Have you always fancied yourself a creative spirit? Are you looking for a new channel for you to express your artistry?
If so, you might be keen to try getting into wood crafting. Although popular culture has always negatively portrayed woodshop class and its teachers as out-of-touch and boring, creating small handicrafts from wood can be quite challenging, yet rewarding at the same time. What’s more, you can proudly display your creation around your home, and even have it serves some functional purpose in your everyday life.
Before you get started, however, aside from proper training and instruction, you will need some hand tools and materials. Besides the obvious wood, here are some essential tools for you to create your own personal DIY handicrafts:
Saws
Giant blocks of wood need to be cut with some very sharp tools in order to be turned into a delicate handicraft, hence the need for powerful saws. The table saw, in particular, is one of the most important tools a woodworker must own. This allows you to cut wood in perfect straight-line cuts, one of the most basic aspects of woodwork. It is also capable of cutting rabbets and grooves, while also doubling as a functional table.
Another important saw is the circular saw, which is primarily for dimensioning or forming the wood into particular sizes and shapes. Because it is a hand-held tool, it can be quite versatile and accurate, particularly with finer cuts and details.
Sanders and smoothing planes
After you finish cutting up the wood you will be using, you might notice that the saws have created a rough edge that neither looks nor feels good. Fret not, however, as this is precisely what tools like the random orbital sander is meant to help you with. This smoothens the surface of your final work, making it ready for display as a finished product.
If you cannot get your hands on a random orbital sander, files and smoothing planes get the job done as well. What makes a random orbital sander so helpful, however, is that its use of sanding disks means that it does not sand in patterns. Instead, it sands in random motions, thereby reducing the chance that there will be sand marks left on your work, thereby preserving the quality and design on your new handicraft.
Wood glue
Any woodworking project needs to be reinforced and held together to make sure it does not crumble apart after some time. While large-sized projects can use nails to hold the wood together, these will make small, intricate works such as clocks or birdhouses look haphazardly done and will take away from the beauty of the details of the work.
This is where wood glue comes in. There exist many different kinds of wood glue, including common PVA glue, Epoxy, and Polyurethane glue. What makes expanding wood glue so essential that it fills in small holes and joints. Thus, you will be able to seal even these hard to reach areas to ensure that your work stays sturdy for a long time to come.
Woodcrafts are a unique way to add a personal touch to your home, more so if you created them yourself. Try your hand at woodworking today. Who knows, maybe there is an artistic genius hidden inside you?
