Over the years, woodworking has seen tremendous growth and development. Unsurprisingly, then, the modern woodworking accessories are a lot more advanced and sophisticated than the ones used during the earlier woodworking periods.
Today, you can find a wide range of woodworking accessories that can not only enhance the quality of your work, but also save you a great deal of time and effort. In this blog, we will discuss some of the most common and essential of these tools.
The 11 Best Woodworking Accessories:
1) Right-Angle Clamp:
Combining two wood pieces at the perfect right angle can be quite complicated, since you will have to hold the two pieces together and then join them. If you are using a hammer to nail the pieces together, the matter is further complicated.
However, a right-angle clamp will allow you to perfectly join and clamp the woods at right angles, all by yourself. This accessory is one that should be a part of any DIY woodworker’s arsenal.
2) Chisels:
Woodwork hand-working is what draws the line between factory workers and craftsmen. Manual working allows us to produce the kind of joinery that machines are almost always unable to create. Through the chisel, you can remove the waste in a precise manner which, in turn, enables you to create a perfect joinery fit.
Chisels are available in many different types of materials, sizes, and shapes. Generally, the harder the chisel is, the less sharpening it would require, and the more work you can get out of it. Chisels are employed in the creation of tendons, mortise, and dovetails.
3) Pocket-Hole Jig:
One of the best woodworking accessories in the modern era is the pocket-hole jig which, as the name suggests, allows you to create pocket-hole joineries.
Through a pocket-hole jig, assembling pieces of wood using pocket screws becomes quite easy and quick. In addition, these jigs also make it easier for you to drill holes in the pieces of wood that you plan to join.
There are many different kinds of jigs available, and are quite effective at making accurate pocket holes.
4) Japanese Saw:
Compared to a European saw, a Japanese saw can make more precise and efficient cuts. The primary difference between the two types of saws is the tooth direction: the European saw makes the cut while pushing the saw, while the Japanese saw cuts while pulling it. Pulling requires much less energy than pushing, which is why the Japanese saw is a lot more efficient than its European counterpart.
5) Thickness Planer:
Even though the thickness planer is not exactly a contemporary tool, it is certainly one that should be present in every carpentry or woodworking setup.
Through a thickness planer, you can get rough lumber and dimension and plane them to the exact surface smoothness, thickness, and size that you require.
6) Circular Saw:
Circular saws are either table-mounted or handheld. These blades allow the user to establish the blade depth and, as a result, create narrow slots, dados, and cut offs. The one downside of the circular saw is that, since it is very lightweight, it can sometimes move during the cutting process, thereby compromising on the stability that is often required to safely produce the right cut.
However, the interesting thing is that this downside is also the circular saw’s upside – the mobility and versatility of this tool means that it can be used pretty much anywhere.
7) Miter Saw:
If you are looking for a tool to make the perfect crosscuts, the miter saw is your answer. This accessory lets you cut 2×6 and 2×4 baseboards and crown moldings. A miter saw has a number of carpentry and woodworking applications, including rafters, trim work, and molding.
The miter saw, when coupled with the right kind of blade, provides the kind of versatility that is immensely advantageous for any DIY woodworker or professional carpenter.
8) Jigsaw:
The jigsaw is another versatile and handheld saw, and is used to cut curves. Since a jigsaw can make curvy, straight, and circular cuts, it offers a lot of freedom to the user. The fineness of the curve is dependent upon the blade width.
9) Band Saw:
A band saw is a kind of power saw comprising a sharp, long, and toothed blade which runs between multiple metal wheels.
It is an invaluable woodworking tool, and can even be used for lumbering and metalworking. You will find it hard to grasp the importance of a band saw, until you have actually used one. The saw can be used for creating shapes in wood, re-sawing lumber, and even developing veneers for woodworking projects.
10) Router Tool:
Yet another versatile and multipurpose accessory, the router tool can be used to hollow-out or route an area in large materials like plastic and wood.
The router tool has a number of applications, including pattern cutting, edge routing, and even cutting dadoes to make dado joints.
11) Workbench:
If you want to maximize your woodworking results, working from the floor is simply not an option.
This is where a workbench comes into play, and can be used to clamp or place the wood stock so that you can work with ease.
A number of woodworking tasks, including drilling, chiseling, clamping and gluing, sawing, and sanding, are better performed on workbenches.
12) Eye and Ear Protection:
Last but most definitely not the least, safety should be your foremost priority when working on a woodworking project. Remember that wood shards can and do go airborne, and blades can crack when you least expect them to. Hence, if your eyesight is important to you, you should use the right protective eyewear while working.
Other than that, you also require adequate ear protection to protect your ears from the constant, high-decibel noises that are common in woodworking.
Our Final Thoughts:
Getting started with woodworking –whether as a hobby or as a business –is certainly exciting. However, the excitement can sometimes be overwhelming, especially when you go shopping for your woodworking accessories. If you are concerned about the best woodworking accessories to buy, we hope that this guide will prove to be a useful reference point for you.
