Hand tool

ertrocbocol

General

Screwdriver

• Standard
• Long
• Stubby
• 90 degree cranked
• Ratchet
• Flexible

Scissors

See Scissors article for information on

• Household scissors
• Wallpaper scissors
• Bone scissors
• Craft scissors
• Children's scissors
• Nail scissors

Gloves

• Rubber
• Leather
• Cotton
• Latex

Bits Holder

• Holds a set of hex shanked screwdriver bits
• Small pocket sized one is handy
• Not to be confused with swmbo

Measuring & Marking

Tape measure

Steel

• More accurate than fibreglass
• Steel tape breaks eventually
• Stiff springy tape
• Popular & cheap

Fibreglass

• Floppy tape
• Tape is not perfectl dimensionally stable, so small inaccuracies may occur
• Long lived

Ruler

Steel, aluminium, wood, plastic

Bevel

• For transferring & copying angles
• When using a bevel for repeat angles in construction, it can move, ruining workpieces. Draw round it when the angle has been taken, and check the bevel against this drawing before it is used on each workpiece.

Set Square

• 90 degree tool that overlaps the edge of workpiece
• fastest way to mark an exact line across timber

Ruler

• plastic, aluminium or wood.
• rigid or folding

Yardstick

• Yard long ruler

Tapes

See Tapes for a full list of the numerous types of tape & their uses in DIY & construction. These include:

• Insulating - pvc
• Building - fairly tough, rippable
• Masking
• Cellophane - minimum cost low performance tape
• Duct Tape - reinforced tape for most jobs except ducting
• Foil tape
• Amalgamating tape
• Friction tape
• Wall tape - crack repair tape
• Clear waterproof tape - repairs to glass & plastic cracks.
• Paper tape - tapes over PB joints before painting for a low cost non-filled job.
• Plasterboard tape - an open mesh tape

& many more

Clamps

F clamp

===Sash C

Pliers

Long nosed Pliers

Pliers for use in very confined spaces

Circlip Pliers

Pliers for fitting and removing circlips

Sidecutters

Type of wirecutting pliers

Fencing pliers

• Hammer, wire cutter and tensioner in one

Grozz Pliers

• Glasswork

Waterpump pliers

• Slotted hinge mechanism allows large sizes to be gripped

Parallel Pliers

• Not often found in DIY use, but give much better performance than standard pliers.

Knives

See Knives for more info

Stanley Knife

• Tough general purpose DIY knife
• More popular for self defence in its earlier days

Wallpaper knife

• Lightweight plastic knife with snapoff blade
• 9mm & 18m blades

Pocket Knife

The forerunner of the above knife types, these are no longer popular for DIY use.

Craft knife, X-acto knife

These are small knives sometimes used in DIY, but more popular for craft use. The handles look a bit like a writing pen, and the blades used are scalpel blades and other blades of a similar size.

• Many blade shapes are available.
• X-Acto is another trade mark that has fallen into general usage

Scalpel

• More used for DIY surgery than house maintance.
• Useful for removing splinters
• Can be useful for appliance repairs

Rotary Knife

• score or cut into soft materials such as lino & vinyl tiles
• Not much use for other DIY tasks, very little cutting power.

Levels

Card Level

• Finds any angle with card & a pin.
• Much more versatile than spirit level

Plumb bob

• weight on string
• accurately indicates the vertical

Painting

Paint brush

• Decorator's brushes are widely available in sizes from 0.5" to 6"
• Brushes several feet wide are occasionally seen in use for exterior painting
• The worst ones are identified by pulling on the bristles to see if some come out.

Artists brushes

• For fine detail
• for tight access
• For touchup jobs

Block Brush

A thicker brush for bulk application of thin paints, eg some lime paints & wood preservatives.

Paint kettle

• Carrying a small amount of paint is less fatiguing and
• Reduces magnitude of spills

Scraper

• Paint removal

Sandpaper

• smoothing
• stock removal
• Wet & dry for wet use
• dense particles for hand sanding
• lower particle density for power sanding avoid clog

Sanding Block

• use with sandpaper to apply an even pressure and help achieve a flatter result
• wood or foam

Shave hook

• Paint removal
• Often blunt when bought. Sharpening them makes them work!

Paint Guard

• Hand held plastic strip to keep paint off other items, eg carpet

Sprayer

• faster coverage than brush
• better quality finish
• overspray is a real problem, everything must be masked

Paint Roller, Tray & Sleeves

• Faster cover than brushes
• Rollers tend to produce some amount of overspray
• shorthair rollers for flat smooth surfaces
• longhair rollers for rough surfaces
• ridged rollers for patterning

Masonry

Cold Chisel

• For masonry

Bucket handle

• Shapes pointing

Blower

• Clears holes drilled in masonry
• Quick, easy and avoids a face/eye full of brick dust.

Plastering

Float

• rectangular tool for smoothing
• steel
  • general purpose float
  • for cement render, gypsum plaster, etc
• wood
  • used mainly with lime plaster
  • draws fat to the surface less than steel
• plastic
  • textured surface
  • for?

Plasterer's Hawk

• small handheld platform for mixed plaster

Small tools

• detailing, ribbon work & decorative work

Corner trowels

• right angle trowels for internal & external corners

Woodwork

Many tools used in woodwork are in other headings. This section is for tools not generally used in other areas of DIY.

Wood Chisel

• dont use them as a lever - or if you do, keep some separate ones for this kind of rough work.
• Pics of various types

Plane

• smoothing, flattening & stock removal of wood & non-brittle plastics
• Planes typically need sharpening and setting up before use

Bradawl

• Marks wood for drilling
• Loosens rope knots

Countersink

• drills a shallow hole for a screw head
• several patterns available
  • rose
• large drill bit makes a basic substitute

Profile Gauge

• Use to transfer profiles from one item to another or to paper
• A row of lots of pins held in place by friction

Hand drill

• Not often used since cordless drills became popular
• Allow much finer control than mains electric drills
• Relatively slow
• Pattern of top handle is the main difference seen among hand drills, and this affects stability in use
• Very old hand drills may have types of chuck rarely seen today, eg a 2 jaw chuck.
• most have a quarter inch chuck

Moulding Plane

• Produces moulded timber profiles
• Now replaced by routers & spindle moulders

Breast drill

• Type of hand drill
• Top end of drill designed to be pressed against the chest in use
  • This stabilises the drill, and allows more force to be applied

Brace

• Another type of drill

Spoke Shave

• A very short plane for use on curved surfaces and in restricted spaces
• Designed for trimming wooden wheel spokes

Rasp

• Coarse file for wood stock removal

Carving Chisels

• Pics

Saws

• Backsaw
• Bow saw
• Bucksaw
• Coping saw
• Crosscut saw
• Japanese saw
• Fretsaw
• Hacksaw
• Hand saw
• Japanese saw
• Keyhole saw
• Mitre saw
• Plywood saw
• Rip saw
• Saw set
• Two-man saw

See Saws

more woodwork hand tools:

Bench hook Bow drill Broadaxe Card scraper Japanese chisel Drawknife F-clamp Framing hammer Froe Gimlet Gouge Gripe (tool) Hatchet Mitre box Pole lathe Robertson screwdriver Sanding block Scratch stock Sharpening jig Sharpening stone Shooting board Slick (tool) Staple gun Upholstery hammer Vise (tool)

Hammers

Claw hammer

• Most popular hammer
• general purpose hammer
• Nail pulling claws on one side
• Various weights, with 12oz - 16oz being most popular

Cross pein hammer

• one flat face, one cold chisel face
• lighter hammer, 4oz & 8oz typical weights
• for driving pins & small nails
• easier to use & more precise than a claw hammer
• limited hitting force available

Ball pein hammer

• One rounded striking face, one flat

Clubhammer

• medium heavy hammer
• 2 flat faces
• 1kg & 4lb are common sizes

Sledge hammer

• Very heavy hammer
• Long handle for maximum swing
• designed for serious violence, eg concrete breaking

Dead blow hammer

• No rebound
• Hollow head contains shot

(non sparking) hammer

• copper faced hammer does not produce sparks

Scutch hammer

• Breaks bricks cleanly
• Replaceable toolface

Mallets

Wood Mallet

• Inserting fence posts

Rubber Mallet

• softest mallet
• light duty hitting where no dent may be left

Plastic Mallet

• similar to rubber mallet but not as soft

Bars

Wrecking bar

• Demolition

Material Handling

Shovel

• for moving loose material

Spade

• for digging
• Stainless steel gives less friction

Fork

• Stainless steel gives less friction

Wheelbarrow

• Dyson's original ballbarrows are much less likely to sink into mud, giving much easier ride on wet soil, but they're no longer made.
• plastic, nothing like as robust as metal barrows
• ideal for gardening

Carrying handle?

• Enables one person to carry 8x4 sheets

Sieve

• separate aggregate of differing sizes
• remove clumps from cat litter
• Power sieves are useful for large quantities

Scoop

===Trowel (garden)

Cutters

Wirecutters

• Good idea to keep separate cutters for steel wire and copper wire, as iron & steel wires damage cutters.

Tinsnips

• Sheet metal cutting scissors
• designed for thin sheet only
• Uncomfortable & difficult with anything thicker
• cuts straight lines
• mostly useful for fabrication

Aviation Tinsnips

• A much improved design of sheet metal cutter.
• greater cutting force
• greater comfort
• causes more distortion to the workpiece
• mostly useful for dismantling

Wire strippers

• Any of a number of designs of wirestripper

Axe

• wood chopping

Meat Cleaver

• Designed for butchers, these make a good small axe for trimming small trees and general gardening.
• Add some red paint if you want to keep the neighbours away.

Bolt Croppers

• Heaviest of all hand cutters
• Cut rebar, brass locks, bolts, threaded rod, small bar, chain
• Will not cut hardened steel

Tile Nippers

• Cut tiles.

Pipe cutter - wheel type

• ring turn, eg Monument
• for copper pipe

Pipe cutter - pvc chopper type

• fast cutting of pvc pipe

Spanners

Spanner

• drives nuts & bolts with hex head.
• Ring spanner
• Open ended Spanner

Ratchet Spanner

• drives one way

Half Moon Spanner

• Crescent shaped spanners
• For some difficult access jobs

Self Adjusting Spanners

• saves carrying many spanners
• performance poor compared to fixed size spanners

Automatic

• Jaws close on workpiece
• battery powered
• avoids need for 2nd hand in use

Sockets

• drive nuts & bolts with hex head.
• generally more torque & control than spanners
• can drive recessed items
• come with any of several drive sizes:
  • 1/4" - for very light duty work eg appliance case screws
  • 3/8"
  • 1/2" - good for general purpose use
  • 3/4" - good for heavy duty work, eg washing machine bearings and tougher items on cars
  • 1" - industrial duty
• see also torque wrench

Extension Bar

• The type manufactured for socket sets gives increased torque.
• Hollow tube fitted over hand tools is famed in industry for assorted safety risks.

Metalwork

Centre punch

• Dents metal to prevent wander while starting to drill a hole

Automatic Centre punch

• Just press, a hammering mechanism is built in.

File

• various sizes
  • rat's tail file
• different teeth size for different materialsworkpieces
  • wood
  • steel

More hand tools: C-clamp Combination square Die grinder Drift pin F-clamp Hand scraper Machinist square Magnetic base Rotary tool Scriber Tongs Tube & pipe benders Vise (tool)

Car

Oil filter wrench

• Various types
  • chain
  • strap
  • set of fingers driven by socket bar.

Jack

Hydraulic Jack

Various types

Bottle Jack

One of the more popular types of hydraulic jack

Screw Jack

2 concentric screws, forerunner of the hydraulic bottle jack, not sure of correct name

Scissor Jack

A very popular DIYer's jack.

Side Jack

Minimum cost jack often supplied with vehicle. The quickest way to remove old unwanted jacking points.

Inflatable Jack

• This is a large bag that connects to the exhaust.
• Exhaust gases inflate the bag, lifting the vehicle up.
• Used where ground is too soft for other types of jack, such as desert use. The only useful jack for these situations.

Access

Ladders

Single section

• Basic 1 piece ladder

2 section

• Allows ladder to be collapsed to a little more than half its length
• Normal configuration for longer ladders

3 section

• For long ladders

Roofing ladder

• Lightweight ladder enables safer use on rooftops
• Use of heavier ladders is inadvisable for roofing, as they can unbalance the user, with potentially very serious results.

Telescopic Ladder

• Telescopic action enables small ladders to compact to very small storage size
• Ideal for carrying in the boot of a car
• aka surveyor's ladder

Multipurpose ladder

• 3 ladder sections that can be joined in various ways to make:
  • straight ladder in 1, 2 or 3 sections
  • Step ladder
  • work platform
  • work platform with different height legs for stair work

Access tower

• Scaffolding tower, usually free standing
• May be on lockable castors
• Stability depends on construction type

Scaffolding

• Should always be set up by an expert

More... yet to be put under the right headings

Scales

• Used as a substitute for a torque wrench
• 15lbs at 1 foot gives 15 lbfoot, 15lbs at 2' gives 30lbft.

Secateurs

• Garden trimming

Bulb planter

• Makes bulb planting very quick
• pointed stick with handle

Micrometer

• highly accurate measurement of small distances

Sandpaper

• smoothing & material removal
• different grit densities for different purposes
  • high density for hand sanding, low density avoids clogging with power tools

Dentist's mirror

• Small mirror on stick enables seeing into unseeable places
• Strips of mirror out of dead scanners can also be used

Inspection Lamp

aka Drop lamp

• hand held lamp designed to use up your stock of spare mains bulbs

Crimper, non-ratchet

• attaches crimp connectors to cables, but the connection is invariably weak & inadequte

Crimper, ratchet

• attaches crimp connectors to cables properly

Magnet on string

• Retrieve objects dropped in voids

Draw tape

• Threading wires through otherwise inaccessible voids, eg under floor, within walls

Camera

• Records damage or other issues before a job starts
• A simple way to enable near identical reassembly of complex items

Mobile

• to call an ambulance!

Toolbelt

• waistbelt with loops & pockets to hold tools
• saves having to keep picking tools up
• very useful up a ladder

Hard hat

• Reduces the cost of Darwin Awards

Goggles

• Protect eyes

Direct vent goggles

• suitable for nuisance dusts only
• have many tiny holes in sides for ventilation
• Using these with angle grinders causes many eye injuries

Indirect vent goggles

• suitable for potential eye injury situations, such as angle grinders
• Have a plastic insert providing a zigzag path for ventilation airflow, thus preventing flying particles entering.

Ear defenders

• Several types available
  • foam rubber in-ear
  • headphone style
  • active noise cancellers

Bogroll

• One sheet in each ear reduces noise levels
• not a BS approved ear defender system
• spectrum unmapped & reduction unspecified

Carrierbag

• the budget toolbag

Cleaning link?

Dustsheets

• Plastic or cloth sheets for keeping dust & paint off floors, furniture, woodwork, etc

Newspaper

• used as dust sheet

Fugenboy

• Shaping & smoothing tool for silicone sealant & similar
• Polypropylene

Pipe bender

• Used with pipe bending spring or sand to bend copper pipe

Dustmask, filters

• Wide range of qualities available
• Most are not suitable for some types of dust
• Budget masks are for nontoxic nuisance dusts only, and reduce rather than prevent dust ingress

Grout spreader

• Straight rubber edge pushes grout between tiles while wiping it off the tile fronts.

Metal, wire & stud detector

• Beware of faulty ones that don't go off when pointed at yourself!

Space suit

• For hazardous substances
• Prevents personal contamination

Impact driver

• A hammer driven screwdriver
• The power tool of the same name is something different

Hot gloog gun

• Bodger's special

Sawboard

• Used with a circular saw
• Enables greater accuracy

Mitre saw, hand type

• Guide frame to enable accurate angles to be cut in wood etc

Tray & towels

• For catching water spilt from CH

Pump

For de-flooding house after CH work.

Freezer

• freezes pipes to enable plumbing. If quick.

Box spanner

• Tube with hexagonal end to drives nuts.
• Turned by a bar inserted through holes in the tube
• US usage of the term is different.

Letter punch & Number punches

• Stamps text into metals

Fibro cutter

• Cuts asbestos cement sheet.
• Not suitable for modern sheet replacements for asbestos.

Jeweller's screwdrivers

• tiny screwdrivers
• For repairing small appliances

Hex bit Screwdriver

• screwdriver wth standardised interchangeable bits
• more robust & versatile than conventional screwdriver

Blowlamp

• Soldering plumbing
• Applying unmodified flat roofing felt in winter

Torch

• may mean a battery light or gas flame

Grindstone

For sharpening Very large grindstones on broom handles were formerly used for terrazzo. Thank god for power tools.

Pincers

• cuts tiles

Nail puller

• Removes nails
• Various patterns available

Pickaxe

• Breaking up hard & stony soil

Feeler Gauge

• set of slips of very thin steel
• measures tiny gaps

Billhook

• Garden clearance

Khukri

• Garden clearance

Axminster No.1 Odd Jobs

• Multifunction Joinery tool

Tuck Pointer

• Pics

See Also

Wiki Contents

Wiki Subject Categories

Drain clearing hand tools

Clamps Levels Paint Knives