Advice for total newbie

[fergusfog]

Step 1: Ask the experts...

So I'd quite like to get into making wooden things, starting perhaps with a key cabinet, letter sorter and maybe getting onto simple furniture (maple kitchen shelves!), and I'm looking for advice for pretty much a noob.

My goals: Make some nice stuff, feel good about myself, improve said nice stuff and get my daughter involved too. Anything storage-related for kids would be a good project.
My restrictions: Not much room, at least as far as the wife is concerned, so tools with the word "portable" or "foldable" in them are winners. Also buying £1500 table saws or £200 planes is not realistic at this point.

From initial investigation I reckon the tools required might be:
- Plane
- Back saw
- Workbench
- Router? Or is that cheating?
- Table saw... again possible cheating, but would make cutting at angles a lot easier?
- Chisel(s)
- Set square

I'd be most grateful for any advice, even if it's criticism of my sloppy initial research.

F. :?:

 

[RobinBHM]

Most things storage related are carcases made from sheet material. If you want carcases to go together well and look good you absolutely need accurate, clean cut parts. You could achieve this by finding a company to cut for you, or you could buy a circular saw and make yourself a guide track. Or you could buy a track saw.

Keep it simple, assemble just with screws or pocket holes if suitable. Design your storage with a side cheek and you can hide your assembly screws. A cordless drill is a must.

A square is hard to do without, I think the cheap engineers squares from toolstation are ok.

Hand plane- these are quite common 2nd hand for not much money. Be aware they arent much use without suitable sharpening stones.

A router is hugely versatile, but probably best to buy a book on it, such is the huge range of things it can do.

Best of luck, do stick around on the forum

 

[Droogs]

Hi Fergus and welcome. Worthy ambitions, you will find a great bunch here who are always happy to help. Lots of discussions and advice. To begin with the number one golden rule to remember is - There's no need to have expensive shinny kit. As long as what you have is of good quality and fit for purpose. I would suggest you get yourself either a #4 or #5 benchplane to meet all your initial needs from a boot sale or fleabay and a block plane. get a disposable fine cut saw from around £4 at one of the toolsheds, a set of 4 chisels from aldi/lidl (not much to look at but great to get started with. a good sharp knife for marking out along with a good square and a marking/mortice gauge. to keep it all sharp some diamond stones course medium and fine from somewhere like ITS the whole lot should be yours for around £150 all in. if you have a garage just get a sturdy table you can balt to the wall, so it doesn't move about and practice.

above all have fun

droogs

 

[Bm101]

Welcome Fergus.
, I'm a beginner too. The more you look into the more you'll think you need. You don't. I'd invest all your start up money in just a few tools. Forget about table saws and bandsaws.

Buy a moore and wright combination square.Don't pay more than £20. Buy a kinex engineers square from Matthew at workshop heaven. http://www.workshopheaven.com/ Spend more than you think healthy.
Never buy sets of anything. chisels etc. Buy 2 or 3 and just the the most used sizes. Narex are a good start.
Get a block plane and a 4 1/2 stanley. Ask on here, you might find people have one to spare...
Learn a little about about sharpening stuff. Invest half the money you thought about spending on a bandsaw on the above and a decent sharpening system. Buy a japanese saw with a replaceable blade. You just need a pencil now. I'd invest in a book or two. This one first. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Technique-Furni ... 071348814X

There ya go.

Easy.

*defers to Droogs and Robin. cross posting. I missed the have fun bit.

 

[fergusfog]

Thanks for the welcome and useful info everyone! I'll have a look into the tools you suggest.
I guess the 'artisan' (and cheap) method of cutting at angles would be to use my daughter's geometry set and a nice saw then?

Where do you get materials btw? Let's say I want to make a nice little dark wood box, where would I go about getting the wood? Pretty sure B&Q don't have decent stuff, so reclaimed wood places dotted around, or is there a chain you can recommend?

 

[Bm101]

Have a google for timber merchants local to you.

 

[sundaytrucker]

As a beginner myself I am more interested in hand tools/work at present and they are far more sensitive to the wife's requirements!

When my interest in woodwork came about Paul Sellers and Richard Maguire were two internet personalities that grabbed my attention with both free and paid for content. Paul Sellers has a huge library of videos on youtube aimed at the beginner.

As for materials, I would recommend practicing with some cheaper timber to develop your accuracy and skill before splashing on some good stuff.

 

[Alexam]

Hi Fergus and welcome to the forum.

Those are wise words from the sundaytrucker, start very gradually and build up when you know more. For each tool you need, you can ask forum members what is best or economical and as Paul Sellers has said in his sharpening video, chisels at £8 a set can do very well indeed when starting out, you dont need to spend hundreds of pound, not until you get 'hooked', then watch out. I only started a couple of years ago after retiring, but managed to sell off other hobby equipment to help fund woodwork and had good advice from this forum. It's great fun and all here will be pleased to help you. Good Luck

Malcolm

 

[Rhossydd]

Where do you get materials btw? Let's say I want to make a nice little dark wood box, where would I go about getting the wood? Pretty sure B&Q don't have decent stuff, so reclaimed wood places dotted around, or is there a chain you can recommend?

If by 'dark wood' you mean a hardwood, eg Oak, mahogany etc. you'll need to find a specialist hardwood timber merchant.
There are a few scattered around the edges of London, some of which are quite 'novice friendly', let us know where you are and people can recommend somewhere appropriate.

You might get lucky with a reclaimed yard, but you could also get ripped off too. The local wood recycling place to me charges some pretty creative prices and has precious little choice.
A specialist hardwood merchant will sell good quality at a fair price. Most chains aren't too good for hardwood in small quantities.

Working with hardwoods is a different league to with sheet materials and the nasty cheap pine in the DIY sheds. It's a wonderful material to work with.

Tool advice; most the previous posts contain good advice.
Don't worry about a table saw. You can do a massive amount of things without ever needing one and good ones are expensive and take up loads of space.
Only buy a router when you have a definite use for it.
A proper workbench is ideal, but if you're pushed for space a folding Workmate type bench will be useful alternative.
Lidl & Aldi do sell some bargain tools, but you often need to get in quick and tools only get sold a few types at a time spread over the year. So whilst a great option for novices, not immediately available.

 

[Sawyer]

+ 1 for the good advice above. Other inexpensive but necessary additions would be; a mallet (for driving your chisels); a medium-weight approx. 16 ozs. hammer, a crosscut handsaw, nail punch and a pair of pincers.

Whatever you decide to do, enjoy it!

 

[Rhossydd]

One of the curious aspects of these threads, beginners seem to ask the same questions regularly here, is that whilst there's a core of common 'must haves' like a good square, No 4 plane, chisels, steel rule/straight edge, saw etc........... A few people always regard something as indispensable when others won't.
A fine example is

a pair of pincers.

?? never used a pair in nearly fifty years of woodworking.


Maybe a basic tool kit would be a good subject for a FAQ mods ?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yes, likewise a bradawl and a nail punch.

 

[RickN]

Echoing Sunday trucker regarding Paul sellers, and also being very much a beginner his video about Aldi chisels was spot on one of the best buys I have made.
I'd recommend a track saw, that one saw has made my life so much easier and safer accurately breaking down sheet goods.
Doesn't have to be a festool or a mafel to get good results, I went for a bosch one, and my father in law has a lidl one, which works just as well.
If you do get a track saw, get a vacuum for it again doesn't have to be mega expensive, clas ohlson and lidl both had wet and dry vacs in with power sockets for tools recently. makes a vast amount of difference in stopping the "frosty the snowman look".

 

[sunnybob]

Only RickN mentioned the most important part of the hobby, keeping the wife happy.
DUST will destroy your marriage (as well as your health). As soon as youve bought any kind of saw, even a hand saw, you need to consider keeping the dust out of your wife's way and out of your lungs. Extraction is mega important.
The only down side to this hobby is having to wear a mask for a lot of the time.

 

[fergusfog]

Maybe a basic tool kit would be a good subject for a FAQ mods ?

Good idea. That's what I was looking for, but found only a list of big equipment at about the £1500 mark.

 

[fergusfog]

Only RickN mentioned the most important part of the hobby, keeping the wife happy.
DUST will destroy your marriage (as well as your health). As soon as youve bought any kind of saw, even a hand saw, you need to consider keeping the dust out of your wife's way and out of your lungs. Extraction is mega important.
The only down side to this hobby is having to wear a mask for a lot of the time.

Absolutely. At the beginning though I'm looking at only small projects so will use hand tools. If I start making cupboards with a track saw, that'll be either outside in the summer sun or with an extractor!

 

[RickN]

Summer sun and extractor, believe me, cleaning damp sawdust up outside is not fun, and Sunnybob hit the nail on the head on both counts , keeping SWMBO happy and looking after your lungs. after watching my Grandad die from an asbestos related illness, Dust extraction is paramount in my mind.

I found a new mantra , if its got a dust port, it gets plugged in. 8)

 

[sunnybob]

fergus, just to labour the point one more time, if youre not used to this kind of work, Sawdust in lungs is not a cumulative worry. You should worry from day 1. wood dust will NOT clear itself from your lungs.

I know a dust extractor is not a glamorous tool, but its like a boy racer buying a supercharged shiny engine for his car and not bothering to make sure the brakes are up to stopping it. Theres trouble ahead.

 

[fergusfog]

Okay, point taken about the dust. In fact, point taken many times over. I'll bear it in mind.