Please be nice to the newbie.....

[Alf]

Pete, brilliant. Why the heck did that completely slip my mind? #-o (That's a rhetorical question, thanks all the same... )

 

[Anonymous]

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[Colin C]

Agree about using pine - except it can be "great" IMHO if appropriately used, and there are some excellent, interesting, high quality softwoods available.

cheers
Jacob

I agree that high quality softwood can and has been made in to some very nice furniture, plus on whole a much smaller out lay to get you started.

You will also know that if you can do it well in softwood, you should be well on your way to using hardwoods if you wish to

The thing to remember is that it is a long but fun road we all go down :wink:

 

[Roger]

Try this one Dave:

Geoffs Woodwork

Straight forward and honest with advice, details and prices for a decent tool list and expansion later.

..................

Ploget

 

[ByronBlack]

Heyho Newbie!

I'm a relatively new comer to the field also. And like Wizer, I bought a bunch of cheap rubbish that cost a fair wedge, since then i've gotten rid of all that tat and invested in better tools.

Unfortunatly I had to sell of most of my tools about a year ago, but have been slowly adding things back into my tool collection.

Here's my two penneth worth that I feel your budget should go towards to set you in the right direction (And it's what I would have done at the beginning if I knew what I know now).

Hand Tools:

No.5 Plane
Block Plane
Sharpening Kit
Scraper

Bevel Edge Chisels
Mortice Chisels
Mallet and Claw Hammer

Cross cut and rip cut saws
Dovetail and Tenon Saw

Engineers Square
Marking Gauge
Angle Gauge
Longer Carpenters Square

As many clamps as you can afford

Marking Knife (Or scalpel will do)
A few files and maybe a folding ruler.
Straight edge


As for power tools, you could get away with just the following to start with:

Cordless Drill - my most used tool
1/4" Router - A Ryobi is quite cheap and a very good tool for the money.
If your working with sheet material, then a half decent Circular Saw woudld be a wise investment, Hitachi and Skil do quite good ones for around £100

Hope that helps a little

Also, for reading material, I can highly recommed the Collins Encylopedia of Woodworking - has everything in there, wood types, tools, how to cut joints, projects, finishing etc.. and it's very cheap if you can get a copy off ebay!

 

[DomValente]

Welcome Dot,

RUN AWAY,RUN AWAY !!!!!

No?

Alright you asked for it, Good Luck.

Er, Face mask,Glue.
Start out with mdf if you must, a lot cheaper to make mistakes with but be aware that when you progress to solid timber not only will it be dearer but your tools will react differently to the material and a whole new learning curve on finishes suddenly appears.

Dom

 

[Pecker]

Hi Dot and welcome to the madhouse of talent we have here.

I'm a carpenter by trade and differ slightly from most on here that I make very little furniture, though my collegue does make some.

Firstly, as someone said at the start, keep with the first project. See it through. Yes you may get peed of with it but keep to it. The most important thing is the finish! If it takes an extra 10 mins to sand it down, or bury the screw heads, or cut the wood straight. DO IT. Start off how you mean to go along.. Think of a Chef. He can cook Spag Bol exactly the same as you. The difference? Presentation. In otherwords the finish!

Thinking about tools. a GOOD square is important. I also personally recomend a basic drill/driver, but thats 'cos I'm lazy
If you have got a Lidl near you keep an eye on their offers. (sign up to their online newsletter) They do some great tools. even their "parkside" powertool brand is well worth getting, I have a couple of theirs and they get hammered yet still keep going. Several of us on here get bits from there.

Ebay can be another good source,but do you research first. There is no need to go out and buy the best on the market to start with, but by the same score, that 99p square form the local pound shop, probably ain't worth it either. Be sensible. A good secondhand tool from a fellow user is better than a cheap new piece of junk.

We all have to start somewhere, please feel free to ask away. Even the "experienced" ones of us still ask many questions.
Good luck! (Oh and when you make your first million... remember us lot who helped you make it! )

Mark

 

[Paul Chapman]

Hi again dot,

If you've not seen it already, it's worth looking at this link, posted by Tony under General Woodworking, on how to cut a mortice - good example of what you can do with basic hand tools http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/ ... x?id=26994


Paul

 

[dot]

Guys, thanks again. Loads of useful advice and not that contradictory.

I'm currently a Master of Slopes, having recently simultaneously descended both the Slope of Having Children and the Slope of Renovating an Older House. So hopefully this one can't be any steeper, greasier or longer. (?)

I'm really attracted to this idea of starting with hand tools, either wholly or mainly. This I think partly sparked my interest recently - my father-in-law lent me an old Readers Digest DIY manual, from 1960 something, and I was just fascinated by all the different types of joints there are and how many ways there are to attach one bit of wood to another. And the whole manual was written pre-power tools. Funny, I also got given the 'Revised' RD DIY manual a couple of years back, and it looks completely useless by comparison.

And then I recently took out the door mortice mechanism from one of our original 1920s internal doors and was just amazed to see that the hole in the door that it fitted in absolutely perfectly had been gouged/chiselled out by hand.....obviously can't think how else they might have done it but hadn't given it any thought previously! I really like the whole 'craftsmanship' element, if that makes any sense.....probably related to the fact that my day job seems to revolve around sending e-mails all day and so never get to feel like I'm 'making' anything at work!

Dot

 

[mr]

As long as your not printing off those emails then at least youre not wasting resources that could otherwise be used

Cheers Mike

 

[Colin C]

I'm currently a Master of Slopes, having recently simultaneously descended both the Slope of Having Children and the Slope of Renovating an Older House. So hopefully this one can't be any steeper, greasier or longer. (?)


Dot

I would not bet on it , look at people like Philly 8-[ 8-[
( running for the hills, forgetting that I have a car ) :wink:

 

[engineer one]

i agree about the useof hand tools. but think about the time you have.

certain things like small cabinets etc are initially best made with
sheet goods, either mdf or pine boards. you have to get a feel
for how comfortable you feel making things.

then with a couple of things under your belt, and less pressing time
problems start to experiment with hand tools.
whatever you need to learn to saw straight, and scrap wood is more
difficult to find, old pallets offer some help, what you do not want to
do is practice on a really important job that you want to do too
quickly.

paul :wink:

 

[kevinr]

my father-in-law lent me an old Readers Digest DIY manual, from 1960 something, and I was just fascinated by all the different types of joints there are and how many ways there are to attach one bit of wood to another. And the whole manual was written pre-power tools. Funny, I also got given the 'Revised' RD DIY manual a couple of years back, and it looks completely useless by comparison.
Dot

If its the same 1960's Reader's Digest manual that I got off my Dad, then I would say its a good place to start - especially with an older house. It will tend to describe how your house is built/plumbed/wired - even if it shouldn't be done that way any more. If the '60's manual is in a black double sided binder then its the original (?) Jackson & Day manual. They also wrote an updated one for Collins in the 1980s (Collins Complete DIY manual). I've found that pretty good too. Both are general (proper) DIY though rather than being Woodworking bibles.

 

[Alf]

Had a look at PWW pdf. Not impressed. It hardly mentions hand tools at all.

But the projects are approachable, which is helpful.

Cheers, Alf

 

[Kane]

Hi mate I think I'm in the same position as you - lots of enthusiasm and no idea where to start lol after spending a fair time on this forum though I've decided to try the hand tool approach mainly because I have a limited budget and I'd prefer to spend money on good quality hand tools than waste it on low quality power tools - my current problem is trying to figure out how to get some decent quality but affordable (ok cheap) materials to start work on. Keep us posted on your progress

 

[Paul Chapman]

my current problem is trying to figure out how to get some decent quality but affordable (ok cheap) materials to start work on.

Hi Kane, a good source of decent quality wood can sometimes be from old furniture people are throwing out, although some of it will be small stuff. Also keep your eye open when you see pubs, schools churches, etc being re-furbished. The builders just seem to burn the stuff, and some of it is very good :wink:

Paul

 

[engineer one]

depending upon where you live there might be a re-cycling group that has some wood to get rid of.

the other thing is to go to the local "proper" wood yard, and buy scraps.
most yards have odd bits that might well suit you but not others, this
way you can often get some decent useful wood for little money.

paul :wink: