Minimal Tool Challenge

[Dr Al]

After spending all of last year working on the tool chest (and using pretty much every tool in my armoury), I thought I'd choose something a lot quicker for my next project. However, I'm keen to stretch myself a bit and, while thinking about options I came up with what struck me as an interesting idea:

Make a wooden box using as few tools as possible.

That sounded to me like a fun challenge, so I thought I'd write down a few rules that I'm going to adhere to and I thought I'd share them in case anyone else fancies having a go as well.

Challenge rules:

1. The aim is to produce a box and have a list of used tools that is as short as possible.
2. The box must be made from ONE plank of rough-sawntimber.
   • Two planks are allowed if (and only if) they're different timber species (e.g. one for the box frame and another for the top & bottom).
3. No manufactured boards are allowed (e.g. plywood, MDF, OSB etc).
4. Any and all tools used MUST be included in the list. Less obvious examples include:
   • Bench hardware (vices, bench dogs, holdfasts, etc). A bench is assumed, but only as a horizontal flat surface you can work on / clamp stuff to.
   • Other sawing aids (bench hooks, shooting boards, saw horses, etc).
   • Marking tools such as knives, pencils, pencil erasers, squares. A pencil counts as one tool (whether propelling or not), but if you use the eraser on the back end, that's another one.
   • Sharpening tools (stones, honing guides, strops etc).
   • Consumables like glue, masking tape, oil (along with anything you use to apply the glue or oil).
   • Every time you change to a different blade in a tool, it's an additional entry on the list. For example, use a plough plane or router plane with one cutter size and it's one entry. Change the blade to a different size and it's another entry.
   • Basically anything else you touch that isn't the timber you've chosen goes on the list. Pick up a cloth to clean some glue squeeze-out? The cloth goes on the list.
   • Water doesn't count (so you can wash your hands or clean a freshly sharpened blade) and neither does any lubricant specifically used for sharpening stones; any other fluid does. If you use a towel or paper cloth to dry your hands, that doesn't count; if you use it to dry the blade or remove some glue squeeze-out, it does.
   • Simple-shaped blocks cut out of excess wood from your plank of source timber don't count, but if you have to fix more than one block together, it counts.
     • For example, if you want to use an offcut of the source timber to protect your bench from chisel cuts or as something to clamp to the bench to push against, that doesn't count.
     • However, if you make something like a carpenter's square or a dovetail marking gauge out of the offcuts, that counts as another tool.
5. One power tool counts the same as 5 hand tools. Combination power tools (e.g. surface planer / thicknessers) count 5 for each function you use. Electric routers / drills count 5 per cutter/bit used. A lathe counts as one tool if treadle/human powered or 4 if electric. Each turning chisel used gets counted as one additional tool.
6. Re-use of tools is encouraged. Use the side of a hand plane as a straight edge and the blade as a marking knife? That still counts as one tool.
7. The box must be made out of multiple pieces of wood joined together: for example connecting the sides with dovetails, finger joints or splined mitres is fine; taking a large lump of wood, carving out a pocket and calling it a box isn't acceptable. Similarly, sticking a blank in a lathe and drilling a hole doesn't count.
8. There won't be any prizes but maximum kudos will go to the prettiest box made with the fewest tools, especially if you take photos of the processes that were most awkward with your chosen tool set!
   

 

[Etaf]

this maybe an interesting view

 

[Dr Al]

This is the plank (of rough-sawn Ash) I'm going to use (mainly because it's the first one that came to hand and wasn't already allocated for something else):

and this is my initial set of tools:

I suspect I'll need more in due course, but this seemed like a sensible set to begin with. I'll also add some finish of some sort to that list, so that'll be 9 tools I think in total if I manage not to need anything else.

My tool set described in a bit more detail...

Definite:

• Stanley #4½. Seems a good compromise size; I'm sure a #4 would also be fine.
• One saw - probably Kataba, possibly Dozuki. A Ryoba would probably be a good option, but I'm sure someone would argue that it's two saws as it has two sets of teeth!
• Combination square. This can be used as a square and also as a distance gauge for marking board thickness.
• 6 mm chisel. This will be used for paring and chopping; it has to be small enough to get into the pins. Ideally it is also small enough to not need a hammer, so 6 mm seems a good option.
• An F-Clamp. If the joinery's good enough, it won't need clamping. The clamp will be for holding stuff to the bench for sawing and planing.
• Pencil for marking which piece goes where. Arguably I could cope without this, but that sounds too hard!
• One thin cheap diamond sharpening sheet (1000 grit probably).
• Leather strop.
• Fish glue.
• Oil/other finish of some sort.

Maybe (I'll avoid if at all possible):

• Hammer (if the chisel is sharp enough I might get away without this).
• Another F-Clamp.
• Paintbrush for applying glue (I'll try to just use my finger and see whether that works).
• Damp cloth or similar for glue clean up. If I'm very careful, I might get away without this, although if I don't use the paintbrush, being careful might be difficult!
• Something to clean up the finish and also to clean blades after sharpening (paper towels probably).

Notable absences from my list:

• Marking knife. I'd normally consider this an essential, but the plane iron has a sharp corner that I hope will serve the purpose.
• Honing guide. I usually use a honing guide as, while it adds about 15 seconds to set-up time, it saves that in sharpening time as you can move the blade so much faster on the stone; it also gives a more consistent edge so saves time regrinding later. However, I'm trying to minimise tools here, so it has to be out.
• Shooting board. One of my most used tools, but I think I can cope without.
• Bench hook or equivalent. I'll just clamp the board to the bench with the end hanging off.
• Vice. I'll have to find ways to cope with just clamping stuff to the bench.
• Bench dogs / planing stop - I'll assume that the only thing available is a sturdy flat surface. I can clamp offcuts to the bench to use as stops.
• Bandsaw - so resawing the board for the box top & bottom is going to be hard work (especially without a vice)!

 

[Dr Al]

this maybe an interesting view

There's a heck of lot of power tools and clamps used in that (plus it uses plywood, which is off-limits), so I'm not sure it's going to help me much. Thanks for the link though.

 

[paulrbarnard]

After spending all of last year working on the tool chest (and using pretty much every tool in my armoury), I thought I'd choose something a lot quicker for my next project. However, I'm keen to stretch myself a bit and, while thinking about options I came up with what struck me as an interesting idea:

Make a wooden box using as few tools as possible.

That sounded to me like a fun challenge, so I thought I'd write down a few rules that I'm going to adhere to and I thought I'd share them in case anyone else fancies having a go as well.

Challenge rules:

1. The aim is to produce a box and have a list of used tools that is as short as possible.
2. The box must be made from ONE plank of rough-sawntimber.
   • Two planks are allowed if (and only if) they're different timber species (e.g. one for the box frame and another for the top & bottom).
3. No manufactured boards are allowed (e.g. plywood, MDF, OSB etc).
4. Any and all tools used MUST be included in the list. Less obvious examples include:
   • Bench hardware (vices, bench dogs, holdfasts, etc). A bench is assumed, but only as a horizontal flat surface you can work on / clamp stuff to.
   • Other sawing aids (bench hooks, shooting boards, saw horses, etc).
   • Marking tools such as knives, pencils, pencil erasers, squares. A pencil counts as one tool (whether propelling or not), but if you use the eraser on the back end, that's another one.
   • Sharpening tools (stones, honing guides, strops etc).
   • Consumables like glue, masking tape, oil (along with anything you use to apply the glue or oil).
   • Every time you change to a different blade in a tool, it's an additional entry on the list. For example, use a plough plane or router plane with one cutter size and it's one entry. Change the blade to a different size and it's another entry.
   • Basically anything else you touch that isn't the timber you've chosen goes on the list. Pick up a cloth to clean some glue squeeze-out? The cloth goes on the list.
   • Water doesn't count (so you can wash your hands or clean a freshly sharpened blade) and neither does any lubricant specifically used for sharpening stones; any other fluid does. If you use a towel or paper cloth to dry your hands, that doesn't count; if you use it to dry the blade or remove some glue squeeze-out, it does.
   • Simple-shaped blocks cut out of excess wood from your plank of source timber don't count, but if you have to fix more than one block together, it counts.
     • For example, if you want to use an offcut of the source timber to protect your bench from chisel cuts or as something to clamp to the bench to push against, that doesn't count.
     • However, if you make something like a carpenter's square or a dovetail marking gauge out of the offcuts, that counts as another tool.
5. One power tool counts the same as 5 hand tools. Combination power tools (e.g. surface planer / thicknessers) count 5 for each function you use. Electric routers / drills count 5 per cutter/bit used. A lathe counts as one tool if treadle/human powered or 4 if electric. Each turning chisel used gets counted as one additional tool.
6. Re-use of tools is encouraged. Use the side of a hand plane as a straight edge and the blade as a marking knife? That still counts as one tool.
7. The box must be made out of multiple pieces of wood joined together: for example connecting the sides with dovetails, finger joints or splined mitres is fine; taking a large lump of wood, carving out a pocket and calling it a box isn't acceptable. Similarly, sticking a blank in a lathe and drilling a hole doesn't count.

Nice challenge but why the restriction on one pkank of wood unless it’s two types? Some of us don’t have access to big planks of wood. I quite often have to edge joint to get a reasonable width.

 

[Dr Al]

Nice challenge but why the restriction on one pkank of wood unless it’s two types? Some of us don’t have access to big planks of wood. I quite often have to edge joint to get a reasonable width.

Yes, that's a fair point. The reason I put that rule in is I wanted to be sure that planks were prepared as part of the challenge. If you had four pieces of wood lying around that happened to be about the right size for the four sides of a box, then it seemed a bit like cheating to me.

 

[Dr Al]

I started by shortening the board to a more sensible (and rather arbitrary) length so I had something a bit more manageable to work with:

Then I drew a straight-ish line (my combination square isn't that long, so I just accepted straight-ish) and sawed off the bark:

It was a bit wobbly with only one clamp holding it down, but it worked.

I then used the combination square to mark a fixed distance (about 85 mm I think) away from the sawn edge:

I'm not worrying too much about actual sizes at the moment, that'll come after planing. I sawed that bit off and also sawed a thin bit (about 8 mm wide) off the other side:

All the bits cut up for now (including a random little block that I had an idea to use but didn't in the end):

The thin bit acts as a planing stop: it's quite long so the plane doesn't crash into the clamp at the end of the stroke (this will be more important once I get the thickness of the plank down to something more sensible):

I haven't finished flattening one face yet (and haven't decided whether to chop it up into bits before doing so). Once a face is flattened it needs to come down in thickness by quite a lot. I haven't decided whether to try resawing (which I'll almost certainly have to do for the box lid and base), or just to keep attacking it at with the plane. I'm already wishing I'd included some wax (for the plane base) on the list, but I'm trying to resist adding it for now.

 

[Dr Al]

I left the board yesterday with one face planed and not much else done. The first job this morning was to plane the edges. I started by cutting a notch into the end of the off-cut:

... and then chopping it off the end of the board and clamping it to the bench. It could then be used to hold the board while getting the edge square and straight:

I've never used that method of work holding for edge planing (I usually just hold it in the vice); it worked really well and I'll probably use it a lot more in future - I might even make something that drops into the dog holes for ease of use, but that's for another day and another project.

At this point, I decided to chop the board up into four pieces and work on them separately. I slightly regretted this later, but it wasn't a big deal.

The width of the boards was marked up (purely based on the widest I could get out of all four pieces):

I then planed them down to the line, checking for square and comparing the board widths to each other periodically. This was the stage where I regretted chopping them up so small as the notched stop thing didn't work as well as a vice with such a short length of board.

Next up was dismantling the plane so that I could use the blade as a marking knife. I took the opportunity to strop it a few times on the leather piece; I still haven't needed to use the diamond plate yet; I thought I may get away without the diamond plate if I get in the habit of stropping very regularly.

I used the combination square and the plane iron to mark thickness of about 8 mm, which seemed reasonable for a box this size. The plane iron worked well; the lines aren't that visible in this photo, but they're clear enough in reality (I went over them later with a pencil anyway for clarity):

The next job was to remind myself why I bought a bandsaw: resawing. The process was straightforward enough: clamp the piece upright to the bench (this was why I made sure both edges were square before starting resawing) and attack it with the saw:

I dislike resawing enough when using my big 300 mm Ryoba (with progressive 7 to 4.5 TPI rip teeth). It's even worse using a Kataba with teeth that look to be designed for cross-cutting!

Anyway, one plank done ready for planing; three more to go (plus the pieces for the top and bottom if I can't use the offcuts from this resawing operation):

 

[paulrbarnard]

I left the board yesterday with one face planed and not much else done. The first job this morning was to plane the edges. I started by cutting a notch into the end of the off-cut:

View attachment 171909



... and then chopping it off the end of the board and clamping it to the bench. It could then be used to hold the board while getting the edge square and straight:


View attachment 171910


I've never used that method of work holding for edge planing (I usually just hold it in the vice); it worked really well and I'll probably use it a lot more in future - I might even make something that drops into the dog holes for ease of use, but that's for another day and another project.

At this point, I decided to chop the board up into four pieces and work on them separately. I slightly regretted this later, but it wasn't a big deal.

View attachment 171911


The width of the boards was marked up (purely based on the widest I could get out of all four pieces):


View attachment 171912


I then planed them down to the line, checking for square and comparing the board widths to each other periodically. This was the stage where I regretted chopping them up so small as the notched stop thing didn't work as well as a vice with such a short length of board.


View attachment 171913


Next up was dismantling the plane so that I could use the blade as a marking knife. I took the opportunity to strop it a few times on the leather piece; I still haven't needed to use the diamond plate yet; I thought I may get away without the diamond plate if I get in the habit of stropping very regularly.

I used the combination square and the plane iron to mark thickness of about 8 mm, which seemed reasonable for a box this size. The plane iron worked well; the lines aren't that visible in this photo, but they're clear enough in reality (I went over them later with a pencil anyway for clarity):


View attachment 171914

The next job was to remind myself why I bought a bandsaw: resawing. The process was straightforward enough: clamp the piece upright to the bench (this was why I made sure both edges were square before starting resawing) and attack it with the saw:

View attachment 171915

I dislike resawing enough when using my big 300 mm Ryoba (with progressive 7 to 4.5 TPI rip teeth). It's even worse using a Kataba with teeth that look to be designed for cross-cutting!

Anyway, one plank done ready for planing; three more to go (plus the pieces for the top and bottom if I can't use the offcuts from this resawing operation):

View attachment 171916

I recently ripped up a few parts for secret Santa using handsaws. It’s certainly invigorating. I also didn’t cut close to the line in fear of going over it. That resulted in a lot of planing. Not so bad in my case as I used four planes for the job, scrub, 5 ½, panel and smoother.

 

[Dr Al]

I recently ripped up a few parts for secret Santa using handsaws. It’s certainly invigorating. I also didn’t cut close to the line in fear of going over it. That resulted in a lot of planing. Not so bad in my case as I used four planes for the job, scrub, 5 ½, panel and smoother.

Much more sensible than what I'm doing!

 

[Dr Al]

Why oh why oh why did I choose a cross-cut saw? †

That was really hard work, but all four pieces are resawn down to a more respectable thickness now:

The offcuts from the smaller pieces were used as planing stops:

I didn't leave much excess material when sawing (my sawing is getting more accurate!), so it didn't take long to plane them all down to the line. The offcut from one of the long sides was thick enough that I'll be able to use it as a drawer bottom; unfortunately I meandered a bit when sawing the other long piece, so the other long offcut is too thin to be usable, so I'll have to do more resawing (or think of an alternative plan for a lid)

So far, the tools I've used are:

• Stanley 4½
• Kataba (cross-cut saw)
• Combination Square
• One F-Clamp
• Pencil
• Leather strop

I haven't used a chisel yet, but I will soon. The size will depend a bit on what I choose to do for the top and the bottom as the chisel is the only tool I've got for preparing grooves (gulp) and hence it needs to be an appropriate size.

† The reason I chose a cross-cut saw was that I thought a Ryoba (with cross-cut and rip teeth) would be cheating and I don't have any other backless rip saws. Doesn't mean I don't regret choosing a cross-cut saw though!

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

I could make an entire mitred box with just a table saw. Would that count?

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Dr Al]

I could make an entire mitred box with just a table saw. Would that count?

It would count, but I wouldn't give it an especially good score. According to rule 5, power tools count as 5 tools, so you're starting with 5. I would argue that if you use additional jigs beyond the fence, then they're extra tools, so the mitre gauge or whatever else you use for cross-cutting counts as an extra one. A mitred box would need glue and at least one clamp of some sort at the very minimum, so you're up to 8 now and without any more, you'll struggle to call it "the prettiest box made with the fewest tools".

 

[Dr Al]

I decided to put off thinking about resawing more material for the box lid and just get on with the dovetailing. I started by marking out the shoulder lines with the plane blade and the combination square. The plane blade doesn't make a great marking knife (unsurprisingly) although it cuts nicely. The main problem with it is all that extra sharp blade hanging out the back: I'm not counting finger plasters as tools for the tool list :lol:

With the shoulder lines marked out, I could pencil some lines across the ends for tails and clamp the board down for sawing:

The extra saw line in the middle of the pin socket is to help with chiselling out the waste.

A similar set-up was used to saw the ends off, keeping away from the line as I don't trust myself doing this with a Kataba.

I then added another tool to the arsenal: a 3 mm chisel. I had been planning to use a 6 mm one originally, but I figured the 3 mm one would be easier to push through the end grain without having a hammer or mallet available.

All four pin sockets and six out of eight ends are now chiselled to the line:

I haven't done one corner of each board as I'm still figuring out how the (sliding) lid will work. I probably need to do another straight cut in from the end and chisel out the waste.

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

These were made with a handplane, dovetail saw, fretsaw and a chisel (to remove the waste). Add a shooting board as a tool, if you consider it one, but it was integral in sizing parts. The wood came from a pallet, so already in strips and close to size.

Japanese tool boxes ...

Christmas presents ..

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Dr Al]

These were made with a handplane, dovetail saw, fretsaw and a chisel (to remove the waste). Add a shooting board as a tool, if you consider it one, but it was integral in sizing parts. The wood came from a pallet, so already in strips and close to size.

Japanese tool boxes ...

Okay, now we're talking!

The shooting board definitely counts (believe me, I would have used one by now if it didn't!). Did you use a hammer/mallet with your chisel? Any marking tools like squares, knives, pencils etc? Any glue or rags to clean up glue or brushes to apply glue? Any clamps? They all count!

 

[Fergie 307]

I like the idea. Not sure about counting rags as tools though, that seems a tad excessive

 

[Dr Al]

Before moving onto cutting pins, I wanted to get the grooves ploughed in the long sides. The main reason for this is so that I could figure out what to cut out for the open end of the box. Ploughing was done by marking the sides of the groove with the straight edge of the combination square and the corner of the plane iron and then using a 3 mm chisel to remove the waste.

It was a bit messy (especially the first one) with some side tear-out when I wasn't being careful, but there's no chance in hell I'm starting again, so I'm just going to live with the tear-out

As I ploughed the grooves, I kept stropping the chisel on the leather in the hope that I won't have to add a sharpening stone to the list if I keep it regularly stropped.

All the grooves in the long sides ploughed and an extra bit chopped out at the front end of the box for a narrow pin:

Marking the pins without having a vice or a proper marking knife on the tool list was, quite frankly, a pain in the proverbial posterior. This is how I did it:

The top side of each tail wasn't that bad to mark; the bottom side was extremely awkward. This is not a way I would recommend anyone transfer tails to pins

With the lines marked on the end of the board, I clamped the board to the bench and sawed as close to the line as possible, again wishing I'd chosen a rip saw rather than a cross-cut one:

To try to save the work for the chisel, I also sawed a load of intermediate lines and then came in at an angle to get rid of as much of the waste as possible:

Then it was just a case of chopping the waste out, using a wiggling action on the chisel as I don't have a hammer or mallet in the list. Thankfully, the small size of the 3 mm chisel means it goes through quite easily, it just takes a lot of goes to clear out the big tail sockets.

Given the difficulty of transferring marks, I was quite pleased with the first joint:

This is where I've got to so far: two joints finished (the second one wasn't quite as neat as the first, but like I said, I'm not starting again!)

I've just been handed a glass of mulled wine, so I don't think I'll be doing any more this evening

 

[Dr Al]

I like the idea. Not sure about counting rags as tools though, that seems a tad excessive

Yeah, it probably is a bit harsh

When I was writing the rules I was trying to encourage finding alternative ways of doing things. For example, using the plane iron as a marking knife. How about using a handful of plane shavings instead of a rag: they work very well for getting rid of excess glue, so why not other things?

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Add a cutting gauge and gennou to my previous list. Include a workbench, but I think that is missing the point of a "minimal tool build".

The box below has mitred corners and needed a shooting board (Donkeys Ear) and plough plane. Cut to rough size with a backsaw, shoot to final dimension, add the mitres with the DE, and plough the grooves.





Regards from Perth

Derek