Always use ear protection and wear safety glasses when operating a power tool.
Avoid loose clothing, jewelry and anything that could get caught in the saw. Tie back long hair.
Don’t force the tool. Don’t expect a small tool to do the job of a heavy-duty tool.
For planers, use a push stick to help feed the material onto the blade and to keep your fingers out of the way.
Use the correct blade for the material you are cutting. Keep blades sharp and look out for overheated or vibrating blades.
Unplug the tool before changing blades and making adjustments.
Never operate a joiner or planer without the belt guards or cutter head guards in place.
Planer
Used to square up, resize or smooth wood in width or thickness. Best for larger flat surfaces.
Performs the job of a hand plane, but faster and better.
A variation is a planer-jointer, which performs additional operations such as tapering, beveling and grooving. The planer finishes edges.
Jointer
Used to smooth the edges of wood and help remove warps.
Can cut flat surfaces.
Size is determined by length of the tool's knives. Most common size is 6”.
Often combined with a planer
Lathe
Used for wood turning applications to create spindles, miniatures, bowls and plates.
Consists of a track or bed, headstock, tailstock and a tool support or rest. The tool locks in a piece of wood, with the headstock turning the piece and the tailstock supporting the other end.
Different types of tools shape the wood as it is spinning.
Grinder
Used to cut and grind metal, concrete and masonry, for sharpening all tools, cutting into corners and tight spots, polishing, buffing and wire brushing.
Consists of a motor powering one or two grinding wheels, often mounted on a workbench.
Drill Press
Used for boring holes in precise, repetitive cuts. With the appropriate accessories, the drill press can also shape, carve, sand, grind, buff and polish.
Consists of a base and a column rising upward to a head holding the motor and drill. A radial arm holds a worktable that adjusts vertically. A feed handle enables the user to direct the drill chuck up and down.
On a radial drill press, the head rotates 360º around the column and can drill at an angle or horizontally
