Hand Tools and Portable Power Tools
This domain tests tool selection, sharpening geometry and safe use of hand-held power tools. Questions tend to be practical: which saw for this cut, what angle on this chisel, which way to feed a router. Answer with the tool, the reason and the safety point.
Edge tools
- Bench plane anatomy: frog, cap iron (breaks the shaving), lever cap, adjuster. The cap iron sits 0.3–0.5 mm back from the cutting edge; a wide mouth suits roughing, a tight mouth suits tear-out-prone timber.
- Honing geometry: 25° primary bevel with a 30° micro-bevel. The flat face is kept dead flat; the bevel is checked against the light and finished on a fine stone.
- Chisel types: bevel-edged for general joinery, mortise chisel for levering out waste. Never pry with a bevel-edge chisel.
- Card scraper: filed square, edge turned with a burnisher to form a hook, used at about 45° tilt for figured timber.
- Sharpening sequence: flatten the stone, grind at 25°, hone at 25° then 30°, remove the wire burr from the flat face.
Saws and tooth geometry
- Rip 4–5 TPI, crosscut 8–10 TPI, tenon 10–12 TPI, dovetail 15–20 TPI. More teeth means a finer, slower cut.
Marking and setting out
Marking gauge for grain-parallel lines, mortise gauge for twin lines, cutting gauge for cross-grain veneer. Work from a face side and face edge; mark waste with a cross.
Portable power tools
- Circular saw: blade projection 3–5 mm beyond the stock, riving knife fitted, both sides of the cut supported, fence used for ripping. Stand clear of the kickback line.
- Jigsaw: down-cut blade for veneered or laminated faces so the show face does not splinter; orbital action for fast rip cuts in softwood.
- Router: hand-held, feed against the cutter rotation for control; climb cutting only as a light finishing pass with a bearing guide. On a router table, feed right to left.
- Random orbit sander: let the weight of the machine work; do not tip it on edge.
Worked example
You must crosscut 20 mm oak. To avoid snatching, at least six teeth should be in contact with the timber. Required pitch = 20 / 6 = 3.3 mm, so TPI must be at least 25.4 / 3.3 = 7.7. A 10 TPI crosscut or 12 TPI tenon saw satisfies this; a 4 TPI rip saw (6.35 mm pitch) puts only about three teeth in the cut and will snatch and splinter.
Traps that cost marks
Dragging a saw backwards with pressure; cutting on the wrong side of the line; using an up-cut jigsaw blade on a veneered face; forcing a blunt bit; climb cutting with a hand-held router; no RCD on site power.
Name the tool, the setting, the direction and the PPE - that is a full-mark answer.