What is the minimum set of tools?

[Tony Wilkins]

It was suggested to me in another thread on another forum that I should not spend the money I had set aside for new tools and just build. There is some merit to that I know. So I ask the question above.

I certainly can save the money and wait to spend it (even though I do admit to being like a kid in a candy store). There are things that I think I'm well equipped with like saws and bench planes (even though some part of me is curious to use a good metal plane).
Then there are things that I'm less sure about - like chisels. I know Chris Schwarz says you can get by with 1/4" and 3/4" (which is what I have).
My main goal now was to get the tools that are demonstrated in the video for the project I'm doing now - the Shaker Table that Schwarz does. When I survey the tools that I don't have that are used in the video, here's what I come up with:
Shoulder Plane for adjusting tenons for the apron to leg connection
Plough Plane for making grooves for the drawer bottoms
Router plane for leveling tenon cheeks
Skew block plane for the '140' trick on the dovetails
Of those, I could use a chisel to pare the tenon shoulders and cheeks reducing the need for the Shoulder and the Router. I can certainly do dovetails without the '140' trick so I could do without the skew block plane. I could saw and chisel out the grooves for the drawer bottoms. I could also level the bottom of them (or if patient completely cut) with the Router plane instead of the plough.
So I could do without all of those things. The question is: would I want to? What would I learn from not using those tools if I could acquire them?

[Winton Applegate]

I once had a customer staring at me while I worked. When I started looking back at her she said "Sorry, I think it is great you know how to use all of those tools".
or something like that.
I said yah well when a person really gets good all they need is a hammer. Only I ain't that good yet.

She one upped that by saying
she usually just uses a rock.

So
When you really get good all you need is a sharp rock.
Something to espire to.

[Jim Koepke]

When I survey the tools that I don't have that are used in the video, here's what I come up with:
Shoulder Plane for adjusting tenons for the apron to leg connection
Plough Plane for making grooves for the drawer bottoms
Router plane for leveling tenon cheeks
Skew block plane for the '140' trick on the dovetails

In a recent video of Chris Schwarz he uses a regular rabbet plane (not sure if it was skewed or strait) for "the '140' trick on dovetails." It makes more sense to use a plane with a depth stop.

Yes, a router plane is good for leveling cheeks... And many other things but a wide chisel is also usable. Most of the time my chisels do the major wasting and a router plane cleans up the last little bit.

Many ways to make groves, but a plow plane is hard to beat for speed and ease of use.

A shoulder plane comes in handy at times, but it is also a job that can be done with careful use of a chisel.

My point is that some of these tools will not provide much use outside of their specialty. Specifically a skew block plane would likely not be as useful as a skewed rabbet plane.

The Shoulder Plane is useful in many places, but often its work can be done by a chisel. The beauty of a shoulder plane is it can take a very thin controlled shaving. The bad part is it can be off angle just a little and leave a slight gap where the joint comes together.

jtk

[Chris Hachet]

I pretty much am using chisels right now for the task you describe, and am having no problems. I think that I am going to buy a plow plane and a router plane, but I have other priorities right now. If money is tight, as it is for me, I would concentrate on getting a really good set of chisels foirst and getting them dead nuts sharp. Just my two cents, works for me, and I've build and repaired lots of furniture with tjust the careful use of chisels for the tasks you describe.

[David Weaver]

Router and Plow. The plow you need. The router, you don't, but it will be nice to clean anything recessed, though I've never used one for M&T. I would much rather, on M&T joints, just saw close to the line and if work needs to be done, use a chisel, or my favorite thing to use on small tenons is a bed float for planemaking. It's super fast and it's as accurate as you want to be (though you have to be able to sharpen one to use one, because they don't come sharp).

Shoulder planes and skew block planes aren't required. Look at planes from 150 years ago, you'll find plow planes, and OWTs, but people shoulder planes are less common until recently, and skew block planes are a collector's novelty.

Personally, I would use a barometer other than Chris Schwartz to guide my tool purchases, he's always recommended more and more expensive tools than you'd ever need to do superb work.

[steven c newman]

265880265881265882265883265884265885what you see here is about all i usually need. Have a few handsaws, a few chisels, maybe a plane or two. The result of all the mess?265886is I needed a small table to MATCH a chair my Grandma had. Took maybe a week.....

[David Weaver]

I just realized I said the same thing in another thread. I thought maybe when I came to this thread that I had attempted to post it earlier and forgot to hit "submit post" or something. Hopefully, I didn't say anything different in the two different posts!

[Tony Wilkins]

It was a carefully designed trap David to lure you into dire straits.

[steven c newman]

"We gots to move....these Refridger-ators, we gots to move these Color ....TVs"

Can see it now..... David is shaking it in front of the camera, man ( his hand plane, not his ......)

[David Weaver]

It was a carefully designed trap David to lure you into dire straits.

I can post twice....that ain't workin. That's the way you do it..

[Jim Koepke]

There is a point between being able to get a project done with a minimum of tools and the minimum tool arsenal one wants to get the job done effectively and efficiently.

Some have a desire to not have a single tool they do not use regularly.

Some have a desire to have every tool that was ever made with a few duplicates just to be safe.

Somewhere in between there is a happy medium for most of us.

jtk

[Steve Voigt]

Of those, I could use a chisel to pare the tenon shoulders and cheeks reducing the need for the Shoulder and the Router. I can certainly do dovetails without the '140' trick so I could do without the skew block plane. I could saw and chisel out the grooves for the drawer bottoms. I could also level the bottom of them (or if patient completely cut) with the Router plane instead of the plough.


It seems to me like you answered your own question here.
Also, I think it's important to keep the scale of the job in mind. If you're making 10 drawers, it would be a drag to saw/chisel the grooves. But 1 is no problem. If you wait to buy tools until you really need them, you will slowly accumulate a really nice collection, without short-term breaking of the bank.



So I could do without all of those things. The question is: would I want to? What would I learn from not using those tools if I could acquire them?


You would learn how to better use the tools you already have. Tuning tenons with a chisel will definitely improve your chiseling skills, for example.
In addition, you will learn to be a more flexible and versatile woodworker. The ability to improvise and change strategies is important. You will never have every single tool that is considered "the right tool" for every job. And even if you did, what happens if something breaks, and it's the weekend and you can't get parts? I think knowing 3 or 4 ways to do a task is really valuable.