Newbies Beware !!!!!!!

[Mr_P]

Just read this blog and it made my blood boil

Bizarre list of basic tools

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/woodw ... king-tools

The internet is great resource when you are starting out but take everything with a massive pinch of salt.

From the blog
The other crucial thing I am concerned with is having tools that will allow me to work efficiently with rough cut or reclaimed lumber, because I need to save money on materials. Paying full price for many board feet of smooth, dimensioned stock is a fairly quick way to go broke – or at least lose your love of woodworking.

Save money on timber and spend a fortune on kit instead. Aaaaaggghhhh

 

[MMUK]

:roll: :roll: :roll:

 

[RogerP]

You mean I don't need to get all that stuff I see Norm using before I can make a start in the hobby? :shock:

 

[Rhossydd]

Save money on timber and spend a fortune on kit instead. Aaaaaggghhhh

I think you've missed his point there.
I read it as: Buy a planer/thicknesser and then you can more easily convert cheaper sawn timber and won't be spending all your budget on PAR timber.
Now the 'You can do it all with hand tools' brigade won't be swayed by that at all, but as some one happy to use any tech that makes life easier, I think it's a valid point.

Not that I'm defending all his article. I think a lot of other bits are bizarre and wrong. Buying a PT before a workbench ? rasps ? no straight edge ?

 

[M P Hales]

Knew I was going wrong somewhere

I haven't bought enough kit to start anything :!: :!: :!: :!:

Martin

 

[AndyT]

I agree it's an odd list. I still don't have a planer/thicknesses or random orbit sander, but I don't think it has held me back.

Maybe it's different in the more affluent USA but when I was a beginner in woodwork I also had very little money. That's why I wanted to make my own furniture!

For a long time my only power tool was a B&D drill, so I could fix things to the wall.

When I made more ambitious projects from proper timber I was happy to pay the timber merchant to do some cutting to size for me, better and more accurately than any machinery I could have bought.

 

[t8hants]

I've got 52 hand planes, about 25 chisels, misc saws, and a modest collection of strange hand tools that I don't what they do, so thats why I bought 'em. As I haven't made anything yet I clearly need more :?

G

 

[MMUK]

I've got 52 hand planes, about 25 chisels, misc saws, and a modest collection of strange hand tools that I don't what they do, so thats why I bought 'em. As I haven't made anything yet I clearly need more :?

G

Oh at least another 37 planes and 42 chisels for a start :wink:

 

[Eric The Viking]

It is a weird list.

I have two table saws, and neither is working at the moment. I usually don't miss them, to the extent that I keep having to move them out of the way. I'll get round to them eventually.

OTOH, I'd really really miss my small bandsaw. And less so but still handy, my mitre saw.

You can easily convert timber on the bandsaw, and square it up with hand tools. I made a large casement that way about three or four years ago, before I owned a p/t.

E.

 

[custard]

Tool lists are a bit weird, unless you make the same furniture in the same way as the author they're certain to be wrong.

 

[wellywood]

I see the writer of the list is the on-line editor for PWM. My guess is he's promoting the use of expensive power tools at the behest of his advertisers.

 

[bugbear]

This looks normal for many beginning USA woodworkers. For many, high disposable income, and large properties mean that a large workshop with a "full" range of power tools is quite within scope.

Take a look at some of the amateur shop shots on the web. Norm Abraham's show is aimed at amateurs!!

BugBear

 

[Harbo]

I always considered a P/T as a luxury item and was probably one of the last machines I bought, as there are plenty of other ways of preparing wood?
It does save a lot of time, as he has remarked, and I wouldn't like to be without one now.

Rod

 

[NickV]

My hand skills are not great but I know how to set up a machine. My 16" Dim. saw and 12" p/t are the heart of my workshop.
Although I didn't get them until I had done 3 years full time at college doing cab making and furniture design, then two years making stuff in our 4x8 garden shed using my dads old hand tools, then working nights for 2 years at B&Q to save the £2k to buy the machines second hand!

Nick