Tool guides
A calculator answers the question you came with. These are for the question you do not know to ask yet — that crown molding takes two saw settings rather than one, or that the blade eats a whole piece out of a board. Every number on these pages is worked out by the same functions the calculators run on, so nothing here can drift away from the tool it links to.
There are no product recommendations and no rankings — this site has no test bench and has never used the tools it would be ranking.
Circular saw and track saw
Breaking a sheet down where it lies, and why a thinner kerf still will not save a 24" part.
Jointer and planer
Milling rough stock flat and square, and how much of the board you pay for and then remove.
Table saw
Rips, crosscuts and sheet goods — and the eighth of an inch every cut destroys.
Miter saw
Trim, crown and every corner that is not quite ninety degrees.
Router
Mortises, dados, edge profiles and template work — the most versatile tool in the shop.
Chisel and hinge mortise
Butt hinge placement and mortise depth for a passage door, laid out without a jig.
Biscuit joiner and doweling jig
Two ways to register a joint, what each one fits, and the honest answer about strength.
Pocket hole jig
The fastest joint there is, the screw it takes, and the places it does not belong.
Drill and driver
Pilot holes, clearance holes, screw length, and what the screw will actually hold.
Shelf-pin drilling jig
How many holes fit a panel, and where the first and last one land.
Nailer
Penny sizes, gauges, and how many nails a sheet of subfloor actually takes.
Clamps
How many a glue-up actually needs, and why dense wood needs more pressure rather than less.
Hammer drill and concrete screws
Embedment has a ceiling as well as a floor, which is backwards from a wood screw.