--- title: "Carpenter Hand Tools: What to Buy for Your Own Bag" description: The hand tools a finish carpenter buys and carries themselves, what the company supplies instead, and what not to waste money on. url: "https://letsbuildstuff.co/learn/carpenter-hand-tools/" updated: "2026-09-25" category: General Carpentry --- # Carpenter Hand Tools: What to Buy for Your Own Bag On this page[Introduction](#)[Before You Begin](#)[Prerequisites](#)[What You Need To Know](#)[Tools Required](#)[Hand Tools](#)[Measuring And Layout](#)[Power Tools (The Company Provides These)](#)[Supplies + Materials](#)[What Not To Buy](#)[Bag Check Before You Leave](#)[Related Guides](#) [General Carpentry](/learn-category/general-carpentry/) Estimated Time: 15 Minutes To Read ## Introduction This is the list of hand tools you buy and carry yourself. It is not the list of power tools the company supplies. Knowing the difference matters on your first day, because showing up without a tape measure is your problem, and showing up without a miter saw is not. The short version: you own what lives in your bag. The company owns anything with a cord, a battery, or a compressor hose. Everything below is what we actually use on [finish carpentry](/learn/trim-a-house/) jobs, not a generic hardware store list. ## Before You Begin ### Prerequisites You need a bag or a bucket to put this in before you need any of the tools. A soft-sided tool bag with open top pockets beats a hard box for finish work, because you are moving room to room all day and you need to see what you are grabbing. ### What You Need To Know We fasten with [pneumatic nail guns](https://letsbuildstuff.co/learn/nail-guns-and-air/) for about 95 percent of what we do. That single fact shapes this whole list. You are not driving finish nails by hand, so your hammer is for bumping a stubborn piece into place, not for fastening. Your nail set gets used rarely, because the gun sets the nail for you. The second thing that shapes the list is scope. A lot of what looks like carpentry tooling is actually painter scope on our jobs. Do not spend your own money on it. There is a full list further down. ## Tools Required ### Hand Tools These live in your bag and you buy them yourself. - **Hammer.** For bumping stubborn pieces into place, not for primary fastening. - **Pry bar and flat bar.** Pulling trim, adjusting jambs, opening crates. - **Utility knife.** Stanley or the Milwaukee Fastback. You will use it every day. - **Nail set.** Rarely needed since the gun sets for us, but carry one. - **Pliers and side cutters.** Pulling bent brads, trimming shims. - **Block plane.** Rare. Shaving a sticky door edge is the main use. - **Rasp and file set.** Easing an edge, fitting a tight cut. - **Chisel set.** 1/4 inch, 1/2 inch, 3/4 inch and 1 inch. Hinge mortises and cleanup. - **Cedar shims.** Keep a bundle in the bag. Jambs, cabinets, and [baseboard](/learn/install-baseboard/) off a wavy wall. - **Construction pencils and Sharpies.** Carpenter's pencil for rough marks, mechanical pencil for fine layout. ### Measuring And Layout These are yours too. They are small, they live in the bag, and you will not want to share them. - **25 foot tape measure.** Stanley FatMax or Milwaukee. Every carpenter carries one. - **Combination square.** Marking reveals and checking 90 degrees. Our standard reveal is 3/16 inch. - **Speed square.** Quick 45 degree marks and cut lines. - **6 inch torpedo level.** Jamb plumbing, outlets, and short pieces. A note on levels, because articles elsewhere on the internet get this wrong. You size the level to the job. Casing work does not need a level at all, because you are matching the reveal off the jamb. Levels matter on door jambs, baseboard runs, chair rail, and anything that has to be genuinely plumb or level. Tolerance is roughly 1/16 inch over 4 feet. ### Power Tools (The Company Provides These) Do not go buy any of this. It is on the truck. - **Nail guns.** 15 gauge for main fastening on jambs and closets. 18 gauge 1-3/4 inch for all casing, mitered corners and general trim. 23 gauge pin for returns and delicate profiles. Crown stapler and framing gun as the job calls for it. - **Saws.** The 12 inch sliding compound miter saw is the workhorse. Track saw, table saw, jigsaw, oscillating multi-tool and circular saw as needed. - **Cordless drill and impact driver.** Plus the bits: number 2 Phillips, number 2 square, T-25 Torx, pre-drill bits and self-centering hinge bits. - **Bigger levels and layout gear.** 2 foot, 4 foot and 6 foot levels, laser level, chalk line, stud finder and digital angle finder. - **Site gear.** Ram board and floor protection, sawhorses, extension cords, broom and dustpan, trash bags, first aid kit. ### Supplies + Materials Fasteners and consumables are supplied. You do not buy nails, staples, construction adhesive, wood glue or miter filler out of your own pocket. ## What Not To Buy This is the part that saves you the most money. Every item below is painter scope or another trade's scope on our jobs. If an article or a video tells you a finish carpenter needs these, it is not describing our work. - **Caulk and caulk guns.** Painter scope. We do not caulk. - **Nail hole putty and field filler.** Painter scope. We fill our own miters only. - **Spackle.** Drywall or painter. - **Sandpaper.** Painter scope, aside from an emergency 120 grit for knocking off a sharp edge. - **Paint, stain, primer, brushes and rollers.** Painter. - **Tack cloths.** Painter. - **Shop vacuum.** Cleaning crew. We sweep up our own debris before we leave. - **Painter's tape.** Not a default tool for us. ## Bag Check Before You Leave Run this before you head to a job. If any of these are missing you will lose time on site. - Tape measure, combination square, speed square, pencil. - Utility knife with a fresh blade. - Torpedo level. - Chisels, block plane, rasp. - Hammer, pry bar, pliers, nail set. - A bundle of cedar shims. ## Related Guides - [Finish Carpentry Cheat Sheets and Printable References](/learn/finish-carpentry-cheat-sheets/) - [How to Trim a House, Start to Finish](/learn/trim-a-house/) - [How the Guide Library Is Organized](https://letsbuildstuff.co/learn/how-guides-are-organized/) Written by **David Hospodka**, Sun’s Up Construction David Hospodka learned finish carpentry from his father, alongside his brother Joel, and worked his way through college trimming houses. He then spent about ten years as a railroad bridge engineer, handling design, construction, maintenance and project management. He came back to finish carpentry full time in 2017. [About Let’s Build Stuff](https://letsbuildstuff.co/about/)