Matt Matty answers:

Hi Donna.  Before you decide on what type of sander to get, you might want to ask yourself what type of sanding you plan to do most – this will tell you what type of sander to buy.  In fact, you might want to invest in both.  Belt and/or disc sanders are (in my opinion) the most handy and can tackle most of your sanding projects.  However, if you plan to sand a lot of curved projects, then a spindle sander will be your best bet.  If the quantity of curved work is small, you might want to consider a drum/spindle sanding attachment that you can put in a drill press or chuck up in a pistol drill.  These work great for doing detail sanding.  I especially like them with a hand drill as you can get pretty creative in your sanding with total freedom of movement.

A good place to look for sanding tools is Rockler.  I like this company and they have great products with good pricing.  I’ve created a search term for you that includes “sanders”.  You can see what they have by click that link or entering in something more specific and then searching for that.  I hope you find a good sander that fits your needs.

Search from over 15000 products!

Matt Matty answers:

One of the best places to get carving supplies is on e-bay.  Another on-line choice is Amazon.  If you want to lay your hands on these tools and compare them in person, you can try either Home Depot or Lowes or any other local hardware/lumber yard.  Your best sources though for variety and selection will be on-line.

Matt Matty answers:

Ok Betty, here we go – first the hand tools:
1) screwdriver, 2) hammer, 3) hand saw,  4) crescent wrench, 5) pliers, 6) awl, 7) metal punch, 8) level, 9) planer, 10) tape measure, 11) razor knife, 12)metal scribe, 13) chalk line, 14) plumb bob, 15) sanding block, 16)carpenters square, 17) scissors, 18) pipe wrench, 19) putty knife, 20) plunger, 21) paint brush, 22 ) socket set, 23) flash light, 24) chisel, and 25)broom

And now the second – the power tools:
1) screwgun, 2)electric drill, 3) table saw, 4) circular saw, 5) air compressor, 6) hedge trimmers, 7) shop vacuum, 8) miter saw, 9) soldering iron, 10) chainsaw, 11) bench grinder, 12) electric stapler, 13) pressure washer, 14) welder, 15) heat gun, 16) router, 17) power planer, 18) power sander, 19) portable pump, 20) power chisel, 21) jig saw, 22) trouble light, 23) wood lathe, 24) pipe bender, and last but not least, 25) wood burning tool.

So there are your lists Betty.  Hope these help you out and in addition to the tools listed here, you should always include hearing protection and safety glasses.

Best wishes!!

ps; not sure why you want these lists, but maybe you might be interested in see what some of these tools look like and learning a little bit more about them.  Take a visit over to Womens Hand and Power Tools.  That site may help you in your quest.

Matt Matty answers:

The best saw for cutting straight and to the currect size would be a stationary table saw. Yes you could use a circular saw if you had to which would be my second choice for straight lines. The jigsaw it you had to make a lot of turns in your cuts. There are a couple projects that come up in a google search of toy box projects. You could modify one to suit yoru needs. You’d also like rounded edges that you get from a router.

The box I made I used the tablesaw, router & jigsaw.

Matt Matty answers:

Pink power tools and hand tools are the real thing.  In the beginning, many were just cutesy pieces of junk made to capitalize on varnerable buyers.

This is NOT the case anymore, however.  Sure, there are still some unscrupulous manufacturers and promoters of the old school crap, but now the big guys in the biz have taken notice.  They soon realized that there were many women that wanted good quality tools and wanted them to be just as reliable as the more masculine conterparts but sized to their hands a bit more.

Consequently, all the major manufacturers have developed tools designed specifically for a woman.  A good number of them are pink too.  Some of this may be due to emotional appeal, but I would suspect that major reason is to keep the guys from walking off with them.  After all, these are the real deal and if they were some other color, it’s almost a sure thing they would get confiscated.

Just because a tool is pink doesn’t mean it’s junk.  Remember that old saying we learned way back in grade school; “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover”.

To help women find tools designed for them and their needs, you can visit a great site with reviews and recommendations.  You’ll find the best tool help at Pink Tools for Women.  Hope this sets things a bit clearer.

Matt Matty answers:

You could always buy a toolbox that you like the style of and have it painted pink at a body shop. If you don’t want to spend the money on that just tape everything off with masking tape and paint it yourself. Be sure to scuff the original paint to be sure the new paint will stick. If I were you I would use a “hot” or “flourescent” pink to make it really stand out. Good luck. Hats off to you. My Dad was a  Tool and Die Maker himself and have never seen any girl show interest in the trade. When I told him about your question, he just smiled and said “Good for Her!!”.  My congrats too with good wishes as well.

btw, I did do some looking and found a couple of pink tool chests/cabinets on Amazon.  Maybe these might be a good place to start your search.

The Original Pink 5-Drawer Rolling Cabinet

 The Original Pink 3-Drawer Chest

Matt Matty answers:

Actually, almost all the major manufacturers now build a line of tools designed just for women.  Visit Tools-for-Women to find tools from the makes of Apollo, Fiskars, Black & Decker, and Rockwell – to name a few.  Women have come into their own and manufactures have finally tuned in.

Matt Matty answers:

I have this set that I bought at Rockler.  Click to link for this same set or to view other sets – good luck!!

Flexcut 6-piece Carving Tools Starter Set