A typeface is a material, not a tool. It has the plasticity of a material that can be reshaped, coloured and made to suit your needs.

And since your needs change over time, so must your materials. If they are built like parts of an alphabet, you can constantly recompose them in new configurations. ^[1] But the feel of the material really matters.

A tool is usually not as plastic (or it could bend under the force used to shape plastic materials).

See Tools and the article A typeface is not a tool on Klim Typefoundry’s website.