Take care of your tools and they will take care of you. This might sound a bit old fashioned but sometimes the old fashioned ideas are the best ones. If you did woodwork or metalwork at school, this notion will have been repeated over and again by your class teacher.

In these days of mass-production of just about everything, cheap tools are all around us. Take for example wood-saws, formerly with a wooden handle and blade made of steel that needed regular sharpening. Nowadays, blades are made from alloys that last much longer and with mass-produced and therefore cheaper to produce, handles which are usually made from plastic, are low in price and for all intents and purposes, disposable.

Not matter what their cost, not looking after your tools properly is potentially dangerous and could cause damage to a project that will mean needing to replace the piece of wood or starting again.  Whether it is a project involving the building of shelving units, shelf racks or storage racking. Poorly cared for tools can cause accidents. For instance, a blunt chisel will need more effort to make it cut and this extra effort might cause it to slip. A blunt drill bit may snap if too much pressure is applied.

An oilstone to keep your chisel blades sharp is an investment worth considering. If their blades have become wet, dry them thoroughly first, leave them somewhere warm first to make sure they dry properly then spray them with oil afterwards.