Must-Have Machines for Your Woodwork Workshop

The type of woodwork machinery and hand tools you have in your workshop will, of course, be dictated by the type of work you do and the amount of space you have. But, for most workshops to run effectively and efficiently there are definitely some machines you really must have.

Orbital Sander

Larger workshops will probably use a belt sander but an orbital sander is just as useful, especially when you are crafting finer pieces of woodwork. An orbital sander works a little slower than a belt sander because it is designed to work without leaving marks or scratches on the surface of the wood. This machine effectively works as finely as a hand sander but with less elbow grease needed. A big advantage as well is that orbital sanders are generally cheaper to buy than belt sanders. 

Lathe 

This may be ever so slightly old school, but the fact is that a lathe is one of the most useful tools anyone could have in their woodwork machinery collection. A lathe will hold a piece of wood securely to allow you to rotate and turn the wood whichever way you need to shape and work it. This is traditional woodturning.

The lathe is truly a multi-purpose machine which can turn, drill, cut, polish and pre-form among other things. The lathe’s versatility allows the woodworker to make anything from large furniture pieces with spindle shaped legs, decorative shelves or bookcases, or kitchenware such as wooden bowls right down to finely crafted jewellery pieces. 

Surface Planer 

If you have enough space for a surface planer then you would be doing yourself a huge favour by getting one of these indispensable machines. In days gone by you would take a piece of wood stock ready to be worked and you would have to go through the time-consuming and laborious process of hand planning it to get it to the required thickness and smoothness.

A surface planer can help you achieve the same result in a much shorter time through its set of rotating blades. This machine generates a lot of dust as it works so you should consider one fitted with a dust vacuum. Because this collects dust as you work a vacuum will help to extend the lifespan of the machine. 

All three or any one of these versatile pieces of woodwork machinery will make woodwork so much easier. Take a look at the machines we have available; you may be surprised at how much easier they make the woodworking jobs you undertake.