What to buy for $300?

[Mike Dowell]

So I've got $300(I know, not a lot) extra in my budget this month and I'm on the hunt for hand tools. I have very, very few hand tools for a woodworker and I'd like your opinions on my next purchase(s). Here are a few thoughts:

1) I have no hand planes - well, I have a $6 Home Depot 3" plane but it's worthless, so I'd say I have none.
2) I have a Buck Bros 4 piece chisel set (I know, weekend warrior grade). They work ok, but I'd like to have a more "professional" set
3) I don't have any curved chisels - If I need to make a piece of curvy, decorative molding for an antique chest, I've got nothing but a bandsaw and sandpaper to get it done. I'd love to have some sort of curved blade chisels in which to create the bevels and such which are found on decorative moldings. I also wondered if curved scrapers would be the best tool for this? For example, I just recently had a job which required me to craft a new molding for a blanket chest. The piece of molding was missing entirely - broken off from a move. 299990 It is the upper left, curvy piece shown here - that's the one I made. I think if I had some sort of instruments other than sand paper, I could do better and faster.
4) I don't have ANY scrapers. NONE. I was considering a few card scrapers and then maybe something like this: http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/150105/Lynx-Convex-Cabinet-Scraper-Set-(2).aspx


So, I know this question is extremely ambiguous, but.... What should I get?

Thanks in advance!

[Frederick Skelly]

Mike,
Are you doing work for other people, or are you a hobbyist? Because if youre doing it for a living, some of the answers may change.

Following assumes "hobbyist":
* If your Buck Brothers work for you, Id hesitate to replace them right away. But if youre bent on doing so, Narex makes a nice set of 7 for about $80. See Lee Valley.
* Buy a used #4 hand plane - they are plentiful and cheap (less than $40) and will do a wide variety of tasks. If you want new, buy the best you can afford. Woodcraft makes nice stuff at the low end, Lie Nielsen is very nice at the higher end, and Veritas is very nice in the middle of both.
* There is no point in having chisels or planes if you cannot sharpen them. If you dont know how, buy a good book (Garrett Hack, etc) and learn. That book is about $25 and well worth it. If money is available, buy sharpening stones. But you can start with sandpaper abrasives and save some money.
* Buy a sharpening jig that holds chisels and plane irons. Many choices exist and the price varies. I have a veritas mk II and it cost me about $70.
* I have to defer to others on curved chisels - dont know anything about them.
* woodcraft makes good enough scapers. Get a handle.

Beyond that, I think we'll need more info on projects you want to build.

Fred

[paul cottingham]

Seriously consider the 4 piece Narex chisel set they are a terrific set of tools for the money ($50.00.) If you want a hand saw or 2 the Lee Valley carcass saws are also terrific value, and very usable for a huge variety of tasks. Sharpening is important, get an eclipse guide (you may need to do a bit of work on it with a file, but its a great unit for the money. Lie-Nielsen has a great article off their site on how to file it to work better. You can sharpen on sandpaper for now, or get a dual use water stone, or a couple steel plates, and diamond paste. Sharp makes everything better. Buy a used pre war Stanley #4 or preferably a #5, it can do a lot of different tasks.
You might be surprised how much you can do with this simple set of tools.

[Mike Dowell]

Fred, I do this for a living. Thanks for the clear advice! What changes since I'm not a hobbyist?

I really appreciate your input.

Mike

[Don Jarvie]

If you do it for a living you need to consider getting quality tools. The Narex chisels are nice but Lie Nielsen or the PV-11 will hold their edge better so you don't need to sharpen then as often.

As for planes. You can get old Stanleys and fix them up and they will work fine. Its worth buying a new blade for them.

[Charles McKinley]

Hi Mike

You need to be able to sharpen as well. You are doing it for money so bite the bullet and get the good stones to spend less time sharpening. The name escapes me but they are the ones George Wilson recommends and started a thread about a while back.

For a plane go to the recommended used tool dealers that have already tuned planes for sale. This will save you a lot of time and aggravation or go to Veritas or Lie Nielsen.

Lee Valley does have the free shipping offer at the moment as well.

[Chris Hachet]

Seriously consider the 4 piece Narex chisel set they are a terrific set of tools for the money ($50.00.) If you want a hand saw or 2 the Lee Valley carcass saws are also terrific value, and very usable for a huge variety of tasks. Sharpening is important, get an eclipse guide (you may need to do a bit of work on it with a file, but its a great unit for the money. Lie-Nielsen has a great article off their site on how to file it to work better. You can sharpen on sandpaper for now, or get a dual use water stone, or a couple steel plates, and diamond paste. Sharp makes everything better. Buy a used pre war Stanley #4 or preferably a #5, it can do a lot of different tasks.
You might be surprised how much you can do with this simple set of tools.


I worked for years with not much more. Also, the Narex chisels are nice. I have Japanese chisels and Lie Nielson, but still find myself reaching for the Narex at times. Methinks you will like them.

To me, a useable premium small block plane (mine came from Lie Nielson) did more for my woodworking than anything else. It's less frustrating toa djust, and seems to hold a better edge than my old Stanley's.

I would buy sharpening stones, a premium small block plane, and a couple of Narex chisels-1/4" and 3/8" should be a good start. Should be able to be had for $300.

[Sean Hughto]

Your question is both personal and broad. Personal in that what to get depends on what you do, and broad in that it covers every potential handtool. I recommend these items to inform your decision:


Handplane Essentials (Christopher Schwarz)
Hand Tools - Their Ways and Workings (Aldren A Watson)
Country Furniture (Aldren A Watson)
The Naked Woodworker (Mike Siemsen, Lost Art Press)

Etc. Etc.

Or if you are ever near Chevy Chase ....

[Frederick Skelly]

Fred, I do this for a living. Thanks for the clear advice! What changes since I'm not a hobbyist?

I really appreciate your input.

Mike

Hi Mike,
Please know that Im a hobbyist with a lot of power tool experience, but only a couple years with hand tools. I think I have a good feel for what a newbie hobbyist needs, but less for a pro. So take this as a well intended effort and filter it according to the other advice you'll receive here, OK?

If I were going pro -
1) I'd buy the best tool I could afford at the time I needed it. Good tools require less set up, are often easier to use and should last a long time. As a hobbyist, I dont use mine every day and can stretch "lesser" tools like those Buck Brothers chisels a long time.

2) Id look hard at what part of my work would benefit from hand tools and start buying there. Example - if you own a good tablesaw, you could probably delay buying hand saws, because you already have a way to cut wood accurately. But if you are going to do a lot of restoration or repair (like the molding you mentioned), it could make sense to buy a partial set of "hollows and rounds" and Matt Bickfords book on how to use them. Or carving chisels, or just molding planes - they all help shape moldings in different circumstances. For me, it was hand planes - I was having trouble fitting a drawer and found a cheap little 2" plane in a drawer that solved my problem. i realized that a plane could do things for me that my power tools couldnt do as well/easily. So I went that way first.

2) If planes or chisels are what you can make the most of right now, Id buy a good set of sharpening stones and a good honing guide. Theres no point buying edged tools if you cant sharpen them, right? Here again, you can spend a TON on stones (DAMHIKT). I chose DMT diamond stones and a Veritas Mk-Ii guide. Search on sharpening here and you'll find a ton of advice there.

3) Old restored tools can be just as good as lovely modern tools - especially if you aren't a gazillionaire yet. From what Ive gathered, pre-war used tools are usually better than post-war. Buy good ones from reputable dealers.

4) Like I said, buy the best you can afford at the time. If you have $300 to spend and need a set of chisels, you might not want a full set of Lie Neilsen if you also have to buy sharpening stones. Plus, as you use your hand tools, you'll get a sense of whether you NEED to upgrade to the next level of quality. (Power tool example - I use my tablesaw enough that it made sense to upgrade to a Forrest blade @ $100+ and its been well worth it. Not so necessary yet with my bench chisels.) If the tool you originally bought is quality, you will get a reasonable resale price for them.

Anyway, I hope this is helpful. Let us know what you end up buying!
Fred

[Derek Cohen]

3) I don't have any curved chisels - If I need to make a piece of curvy, decorative molding for an antique chest, I've got nothing but a bandsaw and sandpaper to get it done. I'd love to have some sort of curved blade chisels in which to create the bevels and such which are found on decorative moldings. I also wondered if curved scrapers would be the best tool for this? For example, I just recently had a job which required me to craft a new molding for a blanket chest. The piece of molding was missing entirely - broken off from a move. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=299990&d=1415582664&thumb=1 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=299990&d=1415582664) It is the upper left, curvy piece shown here - that's the one I made. I think if I had some sort of instruments other than sand paper, I could do better and faster.
4) I don't have ANY scrapers. NONE. I was considering a few card scrapers

Hi Mike

There are essentially three ways to do these mouldings:

1. Use a power router and appropriate bit. Of course you have to find a perfect match, which is unlikely .... hence where hand tools come in.

2. Planes: either a dedicated moulding plane that will replicate the moulding, or shape the moulding with a couple of hollows & rounds planes. I fear that the former may be hard to come by (in the same way as the router plane bits will not match closely enough), and the latter take some practice to work the way you would like.

3. The simplest route is to shape some scrapers to the desired shape (I use chainsaw files to do this) and then sharpen the scrapers. These scrapers can either be held and used freehand on in a holder, such as a scratch stock. A scraper in a scratch stock is a powerful handtool, however this will only work well with hardwood. Softwoods are best shaped with a plane.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Sean Hughto]

Funny, I though he was talking about the applied moldings on the face of the drawer? I'm confused. Assuming it was the face work, I think those essentially require carving.

[Steve Voigt]

I won't try to tell you how to spend the whole $300. But just on the plane front, if you are really trying to watch your cash, I would do 2 things:
1) email Josh Clark at hyperkitten.com and see if he can hook you up with an old stanley no.5 in good shape. You could also try Patrick Leach, prices are a little higher. If that doesn't work, shop carefully on eBay.
2) take advantage of LV free shipping right now (until the 13th, IIRC) and get an aftermarket blade for the no.5, even if you don't have the plane yet.

You should be able to get these two things for under $100, and you can do virtually any bench planing task with them. Camber the stock blade to use as a jack plane. Use the aftermarket blade for smoothing, trying, and jointing. The 5 is a little short for trying and jointing, and a little long for smoothing, but you can make it work. Later, when you have more $$$, you can diversify.

[Frederick Skelly]

http://lostartpress.com/collections/dvds/products/the-naked-woodworker

http://www.amazon.com/Hand-Tools-Their-Ways-Workings/dp/0393322769.

Thanks Sean! I hadnt come across these two before. I'll add them to my book list.
Fred

[paul cottingham]

Honestly, for a block plane, the LNs are fantastic, and if we're to buy one all over again, it would be the LN rather than the large LV blocks. That being said, I have aN LV apron plane, and I don't think you can beat it for value. Love mine. I don't find the lack of adjustable mouth to be a problem at all.

[Brian Holcombe]

Since you have zero planes I'd probably start there.

If you work with mostly machines I would want;

Set of planes, 4, 5 &7. I personally feel that small parts cannot be safely worked by machine tools, so I would want to be able to dimension them entirely by hand with exception to sawing.

Good set of bench chisels and paring chisels.

Spokeshave

Scrapers.

[David Weaver]

These kinds of threads are so hard to answer. What you'll want to make a short run of moulding and what you'll want to do more work by hand are entirely different.

I agree with derek that a few scratches are probably in order for applied mouldings. Hand tooling is about choosing how far you're going to go. If you have a good power jointer and never have an interest in using a plane for jointing, then there's no great reason to buy a jointer. If you want a plane that will joint edges and and make it easy to final thickness or joint the faces of door panels or glue-ups, then a 7 is enormously useful.

I'd do what brian suggests, and I'd make a scratch as derek suggests. Scratch stocks just require you to buy the files and spring steel (or you can rob spring steel from an old saw, as long as it's not pitted).

Carving a moulding, or at least carving to get close may be a tall order to start off with, but it's a good skill to have. Even if you're carving bulk and scratching to final dimension. That'll give you a good skill for curved mouldings. Finding inexpensive and good carving tools is another challenge entirely, though.

[Pat Barry]

Funny, I though he was talking about the applied moldings on the face of the drawer? I'm confused. Assuming it was the face work, I think those essentially require carving.
I also thought he was referring to the little C shape on the upper left front of the drawer. Nice work on that little detail by the way.

[Mike Dowell]

All you guys are just amazing. I have to take a second to thank everyone for their input on this. I know it was slightly ambiguous and I really appreciate this huge TON of feedback!

I was speaking of the curved "c" shaped molding. I'm going to take all of you up on your suggestions! This type of advice is something no wood worker should be without. With so many planes on the market, who would have thought to get a stanley from pre-war era? I'm going to do a bit of shopping this week if I have any more questions, I'll pop back into this thread.

I had a feeling that a good, all-around hand plane would be a heavy hitter in the shop. I've wanted a plane for a while. I do what I consider exceptional work given my skill level and I'm really sort of romantically involved with hand tools at this point.

SHOPPING TIME!

[Moses Yoder]

I would save the $300 until you need something and then buy that. When you buy stuff, try to buy things that are used for various things, not specialized. Also of importance is your overall budget; is it normal to have an extra $300? If not, then you want to be extra careful to buy stuff you will actually use, which really depends on what you are building.

[Mike Dowell]

I would save the $300 until you need something and then buy that. When you buy stuff, try to buy things that are used for various things, not specialized. Also of importance is your overall budget; is it normal to have an extra $300? If not, then you want to be extra careful to buy stuff you will actually use, which really depends on what you are building.

Well, the truth is - I use my chisels ALL THE TIME. And the blade gets chewed up really fast. I suppose this is the mark of a cheap chisel. I don't know what it's like to work with high end hand tools so I can't speak to that. I've also come across situations at least a few times month where I say "I really need to get a hand plane" - but I never do.

The budget is what it is. Actually, this money was a gift anyway, but in the broader sense, I am running a successful business which is growing every month. I don't mind spending money on tools as I can write that off for tax purposes anyhow. Plus, I'm very sensible and, if I think I can do what I do better with better tools, I'm all about it. I'm still getting by with a $300 Dewalt portable table saw. While I don't mind investing in tools, I don't have an extra $3000 to drop on a cabinet saw, or, $1000 for a nice Rikon bandsaw to replace my Harbor Freight model.

[John Sanford]

Using your chisels all the time, upgrade those. Get the Narex or new Stanley Sweetheart 750s. Best if you can actually get your hands on them, because the handles of chisels make a big difference.

The other thing would be, as noted, a good block plane. The LN 60 1/2 LA Adjustable Mouth can't be beat, although it can be equaled.

[Hovey Moore]

Narex makes a good chisel at a great price. Yes there are better but they cost a lot more money, and even then sometimes its nice to have a set your aren't going to worry about.

Get a card scraper if you don't have one. Cheap, simple/easy to use, and works wonders. Maybe a couple and a curved one or two as well? Maybe a LV cabinet scraper could be handy depending on need?

Learn to make scratch stock to match molding. You can buy a tool to hold them or make your own.

The LV apron plane is a great block plane for a great price.

I know I'm in the minority here, but I don't think getting a prewar Stanley as a first plane is a great idea. Most of the ones I have seen need some work to function properly and even then still aren't as easy to use as a LV/LN (yes I know they still can cut just as well). All of that is assuming you know what to do to get it working in the first place. I would save up and buy ONE LV/LN first so you know what you are trying to get the older one to work like. I fooled around for a number of years with a bad older Stanley and almost gave up on hand tools as a result. Only experience can tell you if you are getting a good plane or another project. Disclaimer: I love my LV BUS and would never trade it for any prewar Stanley as it is so easy to use and always works well.

Get equipment to sharpen the above if you don't have it yet.

[Chris Hachet]

If nothing else old saw blades can be cut into temporary scrapers. But scraping will save you a huge amount of time over sanding.

[Mike V Campbell]

I would save the $300 until you need something and then buy that. When you buy stuff, try to buy things that are used for various things, not specialized. Also of importance is your overall budget; is it normal to have an extra $300? If not, then you want to be extra careful to buy stuff you will actually use, which really depends on what you are building.

This has been my tool buying strategy for the most part. I save my tool buying money for when I find a void that needs to be filled but I'm also an opportunist. If you have the time and the patience you can find most of your hand tool needs on Craigslist and estate sales at prices that are a fraction of what you can find on ebay or from dealers. You do have to spend some time cleaning and tuning but that is a lot of fun to me.

As you wait for good deals I would buy other tools as you need them for projects. Getting an old no. 5 or 4 plane and a 9 1/2 or 60 1/2 should be considered a more urgent purchase. Like someone said above, having a few good planes is really a game changer. If you are willing to learn you can tune them up to work as good as a brand new tool Paul Sellars on Youtube is a great source for that.

I decided to stick to the scary sharp method for now because of the high cost of stones. I'd rather add more tools than expensive stones. If you only have $300 a set of lapping papers will stretch your money a lot farther. I don't use a honing guide either, I am able to get a REALLY good edge on my irons and chisels with Paul's method as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvTcReENk9g

From my experience a good set of chisels is hard to come by at estate sales. That will be my next purchase of new hand tools.

Great discussion topic, thanks for posting it!!

[Mike Dowell]

So, for a guy who knows little able planes, what's the difference between the LV Apron plane and the LN 60 1/2 LA plane? Besides price obviously - I think the LN is twice what the LV is.

[Mike Dowell]

All in all, how much of a step down are the Narex chisels form those on the higher end? I'm trying to quantify this in my mind. I want to make sure the Narex are AMAZING compared to the Buck Bros ones I have. I mean, I don't want to drop an insane amount of money but the Buck Bros chisels look saw-toothed after just a few uses. What have I to gain by spending at least double on something better than Narex?

[Sean Hughto]

They are all strips of modern steel with handles. None are magic. The things to consider are your personal preferences as far as:

- length
- handle shape and material
- style as far as tang vs socket
- handling of the edge bevels
- grind and hone -ability of the steel
- how durable the steel is as far as time between sharpenings

[paul cottingham]

The lie-Nielsen has an adjustable mouth, and may be a little wider. Personally, I rarely find the lack of an adjustable mouth on my apron plane to be a problem. I can't remember the last time I adjusted the mouth on my larger standard LV low angle block.
This is a very personal observation.

[Jim Koepke]

The adjustable mouth on the LN 60-1/2 helps around tight curves. A wide open mouth lets more of the edge being worked into contact with the blade.

LVs Apron plane does have lateral adjustment. My fingers or a small hammer to tap the blade seems to work well for many folks.

LN also makes #102 and #103 planes that are similar to the LVs Apron plane. Not sure if either has a lateral adjuster. One is low angle and the other is high angle.

jtk

[Christopher Charles]

My LN 60 1/2 was a gateway experience that showed me what a good plane can be. And remains plane I use as often as several others combined. End grain is not very forgiving after all..

Good luck!
C

[Hovey Moore]

The Narex chisels will be much better than your Buck Bros. How much better is an interesting question. I would say that there is a diminishing return on increased spending. Any decent chisel should last through a set of dovetails though.

Plane Comparison:
LV apron plane: $89, has a Norris adjuster (allows lateral adjustment), it is made from cast iron and is 5.5" long.
LN 102/103 block plane: $115, does not have a lateral adjuster, it is made from cast bronze and is 5.25" long.

Functionally the two are basically identical. Both have 1.25" blades. Neither has an adjustable mouth. Both have optional toothed blades if you needed one. Both are very nicely made and should last a lifetime or two.

[lowell holmes]

Plus 1 for the apron plane.

If you get some rare earth magnets while you order, you can make a wooden block to make a chamfer plane out of it as well.

[Bill Houghton]

So I've got $300(I know, not a lot) extra in my budget...

Oh, I don't know; some people think $300 is a lot of money:

http://giantcypress.net/post/1487152382/overheard-conversation-at-a-lie-nielsen-hand-tool
(warning: some rude language here).

Look up one of the sellers of reconditioned vintage planes and get a No. 4 or 5 bench plane. Then get some decent chisels. While I haven't used them, the Lee Valley O-1 chisels seem nice, or the Narex bench chisels, or others.

[Mike Dowell]

Oh, I don't know; some people think $300 is a lot of money:

http://giantcypress.net/post/1487152382/overheard-conversation-at-a-lie-nielsen-hand-tool
(warning: some rude language here).

Look up one of the sellers of reconditioned vintage planes and get a No. 4 or 5 bench plane. Then get some decent chisels. While I haven't used them, the Lee Valley O-1 chisels seem nice, or the Narex bench chisels, or others.


Yikes! Hope I didn't offend. I'm not rich - let me put that out there right away! I suppose I meant that $300 doesn't seem to go very far when you are considering shop tools.

that video was hysterical!!

[Brian Holcombe]

That is a laugh riot bill.

[Jim Koepke]

that video was hysterical!!

+1 on the video

$300 doesn't go very far if one is thinking of new tools.

It is always interesting to see how people would choose to spend other's money. Even more so when the person asking the question isn't sure what they want.

Then there is the question of what you have on hand and how much rehabilitation you are willing to do to get tools into a useable state.

There is a lot of money to be saved if you are willing to work with older tools. Finding them is part of the work. If you get good at finding old tools, lots of times you can buy low and sell high to build up a tool acquisition fund. It also makes it easier to bid on a group of tools as is often found on ebay. Then you resell any extras. Though if you do a lot of molding or carving you will want duplicates so you can have an in cannel and out cannel blade for at least a few sizes.

jtk

[Mike Dowell]

Ok, so let me single out planes for a moment. Lee Valley - Apron plane, Standard block and low angle standard block. I can see that the apron is small so it fits in an apron. I can also see that it is low angle and $60 less than either of the standard block planes. Besides an adjustable mouth(which doesn't seem to be a necessity), what are the benefits of the standard block vs the smaller apron?


Also - http://www.leevalley.com/US/Wood/page.aspx?p=32975&cat=1,43072,45938 any good?

[Sean Hughto]

Typical general use block planes are a convenience for things like easing edges and taking a bit off drawers or door - going where larger planes might be awkward - and maybe doing typical planing work on small/miniature scale projects. Handy, sure, but not really all that crucial. Find one that fits your hand and holds a nice edge. The details of bedding angles and adjustable mouths are really not that important day-to-day.

The ones I find most useful are the specialty block planes, like the LV fitted with the chamfer guide and the LN rabbet/block.

[paul cottingham]

Ok, so let me single out planes for a moment. Lee Valley - Apron plane, Standard block and low angle standard block. I can see that the apron is small so it fits in an apron. I can also see that it is low angle and $60 less than either of the standard block planes. Besides an adjustable mouth(which doesn't seem to be a necessity), what are the benefits of the standard block vs the smaller apron?


Also - http://www.leevalley.com/US/Wood/page.aspx?p=32975&cat=1,43072,45938 any good?

The regular LV block is really big. I have big, bass player hands, and it feels big, almost too big, to me. I find the apron plane easier to control. That being said, I really like my low angle block plane as well, but on a budget, the apron plane is a great value, and a great plane.

[Bill Rhodus]

Mike, lot of good advice here; the challenge for you will be sifting through it to use what you need for now. What you need will change as you gain experience. I have been working with several nephews over the last several years that have begun woodworking and have been working through many of the issues you now face. However everyone has to tailor their approach to suit their particular needs. With this in mind, contemplate, use and/or discard my comments as needed.
1) Several people have referenced the Narex chisels. I have found these chisels to be more than adequate and the price would enable you to purchase more than one set. I believe this is important to address the edge failure you referenced in your post; example - buy 2ea of the Narex 4 piece sets and sharpen one of the 1/2" chisels to 20-25 degrees for paring and the other to 30 degrees for chopping (may vary slightly depending upon your chisels, materials being worked, technique, etc). A chisel cutting edge needs to be tailored for the intended use. As you learn how to sharpen/use these chisels you can decide if you want a more expensive set or a set with a different handle shape.

2) I believe the sharpening guide is important for new woodworkers as it helps them develop proper sharpening technique in a shorter amount of time. As you become familiar with sharpening techniques, you can transition to sharpening by hand without a guide.

3) Several people have referenced buying a pre-war Stanley plane and I believe this is a good approach for the woods typically worked in your area of the country if you have someone to help you get the plane working properly. If you are going to figure it out on your own, buy the Veritas #4 so you will get a plane that is ready to work, will need little initially as far as sharpening, and will provide an example as to how a plane should really work. I would then buy the pre-war Stanleys as needed starting with the block and jack.

4) Scrapers are cheap; buy a couple and a good burnisher. Start practicing with both as it may take a bit before you get the hang of it and realize there is a great benefit to scraping.

[Bill Houghton]

Yikes! Hope I didn't offend. I'm not rich - let me put that out there right away!

No, no, I'm sorry I got you tense. I was teasing! I've been cutting the pennies in half to make them stretch farther for my entire tool-using career (age 19, my first motorcycle), so I really sympathize with the problem of limited money and the need to buy tools if you're going to work in your shop. While this isn't woodworking, my toolkit years back was so small that I once rebuilt a VW motor using, pretty much, just the toolkit from my BMW motorcycle, a set of metric sockets, and a flex handle for the sockets. No ratchet because I couldn't afford one.

You might look up, at your local library, one/all of the introduction-to-woodworking books. They all have lists of the basic toolkit, and the older books propose a noticeably smaller basic kit. You might find it helpful as you get started.

[Mike Dowell]

@Bill - thanks for that thought. I never considered grinding chisels for different purposes. By the way, if you "hollow grind" a chisel's bevel, doesn't that negate any "bevel angle"? Effectively, there is no angle because you ground it off - no?

OK, I have placed an order with both Lee Valley and with Woodcraft(had a gift card) - all based on the suggestions here, and also one impulse buy. Total gift amount was $325(including Woodcraft gift card) and total spent was $392. Not bad! I'll be right back here when my new stuff arrives and I'll post pics!

Geez, getting new tools excites me like toys did when I was a kid. These are like Nintendo games to me at my age(36).

Be back in this thread next week! Hey - I sincerely thank everyone for their input. I know threads like these are loaded questions at best, and I really appreciate the fact that everyone chimed in with an opinion and not some "how are we supposed to know what you need?" stuff. This is a wonderful community.