100+ Essential Woodworking Tools list for Better Carpentry

As a woodworking craftsman or carpenter on a construction site or in a joinery workshop, you must be able to use a large variety of tools and equipment to complete your work tasks. Every job you do requires planning and preparation before you even pick up a tool.

You must pick and use the best resource for the job in hand to operate efficiently, reliably, and securely. Otherwise, you are losing valuable time without the correct tools and knowledge.

So, what are you thinking? Are you wondering about your knowledge of working tools? or are you curious about what devices you need to complete the jobs?

OK. Relax. We have a guide for you. After researching tons, we make a list of 100+ essential carpentry tools for those who are looking to get into carpentry and have ample expertise to start a career in a workshop.

Go through this article to learn our full list of woodworking tools. You will get everything you need for your carpentry jobs with the tools shown below.

There are mainly two types of tools that carpenters use in carpentry;

1. Hand tools
2. Power tools

Common Hand Tools for Woodworking

Every woodworker must be familiar with their working tools and safety regulations before starting their woodworking projects and careers. In carpentry, woodworkers use hand tools for smaller tasks or where electric or other power tools and machines are inapplicable.

Measurement Tools

The most important and basic woodworking tools are measuring devices. You have to ensure the correct measurements of the materials for each project, whether it’s small or large. These are the available types of measurement tools bellow.

1. Tape Measures:

A tape measure is a must-have tool in the woodworkers’ toolbox.

For making straight measurements and also for measuring around the objects, carpenters use generally tap measure. There are three systems of tape measure available, the U.S. customary system, metric system, and a combination of both systems.

2. Retractable Tape Measure:

A retractable tape measure is mainly used by site carpenters but you can also use for larger carpenter jobs. A number of sizes retractable tape measures are available and they are usually between 5 to 7.5 m.

3. Wind-up Tape Measure:

For measuring long distances, you will need a wind-up tape measure. Their blades are available in a range of a size (20-100m) and can be made of steel, plastic, or linen. Wind-up tapes should manually take out.

4. Steel Rule:

Carpenters use steel rules in their carpentry workshops for a range of carpentry jobs. These measuring tools are not suitable for construction sites. They are typically available between 150 mm and 1 m in length.

5. Scale Rule:

Carpenters use scale rules to convert measurements between job (scaled) drawings and the final project dimensions without using any quantitative calculations.

6. Folding Rule:

The folding rules have mainly usages in joinery workshops. They are available in a typically 1 m range and are made of hardwood or plastic.

Marking out Tools: (Squares and Bevels)

7. Combination Square:

A combination square is composed of several tools, including a rule, marking gauge, and one or more adjustable head for internal and external measurements. This marking tool is not only used in woodwork but also in masonry and metalwork.

8. Framing Square:

A framing square is also known as steel square. It’s an L-shaped measuring tool. Carpenters use this tool for framing and laying out structures. It has a long, wider arm and a smaller, shorter arm, which converge at an angle of 90 ° (a right angle).

9. Speed Square:

A speed square has a triangle form, but it works as a square. Woodworkers use it as a saw guide for short cuts between 45 and 90 degrees, simple measurements and labeling lines on dimensional lumber.

10. Mitre Square:

Mitre squares are mainly used in carpentry workshops. These tools are similar to try squares, as they have a stoke and blade. The blades on mitre squares form the angles of 45 and 135 degrees from both sides of the stock. This structure allows the carpenters to mark the lines at those angles on the wood.

11. Try Square:

If you need to mark to the faces or sides of a piece of wood at 90 degrees, you can use try squares in workshops. Try squares give more accuracy and finer detail to the task.

12. Sliding Bevel:

For any angle less than 90 °, sliding bevels are used for laying lines. They have a shelf with a regulatory blade that is adjusted to the appropriate angle and then locked with a lever for the thumb. Both in workshops and carpentry site, woodworkers use sliding bevels for their jobs.

Gauge

In carpentry, there are three kinds of gauges for a specific use.

13.Marking Gauge:

Woodworkers use marking gauge for marking a single line parallel to the edge along the grain of the timber.

14.Mortise Gauge:

This gauge is similar to the marking gauge. It has two spurs instead of one. To produce a parallel gauge line on the wood grain, carpenters can adapt the double spurs distance. For marking out mortise and tenon joint, woodworkers use mortise gauge in workshops.

15.Cutting Gauge:

The cutting gauge has a knife-edge instead of a spur. You can use this gauge to draw a parallel line along the grain of the timber. It has also usages to mark out dovetail joints.

Knives, Scribes and Pencils

16. Marking Knife:

A marking knife is used for cutting lines through the grain of the wood. This marking tool gives rigorous drawing, but you need to be quite careful. If you draw the wrong lines, you can’t easily remove them.

17. Utility Knife:

Carpenters use utility knives for cutting plasterboard. They are versatile and have retractable blades.

18. Scribe:

Scribes are similar to marking knives. They have a sharpened point instead of blades. Scribes are good for drawing on dark timber.

19. Carpenter’s Pencil:

This is a large pencil with rectangular lead and mostly used in site carpentry. Carpenters use this for marking out on timber as it produces a thicker line.

20. Drawing/Standard Pencil:

The drawing pencils are mainly used for the marking of good work in the carpentry and cabinet construction. You can also use them for second-fix carpentry, such as doors and architraves.

Cutting Tools: Saws

Saws are essential cutting devices for every woodworker. As a cutting tool, all saws are similar. They have blades with teeth on the edge. Usages of saws for different types of cut depending on their designs. Here is a brief introduction of common woodworking handsaws bellow.

21. Hand Saw:

Hand saws are categorized according to their function, blades length, and the size and shape of teeth. The size of teeth of a saw is determined by the number of teeth in a blade length of 25 mm.

22. Ripsaw:

For making straight cut with the wood grain, you need a rip saw. The ripsaw’s teeth are chisel-shaped and are often cut on the forward stroke.

23. Crosscut Saw:

A crosscut saw is also used for making straight cut along the wood grain. Its teeth are pointed to the front and back of the blade. So, the blades are made both the forward and backward strokes cutting.

24. Panel Saw:

Woodworkers commonly use these saws for cutting sheet materials like particle board and plywood. They are normally up to 550 mm long with 10 teeth per 25 mm.

25. Back Saw:

Back saws are used for cutting joints. These saws are installed into a miter box to make very precise cuts in smooth wood. However, you may find similarity between cross-cut saws and back saws, but these saws have thicker metal base sharper teeth.

26. Tenon Saw:

The tenon saw is primarily designed to cut tenon joints like its name. You can also use it for cutting other types of joints, beads and moldings.

27. Dovetail Saw:

The dovetail saws are smaller than the tenon saws. They have fine teeth and are designed specifically to cut dovetail joints in joinery. However, you may also use them for cutting mouldings and beads.

28. Gent’s Saw:

The gent’s saws are smaller than back saws and are mainly used for smaller jobs. They’re 100 to 250 mm long and can contain up to 32 teeth per 25 mm.

29. Coping Saw:

Carpenters use coping saws for intricate wood cutting. They have very short and thin blades, which make the cuts smoother. These can also be used to cut the wood roughly or to extract waste from dovetail joints.

30. Hacksaw:

Hacksaws are usually used to cut metals. Hacksaws’ blades come with 14, 18, 24 or 32 teeth per 25 mm. You need the bigger teeth for cutting softer metals like aluminum and the smaller teeth for finer or harder metals.

31. Keyhole Saw:

These saws are used for cutting keyholes in doors. You can also use for cutting holes in ceilings, plasterboard walls, lamp fitting, electrical sockets and more.

32. Japanese Saw:

Japanese saws are well-known pull saws and mainly used in Japan. Carpenters use Japanese saws to cut on the pull stroke more effectively. Now-a day’s woodworkers from outside of Japan are also using these saws for narrower cutting advantages.

Tools and Materials for Fastening

33. Claw Hammer:

Claw hammer is used for driving nails into wood and removing nails. They have a handle with wood or plastic and a metalhead. The size of the hammer varies over the weight of heads.

34. Warrington Hammer:

Warrington hammers are thin, lightweight and are suitable for smaller nails like panel pins. You may know these as tack hammers.

35. Gympie or Club Hammer:

Gympie or club hammers are heavier than other hammers. These hammers have a variety of uses. You can use them for driving thin wooden pegs into the ground for the building, or for striking hard chisels and light destruction.

36. Sledge Hammer:

Sledge hammers are used for driving big wooden pins into the ground to set out buildings and more. These are the heaviest hammers. You can also use them for large demolition work.

37. Nails:

Nails are one of the essentials items in carpenter’s toolbox. There are a large variety of sizes and shapes of nails. You need to choose the right one for avoiding distorting of the wood.

38. Screwdrivers:

Screwdrivers are also one of the basic tools of carpenters. These tools need to drive screws into the wood or other boards. Screwdrivers have a handle, tip and metal blade. To get smoother operation, you need to fit the tips carefully to the screw.

39. Screws:

When a job needs disassembly, woodworkers use screws for providing more holding energy than nails.

40. Mallet:

Mallets have a hard rubber head and a hard -wearing timber shaft. They are mainly used for striking wood chisels. You can also use them for assembling window, door frames and other joinery components.

41. Pincers:

For removing small nails, you will need a pincer. Pincers can work well in restricted areas for claw hammers.

42. Wrecking Bar or Pinch Bar:

Wrecking bars or Pinch bars have a variety of uses in carpentry. You can use them for removing nails from timbers and also as a building or structure demolition lever.

Smoothing and Shaping Tools

Smoothing and shaping tools are generally used for refining the stock surface by removing tiny parts of the wood. This category contains tools like chisels, planes, rasps, and other forming tools

43. Planes:

The hand plane is a woodworking tool to work on board ends, edges, and sides for shaping wood. Carpenters mostly use them for sizing boards, squaring irregular stock, and beveling edges. There are six types of planes used in woodwork for specific purposes. They are-

• Jack plane
• Smooth plane
• Block plane
• Jointer Plane
• Fore plane and
• Router plane

44. Chisels:

Like planes, chisels are also valuable tools for removing thin shavings from wood with its sharp cutting edge. They are perfect for narrow areas operation where saws or planes can’t reach.

Depending on sizes and particular jobs, there are different types of chisels. Here are the main types of chisels bellow:

• Firmer chisels
• Bevelled edge chisels
• Paring chisels
• Mortise chisels
• Gouge chisels and
• Cold chisels

45. Files:

For the formation and smoothing of irregular shapes like curves and holes, files and rasps are effective. They are graded by size (triangular, semi-round, oval and flat), length (6-inch, 8-inch-10, 10-in-cheek, and 12-inch) and style of the teeth (one-inch outline, double-inch outline, and rasp cut-in-the-cheek shape).

46. Rasps:

Rasps are known as files but they are often referred to by woodworkers as rasps. They have separate and elevated teeth.

Rasps are the best tools for hard work and forming because they can remove material quicker than files.

47. Surform:

Surforms are the tools for planning the plasterboard outlines. They contain both planes and rasps features. Surforms have a metal strip with holes sharpened to make a cutting edge with the rim of each hole.

48. Spokeshave:

Although spokeshaves and planes are similar, they can work on concave and convex surfaces to give the final touch.

Drilling and Boring Tools

49. Hand Drill:

A hand drill is an important item of every woodworker’s toolkit. Carpenters use this tool for cutting .25 inches holes. Now battery-powered cordless drills provide alternate applications for hand drills.

50. Brace:

Braces are versatile woodworking tools and used to cut holes larger than .25″. They entirely depend on the applied pressure and a handle spinning. The braces size depends on its sweeping and the circular diameter of the handle.

51. Auger Bit:

Auger bits are carpenter’s tools to use with ratchet braces for drilling larger wooden holes. These tools’ size is generally 6 to 38 mm.

Holding and Supporting Tools

52. Sash Clamp:

Sash cramps have a fixed head straight metal bar and an adjustable slide. These are typically used in pairs in the final joinery assembly to provide the necessary strength keeping the joints together in frames until they are sealed either by wedges or by adhesive settings.

53. G Clamp:

G clamps are generally used before and after for clamping objects. Their name is derived from the shape of the clamp similar to ‘G’.

54. F Clamp or Quick-Release Clamp:

The F clamp (also referred to as a fast-release clamp) has also its name from its “F” shape. It has a wider throat than G clamp. F clamp is suitable for gripping lumber to a workbench or saw stool.

This tool can temporarily hold items before fixing more of an object like kitchen cabinets.

55. Speed Clamp:

The speed clamps are modern woodworking clamps. They are often used partially to hold objects together until a more permanent repair making. Although they have fastened application than other clamps, they don’t produce much pressure for working tight-hold clamp’s jobs comfortably.

56. Floorboard Clamp:

Floorboard clamps are advanced tools for clamping floorboards together until they’re permanently installed. These clamps come with pairs to use.

57. Bench Holdfast:

The bench holdfast is also known as a bench clamp. Carpenters use this tool for clamping projects to the workbench while they’re shifting, cleaning up, and finishing.

58. Vice:

Vices are the holding items and they’re attached to the workbench’s side. You can hold timber securely with vices. They also allow you to use both hands during sawing, screwing, chiseling, grinding, sanding, or filing.

59. Bench Hook:

The bench hook is a simple holder to use for holding small woods while cutting them into shape. It can lure over the edges of the countertop and other surfaces.

60. Saw Stool:

The saw stool or the sawhorse, used by carpenters, is a basic wood construction tool. This stool comes with pairs for supporting timber and sheeting materials, such as chipboard and plywood to set out and cut them in size.

61. Door Block:

Door blocks work as a door holding devices in the working site. They hold doors steadily for making them in proper size.

Setting out Tools

62. Stringline:

Stringlines are commonly used to construct a straight line between two positions in the layout of buildings. They are the oldest and basic hand tools for building and construction jobs.

63. Chalk Line:

To create temporary straight lines on floors, walls, and ceilings, carpenters use chalk-line. It’s also known as snaps. You can use them for making lines over long distances.

64. Plumb-Bob:

Plumb- bobs or plumblines are heavy metal devices. They have a pointing tip adjusted to the end of a string line. Woodworkers use them for moving points vertically, such as ceiling to floor.

65. Roofing Square:

Like the name roofing squares, these tools are mainly for the roofing materials. You can use them for setting stairs by equipping with a fence over the blades.

66. Builder’s Square:

Builder’s squares are for ensuring 90-degree corners during setting out of the building. These tools consist of three bits of timber fixed together for the perfect right angle.

67. Star Picket:

Star pickets are steel made fence post type tools. Carpenters use them for supporting various forms of wire, wire mesh, or fencing mesh for constructing hurdles to make the building’s exterior perimeters.

Levelling Tools

68. Spirit Level:

For confirming the surface whether it’s horizontal or vertical, woodworkers use spirit levels. Spirit levels have varieties uses in carpentry, masons, metalworks, bricklayers and other building works.

69. Line Level:

A line level is a small spirit level with a hook on each end. This level is used to check concrete pathways, but it doesn’t give perfect accuracy.

70. Water Level:

The water level is a simple water-filled clear plastic tube, that can be used for passing levels from one place to another. They’re especially useful for data transfer from one room to another when there is no clear vision.

71. Optical Level:

An optical level is specially used to measure the height between datums on the construction site with a designated rule.

72. Laser Level:

Different types of laser levels are available for using in woodworking jobs. They have actually replaced optical levels. The most popular forms of leaser level in construction are rotating, amiable and continuous planes.

Other Hand Tools for Carpentry

73. Router Table

74. Calipers

75. Work Bench

76. Safety

77. Center punch

78. Circle Stencils

Common Power Tools for Woodworking

Carpenters are now using power and pneumatic devices for their jobs. Power devices nowadays have gradually replaced hand tools as they allow woodworkers and joiners to work with greater speed, efficiency, and precision. The main power tools are available depending on energy sources: electric, battery powered, and compressed air. Now we will learn the main types of power devices you might use for carpentry jobs.

Different Types of Power Tools

These are the main types of power tools:

• Power drills
• Power saws
• Power sanders
• Power planes
• Routers and trimmers
• Nail guns
• Power Drills

79. Cordless Drill:

The number of battery-powered cordless drills has risen on the market in recent years. You will find different brands of cordless drills for carpentry jobs.

80. Hammer Drill:

Hammer drills are the power drill tools for drilling holes in masonry. Their built-in mechanism produces a vibrating impact in the drill bit for chiseling them into the masonry. You can also use them to drill holes in steel and wood.

81. Rotary Hammer Drill:

Rotary hammer drills are high-power drills to drill into masonry. Their hammering action is more effective than a common hammer drill.

Power Saws

82. Circular Saw:

Circular saws are the most useful tools for woodworkers. Carpenters widely use them to cut wood and boards. Although circular saws are mainly used for ripping and cross-cutting, they can also be used for grooving, trenching, and rebating.

83. Jigsaw:

Although jigsaws are slower than circular saws, they can make curved shape cuts into wood, metal, and plastic. You can use them in the kitchen for cutting holes as well as in joinery workshops.

84. Sabre Saw:

The sabre saws are heavy-duty woodworking power saws to cut timber, plastic, and metal. These are the ideal tools for cutting parts from a framed wall to install a window, door, or air conditioner.

Other Power Saws:

85. Compound Milter Saw

86. Table Saw

87. Band Saw

88. Scroll Saw

Power sanders

89. Belt sander:

Belt sanders are for both woodworking shops and construction sites to shape and finish wood and other materials.

90. Random Orbital Sander:

The random orbital sanders are used for excessive-smooth sanding with the vibration in small circles. You can use them for timber, metal, plastic as well as preparing the painting surfaces.

Other Power sanders

91. Benchtop Oscillating Spindle Sander

92. Benchtop Stationary Belt and Disc Sander

Routers and Trimmers

93. Portable Power Routers:

The portable power router is a simple, customizable electric motor. The motor is connected through a shaft with a chuck, and the chuck holds the chops (usually called bits). By changing the height of the base concerning the motor, the depth of the cut is consistent and determined.

94. Plunge Router:

Plunge routers are necessary tools for sophisticating jigs to make joints. They have a fluid entry and exit feature to string and delicate inlay work.

95. Trimmers:

Trimmers are professional router for trimming glued down plastic laminates. They are smaller than standard router but can do the same jobs on a smaller level. Site carpenters use these tools to construct housings for door hinges.

Nail Gun

96. Pneumatic Nail Guns:

Pneumatic nail guns are air-powered nail guns. Carpenters use them for driving staples and nails into building materials. Although they have a wide variety of different types and sizes, they perform in similar ways.

97. Gas Nail Guns:

Gas nail guns have a small gas cylinder and a rechargeable battery. The main advantage is that they are compact and safer to use. Replacing and recharging batteries may be costly for them.

Portable Power Equipment

98. Portable Electricity Generator:

Portable electricity generators are generally used on working sites where the main electricity power doesn’t cover. Coal, LPG, or petrol are their power source.

99. Air Compressor:

The pneumatic compressor is an air compressor that compresses and holds air. It is used to work nail guns, paint sprinklers, sandblasting devices, and other small air tools.

Power Planer

100. Hand Planer:

Carpenters are using this tool to push the blade over the surface of the wood. However, a power hand planer is not ideal for fine-sized aircraft while a hand plane is.

101. Surface Planer:

As the name surface planer, this tool helps woodworkers to smooth the surface perfectly.

102. Thickness Planer:

Thickness planner is a power woodworking device that reduces the surface’s thickness of timbers.

Other Power Tools

103. Benchtop Drill Press

104. Jointer

105. Biscuit cutter

106. Dust Evacuation System

107. Power planes

Final Words

A large variety of tools are needed for woodworking. Carpentry professionals must learn how to pick and use the best tools for their tasks. We hope you will now pick your devices wisely after reading this post.

Now, let us know what you think.