Soldering is a process by which two or more items (typically metal) are joined together by melting a filler metal (solder) into the joint. An electrically powered soldering iron or soldering gun is used to melt the solder which is an alloy of lead and tin that has a melting point below the melting point of the items being joined. A chemical cleaning agent called flux is also used to clean the surfaces before soldering.

Drilling is the process of making small holes in wood or metal while boring is the process of making larger holes.

Wrenches are used with threaded fasteners like bolts and nuts. A bolt has external threads while a nut has internal threads and this thread pattern combination allows them to lock together and act as fasteners. Nuts come in a variety of configurations including wing nuts which provide appendages that allow tightening and loosening by hand, slotted nuts that use a cotter pin to lock the nut in place and prevent it from loosening, and lock nuts that also prevent loosening via nylon in their threads. Threads are identified by pitch which is the number of threads per inch.

Calipers are similar to micrometers in shape but instead of measuring distances, calipers are used to transfer distances between objects. An outside caliper is used to transfer outside dimensions while an inside caliper is used to transfer inside distances. A vernier caliper is an extremely precise caliper (down to \({1 \over 1000}\) inch) that allows measuring / transferring either inside or outside dimensions.

Files consist of diagonal rows of fine teeth and are used for fine finishing work to smooth, polish, or shape objects. Rasps are files with larger teeth that are used for coarse finishing work. Both files and rasps are designed to be inserted into detachable handles.