Crafting Tools Glossary

Kids Crafts

Have you ever wondered about some of the tools that crafters use and what they are talking about when speaking crafter-nese? Here's a quick little crafting tools glossary of terms that might clear up some of the confusion.

Abrasives: family of smoothing tools including, sandpaper, grit paper, steel wool, sand sticks, sand blocks, taping and cording. Abrasives can be dry or wet.

Adhesives: substance or chemical mixture used to temporarily or permanently bond two surfaces or items

Awl: sharp pointed usually metal tool for hand punching holes or openings

Bevel: instrument to balance or make centered

Blending Stump: paper or soft textile stick used to blend pencil colors, chalk, pastels, or charcoal

Bone: hard wood tool used to score other materials

Bow Saw: hand held saw with thick blade anchored onto angled metal bridge, rough cutting

Brad Point Bit: bit used on rounded surfaces for smoother cut or boring.

Brayer: similar to a rolling pin used to smooth or flatten materials

Brush: natural or man made bristles gathered and clamp to transport a medium to another medium; sponge, round, flat, stencil, and more

Burnisher: metal or wood instrument used to smooth, shape, embellish, polish, or transfer one material to another; also referred to as a embossing tool

Calipers: metal instruments used in measuring, inside and outside measurements use different calipers

Chisel: metal tools used to create decorative work in wood or create edges.

Circular Saw: hand held power tool with round or circle blade, rough to detail cuts

Clamps: work holding device; C-clamps, bar, pipe, hand-screw, band, web, and specialty

Coping Saw: hand held saw with thin cutting blade that is anchored across a metal bridge, fine cutting

Drill: portable tool that can be hand held or placed in a press, used to bore holes, but anything is possible with the variety of bits available today.

Files: hardened steel with rows of finely spaced cutting teeth for smoothing, trimming and sharpening

Hammer: hard or soft head with handle to pound smooth or insert one item into another, over 30 varieties for specific tasks. Include the mallet which is a rubber headed tool

Kiln: like an oven used in ceramic to heat or fire work

Lathe: tool that allows carving or decoration of wood with a spinning or turning motion while wood is clamped to machine.

Loom: frame used to weave materials or hold materials in place.

Miter Box: guide created to give accurate cutting of angle

Needle: instrument with eye which can be threaded with thin materials, point is sharp or blunted

Mold: used to cast or shape mediums or materials

Palette Knife: shaped like a pie cutter, used to transfer medium, smooth medium, or texture medium

Plane: used to smooth or flatten wood, hand held or power

Radial Arm Saw: power saw with round blades used where the material is stationary and the saw moves to cut

Ribs: smooth hand size wood pieces with edges in different degrees of texture used to shape clays or other modeling mediums

Rifflers: files with very small heads and large hand grips for detail work

Router: portable power tool with changeable bits for variety of tasks from cutting to edging

Ruler: also referred to in soft form as a tape, measurements in inches and meters

Sabre Saw: hand held power tool which only one end of straight blade is attached to saw

Smoldering Iron: heating tool used to melt metals or transfer metal to a surface

Square: wood and metal tool used to make correct corners, edges, and cuts

Staple Gun: hand or power tool that shoots staples or nails into material

Stylus: metal rounded tip used to create perfect, consistent dots

Table Saw: Stationary saw with a round blade use where material is moved to cut.

Tack Cloth: very sticky cloth or fabric used to remove fine particles or dust from wood, metal, ceramic, etc.

Tjanting: holds wax to use in applying lines of wax to materials as in batik

Trim Tool: used to smooth or cut materials, wires of different shapes, thickness, and widths are clamped to a hand held handle

Wheel: table with flat top that rotates or spins

We learn something new everyday, don't we? This glossary is from our friends, www.CreateForLess.com


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