Claw Hammers

Buying brand new bedroom furniture is expensive. And considering how little material they actually use, furniture for women and children are even more expensive, in much the same way as women’s and children’s clothes are more expensive than men’s clothes. But what are you to do when your wife wants her nightstand and make-up table and whatnot, and your kid’s bedroom is a horrid mess and you really need to get him a book case or shelf for all his books and comics.

Well, you have three choices if you are on a limited budget: wait for a bedroom furniture sale… and hope your wife and kids do not get even more ideas of stuff they need you to buy; look for garages sales where you can pick up some decent used bedroom furniture; or build your own.

Regardless of whether you buy used furniture or build your own, you need much the same tools in your toolbox. When working with wood, there is often a common list of tasks you need to do, whether you are refinishing an old table, repairing a shelf or building a stool. So here is a list of the tools you need:

1. Toolbox

Obvious, when you think about it. But when you accumulate your tools one at a time over a period of years, it is all too easy to make do without one… until you start misplacing the tools you need. That’s what I did in the past, and I’ve had to replace several tools because of it.

2. Hammer

You should get both a medium-weight hammer and a light-weight hammer. Use the medium-weight for the majority of the nail-pounding you need to do. Use the light-weight hammer when you need fine control or when working on a more fragile piece of furniture. And make sure they have a claw head so that you can remove nails. The obvious question is what’s light-weight and what’s medium-weight? I will not give the pat answers that most carpentry teachers give. Instead, I will say that it depends on your strength. Just remember this – a hammer that is heavy for you is light for your neighbor the weight-lifter.

Go to your hardware store and look at their selection of hammers. There should be a few that feel very heavy to you and are very tough to use. These are heavy-weight and NOT for you. There should be a few that feel very light to you. These are your light-weight hammers. Pick one you like. There should be a few that feel somewhere in between the heavy and light hammers in terms of weight. Buy one of these medium-weight hammers.

3. Screwdriver

Buy a screwdriver set. This will give you a good selection of sizes for a relatively low cost. It is usually not practical to buy screwdrivers one at a time, except as replacements.

4. Paintbrush

Buy a selection of paintbrushes. A large one for large surfaces, and smaller ones for more detailed work.

5. Thinner/Turpentine

You will need plenty of this for cleaning your paintbrush. In some places kerosene may actually be cheaper – depending on the paint you use, it may be alright to use kerosene instead of turpentine.

6. Screws and nails

Buy a good selection of these in various sizes. You’ll want to make sure you have lots of long thin nails because they are the least likely to split the wood apart.

7. Power tools

The corded Dremel Rotary Tool is good and cheap. It lets you drill holes, do some wood-cutting, and even does sanding. It’s not the best in the market, but for its price, it is ideal for the beginning DIY-er. You can pick up a corded Dremel with a good selection of accessories at Amazon for around $50, which is much cheaper than the top-of-the-line Fein Multitools which cost around $400 to $500. Just make sure you get the corded tool and make sure it has the drilling, wood-cutting and sanding attachments. You should also buy spare sandpaper, cutting blades and drill bits.

8. Stain/Varnish/Wax/Paint

Paint is the easiest to use, and is ideal for making cheap wood look good. Make sure you have the colors you want, then start painting. On the other hand, if you bought good-looking wood like some of the better grades of pine, you may want to stain it to bring out the grains and knots, then wax or varnish it to protect it from fungus and insect attacks.

9. Wood glue

This item is vital for beginner DIY-ers. Experienced carpenters can use various sophisticated wood-joining techniques like the mortise and tenon, and will not need to use glue very often. On the other hand, the beginner should stick to reinforced butt joints, and glue is an important component of that simple joint. Since you have less experience, you should get the slow-drying glues so that you have time to fit the joints together properly.

10. Kreg pocket-hole jig

This is optional. But there are times when you want or need a stronger joint. The pocket hole joint is an enhancement of the simple reinforced butt joint, and is supposed to be nearly as strong as the mortise and tenon joint. The Kreg jig is a tool that makes it easy to make pocket hole joints. They change the design of their jigs fairly often, so just pick the cheapest one. I have seen them sold on Amazon for as little as $40.

The above list of tools is not exhaustive. But a weekend DIY warrior on his first bedroom furniture project should find them more than sufficient for his needs.

Even cheap furniture can cost a lot. But sometimes you can get more bang for the buck by building your own pine bedroom furniture and oak bedroom furniture instead of buying them.

Hammers

A hammer should always be used for knocking in nails. The steel of a hammer head is specially heat treated to make the striking face hard enough to stop being damaged when it strikes a nail but not so hard that it becomes brittle and liable to shatter.

There are many different kinds of hammer. Some are designed for particular purposes such as bricklaying, panel-beating, stonework and upholstery. The two most common general-purpose hammers are designed for woodworking.

The curved claw hammer is designed for general-purpose woodworking and carpentry. The most common size is 16oz though 20 and 24oz hammers are also available. (The weight refers to the weight of the head.) Its weight makes it a quick, though tiring, tool to use and it is particularly useful for driving in long nails. It also has a hardened claw which is invaluable for pulling out nails and pins. The handles of curved claw hammers may be ash, glass fibre, hickory or steel. Glass fibre and steel-handled hammers usually have rubber hand grips.

The cross-pein (Warrington or joiners) hammer was designed for joinery and cabinet making. Standard sizes are 4, 6, 10, 12, 14 and 16oz. The smallest size is sometimes called a pin or tack hammer. The hardened cross pein (the tapered wedge end) is for starting small pins and tacks and for finishing off nails in awkwardly shaped mouldings. For metal-working, an engineer’s hammer has a lounded ball pein.

Staple guns

For many jobs – particularly upholstery, fixing fibre ceiling tiles and securing underfelt – a staple gun will be more convenient than a hammer.

A staple gun fires hardened two-pronged staples into the work: these look a bit like the staples used to hold paper together but are larger and tougher. Special staples are available for particular jobs such as ceiling tiles and for securing panel clips for cladding.

Staple guns can be used in one hand and have cither a lever or, if electrically powered, a trigger. Other uses include picture framing, roof insulation, roller blinds, polythene sheeting and fencing. Special attachments are available for some of these jobs.

It’s time to learn something about saws. A good saw is very necessary if you want good outcomes. You can learn how to choose Jig Saw and also with how to do gas welding. Use safety precautions before proceeding.