A hand tool is any tool that is powered by hand rather than a motor. Categories of hand tools include wrenches , pliers , cutters , files , striking tools , struck or hammered tools , screwdrivers , vises , clamps , snips , hacksaws , drills , and knives .
6-459: A gimlet is a hand tool for drilling small holes, mainly in wood, without splitting. It was defined in Joseph Gwilt 's Architecture (1859) as "a piece of steel of a semi-cylindrical form, hollow on one side, having a cross handle at one end and a worm or screw at the other". A gimlet is always a small tool. A similar tool of larger size is called an auger . The cutting action of the gimlet
12-622: A diminutive of the Anglo-French wimble , a variation of "guimble", from the Middle Low German wiemel (cf. the Scandinavian wammie , 'to bore or twist'). Modern French uses the term vrille , also the French for "tendril". The term is also used figuratively to describe something as sharp or piercing, and also to describe the twisting, boring motion of using a gimlet. For example,
18-496: Is slightly different from an auger and the initial hole it makes is smaller; the cutting edges pare away the wood, which is moved out by the spiral sides, falling out through the entry hole. This also pulls the gimlet farther into the hole as it is turned; unlike a bradawl , pressure is not required once the tip has been drawn in. The name gimlet comes from the Old French guinbelet , guimbelet , later guibelet , probably
24-568: The Stone Age when stone tools were used for hammering and cutting. During the Bronze Age tools were made by casting the copper and tin alloys . Bronze tools were sharper and harder than those made of stone. During the Iron Age iron replaced bronze, and tools became even stronger and more durable. The Romans developed tools during this period which are similar to those being produced today. In
30-427: The gimlet cocktail may be named after the tool. The term gimlet-eyed can mean sharp-eyed or squint-eyed; one example of this use is Major General Smedley Darlington Butler , who was known as "Old Gimlet Eye". Hand tool Outdoor tools such as garden forks , pruning shears , and rakes are additional forms of hand tools. Portable power tools are not hand tools. Hand tools have been used by humans since
36-561: The period since the Industrial Revolution , the manufacture of tools has transitioned from being craftsperson made to being factory produced. A large collection of British hand tools dating from 1700 to 1950 is held by St Albans Museums . Most of the tools were collected by Raphael Salaman (1906–1993), who wrote two classic works on the subject: Dictionary of Woodworking Tools and Dictionary of Leather-working Tools . David Russell 's vast collection of Western hand tools from
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