What a wonderful idea!
I'm not sure about books or tool-sets... But I will contribute that finding him some space and a fairly solid bench with a vice (nothing fancy, just a normal cast metal one) to go in the space, will make a big difference to his ability to enjoy woodwork... Failing that a clamp down vice and a (ideally
very) solid surface he can clamp it to and make dust and shavings around without causing undue problems will be more than adequate, just requires a little more cleaning up.
In terms of tools:
- A handsaw (the kind of saw you think about when someone says saw)
- A backsaw (a gent's saw would probably suffice),
- 4 bevel edged chisels (6mm, 12mm, 18mm & 24/25mm; ie the metric equivalents of 1/4", 1/2", 3/4" & 1")
- A mallet
- A handplane (there is hot debate as to whether a No.4, No.4½ or No.5 is the most suitable all round metal plane, I tend to use wooden ones, so I can't be of much help)
- A try square
- A combination marking/mortice gauge
- A steel ruler
- At least two F-cramps (clamps?)
- A combination oilstone (the issue of what sharpening media is controvertial, but oilstones are far and away the cheapest and most resilient option) and some oil
- Many Pencils!.
That would make a comprihensive basic handtool kit, If you shop around, you may well pick up the lot for under £150, If he takes to it he may well end up deciding to save up/beg you for nicer tools in time, but basic ones are perfect to start with.. My only caveat is that handplanes are quite complicated items and the cheaper new ones are a bit hit and miss, a looked after older second hand model may well be better than a new out of the box model (sounds silly on first reading, I know).
Other additions:
- A hand drill (the eggbeater like kind) and/or A bit & brace (I don't even know if these are still made, handy though)
- A marking knife or A stanley knife
- A block plane
- A pin (aka cross pein) hammer
- A coping saw
- A pair of skew chisels
All of those are rather useful, but slightly more specialised tools.
If you find a good book with work-through projects (undoubtedly they're out there) then looking at what tools are required for the first say three or four projects and getting him those, whilst preparing for a potential request of further tools for the other projects if he really takes to it may be a more moderate approach.
FWIW, I had to move back in with my parents for a few months recently and being able to dig out my old workbench and have the shed as somewhere to escape to made it a lot more livable, I seem to remember doing much the same thing as a teenager.
I had a pretty basic toolkit as I was growing up, but learned a lot of useful skills from working with my hands... It's a useful grounding, if nothing else because you quickly learn when you're fighting with the wood, rather than working with it.
