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Unit: Hand and power tools

Supporting: LMFFM2001A: Use furniture making sector hand and power tools

Section 1: Types of tools

Planing and sanding


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Audio for slide 1 (mp3 |6|KB)
Set out below are the main tools used for planing, sanding, filing and rasping.

Some of these, such as the spokeshave and scraper, will only be found in a traditional cabinetmaker's toolkit, but they are still used by some specialist craftspeople.

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Planing tools

Electric planer                                                                                                                     
For removing surface material from solid timber and panel products with rotating cutters.

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Hand plane                                                                                                                     
For removing surface material by pushing the blade along the surface by hand.

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Spokeshave                                                                                                                      
For shaping round or curved components (traditionally used for shaping wooden wheel spokes).

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Sanding

Belt sander                                                                                                                     
For sanding timber surfaces with a sanding belt.

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Orbital sander                                                                                                                     
For use when a belt sander is too awkward, or a finer finish is required.

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Sandpaper and block                                                                                                                      
For touching up small areas or sanding puttied nail holes by hand.

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Scraper                                                                                                                     
For finishing benchtops and other high quality timber surfaces by scraping the surface rather than sanding it.

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Audio for slide 9 (mp3 |6|KB)

Rasps and files

Rasp                                                                                                                      
For shaping wood, such as rounding the corners of timber benchtops.

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Rasp plane                                                                                                                     
A heavy duty rasp that's used with a plane action.

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File                                                                                                                     
For removing burrs and overhangs in timber, metal, plastic and composite materials.

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Learning activity

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Sandpaper comes in a variety of 'grit' sizes, using numbers to refer to the coarseness of the abrading material.

Coarser grits are used when you need to remove a lot of material quickly. Finer grits are used when you're finishing off the surface in preparation for a paint or clear coating.

Do you know what some of the common grit sizes are for different grades of sandpaper? Write down a typical coarse, medium and fine grit size that might be used for sanding a timber benchtop.

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