Are you mechanically Declined, and you want to become Mechanically Inclined. What tools do you need and how do you use them.

In this video we're going to look at the basics of wood cutting tools, this will be about hand tools not power tools. We want you to learn the basics first, then using power tools will be the next level, and a future video.

There are many wood cutting tools that fall into the category of hand tools. All of them have the same principle of removing material in a controlled way. We will be covering the 2 types that you will find in your local home store, chisels and saws, drills will be covered in the video on power tools. Stick around to the end of the video to learn what other materials these tools are useful for.

First a note for safety, all cutting tools remove material that has the possibility to hurt you, safety glasses, cut resistant gloves, face-shields, and other personal protective equipment can and will be needed when using these tools. If in doubt of what is needed consult the tools manufacturer's instructions.

The principles of a wood cutting tool are best shown in a chisel. Wood cutting chisels use a sharp edge to cut into the wood.

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Mortise Cut

A mortise cut can be as simple as a recess for a hinge or the rectangular shape of a door latch or lock.

To start a mortise outline the area by making a series of shallow chisel cuts perpendicular to the surface. Don't skip this step you will risk chipping the wood outside the mortise.

Then remove thin slices by tapping the chisel with a hammer, bevel side down, to carve out the wood inside the cut area. Thin slices are important even if you are making a deep cut, otherwise you may slice out a section of wood outside the mortise area.
Face the bevel down.

Push or tap the back of the chisel to remove thin slices.

Control the depth by raising and lowering the handle. Or reversing direction if the grain of the wood takes it too deep.

Shaving the wood

Just like using a razor to shave hair, shaving wood is a precision process. In general, when you’re shaving into a pocket in the wood, face the bevel down flat to the surface.

If the recess is open on one side, flatten the bottom by shaving off thin slices with the back side of the chisel held flat to the wood.
Shave thin slices of wood to flatten the bottom of an area that has an open side.

Keep the chisel flat on the wood.

For easier slicing, pivot the chisel as you cut to move the blade in an arc.

Removing chunks of wood

So you need to remove a large amount of wood. Start with cuts from a saw, we will cover that latter in the video, then remove the rest with a very sharp chisel.

Set the chisel alongside one cut edge and hit it with a hammer. Just like the mortise cut use thin slices to remove large blocks of wood, but since you have pre-cut the sides you can take larger slices than a mortise cut.

Hit the chisel with a hammer and chop down about 1/2 in.
Then chisel from the end to remove the piece before continuing.

Chiseling a groove in wood

This will use the same methods of wood cutting as we have already covered but use them in a little different manner. This is called a dado cut and starting with a saw cut on each side, follow up with chiseling out the middle. Just like the mortise cut thin slices are best, but like removing large chunks of wood, you can take some bigger cuts at times.

Closely related to a chisel is a wood cutting hand saw, in fact a saw could be described as a sheet of metal with hundreds of chisels on the cutting edge.

And like chisels there are many types and sizes of hand saws, they still need to be sharp on the cutting tips and have their place in a tool kit.

All saws have the same principle of removing material, you push and or pull the teeth through the material. Most hand saws will cut in a straight line, but the smaller thinner ones can also turn corners and a coping saw is designed to make square corners in thick wood.

The more teeth the saw has per inch the finer and smoother the cut, but it takes longer. Fewer teeth per inch and the saw will work faster but it's a rougher cut. However there is another factor to how many teeth per inch you want to choose, the grain of the wood.

In years past you could go to the nearest home store and have a large selection of hand saws and chisels to choose from. In a recent trip I only found what you see here. If you want a good selection of types of saws, chisels, files, gouges, carving tools, planes and other wood cutting tools Amazon is a good starting point, craft stores are another source. All of those hand tools use the same principles that we showed here.

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