There are certain small hand tools most beginner woodworkers overlook, mostly because they don’t even know about them.
They just stick to the big guns, like the miter saws, the table saws, the thickness planers, power drills and so on.
But these small hand tools are not just any tools. They’re some of the most important tools that will make your woodworking projects a whole lot better.
They may be small, but they help you achieve a lot, if you put them to good use.
Here are 9 of these small hand tools you should start using today for your woodworking projects.
Miter Shears
A miter shear is a very important hand tool for cutting miters especially when you’re working with small materials like door and window trims, small craft wood, plywood and so on.
When working with these kind of materials, you don’t want to power a big miter saw to make the cuts.
A small miter shear like the one shown above, will get the job done, and it will do it a lot faster, neatly and precisely.
Chamfer Plane
You can always use the groove under your hand plane for chamfering workpieces, but let’s be honest. Hand planes are bigger and bulkier when you compare them to a chamfer plane like the one shown above.
A chamfer plane is a dedicated hand tool designed specifically for chamfering workpieces. It’s smaller, very easy to handle, and produces finer and more precise chamfered edges on your workpieces.
Mini Hand Plane
Mini hand planes are essential for planing small woodworking parts like wood trim, plywood, wood shingles and any other small parts for craft projects.
A large hand plane will likely be overkill for such types of projects. That’s why this mini version comes in very handy.
Wheel Marking Gauge
A wheel marking gauge like the one shown above is designed to help you make small measurements along the edges of wood, quickly and accurate.
With the marking gauge, you don’t have to use a tape measure or ruler to mark several spots on the wood and join them with a ruler to get a straight line. The marking gauge marks the exact measurement and creates a straight line right at the position you want to cut.
Japanese Pull Saw
Japanese pull saws are one of the most accurate hand saws you can use for your projects. Sometimes newbie woodworkers get so used to their power saws that they forget how useful and important a hand saw like this actually is.
Japanese pull saws help you make very accurate cuts, especially those required for making joinery. And they leave very smooth edges on the wood, which is another requirement when trying to cut joinery pieces.
They also have a very small kerf compared to your power saw blade. So, a very small part of the material is wasted as sawdust when you use a Japanese pull saw.
Digital Level
A manual level tool is great and all, but a digital level like this one from Klein tools change the game a long time ago.
First of all, unlike the regular level tool which is a long rectangular bar, this is just a little square box like a pocket tape measure. It fits right into your pocket.
Also, the bottom part is magnetic. That means you can stick it to metal parts and it will stay there without falling off. One of the best use case for it is setting your table saw blade angle.
Just stick it on the blade, and adjust it to whatever angle you want, and it will read right on the digital level tool.
Contour Scraper
If you’ve ever tried to restore old furniture pieces, sometimes you need to remove the paint so that you can add another type of finish, maybe paint it again or use a wood stain instead of the paint that was previously applied.
Removing paint for the flat surfaces is very easy. You can easy sand it off using a random orbital sander or any other type of sander.
For curved surfaces and crevices however, it’s not that straightforward, because the sander can’t get into those shapes and crevices.
That’s why you need a contour scraper like the one shown above. It comes with several blades of different shapes and sizes, allowing you to scrape and remove paint material from the most irregular of surfaces, and the most tiny of crevices when restoring old furniture pieces.
Edge Banding Trimmer
If you use edge banding for your furniture and cabinet making project, then you should have an edge banding tool in your toolbox.
An edge banding trimmer helps you trim off excess edge bandings quickly and neatly. Most beginner woodworkers use razor blades and utility knives for it. But using those produce rough edges and take a lot more time.
You should instead, simply get an edge banding tool designed specifically for it, like the one shown above.
Nail Set Tool
If you install trim, build furniture or cabinets, a nail set tool like the one shown above is one tool you’ll find very useful.
It’s a little nifty tool you can use to set and countersink finish nails beneath the wood surface with precision.
You just place it on top of the nail you want to set, pull the back to expand the spring, and simply release it. The impact from the spring will set the nail precisely below the surface.
Multi-Angle Square
The multi-angle square shown above is one of my favorite hand tools for woodworking. Unlike a regular square, it’s got an additional 90 degree side adjacent to the main square, you can use to measure 90 degree angles adjacent to the side of the wood or material you’re measuring.
And it’s got holes in it you can use to mark and measure accurate lines parallel to the edge of the wood you’re working with.
Apart from woodworking, this is a very good measuring tool you should have for any type of construction project.
