Ensuring your students have the right tools is important for building their skills and completing projects up to standard. However, power tools aren’t the cheapest of items on your school’s budget list. If you must be selective about which tools to add to your classroom, make sure these three are at the top of your list.
Drill/Driver
It’s hard to complete any woodworking project without a drill. Cordless drills are perfect for support tasks like building jigs and sleds. Smaller, lightweight drills are great for delicate tasks like mounting cabinet hardware. These typically come with batteries up to 12 volts. Larger, 18V drills have more power and bore larger holes.
Even better, a drill/driver combo tool meets two needs in one hand-held device. A cordless impact driver can drive screws more easily than a conventional drill, thanks to it having more torque, and a clutch mechanism nearly eliminates stripped screws. A compact option like this can fit into smaller spaces, but gives you power all day long.
Most drills will come with 2 batteries, a charger, and a keyless chuck for easily changing bits. Keep in mind, you’ll want to stick with a single brand so that you can use the same batteries and chargers for multiple tools.
To get the most bang for your school budget’s buck, a multi-tool combo kit is your best bet. In one convenient woodworking starter set you’ll get a variety of essential tools for your classroom such as drills, drivers, drill/driver combo tools, circular saws, reciprocating saws, and more. This makes it easy to get a new classroom up and running, or quickly add to an existing selection of portable power tools.
Biscuit Joiner
Using a hammer and nails or drill and screws is a vital skill that students will use thousands of times throughout their lives. But those won’t work for every project. Knowing how to use a biscuit joiner is another option that will enhance your students’ skills.
The most versatile joiner will have an adjustable mortise width, pivoting fence for angled mortises, quick and precise depth control, and a variety of step positions for materials of varying thickness. You’ll also want to make sure you’re well stocked on several sizes of biscuits for any project.
Random Orbit Sander
No woodworking project is complete without a smooth finish. A random orbit sander is an essential yet simple portable power tool. It uses sanding disks in 5” or 6” diameter that are attached to the tool with either a hook-and-loop pad (like Velcro®) or a sticky adhesive called PSA. Due to the random motion of the sander, it doesn’t leave patterned marks in the workpiece like other sanders would.
Let's Get (Wood)working!
There are many more portable power tools that are essential to a woodworking classroom, but these three are a great place to start. Whether you’re looking for these or other tools, we’ve got a great selection of brands, sizes, and styles to suit all kinds of projects. Browse our website today or call our Sales Team at 1-800-831-5904 for a personalized recommendation.