Joiner's and Carpenter's Tools

hand and power tools used in carpentry and joinery. Joiner’s and carpenter’s tools are classified according to their function as measuring and layout tools, cutting tools, and auxiliary tools.

Measuring and layout tools include rulers, metersticks, tape measures, plumb rules, levels, tools used in marking angles (try squares, bevel squares, and bevel protractors), dividers, inside calipers, various types of straightedges, center squares, various scribers (for marking lines along the edges of boards and scribing mortises and drillings), marking gauges for marking parallel lines for lengthwise sawing, and templates. Trammels, micrometers, depth gauges, and calipers are used for more precise measurements.

Cutting tools include axes (the carpenter’s principal tool), saws, and planes. The various types of saws used include two-man crosscut saws, frame saws (crosscut with hook teeth for lengthwise sawing), scroll saws for cutting curves, and hacksaws. Planes designed to work flat surfaces include jack planes and trying planes for rough working in joinery and carpentry, single-iron planes for preliminary work, double-iron planes for finish planing, jointer planes for the finish planing of long workpieces, and long planes for finish planing. Planes designed to work curved surfaces include matching planes for cutting grooves, rabbet planes for cutting and finishing rabbets and grooves, fillet planes for planing grooves, and compass planes for working convex and concave surfaces.

In slotting, chisels are used for working tongue-and-groove and mortise joints and holes in thin workpieces, for finishing, and for chamfering. In drilling, gimlets are used for working shallow holes, augers for working deep holes, and braces and bits for cutting cylindrical, elongated, and conical holes and grooves. Files and abrasive cloths are used for finishing and polishing. Mechanized cutting tools include electric or, less commonly, pneumatic, saws, planes, slotters, drills, and polishing machines.

Auxiliary tools include cross peen and veneer hammers, mallets, taps, carpenter’s pincers, screwdrivers, pliers, and tools used to sharpen and straighten cutting tools, for example, files, grindstones, whetstones, hones, and saw sets. Mechanized auxiliary tools include electric and pneumatic screwdrivers, hammers, and grindstones.