Testing the waters

[daniel lane]

Hello, all!

Let me apologize up front - this will likely be a long OP. I titled this thread "testing the waters" because I can say with complete respect and sincerity that I haven't spend much time in this particular forum and I'm about to ask a question that might wind up either with my butt being handed to me or starting a large fight. At least, that's the way it works in other circles in which I travel. :p

I've been an amateur woodworker for several years. I've made a few things, but I'm not nearly as far along in the "career" (it's a hobby, but it needs to be followed as a career or I won't take it seriously!) as I'd like. Frankly, I'd love to quit work and start my own shop, but the 8 month old boy and the wife kinda pose an impenetrable barrier to that harebrained scheme! Anyway, I've been working with hand-me-downs and cheap things for a long time, but have slowly been purchasing good quality tools as I need them. I'm not a collector, nor do I expect to be for a while - everything I own/buy will be used and probably slightly mistreated...I've been known to (accidentally) leave a tool out in the rain accidentally. :o I own a bunch of power tools, because as an engineer I've always viewed function as more important than form and my time has been limited so I've decided to go that particular route. However, I've tried to buy quality power tools when I can, rather than a bunch of cheap tools to fill the cupboards. (For example, I own a DJ-20 8" jointer, but an inexpensive used contractor saw that suits until I can afford a good cabinet saw.)

Anyway, enough with the background. My question, specific to this crowd, is: What would each of you consider a minimum inventory of quality hand tools? (Here's where I could get my butt handed to me by someone posting a link to a thread that I somehow missed with the search tool, which yes...I used.)

For example, I do some turning yet own very few turning tools. However, the ones I do own are Sorby or similar (i.e. not HF, not that Sorby is the be-all-and-end-all). The only planes I own are LV/Veritas, but I only own two or three smaller ones. I believe in scrimping and buying once, rather than owning everything now and replacing it every few years.

If I decide to just chuck all the junk that I have and start over - if I throw away the old tools I've been handed and start over with quality, what do the neanderthals recommend? (Keep in mind I use that term hoping to be included in it some time in the near future!) Chisels, saws, etc., I started this with just the idea that I needed a little help, but the more I think about it, I really think I'd love to hear what the Creek thinks in full on this one. Starting from scratch, what do you guys suggest for basic shop purchases?

Maybe when it's all said and done, I will have started an enormous thread that will lead to a book, all proceeds going to support the Creek, of course!

Thanks in advance to all, and I look forward to reading all responses.



daniel

[Jim Koepke]

Daniel,
This is as question that is often asked. Below is a link to a recent thread where Matt Evans posts a pretty good answer to your question.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=122175

Finding such a thread is often difficult with a search.

It really comes down to what do you want to build and what is the market in your area going to buy that will support your woodworking. Then buy the tools that will help you be able to produce those pieces.

Many years ago I heard a story about a woodworking shop that was close to a place that raised rats. They would buy wooden boxes to house the rats and for shipping. When the work was slow in the shop, they would build rat boxes. When an order came in for the rat boxes, they would have a lot they could deliver immediately and build the rest to order if they didn't have enough to fill the order. If you can find a few customers like that, it can help keep you busy "building rat boxes" during the slow times.

jim

[Dave Anderson NH]

Welcome Daniel,

As Jim has noted, there are a lot of good answers to this one, and like with anything else in any hobby, opinions will be all over the place and are likely to be contradictory and confusing. What will not happen here though is your fear of being pounced on. Everyone one of us was at one time a beginner or unfamiliar with a particular area of woodworking and you will be treated with respect.

I would suggest doing a search of the archives and reading the thread Jim referes to and then coming back here with narrower and more specific questions. As it is, your question is of really broad scope.

Again, welcome to the quiet side of woodworking.

Dave

[glenn bradley]

Jim, great link. That should help a few folks out. Thanks for remembering.

[James Owen]

Daniel,

This may give you some ideas and be of some use to you:
_____

Here's a basic set of woodworking hand tools that will allow you to make almost anything from wood:

EDGED TOOLS:

Hand Planes:

Block Planes: A low angle (12.5°) adjustable-mouth block plane (probably the single most useful and versatile plane of them all); an adjustable-mouth standard angle (20°) block plane is also very useful.

Bench Planes: A #4 or a #41/2 for a smoothing plane; a #5 for general purpose use or a #51/2 for general purpose use and/or a large and heavy smoother; and either a #7 or a #8 for jointing edges and flattening the faces of boards; a #6 may be more useful for flattening faces and jointing, if you mostly do smaller-scale work like jewelry boxes, etc.

Special Purpose Planes: A scrub plane, if you're going to do woodworking exclusively with hand tools, otherwise it's more or less optional -- get a "real" scrub plane: it works much better than a converted bench/smoothing plane. A (medium – 3/4”) shoulder plane also comes in very handy for many trimming and sizing tasks. A router plane works well for inlay work, as well as for trimming tenons, flattening the bottoms of dados, grooves, sliding dovetail housings, and similar work. Other special-purpose planes – such as combination planes, scraper planes, side rabbets, moulding planes, hollows & rounds, etc. -- can be added, as required.

General Comments on Hand Planes: My recommendation for hand planes are either vintage planes -- pre-WWII Stanleys, Sargents, Unions, or Millers Falls, etc. (be prepared to do some tuning with the older tools) -- or new Lie-Nielsens (ready to use out of the box), or a combination of both. Other high-quality planes available in the current market include the Canadian Lee Valley/Veritas planes and the English Clifton planes (generally in the same price range as the Lie-Nielsens, and of more or less equal quality). If you are extremely eager to significantly lighten your wallet, take a look at antique or modern infill planes -- they are normally (particularly the modern ones) of extremely high quality and have price tags that reflect that. And, if you prefer -- or want to try -- wooden planes, ECE, Steve Knight, and Clark & Williams -- to mention just a couple of the high-quality modern wooden plane makers -- make very nice ones, but they also are not inexpensive, and there is often a waiting list for their products, since many of them are made to custom specifications. Antique wooden planes and Japanese/Chinese-style wooden planes are also an option.

Chisels: A good set of bench chisels. A typical starter set would include 1/4”, 1/2”, 3/4”, and 1”; later expansion could include the following sizes, as required by your work: 1/8”, 5/16”, 3/8”, 5/8”, 7/8”, and 11/4”. The Japanese chisels sold by Woodcraft and the Pfeil “Swiss-Made” chisels are both good quality, as are the Ashley Iles, Barr, Robert Sorby, Lie-Nielsen, and Blue Spruce chisels. In addition to those brands, there are many, many other good chisels available, in all price ranges. A good mallet is highly useful; if you decide on Japanese chisels, also consider one of the Japanese chisel hammers. Vintage chisels are another option, although they will -- like vintage hand planes – usually require some tune-up work to bring them back to full capability. A couple of mortise chisels (1/4”, 5/16”, & 3/8” are the most commonly used sizes in furniture building) are also quite useful; if your budget allows, take a look at the superb Ray Iles English Oval Bolster Mortice Chisels (As a side note, Ray Iles is the son of Ashley Iles, of chisel and turning tool fame; Ashley Iles, himself, has since retired, and two of his other sons, Tony and Barry, are in charge of the Ashley Iles Ltd these days. Ray Iles runs his own separate company.). Specialized chisels -- such as skews, crank-necks, etc. -- can be added, as needed. A couple of bench gouges may also be very useful, depending on the type of work you do.

Spokeshaves: A flat and a round sole spoke shave. A concave and a convex spoke shave and/or chair devils (technically scrapers) are useful, if you’re making [Windsor] chairs. For new spokeshaves, Lie-Nielsen and Veritas make very high-quality tools, but they are set up more as finishing tools, particularly the Lie-Nielsens. For vintage tools, take a look at pre-WWII Stanley, Millers Falls, Edward Preston & Sons, etc.

Drawknives: An 8” – 10” heavy drawknife is useful for all sorts of shaving and shaping tasks. A smaller 4” to 6” lighter drawknife is useful for smaller-scale projects and more delicate cuts. Pexto, A. J. Wilkinson, Greenlee, and Ohio Tool are a few of the better-known vintage brands. Pfeil (Swiss Made), Robert Sorby, and Flexcut are a couple of quality modern drawknife makers. A scorp and/or an inshave is handy, if you do any type of hollowing, such as Windsor chair seats.

Hatchets, Axes, Froes, & Adzes: Hatchets and axes are quite handy for both coarse and fine trimming and cutting jobs. For example, no other hand tool will trim a board nearly to final width faster than a carpenter’s axe or a shingler’s hatchet; give the board a few passes with a plane or a spokeshave, and it’s trimmed to final width. A froe will split a log or thick board along grain lines very quickly and accurately; very useful for green woodworking and chairmaking, among other things. An adze will do an amazing variety of shaping and surfacing work on both small and large boards faster and more efficiently than nearly any other hand tool. For making wooden bowls and platters, no other hand tool is faster than a bowl adze for the initial shaping and removal of stock; a small carpenter’s adze will shape the seat of a Windsor chair in a very short time. A handful of companies – the Swedish forge Gränsfors Bruks and the Swiss chisel maker Pfeil, among others – are still making quality adzes, hatchets, froes, and woodworking axes; there are also a couple of antique tools dealers that have a (small) selection of these tools. If you are processing your own wood from the log, a maul (actually three of them) make splitting the log much easier.

Scrapers: A rectangular and a goose neck card scraper are a couple of the most under-rated tools in the shop. With a properly-turned burr, these will surface even gnarly-grained wood, knots, etc., that nothing else except sand paper will work on. A scraper holder will save some wear and tear on your hands and thumbs; Veritas makes a rather pricey but very nice one, or a shop-made holder will work equally well. A scraper plane is useful if you have large flat areas such as tabletops to scrape. A good burnisher (either purpose made burnisher or a smooth-shafted screwdriver) will turn a proper burr on your scrapers. Chair devils are be very useful if you make chairs that contain spindles.

SAWS:

Hand Saws: For Western-style saws, a 24” to 28” rip saw (41/2 to 6 TPI) and 24” to 28” cross-cut saw (6 to 10 TPI), a 12” or 14” tenon saw, and a 9” or 10” dovetail saw make a good starting set of saws (Lie-Nielsen makes really nice backsaws; there are also a number of boutique saw makers making very high quality full-sized saws.). A coping or fret saw and a bow saw can also be very handy, depending on the work you do. An Azibiki (Japanese mortise saw) and a Japanese pull-style flush cut saw are both incredibly useful saws for a just few dollars. Tuning up a vintage Disston, Atkins, or Spear & Jackson saw bought at a yard or estate sale for a couple of dollars is also a very worthwhile thing to learn to do. Japanese pull saws are also very popular and useful, and many woodworkers prefer them to Western-style saws. A Ryobi (double-edged saw – one edge is filed for rip cuts, the other edge is filed for cross-cuts), a Kataha (single-edged saw, filed either rip or cross-cut), and a Dozuki (backsaw, usually filed for cross cuts) are the saws most woodworkers find useful. As a general rule, on Japanese saws, the length of the saw influences the number of teeth per inch: the longer the saw, the fewer teeth per inch. Because of that, many woodworkers using Japanese saws will have more than one of each style.

BORING TOOLS:

Hand Drills: An "egg-beater" hand drill (pre-WWII Miller's Falls or Stanley, etc); and a standard set of brad-point bits will perform most small-hole drilling tasks. Both the small/medium and large sized drills are handy. If you frequently drill larger-sized holes (greater than 1/4”) with a hand drill, a breast drill makes that task considerably easier.

Bit Braces: A quality ratcheting bit brace (again, a pre-WWII Miller's Falls, North Brothers Yankee, or Stanley, etc.) and either a handful of the auger bit sizes that you need for your work or a 32-1/2 - quarters set of Russell Jennings pattern auger bits for the brace will take care of most of the rest of your drilling needs. An 8” or 10” swing brace works well for most drilling tasks, but a 12” or 14” swing brace is easier to use if you frequently drill 1” and larger holes. Depending on the work you do, you can get specialized bits -- such as spoon or nose bits, spoke pointers, hollow augers, an expandable bit, or tapered reamers -- if you have a need for them.

Misc Drilling Tools: A set of gimlets and a hand counter-sink are also useful. A set of drawbore pins are worth having, if you do much in the way of drawbored mortise and tenon joints.

MISC TOOLS:

Layout Tools: A quality, accurate 24” straight edge; an accurate 12” and 24” metal ruler (I like the center-finding ones); a quality marking gauge (my favorite is the TiteMark); a marking knife; a Brad or square awl; a bevel gauge (the Shinwa brand -- a copy of an old Stanley design -- works better than most of the other designs currently on the market); a pair of dovetail markers (1:6 for soft woods and 1:8 for hard woods); a pair of winding sticks (these will tell you if there is any twist in your boards, and can be bought or shop-made); an accurate try square, and a high-quality combination square (you could go with one or the other at the beginning -- the combination square is more versatile; spend the money to get a quality – i.e., Starrett -- combination square; the cheaper ones are not worth the money or frustration…).

Sharpening Tools, Clamps, Files, etc.: A sharpening system (oil, water, ceramic, or diamond stones; or a sandpaper method); a couple of rasps and files (rasps: Nicholson #49 or #50, for example; the Aurious are very nice, but big $$$ and difficult to find, now that they have gone out of business; files: a half-round, a round/rat tail, a 4-in hand, and a 6-to-10-inch-long flat smooth cut file should take care of most of your filing requirements; you can add specialised files, such as plane-maker’s floats, if the work you’re doing requires them); a file card, to clean shavings out of your rasps and files; a utility knife for general purpose trimming, cutting and marking; some hand screws and bar/pipe clamps big enough to fit your work (you'll never have enough clamps….); a dusting brush will save your fingers a few splinters; a nail set; and some hold fasts for your bench.

Benches and Bench Accessories: A properly-designed, solid work bench (buy or make yourself -- there are several virtues and disadvantages of either course of action); a bench hook, a shooting board, a mitre shooting board, a donkey ear shooting board, and a mitre jack (you'll have to make these yourself). A sawing bench and a bird’s mouth sawing board are also useful accessories. A shave horse or a shaving pony are handy if you do much shaping work with a draw knife or spokeshaves.

REFERENCE MATERIALS:

Books: A good reference library is indispensable; try these sites for woodworking books that you may find useful or interesting:

http://www.astragalpress.com
http://www.blackburnbooks.com
http://www.cambiumbooks.com
http://www.woodworkerslibrary.com
http://www.amazon.com

Here are some of my favorite woodworking books:

(Books marked with >> are the one I consider to be essentials for hand tool woodworkers.)

>> Hand Tools: Their Ways and Workings (Aldren Watson)
Taunton’s Complete Illustrated Guide to Sharpening (Thomas Lie-Nielsen)
Choosing and Using Hand Tools (Andy Rae)
>> Restoring, Tuning, and Using Classic Handtools (Mike Dunbar)
Sharpening With Waterstones (Ian Kirby)
Dictionary of Woodworking Tools (R. A. Salaman)
>> Understanding Wood (R. Bruce Hoadley)
Furniture Making Techniques [Volumes 1, 2, & 3] (David Charlesworth)
>> Making Woodworking Aids & Devices (Robert Wearing)
>> Complete Guide to Sharpening (Leonard Lee)
>> Entire Woodwright Series (Roy Underhill)
The Village Carpenter (Walter Rose)
The Nature and Art of Workmanship (David Pye)
Furniture By Design: Lessons in Craftmanship from a Master Woodworker (Graham Blackburn)
American Furniture of the 18th Century (Jeff Greene)
Making Classic Chairs: A Craftsman’s Chippendale Reference (Ron Clarkson)
>> Traditional Woodworking Techniques (Graham Blackburn)
>> Traditional Woodworking Handtools (Graham Blackburn)
The Complete Dovetail (Ian Kirby)
>> Modern Practical Joinery (George Ellis)
Hand Tool Essentials (Editors of Popular Woodworking Magazine)
>> Workbenches: from Design & Theory to Construction & Use (Chris Schwartz)
Complete Illustrated Guide to Period Furniture Details (Lonnie Bird)
>> Planecraft: Hand Planing by Modern Methods (C. W. Hampton and A. E. Clifford)
>> Keeping the Cutting Edge (Dynamite Payson)
The Handplane Book (Garrett Hack)
>> Essential Wood Carving Techniques (Dick Onians)
Grinling Gibbons and the Art of Carving (David Esterly)
>> Old Ways of Working Wood (Alex Bealer)
The Workbench Book (Scott Landis)
The Toolbox Book (Jim Tolpin)
Taunton's Best of/New Best of FWW & FWW On... _____ [your subject of interest -hand planes, hand tools, finishing, etc.]
The Woodworker's Guide to Hand Tools (Peter Korn)
Classic Hand Tools (Garrett Hack)
>> Woodcarving: Tools, Materials, & Equipment [Vol 1 & 2] (Chris Pye)
The Art of Joinery (Joseph Moxon, with commentary by Chris Schwartz)
Period Furniture Projects (V. J. Taylor)
The Dunlap Cabinetmakers (Philip Zea and Donald Dunlap)
>> Understanding Wood Finishing (Bob Flexner)


Internet:


Tools and Other Woodworking-Related Goods:


http://www.woodcraft.com

http://www.lie-nielsen.com

http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com

http://www.leevalley.com

http://www.thebestthings.com

http://jonzimmersantiquetools.com

http://www.japanwoodworker.com


Woodworking Book Dealers:


http://www.astragalpress.com

http://www.blackburnbooks.com

http://www.cambiumbooks.com

http://www.foxchapelpublishing.com

http://www.woodworkerslibrary.com


Information:


http://www.woodcentral.com

http://www.cianperez.com/Wood/WoodDocs/Wood_How_To/INDEX_How_To.htm

http://www.toolemera.com

http://www.amgron.clara.net

http://www.disstonianinstitute.com

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~alf/en/en.html

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/forumdisplay.php?f=4

http://forums.taunton.com/fw-knots/messages

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/GeneralMenu

http://www.woodworking-magazine.com

http://www.traditionaltools.us

http://www.wkfinetools.com/index.asp

http://www.woodwork-mag.com/index.html

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=62243
(Scroll down to the entry by Bob Smalser)

http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan0a.html


Instructional Videos: All of the videos listed below are available from the Lie-Nielsen web site. Rob Cosman’s woodworking DVDs are superb, as are David Charlesworth’s. I haven’t had a chance to watch Chris Schwartz’s DVDs yet, but they have gotten very positive reviews from those that have seen them.

Brian Boggs:

Drawknives, Spokeshaves, and Travishers – A Chairmaker’s Tool Kit

David Charlesworth:

Hand Tool Techniques Part 1: Plane Sharpening
Hand Tool Techniques Part 2: Hand Planing
Hand Tool Techniques Part 3: Precision Shooting Simplified
Hand Tool Techniques: Precision Preparation of Chisels for Accurate Joinery
Chisel Techniques for Precision Joinery

Rob Cosman:

Hand-Cut Dovetails
Advanced Hand-Cut Dovetails
Rough to Ready
Hand-Cut Mortise and Tenon
Mastering the Dovetail Saw

Tom Law:

Hand Saw Sharpening

A FEW GENERAL COMMENTS:

While this is by no means an all-inclusive list, there's not a lot that you can't do with a tool set similar to that listed above. It's not too terribly expensive to set yourself up with, especially if you buy good quality older tools off that (in)famous auction site (eBay), from some of the old tool dealers, or at the flea market and yard sales. And, hand tools (except for the bench) have the advantage of not taking up very much room, either in use or for storage, and are generally pretty quiet in use.

All of the commentary and suggestions contained herein are based on my experience, interests, and preferences in woodworking techniques, methods, tools, etc. Yours will obviously vary. Like nearly everything else in woodworking, there is more than one way to accomplish a given task, so…the purpose of this document is not to be “prescriptive,” or to publish an “authoritative” tool list; it is intended merely as another resource to help woodworkers that are interested in using hand tools. If, after reading and considering the information above, you have found it helpful or useful, then it will have accomplished its purpose.

One last sugggestion: buy the best quality tools you can afford, so you only have to buy them once...... (This also largely avoids having to “fight” the deficiencies of a poor-quality/cheap tool while you are trying to learn how to use it, and wondering whether the problem is your technique or the tool.)

Good luck, and have fun setting up your shop and with your woodworking!!

[daniel lane]

Thanks, all. Jim, not sure how I missed that post - I tried using the search tool but I guess I just selected poor words to start. Although in my defense, the search engine discards words that it deems too short or too common! The FAQ sticky didn't seem to answer the question I was asking, so I decided to post. I'll keep digging around. James, many thanks for a very thorough post! It's a great place to start, and I can delve further into specifics with the search engine.

Dave (et al.), I realize now that the question was of too broad scope, and will try to narrow it. To start, I'll try to clarify that:


I am specifically asking what tools of quality to you guys recommend, i.e. where is my money better spent? For example, James' post gave lots of good detail, especially around planes, with details on quality. Is there any difference in quality of scrapers, though? (My instincts say yes.)
I am also asking what hand tools more specific to this forum are recommended for someone that's been more of a power tool user in the past. I own three power drills right now, yet have no hand drills and don't even know where to start - are they all the same? Same goes with spokeshaves and drawknives.

I've been an amateur at this for a while and I'm trying to make the step from amateur to journeyman. To me, that means stop using a pencil and get a marking knife; stop using the 12-in-1 screwdriver I've had for years and get some decent ones; stop using whatever saw is on hand and buy the right kind(s) for the jobs; stop using the cheap chisels found in a $2 junk bin and buy some decent ones! Some of these steps I've already taken, but as mentioned before - in the past I've tried to save up and get a quality tool when I can, and now I've decided to speed up the process.

So basically, I'm asking for you guys to spend my money for me. :p

As I hope to read more responses here, I'm also digging into sites like FWW and re-reading the magazine articles I've saved. I've been re-reading Sandor Nagyszalanczy's Setting Up Shop as well. I'm making an effort not to make you guys do my thinking for me, but for the most part what I have found assumes the use of lots of power tools, and I'd like to be prepared for more hand working.

Hope this helps clarify, and thanks again for all responses.



daniel

[Arnold E Schnitzer]

I'm a pro woodworker (instrument maker). My opinion is that you can always use another tool, but if you can, you should probably try to get by without it. It's not about the tool, it's about the person using it. That said, when I need something, I go for top quality when I can afford it. Anything by Lie-Nielsen is a bargain in my world, as I'm likely to pass it on to many future generations. Decide on a project you want to make, and if you need a new tool to make it, buy one. But don't obsess over tools. They're sexy, and useful, but they are, after all, only TOOLS. Your brain and hands and woodworking chops are the things to really obsess about.

[Tom Adger]

Before you start throwing out the "junk" and starting over again, I would be very careful. You might start another thread, or continue this one, about what you are considering throwing out. As the old saying goes: There are pearls amongst the swine".

[bill littleton]

i have to agree with arnold. when i first started i wanted every tool i read about, but now i find pleasure in doing some things by hand. Its your skill and experiance that make the difference. the one thing i dont feel is that more $ equals better tool. lie nelson is nice but theres something to be said about taking an old plane and making it sing. and remember even the most expensive tool cant work its self, again you need the skill to make it work.

[william scott]

I'd say hang on too what you have, and figure out a project to do. If, in doing the project, you have problems completing the project with the tools you have THEN buy the tool (or tools) you need. Complete the project, and then go to the next one. Repeat. That way, you don't wind up with tools you thought you neeed, but instead lay around gathering dust.

Also, everybody is different. I was taking a woodcarving class this last week and the tools were provided. There were some nice chisels, some middle of the road chisels, and some Flexcut knives. For me, the Flexcut knife worked better even than the really good chisels. Something about the shape of my hand made it very difficult to use chisels for the carving we were doing. My daughter was taking the class and having a good time with the chisels and struggling with the knife. Everybody is different and you have to find out what works for you!