Toolboxes come in all shapes, sizes and materials, metal, wood and plastic. A small plastic box with a lid is a great container for your general household tool kit but if you are getting a little more serious about carpentry, then a more substantial toolbox is the way to go. A starter toolkit or toolbox will have one of each item (saw, hammer, plane etc.) but a more experienced carpenter could need six or more of each tool type (hand saw, jig saw, jab saw, compass saw, power saw etc.)
A hammer is a piece of equipment without which no toolbox is complete. Hammers come in a variety of weights and materials and are used to drive in nails and pins to hold wood together and to knock in wedges when assembling wooden structure. The head of the hammer is always made of metal, the shaft may also be metal but I find the most comfortable grip on a hammer handle is wood, preferably either ash or hickory. A mallet is similar to the hammer but in this case the head is made from hard wood. The mallet allows you to work with expensive timber as the mallet face will not damage the wood in the same way that a metal hammer could.
Planes are divided into two groups and mostly used as bench tools. Planes are generally used for truing (squaring) up your timber and getting it to the correct size but there are special planes which may be used for making specific cuts and rebates or joints. Spoke planes are used for delicate or awkward carving type of work.
As you might have gathered a great many tools and variations of tools might be required by an experienced professional or handy-person and the toolbox needed to hold these tools could quite easily resemble a large wooden chest. This tool chest will need to be very strong as tools are quite heavy.

photo credit: Mink






