Noobie (But don't let that discourage you)

[Webblet]

Hello everyone,

This is the first time I have posted on this forum. From what i've read so far you all seem to be very supportive of each other and that support is what I am going to try and tape into so that I can launch myself into the world of wood.

I am a complete beginner. For instance, my bench is a couple of pieces of scaffold board and I don't quite have the space to swing the cat, Mango (don't worry I haven't actually tried). I also have very few tools and no training. So, this should make for a few laughs :lol: when I post the projects that I finally get around to making.

In the interests of gaining knowledge I'm going to be pestering you all with questions that you will probably think are the most basic of questions. You may think "Oh God not another noobie" but please bare with me. If there is good information somewhere that you've seen I would appreciate either the link or a reference as to where I can find it myself.

So, here goes...

As a starter for one...

If you were starting out again with all the knowledge you have now and you had to go shopping for new/used tools, with a very limited budget, what would be your first, lets say 10, purchases? These are tools that you couldn't live without and includes jigs, clamps, books and the like.

Well, I hope that gets you thinking. Maybe back to when you first started and how easy it is now now that you've got your...(fill in the blank).

Hope to speck to you all soon.

Tom

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi Tom

Welcome to the forum.

To help us answer your question it would be helpful to know the following: -

What is it that you are going to be making?

Are you going down the hand tool or power tool route?

What is your budget?

Which tools do you already have?

Cheers,
Neil

 

[mr]

You may think "Oh God not another noobie"

On the contrary the more the merrier.

First ten tools on a limited budget.

a crosscut saw
a tenon saw
a jack plane
3 chisels (small medium and large) - is that three tools from my ten possibles?
sharpening stone(s) - minefield alert.
marking knife
try square
Hammer.


With these you could potentially make the other tools that you might want at least in the starting out phase.

Cheers Mike

 

[woodbloke]

Weblet - welcome to the forum, here's my 10 starter tools. In my view much better to buy older planes, saws and chisels as they're generally better quality and cheaper too:

300mm steel rule
No5 plane
Low angle block plane
12 mm bevel edge chisel
Sharpening stone, fine (agree with Mike, klaxon alert :wink
Honing guide
Tenon saw
Marking gauge
Marking knife
150mm engineers square

 

[yfs1]

I would probably buy 10 clamps (I seem to never have enough clamps)

 

[carpenteire]

Don't make the mistake I made years ago and start rushing out to buy power tools; since then I've returned to hand tools in earnest. Any of the tools already recommended would be on my list, ditto the comment regarding sharpening and methods. However a good starting point would be a Norton India combination oil stone which will give good results for the begineer I think. The usual "buy the best you can afford" caveat applies.

 

[Michael7]

I've so far made a few things for around the house with the last one I only needed to buy the materials. If you can buy the materials and tools to make something cheaper than you would buy it in the shops then you can't go wrong. From what I learned so far spend money on good quality chisels, I bought a really cheap set and they dont hold an edge for any length of time

 

[Pekka Huhta]

I would say that in case you ever end up buying or using old tools, a fine sharpening stone won't do but you need a coarse one. I know many people who just got frustrated in the sharpening process, either trying to sharpen an old battered iron or new mishandled (or chipped) one and slowly stopped any woodworking or changed to power tools. Sharpening does not need to be a job that takes hours to do.

Other items are good. I would place the sharpening stones first on the list. Nothing so important in woodworking, I'd say.

Pekka

 

[Webblet]

I've just spent an hour writing a reply (slow thinker) to Neils' questions about what I want to do and what tools i've got. But unfortunately when I pressed 'submit' it asked me to log in and it deleted everything I had written. Grrrr. So I shall reply latter when I can remember what it was that I wrote.

But it seems that sharpening is a big issue around here. What do people think of using sand paper, in various grades, for sharpening?

Thankyou everyone that has responded so far.

Tom

 

[Gary S]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

Depends on your budget and what kind of things you'd like to make, but ebay would be a good place to start in my opinion - you can pick up some good second hand bargains if you're patient AND you know what you're looking for.

I've got some really good tools from ebay - good brands at half the price because they're second hand. Personally I'd say a good brand used is better than a new 'cheapo' brand (assuming 'used' doesn't mean 'abused'!).

I'm a 'power' man and don't do much in the way of hand tools but that's a choice you'll need to make... I appreciate carpenteire says avoid Power tools and that's his call - I guess there are as many power tool lovers as there are haters! I'm just a sucker for a gadget...

Good luck and have fun!!

Gary

 

[motownmartin]

What's wrong with power tools, can we all get by without the likes of a Table saw, Bandsaw and Router :?: personally I have very few hand tools, maybe because I have a good understanding about machinery or don't have a good understanding about hand tools. I see the router as equal to about a hundred different hand planes, I suppose it comes down to want you want to produce and how quickly you want to produce it.

 

[Pekka Huhta]

But it seems that sharpening is a big issue around here. What do people think of using sand paper, in various grades, for sharpening?

I'd say it is the cheapest way to start and also gives you a very good variation on the different grades from fine to polish.

There are better experts than me on the forum, but I would say that most of the advanced sharpeners will end up using water- or oilstones in the end. That's what I do (I'm an oilstone man myself) but still I may take out the papers and glass for something special. Usually when needing something bigger than a stone could provide, or sometimes if I want a coarse grit and do not want to use Tormek (as on flattening backs).

Papers get a bit expensive over the time, but they give you an excellent idea of sharpening.

Pekka

 

[motownmartin]

I've just spent an hour writing a reply (slow thinker) to Neils' questions about what I want to do and what tools i've got. But unfortunately when I pressed 'submit' it asked me to log in and it deleted everything I had written. Grrrr. So I shall reply latter when I can remember what it was that I wrote.

But it seems that sharpening is a big issue around here. What do people think of using sand paper, in various grades, for sharpening?

Thankyou everyone that has responded so far.

Tom

What a pain :shock: maybe the browser back arrow would have saved your frustration with a copy & paste

 

[xraymtb]

I was in a similar position not so long ago so here's my list (I might go over ten but in the order I bought them...)

Crosscut Saw
Drill (Cordless - although corded would have been cheaper had it not been the local stores closing down clearance)
Tenon Saw
Combination Square
Marking Knife
Low Angle Block Plane
Marking Guage
No. 4 Plane (An Ebay bargain)
Steel Rule (Combination Square was used until I started larger projects)
Sharpening Kit (lapping paper/honing guage etc. - cheap beginner option)
3 Bevel Edge Chisels (again as a kit)

And I have just purchased a bandsaw (again - Ebay bargain)...

On top of that I already had screwdrivers, hammers, pin hammers and a workbench for general DIY around the house. I could have gone the route of a jigsaw rather than the bandsaw but I got a good deal.

In terms of buying cheaper kit, although many people will advise that you steer clear of budget tools, I find that most mid range kit can be acceptable and has lasted well with good results (i.e. don't buy B&Q own brand planes but you also don't need a LN or Veritas in the beginning - there does exist a usable and reasonable value middle ground.) Whilst the maxim of buy cheap, buy twice, holds true in part, for somebody trying to kit themselves out in the beginning I would see spending £100 on a set of 3 chisels or over £200 on a single plane as a massive excess.

 

[tnimble]

Welcome to the forum Tom!

At one time every body was a uneducated beginner without a decent place to work. Some if not all of these things get sorted out sooner or later.

Also beginner questions can also be handy for the advanced, the better you get to more you know and the more you forget.

I woul'd not give a list of 10 tools. But split it up in 3 lists!

The list of things you can't do without:
- fine soft pencil
- an eraser
- a long steel rule
- a good engineers or try square
- low angle block plane
- decent clamps that clamp as parallel as you can find and afford
- a fine handsaw for crosscutting
- smaller chisels of decent quality
- a set of medium, fine and super fine sharpening media
- honing guide

The list of powered things you could find a strong need for:
- a shop vac to clean up after your self
- table saw with a good stable rip fence, flat top and good mitre gauge or sled.
- powerful handheld router
- a drlll press
- dust collection system
- a table to put your router in (combine with the table saw to save spare and reuse the quality of the rip fence)
- a bandsaw or jigsaw to safe space
- a thicknesser
- a jointer
- a sander

The list of elbow grease powered items:
- a smoother plane preferable a jack or fore plane tuned up as a smoother
- a marking knife
- a ryoba saw for various joinary cuts
- small chisels to grind skewed to reach is small corner like with dovetails
- a shoulder plane
- a marking gauge
- a jointer plane
- a douzuki saw for very fine cuts like dovetails
- a heavier mortising chisel
- a decent mallet or hamer

 

[bobscarle]

What could I not do without? Thats a tricky question, but here goes. There are three power tools I use regularly, the table saw, the router (hand held), and a pistol drill. As far as hand tools go, chisels, saws, planes and measures. Two or three decent chisels, a crosscut saw, a number 5 plane and a steel tape.

As for sharpening, I use the scary sharp method (wet and dry paper on a sheet of glass), but I would not be without my honing guide. Many people will tell you that sharpening by hand is not a problem, but I have had no success (maybe just me being useless). So I would say the tenth item on the list would be a honing guide.

Bob

 

[ByronBlack]

Scary sharp works out quite expensive, so I would I personally get the Ice-Bear kit of waterstones from axminster, they are very good value and will last for many years.

So, my final 9 purchases would be:

1. D. Charlseworth DVD collection - this will give you all the information you need to sharpen, tune and use your edged tools.

2. A strong solid workbench with a decent vice, coupled with a bench hook and shooting board.

3. Combination Guage for marking out mortices and dimension lines.

4. A good marking knife.

5. Veritas No.5 Bevel Up Jack, will do almost anything you need

6. Veritas Block Plane

7. Bandsaw, or Tablesaw - depends on what you are doing.

8. A set of squares or a decent combination square for marking 90 and 45.

9. Router table with router for all your edge mouldings, grooves etc..

I would add an extra to this list, a decent set of chisels, in my view these are essential, Kirschen, or Ashley Iles would be my choice.

 

[mr]

But it seems that sharpening is a big issue around here. What do people think of using sand paper, in various grades, for sharpening?

I'd say it is the cheapest way to start and also gives you a very good variation on the different grades from fine to polish.
Pekka

Possibly the cheapest way to start but possibly also the most expensive way to carry on over the lifetime of your tools.

Bear in mind when looking at buying tools that some can be used to make others and in this way you can bootstrap your way into business. For example with a saw, and some chisels you can build a bench and a shute board, then a mallet etc. I would avoid power tools completely at this stage if I were you. Firstly it's easy to buy rubbish particularly when working to a budget, secondly if you really are a complete newbie chances are that you don't really know what you will need yet, and lastly the handtool skills will give you a firm grounding for understanding the whys of what the powered tools do.

Cheers Mike

 

[ByronBlack]

But it seems that sharpening is a big issue around here. What do people think of using sand paper, in various grades, for sharpening?

I'd say it is the cheapest way to start and also gives you a very good variation on the different grades from fine to polish.
Pekka

Possibly the cheapest way to start but possibly also the most expensive way to carry on over the lifetime of your tools.

Bear in mind when looking at buying tools that some can be used to make others and in this way you can bootstrap your way into business. For example with a saw, and some chisels you can build a bench and a shute board, then a mallet etc. I would avoid power tools completely at this stage if I were you. Firstly it's easy to buy rubbish particularly when working to a budget, secondly if you really are a complete newbie chances are that you don't really know what you will need yet, and lastly the handtool skills will give you a firm grounding for understanding the whys of what the powered tools do.

Cheers Mike

I agree completely with that sentiment. When I first started, I made a lot of mistakes in buying a load of crap power tools from screwfix and the like because they were cheap and I didnt know much about the hobby, but after a couple of years and a luckhurst training course it all dawned on me that I had wasted many hundreds of pounds, and I sold the lot and started again, and took the route more or less as Mike has suggested.

 

[Lord Nibbo]

I'll start with five tools

1)
A circular saw, it'll do for ripping and cross cutting. You can buy dedicated blades later.

Or a hand panel saw, same as above you can buy dedicated stuff when you can afford it.

so now you can saw wood to rough sizes it don't matter if it's a plank or a sheet of mdf.

2)
A Stanley number 5 plane, plenty of these at most car boots or a number 4 will do if you don't see a number 5, same could be said of a number 6.

3)
A cheap set of chisels, 6mm(1/4") being the smallest 19mm (3/4") being the biggest. A lot of the cheap chisel sets also offer an oil stone this will suffice to sharpen the plane.

4)
A square, lots to choose from but this sort can do as a makshift for a gauge.

5)
A hammer.

You now have enough tools to get you to the slope :lol:

Oh! and welcome to the slope :lol: