If you are looking for a gift for someone that likes building with wood, tools are a great choice. For woodworkers, tools enable more creation. They enable better quality. They allow a woodworker to do more of what they love doing.
Choosing the right tools can be challenging. It’s possible that the person receiving the gift already has some of these tools (get a gift receipt!), but there are some little known items here that are sure to improve and delight.
Here are a few tool options in different price points along with the reason why they are great.
Around $10
It’s a tape measure and the person you’re getting this gift for probably already has a tape measure. What makes this one great is that it has markings on both sides of the tape measure and it has better labeling of smaller increments. This is a tool that a woodworker wouldn’t know that they need, but it makes their work easier.
In a typical tape measure, the measurements are only on one side. If you lay out the tape measure in the wrong direction, you have to read the markings upside down. Depending on the way that the workpiece is situated, this happens fairly often. That’s one annoyance that this tape measure solves.
The other improvement is that a typical tape measure has lines to mark smaller increments: 1/8 of an inch for example. This tape measure has those increments labeled so there is no more guesswork or counting of little lines to know the actual measurement.
When you are working with wood, you will get splinters. Everyone has tweezers, but you may not realize just how ineffective tweezers actually are. These tweezers have a very fine point and it makes removing splinters a breeze. They also have an included keychain holder.
Around $30 - 70
Every workspace needs storage. These racks are a great way to get boards off the floor and onto an empty space on the wall.
Verify that the person has some available space on the wall. With wood on this rack it would take up about 4 feet in height and 6 feet in width. If you see wood just leaning on the wall in your woodworker’s shop, this might be a good option.
In working with wood, it’s important that you can make a straight, long cut on a large piece of plywood. If your wood worker has a table saw, they may not need this unless they are cutting down very large sheets that are too big for the table saw.
If your wood worker does not have a table saw, this is a necessary tool and a pretty safe bet that it’ll be useful.
You cannot go wrong with clamps. Even if your woodworker already has some clamps, they need more.
Clamps are most often used to hold things together when gluing wood pieces. You often have to use 4, 5, 6 or more clamps to get a good fit so that the glue can bond correctly. You can’t have enough clamps.
Forstner bits allow you to drill clean holes in wood. They are far superior to the standard drill bits that you find in so many kits. These will allow your woodworker to level up their game if they do not have them.
If your woodworker does not have a powered sander, this is a great option. This is a “random orbital sander” which means that it doesn’t just move in a precise circle when sanding. This allows for a more uniform and natural look on the wood. This sander is also great at collecting dust, which not all of them are.
If your woodworker already has a sander, you can buy some additional sanding disks. These are a standard and work on most any sander as long as it uses the round sanding disk style.
$200
If you really want to go all out, consider this wood router.
A router is an important tool for woodworking and allows you to put nice edges on wood and create precise + complex cuts. This router is one that will last a lifetime. It comes with a fixed base and a plunge base. Both of these allow for different uses of the router and you will want both options at some point.
This router really is the gold standard and would be a great upgrade.
