Introduction

[Vinnie Lopez]

Hello I am new to the forum. I am a Paramedic and married father of two. I have done some basic projects with power tools but have fallen for working with hand tools. I am currently working on getting some basic tools in fact I'm waiting on a box from lee valley that will arrive today. I am looking forward to getting a nice collection of tools going. I'm almost at the point where I can try to tackle a beginner project just not sure what I'm going to try to make yet. Look forward to learning more from the members of the forum.

[Sean Hughto]

Welcome, Vinnie. I suggest that you make a box of some sort as boxes are a huge part of furniture making - drawers are boxes without tops, hanging cabinets are boxes with doors, dressers are boxes in a larger box, chests are boxes with a top that opens, etc.

[Vinnie Lopez]

I need a dovetail saw I wanted to get the veritas but they are out of stock till November. I have some scraps that I want to practice dovetails on but no saw yet. :mad:

[Judson Green]

Welcome to the creek. I used a 12" back saw when first doing dovetails. Maybe shop furniture/fixtures- a saw bench, bench hooks, shooting board, shelves, simple picture frame, etc.

[Tom Vanzant]

Vinnie, if there is a Woodcraft near you, give them a call. Some Woodcraft stores stock Veritas saws.

[Vinnie Lopez]

There used to be one near me but it closed. There are stores a few hours north of me so if they have it I can order online

[Shannon Brantley]

I started off with a Japanese dovetail saw and it seemed to me like a smaller learning curve. I got it for around 50 bucks from Highland. Lately I've been really wanting to try the Glen-Drake joinery saw. Just throwing out a couple of other options to confuse you. ;)

[Vinnie Lopez]

:Dlol add to my confusion thanks!

[David Weaver]

Welcome. Build anything you'd like for your first project. It's a lot easier to identify what troubles you after you've done a few things, so don't sweat much (speed, results, etc), just have fun. Only suggestion I have is to find some nice wood that works well. The first thing I ever dovetailed was a 4/4 red oak chisel rack. It was a terrible idea. Good quality pine, cherry or walnut would've been a better idea.

[Vinnie Lopez]

Yes red oak is like working with stone

[Jim Koepke]

Welcome again Vinnie. I guess you would have a difficult time being on the same continent and getting much further from the Pacific Northwest.

At least you should be able to get some Southern Yellow Pine in your neck of the woods. Wish we could get that up here.

I have used lots of saws to cut dovetails. It is easier with one made for the job but can be done with something else.

I don't have any idea how the rust hunting is in Florida, but it might be worth a try.

jtk

[Vinnie Lopez]

rust hunting down here is pretty bad I have been on the hunt and nothing has come up. Ebay seems to be my best bet for getting the rest of my planes. The saws I will probably get new I have been looking at the veritas saw. If I get the veritas I can probably pick up a second tool at the same time. If I get a LN saw then it will just be that until the wife allows me to spend some more money. Looks like every two weeks I will get another tool or two

[Jim Koepke]

If I get a LN saw then it will just be that until the wife allows me to spend some more money. Looks like every two weeks I will get another tool or two

One useful trick is to find something she would like and make it for her. On the other side of that is hope she asks you to make something and mention that you have been wanting to make one but you don't have the proper saw, chisels, plane or whatever your tool lust has you wanting to make the project properly.

It is fairly easy for me. My wife loves acorns. So when ever I have a little spare wood on the lathe I turn an acorn. We now have acorns of various woods for knobs on our kitchen cabinets and my wife lets everyone know about it when the look at a couple of my acorns at the farmers market.

jtk

[daniel lane]

rust hunting down here is pretty bad I have been on the hunt and nothing has come up. Ebay seems to be my best bet for getting the rest of my planes. The saws I will probably get new I have been looking at the veritas saw. If I get the veritas I can probably pick up a second tool at the same time. If I get a LN saw then it will just be that until the wife allows me to spend some more money. Looks like every two weeks I will get another tool or two

Vinnie, first, welcome to the Creek! Second, you should consider paying the $6 to become a contributor to SMC, then you'd have access to the classifieds section. There are often saws, planes, etc. for sale there.

Also, there are plenty of vintage tool web sites that you might have luck with, such as Brass City (http://www.brasscityrecords.com/), Bob Kaune (http://www.antique-used-tools.com/), Patrick Leach (http://www.supertool.com/forsale/september2014list.html), etc. For research, there are sites such as Disstonian Institute (http://www.disstonianinstitute.com/), Patrick's Blood and Gore (http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan0a.html), and The Stanley Bench Plane Page (http://www.hyperkitten.com/tools/stanley_bench_plane/dating/) that could be of use.


Regards,

daniel

P.S. Links stolen shamelessly from James Ogle's post (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?130965-Where-to-buy-vintage-planes&p=1323713#post1323713) back in '10.

[David Eisenhauer]

I will echo a couple of answers from above - make some work aids such as bench hooks, shootings board, marking gauges, straight edge, winding sticks, etc that you will use in the future and some boxes to put the tools in as you get them. You can use pretty much any kind of smaller/finer cutting saw for dovetails, even a hacksaw works. Some of the woodworking gurus that offer hand woodworking books, DVDs or You Tube video lessons have some good projects for beginners that teach the basic hand tool skills for using chisels, saws and planes, plus the sharpening of the same. Have you addressed the chisel/plane sharpening issue?

[Vinnie Lopez]

David I am opening my package from LV as I type this which should contain my chisels,mallet, marking guage,honing guide, and a small vise I purchased as well.

[Tom M King]

Welcome. I lived in Ft. Lauderdale my last two years in college-1971-1973. I haven't been back since, but had a big time then.

[Jim Matthews]

I would recommend wall mounted shelves for your kids to use.

Start with clear pine, or poplar.
Those are stable, work well with hand tools and take paint well.

http://accidentalwoodworker.blogspot.com/2012/08/new-design-for-hanging-shelf-2.html
http://www.constantines.com/dimensionallumber.aspx

The staff at Constantines will get you started.
Tell them what you're doing, and your desire to build by hand.

You'll start out small, and grow into larger projects.

As mentioned above, each basic joint and project is incorporated in more ambitious furniture.

[Vinnie Lopez]

Jim that is my plan start small and learn. Unfortunately Constantines is a far cry from what they used to be they are very small now limited selection. Tom Ft Lauderdale used to be party central but its nothing like it used to be.

[Frederick Skelly]

Welcome Vinnie! We're glad you could join us.
Fred

[Vinnie Lopez]

I actually need to put together an inexpensive bench maybe laminating 3/4 ply for the top. I have limited room and funds right now for a real quality bench so I must build it. I guess that is actually going to be my first project.

[Vinnie Lopez]

Thank you Frederick

[daniel lane]

I would recommend wall mounted shelves for your kids to use.

Shameless plug. If you're interested, Vinnie, I did a little bookshelf project for my daughter, the thread is here (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?186460).


Regards,

daniel

[Vinnie Lopez]

296394This is what I got today

[Vinnie Lopez]

Daniel that's awesome I have a 3 1/2 year old I may steal this idea thank you

[Reinis Kanders]

I made my first workbench top last winter by laminating 4 sheets of Home Depot 3/4 inch plywood. I would not do it again because it ended up not being that flat (I did not have a good reference surface) and plywood is hard to flatten with planes. My bench is 80 inches, but only about 36 inches are truly flat, somewhat annoying, This winter I will laminate 2x4s for a new bench or maybe buy an IKEA butcher block.
Hand tools are fun, I work on my porch and kids get to be around the tools without all the power tool issues.

[daniel lane]

This is what I got today

Vinnie, those are great to start with. It's a long story, but I bought those Narex to start with, then moved and never saw them for years! I wound up giving them away, but a quick test showed them to be quite nice and a very good value. I still use the same mallet, as well as the honing guide (on occasion). I've a different marking gauge, but really - they all do the same job, right? Great selection to get you going, and I wish you the best with it.

Regarding the shelf build, my daughter was 1-1/2 when I first built it, and it's been awesome since. I highly recommend it as an easy neander build, I loved doing it, learned a lot, and used a bunch of tools as I built it. And it's cheap to make! Of course, I hope others can do better than I did, a bunch of paint was required to hide some flaws, but I enjoyed every minute of working on it, and I bet I could do another in a fraction of the time now... :)


daniel

[Jim Matthews]

I did a little bookshelf project for my daughter, the thread is here (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?186460).

Zombie thread

[Vinnie Lopez]

Think I just scored an antique woodworking vise off craigslist going to pick it up in a bit