mortiser accurate mortises can be created quickly.

The square chisel mortiser, sometimes also called hollow chisel mortiser, is the most common type of mortiser nowadays. The horizontal mortiser is a relatively recent invention. It is really a router mounted on its side. So strictly speaking, it is not a real mortiser but it is very good for floating tenons. The chain mortiser is very good for cutting large mortises. They are meant for timber framing and log home industries, not for home use.

Instead of a mortiser, you can use a drill press with a mortising attachment. Unfortunately, virtually all mortising attachments are cumbersome to set up and produce poor results. It looks like most people who has bought a mortising attachment for their drill press, buy a real mortiser soon afterwards. You can, although a lot of patience will be required, use a router instead of a mortiser. Unfortunately, you still need to use a chisel afterwards to make the corners square. If you are regularly cutting mortises, buying a real mortiser is the best solution.

Wood glue has been used since ancient times. Nails and screws are good but in some cases you don’t want to use them, then glue is the only solution. The combination of glue and nails or screws is often used when you want a joint firmly in place. Here is an overview of the most common glues for woodworking.

Animal glue was used in woodworking already in the ancient Egypt. In the ancient Greece and Rome, animal glue was used in veneering and marquetry. Today, you are not restricted to just animal glue, you have a lot of different kinds of glue to choose from. Most of them are much more efficient than animal glue.

The main glue for woodworking is the yellow glue also known as carpenter’s wood glue. It is also sometimes called PVA glue, which stands for Polyvinyl Acetate. But some people make difference between white glue which is genuine PVA and yellow glue which, strictly speaking, is aliphatic resin emulsion adhesive. Just to complicate things, it looks like some producers dye their white glue yellow. So you need to read the labels. You have a lot of brands to choose from. Note that not all of them are waterproof, that is another reason for reading the labels carefully. Another thing to be aware of is that yellow glue has a fairly short shelf life so check the expiration date before you buy.

The yellow glue has a number of advantages. You have a couple of minutes during which you can adjust the pieces without decreasing the strength of the glue. The yellow glue requires clamping. Excess glue can be wiped off using a damp rag or you can sand it off once it has dried. One drawback with yellow glue is that nothing really sticks well to the hardened glue. This makes repairs complicated.

White and yellow glue have similar characteristics, they have about the same strength. The main difference is that white glue dries slower. So if you have something that takes more than 10 minutes to assemble, you may prefer to use white glue rather than yellow glue.

As mentioned earlier, animal glues have been used in woodworking for centuries. Hide glue is still being today used but it is not as popular as many of the modern glues. Hide glue is more difficult to use than white and yellow glue, it is messy. It can be removed with water so it is not suitable for wet conditions.

Cyanoacrylate glue, more popularly known as crazy glue or super glue, is often used for smaller repairs. It is not just a wood glue, it can be used for most materials. The advantage is works very quickly and it is fairly strong. So be careful not to get any glue on your fingers.

Some woodworkers love Gorilla Glue, which is a polyurethane glue. It is very strong and it is waterproof. But it has one drawback, it swells as it dries. It is also very difficult to remove if you get it on your skin.

Epoxy can be used for a lot of materials. Epoxy glue is made of two parts, a resin and a hardener. When the two are mixed together, the chemical reaction creates a strong adhesive bond. The main advantage of epoxy is that it works very well in most conditions. This makes it very popular for outdoor use. Note when using epoxy glue, you are not supposed to clamp the pieces together. Using too much pressure can weaken the glue.