Home workshop tools

[woodwork_hobby]

Hi folks

Im looking to create a small workshop in my garage. I would just like some advice on tools required.
Ive done some research but after reading these forums the information contradicts youtube (albeit mostly american videos)

So im not gonna be making cabinets or pianos, perhaps looking to start of with doing work on crates, spice racks, shelves maybe progress to tables and the like. I have literally zero experience so any help on tools would be great. I have a rough idea of some of the things i need but theres nothing better than getting advice of seasoned troops.

Thanks in advance

 

[xraymtb]

Hand tools or machines?

Do you have the entire garage or just a bit of it? Do tools need to go away at night to fit a car in or can you setup permanently?

 

[woodwork_hobby]

Both types of tools really.

I was looking at table saws and mitre saws but wanted advice again, and obviously most hand tools.

I dont have a massive budget its something im looking to build over time but i have a bit at the moment to buy some tools to get my workshop up and running.

I have the entire garage so can be setup permanently.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

You need a bench. Most people make them, as a good opening salvo project. It doesn't need to be huge but it needs to be strong enough to plane and pound and whack etc. Without a bench, everything is a struggle.

You need to be able to make wood straight and square. Either a machine - planer/thicknesses, hand held planer etc, or a hand plane. The hand tools are cheaper, and eBay &friends are awash with second hand examples. The machine will get you precise faster and with less learning involved, but perhaps with fewer fingers - each to their own. Now you have straight, square wood, and somewhere to hit it, you can make anything you want, with whatever tools you want. Chisels and gauges make holes, but so does a pillar drill and or a router.

I bought a table saw, which I love, but I then bought a band saw...perhaps I should have bought the band saw first. Hard to say. The table saw brings a level of precision I could never have achieved with hand tools, but of course now I want to learn the manual method, too. The bandsaw lets me make cuts I could never contemplate with a handsaw, resawing thin boards into ultra-thin boards, and cutting curves etc. The more power tools, the more instant gratification, but everything they can do can be done with a hand plane, a hand saw, and some enthusiasm.

I am still just the trainee here, but I have learned that precision is king. At least, my failing is rushing in, and not bothering to be precise. It's hard to overturn an entire lifetime of bodging, but it is what is needed to get good results. In other words, to get on as a woodworker, embrace your inner obsessive-compulsive disorder.

 

[woodwork_hobby]

yeah i have a table already its awesome and heavy duty. The romantic in me wants to be able to everything with hand tools but that would take years to perfect i imagine. I would like a mix so i can practice all my joints etc. I would eventually like to make furniture.

Yeah i am very meticulous in detail, which is often incredibly frustrating. I would like to just be a competent woodworker who can produce work that is of a good quality.

I have seen a table saw and a mitre saw but i have also seen alot of people mention the band saw before the table saw.

In terms of hand tools what should by minimum tool collection be ?

 

[Trainee neophyte]

yeah i have a table already its awesome and heavy duty. The romantic in me wants to be able to everything with hand tools but that would take years to perfect i imagine. I would like a mix so i can practice all my joints etc. I would eventually like to make furniture.

Yeah i am very meticulous in detail, which is often incredibly frustrating. I would like to just be a competent woodworker who can produce work that is of a good quality.

I have seen a table saw and a mitre saw but i have also seen alot of people mention the band saw before the table saw.

Possibly, whichever you get first will have been the wrong choice, or maybe you just need both Another way to look at it is, "Which job can I not do with hand tools?". I have lots and lots of free wood, but it is in the raw, still growing format - a bandsaw is a godsend for that, but a table saw has its own magic. Neither are essential, and both are expensive...now I have both, I still use the table saw more, but the bandsaw does other clever things, like spoons and scoops and bandsaw boxes.

In terms of hand tools what should by minimum tool collection be ?

Pick a project, and get the tools you need to complete it. Mallet and chisels will be high on the list, as will a hand plane, and a way of sharpening. Hard to make anything without them. Rather than spend a fortune on shiny toys you never use, make things and buy the tools you have to have as you go along. The list isn't huge, and quite a lot of it you can make yourself, as a project to practice other projects.

Make a marking gauge, but probably buy a straight edge and set square. I made a marking knife out of an old saw blade, then discovered a new, easier to use and more accurate one is a fiver . I also made a scraper out of the same saw - under £10 from Axminster, I think, but I like mine more. Making things is fun. Buy what you must, when you need it. In six months you will have all the sharpening paraphernalia, the marking out kit etc, but you will have needed it, and used it. I have a friend with every Lidl tool ever held in stock, all still neatly boxed and wrapped - the vast majority never used. He seems to like shopping more than making things.

 

[woodwork_hobby]

haha Thanks that is really sound advice. Yeah im gonna start small so may just buy hand tools to start with and as you say when i wanna start making bigger things get whats required then.

Where would the best place to get these tools be. I know i can walk into Band Q and pick most them up, i was just wondering if there was somewhere else, good company sites etc ?

 

[thetyreman]

there's no real one size fits all, first think about what you want to make, then buy tools as you need them, you don't have to buy them all at once, only you can know what you'll need. I would start with a focused project and think about every stage of the process from start to finish, that way you should be able to work out in your mind what you do and do not need,

a couple of things I find absolutely essential are chisels, handsaws, combination squares, marking knifes, pencils and hand planes, and that's uber basic stuff, if you are planning on just nailing stuff together then you won't need as many tools as are needed for joinery or fine woodworking.

 

[thetyreman]

y

Yeah i am very meticulous in detail, which is often incredibly frustrating. I would like to just be a competent woodworker who can produce work that is of a good quality.

that's a very good quality to have and exactly what you need to become really good or great, you have the right attitude.

 

[woodwork_hobby]

How much as a beginner should i look to pay for decent


chisels
block plain
combi squares
marking tools
saws

Thanks

 

[Ttrees]

Hello
Do you have a decent workbench to start off with?
This is priority number one, as a workmate will not suffice!.
You might get some inspiration from some folks like Paul Sellers for a basic introduction.
The handful of old tools he uses for most of the time, make up the arsenal of basic stuff what folks most use day to day, and what you should be looking at IMO, or at least worth serious consideration.

Tom

 

[woodwork_hobby]

Yes I have a heavy duty work table

Yeah I had a look at some of his books dvds etc from woodworkers workshop (although I didnt buy one)

So how much do you think i should be looking to spend to get up and running with basic hand tools ?

 

[Ttrees]

How much as a beginner should i look to pay for decent


chisels
block plain
combi squares
marking tools
saws

Thanks

Do you want tools right now, or would be happy to wait for better tools on the used market?
You could probably get nice old tools on ebay for about half the price of the likes of https://www.tooltique.co.uk/

Wouldn't bother personally with a block plane, and get a cheap Stanley Bailey/Record no.3 or no.4. plane.
Axminster tools for me for marking equipment.
Saws I might suggest that the link or a similar company might be useful to get a usable saw.
If you do a google of UKworkshop with tooltique you will get more suggestions of places to go for used stuff.

 

[sunnybob]

Theres no such thing as basic hand tools, get that idea right out of your head.
You need whatever tool you need to do the job at hand be it hand or power operated.
Whats the point of buying a set of chisels and then finding you need a bigger hammer?
Whatever budget you set, you will exceed, again and again and again.

Start making something, anything. As soon as you realise you need something to make it easier/ faster/ neater/ cleaner, go out and buy it.

I have three good hand planes I NEVER use. I have a drawer full of chisels that occasionally get used, but never for the job they were intended.
I'm now almost completely mechanised. Order of purchase was bandsaw (buy one that is dearer then you want to pay) router for router table (my top of the list of things I could not do without), mitre saw, (dont bother with a combi, theyre rubbish) belt sander, drill press, table saw (buy the biggest you have room for, even if its only a contractors saw). Thats most of the big items.

Oh, and if youre not trying to make a living out of this, dont forget to have fun.

 

[MikeG.]

Yes I have a heavy duty work table.......

I'm curious. You've said "table" twice now. Why is it a table rather than a bench? Does it have a vice? If you hit it hard with a hammer, does anything on it bounce?

So how much do you think i should be looking to spend to get up and running with basic hand tools ?

A hardpoint saw and a tenon saw (2nd hand, the latter)......£15 each. A number 5 or 5-1/2 or 6 Stanley or Record plane, Ebay, £30 - 40. 4 chisels, Ebay.....£30-40. A combination square £10 to £20. You've probably got a drill and some bits, a tape measure, and a small vegetable knife you can sharpen up. 3 diamond plates £12 to £15 each. Make your own mallet as your first project, and a bench hook as your second.

That's enough to keep you going for a year or two. Master those, reach their limits, and add to collection when you need to. £200 on tools, max..........all the rest of the money you have for this hobby should be spent on wood.

 

[DBT85]

Honestly I still get by with my lidl chisels. They do wonders. Might have been 6 quid.

I guess I disagree with Mike a little about the tools, but then I come from doing DIY for the better part of 20 years before getting my first dedicated workshop space and workbench, so I'd already accumulated a plethora of tools for that.

Once you're enjoying yourself you just go with what you need for the project you want to do. You might want to do something that a jigsaw for example might be handy for, or a plough plane etc.

 

[MikeJhn]

One thing to take into account is how old you are, if you are coming into woodworking late in life you may not wish to spend an inordinate amount of time using hand tools, Arthritic hands and shoulders mean I can't use a hand tool for very long, where as machines take half the time and are just as satisfying, some people get immense pleasure just preparing, I like to get on, read sunybob's post below it so applies to most of us crinklies.

Theres no such thing as basic hand tools, get that idea right out of your head.
You need whatever tool you need to do the job at hand be it hand or power operated.
Whats the point of buying a set of chisels and then finding you need a bigger hammer?
Whatever budget you set, you will exceed, again and again and again.

Start making something, anything. As soon as you realise you need something to make it easier/ faster/ neater/ cleaner, go out and buy it.

I have three good hand planes I NEVER use. I have a drawer full of chisels that occasionally get used, but never for the job they were intended.
I'm now almost completely mechanised. Order of purchase was bandsaw (buy one that is dearer then you want to pay) router for router table (my top of the list of things I could not do without), mitre saw, (dont bother with a combi, theyre rubbish) belt sander, drill press, table saw (buy the biggest you have room for, even if its only a contractors saw). Thats most of the big items.

Oh, and if youre not trying to make a living out of this, dont forget to have fun.

 

[sunnybob]

Gosh, "quoted in despatches" :shock: :shock: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Mike shares my problems with age and arthritis. Without machines I would need to find another hobby. Plus I spent about 60 years working with metal before deciding to play with wood, so I dont have time for a 5 year apprenticeship in dovetail making :roll: :roll:

Only you know what you want to do, only you know how you want to do it. Only you know if you want a hobby or a career, so, guess who is the only person to know what you want to buy? (hammer) (hammer) :lol: 8) 8)

 

[Noggsy]

It’s obviously horses for courses, but look really hard at the basics. Setting out, measuring, marking are used in every project. Learning what a sharp edge looks and feels like, whether that’s a hand tool, or a machine, is really important. Setting up a plane, or a bandsaw properly is the difference between loving or hating that particular tool.

I think the diamond plate suggestion above was a really good one...they stay flat, cut well and are well-priced (ITS do large, double sided plates for about twenty quid).

Learning to tune up a secondhand plane is a cheap and useful way to begin. As is learning to sharpen chisels.

If you’re going to go the machine route, then for me, buy a decent second hand bandsaw and learn to set it up correctly. They are far safer than a table saw and are very versatile. I’ve got a table saw and use it occasionally, but I could easily replace it with a track saw (and may do soon). Steve Maskery of this parish has several very good DVDs on the subject of setting up and using machines. I like Chris Schwarz and Roy Underhill’s approach to hand tools.

Jump in and get started...good luck and enjoy yourself...even the mistakes!

 

[Raymond UK]

I make personalised toy chests out f pine, lots of shelves and small furniture. I started about 8 years ago. Self thought and if you get stuck there's a lot of people on here that will help you out.

I don't think there's many tools that I haven't got now after buying them over the years but the tools most used daily are:

Table saw
Mitre saw
Router table (a router upside down in a board with a hole will do)
Bandsaw
Pillar drill
Cordless drill/drivers

I think with these you'll make a decent start.