The Tools Quiz

By: Kennita Leon
Image: Randy Plett / DigitalVision / Getty Images

About This Quiz

Whether you're an expert or whether you've just gotten yourself your first hammer, you know that tools are necessary if you want to get any kind of work done. Whether it's just to put a nail in a wall or if you want to level things, you'll need to use the tools that were created for each particular job. But to know how to use an item means that you should be able to identify it, and to at least know one of its uses. And that's what we're here for today. We want to see if you can not only identify some tools for us, but also if you know what they're used for. 

Is a sander something you use to transport sand? Are chainsaws only meant to be used by horror-movie characters? And should chisels only be used by sculptors to create works of art? We're here to find out just many questions you can answer, and if you'll even get them right. 

So, come test your tools knowledge. By the end of the quiz, we'll be able to tell you whether you should stick to hiring a professional whenever you have household issues or whether you can do it better. 

A hammer is a hand-held tool used to drive nails into wood, crush rocks or shape metal (with a forge). It consists of a long wooden or plastic handle with a head made of steel. One end of the head is used for hammering, while the other end, called the claw, is used to remove nails.

A chisel is a wooden or metal tool with a handle and sharp cutting edge. It is used for cutting or carving hard materials such as wood, metal or stone by hand, with a mallet or hammer or attached to a hydraulic ram (mechanical power).

A screwdriver, also known as a turnscrew, is a manual or powered tool used for inserting and removing screws. It consists of a wooden, metal or plastic handle and a steel shaft which ends in a tip, the latter of which is designed to fit the driving surfaces on the corresponding screw head.

The pliers are a hand tool used to bend or compress a wide variety of materials or to handle objects too small to be done with the fingers. It consists of a pair of metal handles fitted with grips of other materials, the pivot and the head section with gripping jaws or cutting edges.

Clamps are fastening devices used to secure or hold objects tightly together to prevent separation or movement. There are a variety of clamps available for different purposes, including medical, permanent and temporary.

A drill is a tool used to make holes in a variety of materials or to drive in screws. It is fitted with a driving tool or cutting tool attachment, usually a driver or drill bit. Types of drills include hand drills, pistol-grip (corded) drill, cordless drill, hammer drill, rotary hammer and mill drill.

A tape measure, also called a measuring tape, is a is a flexible ruler used to measure length and distance. It consists of a ribbon made of cloth, plastic, metal strip or fiberglass and is designed to measure around curves and corners.

A circular saw is a power saw, which may be hand-held or mounted on a machine, and is used to cut various materials including wood, plastic, metal and masonry. Invented near the end of the 18th century, the circular saw may be powered using electricity, gasoline or a hydraulic motor.

A box cutter is a small utility knife which consists of a retractable blade fitted inside a plastic case. It is used for cutting open boxes as well as cutting the tape sealing a package without damaging the contents.

Shears are large scissors which consist of a pair of metal blades and are typically designed with composite thermoplastic or rubber handles. There are types of shears which may be used to cut grass, branches and stems, as well as metals and animal fur. They can also be used in the kitchen for food preparation.

A jointer, also called a try plane or trying plane, is a type of hand plane used to straighten the edges of boards or to flatten the face of a board. It rides over the undulations of an uneven surface by skimming off the peaks and gradually creates a flat surface.

A shovel is a tool used to dig, lift or move large amounts of materials such as soil, gravel, ore, sand, snow or coal. It consists of a broad blade made of sheet steel or hard plastic, attached to a wooden or fiber-plastic handle, the length of which varies according to the type of shovel.

A bolt cutter, also known as a bolt cropper, is a tool designed for cutting bolts, chains, wire mesh and padlocks. It has a pair of long handles and short blades of which there are many types, including angle cut, shear cut, center and clipper cut blades.

A chainsaw is a type of portable mechanical saw that can be used in activities such as tree felling, bucking, pruning, limbing, harvesting of firewood and cutting firebreaks in wildland fire suppression. It contains a set of teeth fitted to a rotating chain which runs along a guide bar.

A jackhammer, also known as a demolition hammer or pneumatic drill, is an electromechanical or pneumatic tool typically used to break up pavement, rock and concrete. This tool combines a hammer directly with a chisel and operates by driving an internal hammer up and down.

An angle grinder, also called a disc grinder or side grinder, is a power tool used for grinding or polishing. It may be powered by a petrol engine, electric motor or compressed air and is standard equipment in metal-fabrication shops and on construction sites.

The backsaw is any hand saw with a stiffening rib opposite to the cutting edge which allows better control and more precise work than other types of saws. Types of backsaws include the miters saw, tenon saw, sash saw, dovetail saw, Gent's saw, razor saw and dōzuki (Japanese backsaw).

The pneumatic torque wrench, not to be confused with an impact wrench, is air-motor-driven planetary gearbox with a very high reduction ratio. It is used to precisely apply a specific torque to a fastener such as a bolt or a nut.

A router is a tool used to root (hollow out) part of a relatively hard material such as wood or plastic. It is a specialized kind of hand plane which may be hand-held (router plane) or a power tool with an electric motor or mounted upside down on a roter table bench.

A nail gun or nailer is a type of power tool used to drive nails into wood or other materials. This tool may be powered by electromagnetism, compressed air, highly flammable gases such as propane or butane or a small explosive charges, as in the case of powder-actuated tools.

A sander is a power tool that is usually used to smooth surfaces with sandpaper. Sanders used in woodwork are powered electrically, while those used in auto-body repair work use compressed air. Types of woodworking sanders include the disc sander, random orbital sander and belt sander.

A lathe is a tool which rotates a workpiece around an axis of rotation. It is used for a variety of operations such as drilling, cutting, sanding, knurling, deformation, facing and turning. It is also used in metalworking, woodturning, metal spinning, thermal spraying and glass-working.

A diamond tool is a type of cutting tool with grains of diamond attached to the functional part of the tool, and it is used to cut carbide alloy, non-ferrous metals such as aluminum and copper and hard or abrasive non-metallic materials such as stone, concrete, glass and ceramic.

The Allen key, also known as Allen wrench or hex key, is a tool used to drive screws and bolts with hexagonal-shaped sockets in their heads. It is a small and light tool with an L-shape and is commonly designed to be used on both sides.

An ax is a type of wedge or dual-inclined plane composed of a wooden handle attached to a steelhead with a single or double-bit. It is used to cut, split or shape wood, to harvest timber or as a weapon. Types of axes include the felling ax, splitting ax, carpenter's ax and hatchet.

A mallet is a kind of hammer with a wooden handle and a large head made of rubber, wood, steel, copper, brass or lead. Mallets may be used in carpentry (wooden), used on machinery to avoid sparks (copper, brass, leaden) or to tenderize or flatten meat (meat mallet).

A rake is a horticultural tool used to collect leaves, grass and hay, to loosen the soil or for light weeding and leveling. It is composed of a wide, toothed bar fixed to a long handle. Rakes may be plastic, steel or bamboo with wooden or metal handles.

A cultivator is any of several types of farm equipment used to stir and pulverize the soil, either before planting or after the crops have started growing (to kill weeds). Types of cultivators include the chisel plow, rotary tiller, row crop cultivator, rotavator, mini tiller and two-wheel tractor.

A ladder is usually a vertical set of rungs or steps which are made from metal, wood, fiberglass or tough plastic. There are two main types: rigid ladders, which include extension ladders, step ladders and the attic ladder, and flexible ladders such as rope ladders or Jacob's ladders.

A file is a tool commonly used in woodworking and metalworking to remove fine amounts of materials from a workpiece. It is composed of a case of hardened steel bar with abrasive surfaces such as silicon carbide or natural or synthetic diamonds.

A sledgehammer is a large tool with a flat metal head and a long handle, and it can distribute force over a wide area. It is commonly used in demolition work to break drywall and masonry wall, to drive in spikes for rails or to cut stone or metal with a steel chisel (mini-sledge).

The level, also called spirit level or bubble level, is an instrument used to indicate whether a surface is vertical (plumb) or horizontal (level). Types of levels include pot level, line level, mason's level, electric level, bull's eye level, carpenter's level and surveyor's leveling instrument.

A nail set is a small metal tool which resembles an ice pack and is used to drive finish nails at or below the surface of the wood. Most nail-set kits contain at least three nail sets with various-sized tips and a center punch used to mark the center of a point.

A punch is a metal rod that has a sharp tip at one end and a blunt end on the other used to drive objects such as nails, usually by striking with a hammer. Types of punches include the center punch, used to mark the center of a point, and the prick punch used for marking.

A bandsaw is a type of saw used to cut a variety of materials such as wood, metal and plastic, and it is commonly used in woodworking, metalworking and lumbering. It consists of a long, sharp blade with a continuous band of toothed metal stretched between two or more wheels.

A vise is a mechanical piece of equipment used to secure an object to allow work to be performed on it. It consists of two parallel jaws, one fixed, the other movable, threaded in and out by a lever and screw. Types of vises include woodworking, engineer's, machine, vacuum, clamp, pipe and combination vises.

A block plane is a small tool used in woodworking; it differs from other planes in that the blade is bedded at a lower angle with the bevel up. It is designed to cut end grains, remove glue lines and clean up components by removing thin shavings of wood.

A sliding T bevel, also called a false square or bevel gauge, is an adjustable gauge used to set and transfer angles. This tool consists of a metal or wooden handle connected to a metal blade with a wing nut or thumbscrew.

A hand saw or panel saw is a type of saw used in woodworking and carpentry to cut or chop pieces of wood into different shapes. Hand saws, which come in a variety of sizes, consist of short, wooden handles and metal blades with cross-cut or rip-saw teeth.

A wrench, also called a spanner, is a tool used to provide grip in applying torque to turn objects (such as bolts and nuts) or to keep them from turning. Types of wrenches include the open-end wrench, combination wrench, pipe wrench, torque wrench and plumber wrench.

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