Canadian Home Workshop » Hand Tools

Hot tools 2013: Hand tools & accessories

Canadian Home Workshop — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 18:56:32 +0000

Build a hockey gear dummy

Cathy Dalrymple — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 14:30:09 +0000

10 essential hand tools

Steve Maxwell — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 18:38:34 +0000

Hand saws put to the test

Canadian Home Workshop — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 01:26:25 +0000

Sure, you have cordless power saws for all kinds of cuts. But sometimes, the old handsaw is quicker, cleaner and quieter. No batteries to charge or cords to run. Just pick it up and cut.

Stanley 15″ FaxMax handsaw

Tester: Deon Haupt,  Carpenter

The test: Cut 2x4s, plywood strips and PVC piping.

Pros: The handle is comfortable and has a place for your index finger if you, like me, keep it out along the saw while cutting. The “blade armour” worked well to keep the strokes smooth, and there was no binding in any of my cuts.

Cons: The black coating started coming off the teeth after only a few cuts.

V erdict: A hungry animal that will power through almost anything you feed it.

Details: 9 tpi; 15″ long; $22; stanleytools.com

Mastercraft 14″ aggressive handsaw

Tester: Cheryl Caven , Wood artist

The test: Cut several 2x4s to length.

Pros: The saw’s ability to cut on the push and pull strokes made for fast work. I appreciated the precise 90° angle between the top blade edge and the handle, which made marking efficient.

Cons: The double-edged teeth didn’t offer any improvement in starting cuts, which needed several pull strokes at the start.

Verdict: Great saw for the home-owner or handy person to have in the shop.

Details: 7 tpi; 14″ long; $13; canadiantire.ca

Irwin 15″ universal handsaw

Tester: Geoff Bell,  Amateur woodworker

The test: Cutting various hardwood and softwood boards.

Pros: Cuts started easily with minimal chatter. The saw cut quickly in both hardwoods and softwoods. It didn’t bind, even when cutting through a 4″ x 5″ board. There was almost no tearout.

Cons: The saw doesn’t cut as efficiently on rip cuts as on cross cuts. Leaves rough surfaces on hardwoods.

Verdict: A fast-cutting, easy-to-use saw for general carpentry, especially cross cuts.

Details: 11 tpi; 15″ long; $18; irwin.com

Kobalt 15″ aggressive-tooth saw

Tester: Jana Bookholt,  Carpenter

The test: Cut pallets into smaller sections.

Pros: The saw cut through a stack of pallets very quickly and with little effort. It’s light, and its rubber grip was quite comfortable. I like that the handle is conveniently designed so you can easily mark off 90° and 45° angles.

Cons: The tooth design means you’re going to get  a rough cut.

Verdict: A good saw for rugged projects that might damage your finer tools.

Details: 9 tpi, 15″ long; $14; lowes.ca

Front door makeover

Jodi MacLean — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 23:24:29 +0000

Update your curb appeal with a new door window, lock set, and light.

Step by step: Patio door upgrade

Douglas Thomson — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 21:03:24 +0000

Chisel sharpening 101

Jeff Dundas — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:51:16 +0000

I got to class this week with two unfinished projects: a dovetail and some drafting. For those who read about how much I like drafting, you won’t be surprised that I went right to the dovetail. As you can see from the photo, it’s proud in some places and gappy in others. But, I’ve decided it not too bad for my first handcut dovetail. So, with that done, back to the t-square, set squares and eraser. There was lots of erasing.

The hands-on lesson of the week was sharpening chisels. After pounding on a few chisels to clear out the waste on my dovetail, I was keen to learn about proper maintenance. The back of the chisel should be completely flat and the front should have a bevel. The ideal angle is 25°, but between 20° and 30° works. The steeper the angle, the sharper the chisel; however, the chisel will lose this edge more quickly. It seems 25° is the happy medium.

The first step was to take the chisel to a grinding machine. This process is called hollow grinding because the wheel of the grinder creates bevel with a slight curve or hollow. The hollow is key for letting the wood cuttings clear the edge without unnecessary resistance. The shop grinders were setup with jigs that kept the chisels at the proper angle. When grinding, keep the chisel edge square to the wheel. Also, keep the chisel moving back and forth so that the wheel wears evenly. A rutted wheel would make future sharpening endeavours very difficult, if not impossible.

My first handcut dovetail joint is...not bad. Not good, but not bad.

After running a chisel against the grinding wheel, the tip of the tool gets a burr, a very slight hook that curves back over the flat part of the chisel. This burr has to go, so out comes the water or oil stones. Our instructor chose an oil stone, but said it was just a matter of preference. In both cases, the liquids perform the same function: they draw chisel filings away to make for a smoother finish. Since our instructor is quite comfortable with sharpening, he didn’t use any jig to maintain the bevel angle as he moved the chisel back and forth on the stone. As with the grinding wheel, one must ensure that the stone wears evenly. Use a slight zigzag pattern as you move the chisel along the stone. After, say, five passes on the bevel side, turn the chisel over to the flat side for five more passes. Remember to keep this side flat to the stone. Repeat this process while diminishing the number of passes per side. Eventually, you will work that burr right off. We were warned never to try to grind off the burr at the wheel, which will ruin the flat edge on the back of the chisel.

As an alternative to hollow grinding, we were shown the Work Sharp 3000. This machine uses discs of sandpaper to sharpen chisels. Because the disc is flat, the chisel doesn’t get a hollow grind, thus no curve. Isn’t that curve important? It is, but there’s another option when working with a flat bevel. After working on the primary bevel of 25°, increase the angle to 30° and put a small—less than 1/16″ thick—bevel on the end. This skinny extra angle is called a “micro-bevel.” Like the hollow-ground curve, the micro-bevel helps with the clearance of waste wood. Also, when tuning up that chisel after working through some hard maple, you might be able to getaway with just honing the micro-bevel instead of the whole shooting match.

So, after our chisel-sharpening lesson, I couldn’t believe all the little steps that go into a seemingly simple process. (I didn’t even touch on the part about working through to finer sanding grits. Oh, man!) I figure I can expect the same myriad steps with the other things I’ll learn in this course. I suppose mastering the art of woodworking involves keeping all this stuff straight and staying sharp…sharp as a chisel?

Do you see anything missing from my introduction to chisel sharpening? What are your favourite sharpening tips or tricks? I’m keen to hear.

Jeff Dundas is our resident newbie woodworker. He’ll be sharing his insights and discoveries here on the Shop Hack blog as he learns to make sawdust.

A dovetail time warp

Jeff Dundas — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 20:48:36 +0000

I fulfilled my New Year’s resolution in December: enroll in a woodworking course. For quite some time, I’ve gone over magazines and websites, such as CHW, and thought, “Gee, that’s cool. I wish I could build that.” So, in December, I decided to stop wishing. I enrolled into an introductory cabinetry course at Humber College here in Toronto. This week, I had my first class.

The tour of the facility was very cool. I don’t think I’ll be wanting for machines: they have standard shop fare, such as drillpresses, bandsaws and stationary sanders. There are even production-shop type machines, such as a shaper and dovetail machine. The tablesaws are all SawStops, which is probably just as much of a comfort to the instructors as it is to students.

As with most first days of school, things inch along, which was literally the case for this class. We reviewed that venerable unit of woodworking, as well as adding and subtracting fractions. It seems the eight of us in the class still have our Grade 7 math skills up to par. (I shouldn’t be too smug; I’d be up the creek if there were quadratic equations in the shop.)

One thing I am less than keen on is the role of drafting in this course. There’s going to be lots of it. I’m old enough to have used a t-square and set squares in my first high-school drafting class. Of course, the next year everything was on computers. Either way, it was not something I exactly excelled in, mostly because, well, probably because I was a “distracted” student. It seems I’m a bit more focused now.

My class and I were knee deep in our drafting assignments when our instructor summoned us with a large circ-saw gong. The sound of the “musical instrument” carried pretty well over the machines that more advanced students were using. Our instructor was going to show us how to cut a simple dovetail, or as he called it, the five-minute dovetail. Perfect. The drafting could wait.

As our instructor took us through the process for handcutting your own dovetail joint, I wished I hadn’t left my pencil and paper over at the drafting board. He was dropping so many great tips for each little step. How could I commit them all to memory!? Here’s what I remember:

when using a marking gauge, don’t press down too hard on the nail or spur. Most of the force should be directed at keeping the gauge’s fence firmly against the workpiece.
use a 1:6 ratio for the angle of the dovetail.
when putting a workpiece in a vise for cutting, put it deep into the vise to minimize vibration, which makes cutting easier.
when using a chisel, hold the tool close to its cutting edge for safety and better control.
when striking a chisel on a workpiece, make sure everything is positioned over a leg of the bench, which is the strongest and most stable part.
even with a simple one-tail joint, mark the front or back of the piece. Once you put it down for a second, you will probably forget which side you were working with.

I’m sure there were more tidbits of wisdom, but that’s all I’ve retained.

As soon as the demonstration was finished, everyone in the class was off to cut a dovetail of his or her own. Remember I mentioned the instructor called this exercise the “five-minute dovetail?” Well, when the end of class rolled around, an hour later, I was only halfway through the assignment. I must have been caught in some kind of time warp. I am looking forward to finishing it next week.

How about you more experienced woodworkers out there: do you have any words of wisdom for a newbie cutting his first dovetail?

Jeff Dundas is our resident newbie woodworker. He’ll be sharing his insights and discoveries here on the Shop Hack blog as he learns to make sawdust.

5 essential clamps

Susan Peters — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 10:29:39 +0000

When you’re in the middle of gluing up, there’s no such thing as too many clamps. But using the right kind of clamp is just as important as having enough. Applied with sufficient pressure, the perfect clamp makes joinery a snap. Remember to dry-fit joints first, protect the wood’s surface by padding your clamps, space them evenly on the workpiece and, if a joint feels like it’s not fitting, don’t fall prey to the temptation to crank the clamp just a little harder.

1. Handscrews have been around for centuries; earlier versions used wooden screws, although they’re made of metal on modern ones like a No. 2 Jorgensen ($30). Handscrews excel at clamping irregular surfaces because the two jaws can be adjusted independently.

2. C-clamps are universal in woodworking because they’re economical and versatile. C-clamps are made in a range of sizes, including this 2″ Craftsman ($5) and 3″ Adjustable ($5).

Paint sprayers for an easy finish

Michel Roy — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 09:54:56 +0000

Traditional painting tools such as brushes and rollers can handle just about every DIY painting job there is, including finishing furniture. There may come a project, however, that persuades you to step up to a power-painting system. Such power-painting tools were, only a short time ago, considered the preserve of professionals. But there are now dozens of consumer-grade paint-application systems on the market. With a little practice, they can lay down coatings quickly and efficiently, yielding professional-looking results.

The basics

Most of us are familiar with traditional paint sprayers, the type with handheld spray guns that use high-pressure air from a compressor to atomize a finish. As an alternative to this method, airless sprayers mechanically force a finish material under high pressure through a fine tip.

The capacity of a painting system to spray coatings depends on a number of factors. Ratings such as horsepower, gallons per minute and pounds per square inch of pressure are all indicators of how powerful a sprayer is. Another critical factor to note is the manufacturer’s recommendations regarding the coating thickness or viscosity that the machine can spray. Keep in mind that thin coatings, such as stains, require less pressure than paints.

One-piece, motorized, handheld units can be just the right size for smaller jobs, as they hold the finish in a cup attached to the pump. Many sizes are available, so you can get one that will spray the kind of finish you want to apply. Some even come accessorized with a feeder hose to draw paint or stain directly from a can or a backpack, making it possible to take on a larger job.

Larger paint pumps generally draw paint straight from the container, then pump it through a high-pressure hose to a handheld gun. There are three types of pump systems available, depending on manufacturer and model. Diaphragm pumps are generally less expensive to purchase and repair. Piston pumps are powerful and often quieter. Double-stroke piston pumps paint on both the up- and downstroke, offering consistent pressure and powering multiple guns at the same time. Airless paint pumps excel at large exterior jobs, such as house walls, and also painting rough or uneven surfaces. Further, many systems can be accessorized with power rollers that don’t need to be dipped into a paint tray.