Kid's tools

[Farmer Giles]

My younger daughter (8) is showing an interest in woodwork, we've already built a few wooden kits of medieval siege weapons etc. and we are currently making a roman gladius.

I have some Douglas Fir left over from making my roubo bench so we will probably make a bench for her together, maybe not a roubo though, we will see.

I was thinking of getting her a small tool kit of reasonable quality woodworking tools for Christmas or her birthday in January. I can remember getting a set of useless tools when I was a kid, enough to put anybody off for life, supposedly very safe but also very useless. You end up cutting yourself in frustration then one parent gives the other parent the "I told you so" look

I have loads of planes so can give her a no. 3 and a couple of block planes and today while tidying up the workshop I unearthed this small saw, I couldn't get my hand in the handle properly.

I don't have giant hands, maybe this is Mr President's saw

I found it in an old toolbox, I think I may have used it to cut aluminium foil backed insulation in the loft when renovating the house due to it's handy size in a confined space but I have no idea where it came from. No name on it, only the ubiquitous "Warranted Superior" on the handle screw so it's British.

As I needed a break from workshop tidying, and I wanted to clear the rust and old varnish off before clearing and cleaning the bench I spend half an hour cleaning it up. The blade came up well with a cup brush in a angle grinder.

I then gave the handle a sand and resealed it with a bit of Osmo. I did try and get the handle off but the bolts just spun, I could have bought more and drilled them out but I didn't want to get too far into it. I'll wax the blade and handle when the Osmo has cured.

The saw is blunt as, so I will give it a sharpen and set when I get chance.

I'm not going to give her any chisels until she has a bit more practice and tuition but I have some she can have. I have a smallish tenon saw too, not sure if its rip etc. I have spare marking gauges, rulers etc.

I'll be on the lookout for smallish tools, especially handle wise at the local flea markets.

What are/did you give to your kids tool wise?

Cheers
Andy

 

[sunnybob]

Andy, I'm just approaching that stage with my grandson. He's 7 now and is desperate to "help" me in the workshop. The trouble is he's a "toucher". He picks things up BEFORE asking me what they are and I am scared he will cut himself badly and his mother will ban him from ever "helping" again.

My son never showed any interest in anything as a kid except football, and you could have knocked me down with a feather when he came home from school one day (aged 14) and told me wanted to be a carpenter. i was unable to help or work with him as at that time i worked solely with metal. He's now been a shop fitter / carpenter for 20 years, so he made good on his plan.

I was in my dads workroom from such an early age I cant remember how old I was.
I will watch with interest.

The one thing I have already tried to teach my grandson is the old rhyme
"Keep your fingers away from the blade
and you will never need first aid"

 

[Fitzroy]

Bought my 6 yr old the set below and he has had plenty of fun with it, but it's not good enough to actually make something, the saw is truely terrible and actually dangerous as it's so bad but still pointy! I found he gets on best with a heavily set gents saw, the handle position seems easier than a trad saw, the high tooth count and heavy set means it's easy to push and resists binding. The best thing about the set is the small hammer, it's just the right size that he can use it safely and effectively. I wouldn't let him near a chisel without my direct supervision!

My 4 yr old is also very keen. Came off the roof whilst building the shed, not knowing he'd come to 'help', thankfully they both know not to touch knives and it's hard to cut yourself with a hacksaw. However I was much more careful with where I left tools after that day.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B001A9 ... 7963346932

F.

 

[Just4Fun]

Brushes etc for finishing are a safe bet. She might get in a mess but she won't cut herself.

 

[deema]

I remember starting to ‘play’ in my fathers workshop when I could see over the bench top. The only things I wasn’t allowed to use were power tools, locked away, carpenters axe, also locked away. With everything else I was good to go with. My father showed my how to use each item and then in essence left me to it. Yep, I cut myself, but never twice! I followed the same philosophy with my kids, alas none had much interest in wood working. I’m now only just a shade over 50.

At school from age 11 we did woodwork and metalwork. We used milling machines, shapers, band saws, lathes, disc sanders, forge, casting, welding and cutting torches with little to no supervision. None of us in a school of over 1200 had any accidents in the five year I was there.

We played with pen knives from 7 and sheaf knives from 9. Expected to play out from getting home from school until supper and then back out again until bed time. We went fishing miles from home, climbed trees and played on building sites. Yep, we had a ball and all survived with just bruises, cuts and the odd sprain / broken bone. In fact what I believe it made us aware of was risk and assessing it and not doing things too ridiculous.

I know in these days of cotton wool, health and safety, and risk assessments kids can do very little that’s exciting......

 

[Paddy Roxburgh]

My nine year old daughter always enjoys shaping with a spoken shave and rasp. They are both relatively safe and quite rewarding (in as much as it is easy to change the shape of a bit of wood.

 

[gmgmgm]

My boy of 6 has been into it for a few months. Very happy with just a small hammer, a (rapidly depleting) bag of nails, a little tenon saw and a spokeshave. Plenty of slabwood, and some plastic wheels to make his creations mobile.

Though he does insist on trying to drill holes with my Phillips screwdrivers, so I'd appreciate any ideas on simple tools for boring small holes a child could use. I don't think he'd have the patience for a manual drill, but maybe there is a twisty auger-type hand-tool somewhere to find.

 

[Farmer Giles]

I haven't thought about drilling holes too much yet, however I have a nice small throw brace that may be a good bet. The left hand one of these three.

I found a nice small ball pein hammer, and a small claw hammer, I also have some nice small wooden handle screwdrivers so slowly getting there.

Cheers
Andy

 

[adidat]

a small egg beater type drill would probaly be a better choice as swinging a brace nicely is quite an art.

or invest in a set of these and gain some very useful drills perfect for smnall hands under supervision!

adidat

 

[novocaine]

my 4 year old uses the pillar drill.

obviously under supervision though. I chuck the xy on the table, clamp a bit of wood in it and off he goes, stood on a box and happy as larry.

 

[Bob Graham]

We played with pen knives from 7 and sheaf knives from 9. Expected to play out from getting home from school until supper and then back out again until bed time. We went fishing miles from home, climbed trees and played on building sites. Yep, we had a ball and all survived with just bruises, cuts and the odd sprain / broken bone. In fact what I believe it made us aware of was risk and assessing it and not doing things too ridiculous.

Ditto.

 

[disco_monkey79]

Great idea. I was given a cantilever steel toolbox and some assorted tools by my grandparents for my 10th birthday - I can't say how made up I was with it!

 

[Farmer Giles]

I just bought this for the little 'uns bench

I've removed the loose paint, most of the rust and the splashes of white paint, just deciding whether to stick it in the sand blast cabinet and remove all the paint and repaint it, or just give it a wipe with boiled linseed oil then wax it and go with the "hipster industrial" look

Cheers
Andy

 

[Stanleymonkey]

I have found that a bench hook and gent's saw work really well with year 4, 5 and six kids. They do find the handle grip odd to start with but then then can cut large-ish pieces of wood safely and it's a nice size to cut through thin sheet material.

Small hammer and centre punch to keep the drill bits from wandering off before they bite. Files tends to be quite popular. Sandpaper glued down to a board (maybe with a cleat to catch it on the bench edge). I've used small block planes with ten and eleven year olds and they love them.

Slight left-field but I'll suggest a treadle scrollsaw from somehwere secondhandy if she really gets into it. Or the old hand crank pillar drills with the flywheel. They can turn quit large diameter Forstner bits and you can make quite interesting projects with those.

 

[Farmer Giles]

The vice cleaned up well and she gave it a coat of BLO to seal it

I then gave her an old stanley pump action screwdriver, a small cordless driver and a standard screwdriver and my old cordless drill to play with on a pile of scrap wood and my tin of assorted fixings that never get sorted.

She loved it so I can see more workshop time together.

Keep the ideas coming, I'm adding stuff to her toolbox as the ideas come through.

Cheers
Andy