Workshop Must Have's...

[Norfolk75]

Although I'm building a workshop it won't be work related more hobby focused but not looking for budget tools.

I'm just wondering where everyone else started with & what are the main items to have to call it a workshop so to speak.
Thanks.

 

[pcb1962]

A bench

 

[SteveF]

what do you envisage making?

Steve

 

[Norfolk75]

what do you envisage making?

Steve

Nothing really in particular maybe odd bits of furniture like making solid beds & wardrobes etc, just something I've always wanted & ive got many projects I'd like to do with the garden too, decking jobs, etc.

I'm a dryliner by trade so my van is full of dry lining materials but don't think a taping knife, some channel off cuts etc will cut the mustard.

Cheers

 

[powertools]

Well I will tell you where I started some 45 odd years ago when I had my first house to renovate. I had a Stanley bridges drill with all the attachments and was satisfied with the results but it seems that these days the general consensus is that you will need the most expensive tools available in order to achieve good results.

 

[MattRoberts]

Blimey there's some grumps in this forum isn't there!

It's a bit of a subjective question - perhaps it's better to pick a first project and then look at the tools you'd need / want in order to complete it, and then go from there?

 

[Cheshirechappie]

A bench

Joking aside - that's about it. Almost everything else is optional, and down to personal preference.

If you're starting from scratch, then before you put ANYTHING in the workshop, paint the walls and ceiling white. It really helps to make the most of any natural or artificial light - of which there should preferably be plenty.

After that - build a couple of sawhorses, a bench with a decent vice, and some way to store tools neatly so that all of them are accessible immediately, some form of storage for screws, pins, glues, finishes and the usual odds and ends, and somewhere to store timber for the project in hand and useful offcuts - only the really good offcuts; ditch most, or you'll be waist deep in twelve months.

One thing that's very rarely mentioned, and really deserves to be, is SPACE. Having a place to stand the job you're working on and work all round it really makes a BIG difference to speed and efficiency of working (or restrict yourself to making nothing bigger than a jewellery box).

Machines? By all means fill the workshop with lovely machines you might use once a year, and have to perform a limbo dance to get at, but better to restrict yourself to two or three that will genuinely save work. A planer-thicknesser, maybe a bandsaw; but as soon as you install ANY machine, you'll need a good dust extraction set-up. That's quite a bit of space gone - hence the 'essentials only' approach. Worth asking if you can do it with hand-held power tools rather than a fixed machine - they're easier to store.

 

[Norfolk75]

A bench

Joking aside - that's about it. Almost everything else is optional, and down to personal preference.

If you're starting from scratch, then before you put ANYTHING in the workshop, paint the walls and ceiling white. It really helps to make the most of any natural or artificial light - of which there should preferably be plenty.

After that - build a couple of sawhorses, a bench with a decent vice, and some way to store tools neatly so that all of them are accessible immediately, some form of storage for screws, pins, glues, finishes and the usual odds and ends, and somewhere to store timber for the project in hand and useful offcuts - only the really good offcuts; ditch most, or you'll be waist deep in twelve months.

One thing that's very rarely mentioned, and really deserves to be, is SPACE. Having a place to stand the job you're working on and work all round it really makes a BIG difference to speed and efficiency of working (or restrict yourself to making nothing bigger than a jewellery box).

Machines? By all means fill the workshop with lovely machines you might use once a year, and have to perform a limbo dance to get at, but better to restrict yourself to two or three that will genuinely save work. A planer-thicknesser, maybe a bandsaw; but as soon as you install ANY machine, you'll need a good dust extraction set-up. That's quite a bit of space gone - hence the 'essentials only' approach. Worth asking if you can do it with hand-held power tools rather than a fixed machine - they're easier to store.

Thank you appreciate that.

 

[Blockplane]

I would say a triad of - Good light. Good ventilation. Good heating.

I will echo the point that 'less is more' - if you don't leave yourself plenty of space to manouvre yourself and your workpieces around the bench and machines you are in for a difficult time.

 

[AndyT]

Build yourself a second shed now, so your workshop doesn't have to get filled up with bikes, garden furniture etc.
If you don't have such things, you can use it to store wood in!

 

[Steve Maskery]

My Dad was a cabinet maker and did everything he could to dissuade us from going down the same path. He threatened to cut our hands off, actually.

But when I started my first job and asked the same question as you are asking he gave me some very simple advice, which I did take, heeded and have been very happy with.

Every pay-day, buy a tool. It doesn't matter whether it's a screwdriver or a tablesaw, buy a tool.

Now we are talking early 80s here, and times were different. There were local tool shops for a start. In Beeston we had Blacks and Poole's Tools, and if I wanted to go into Nottingham there was also Mibro. All gone now, of course.

Now Dad was paid weekly and I was paid monthly, but I kept to the principle, even when I was living in digs before I bought my first house. I still have my very first purchase, a 1/2" firmer-edge chisel.

I think the advice above is ound. Decise what your first project is and then buy THE BARE MINIMUM HAND TOOLS necessary to make it, and learn from that project.

Yes, I know it's easy for me to say that, I have a big workshop with lots of kit. But I am old and decrepit and have been building this up for decades. Despite having lost lots, I'm not actually starting from totally ground zero. But if I were, that is what I would do.

It is very easy indeed to waste money buying the wrong tools.

Tools and machines are like women. Just because they look attractive it doesn't mean that it is a good idea to make them part of your life.

 

[SteveF]

well i will have a try
wardrobe=sheet goods=circular saw \ track saw
bed=planer\thicknesser so you can buy cheaper timbers
planer\ thicknesser =chip extractor
mitre saw manual or powered
the usual drills\drillbits
a hand plane
rulers
tape measures 1 to use 4 to lose
pencils...bucket loads

Steve

 

[powertools]

Blimey there's some grumps in this forum isn't there!

It's a bit of a subjective question - perhaps it's better to pick a first project and then look at the tools you'd need / want in order to complete it, and then go from there?

Well I can only apologise if my reply came across as being grumpy it was not intended. The OP asked how we started and I started a long time ago and with the most basic of tools and although I have now moved on the skills I learned at the time have stood me in good stead.

 

[worn thumbs]

A bench,a vice,a hoover,a place to store tools and a means of sharpening them.Some craps will come in handy too.

 

[deema]

For everything I make, the three most used machines are in order
1. Circular saw (with sliding table), Sedgwick
2. Planner thicknesser, again Sedgwick
3. Spindle moulder, once again Sedgwick

Bench / vice (biggest you can fit/ afford )
Clamps (as many as you can get - look out for Bessey / old Record)
Marking knife
Engineers squares various sizes
Measuring stuff, but I tend to use a story stick.
Tennon saw 14 TPI
No 6 plane (veritas) and No 4 1/2 (LN)
Chisels, but my go to is 1 1/4" (31 or 32 mm)
Mallet
Hammer
Cordless drill driver (Dewalt)
Screw drivers (no 2 pozi)

That's it

Although I have lots of other kit, these are the high use items.

 

[Norfolk75]

My Dad was a cabinet maker and did everything he could to dissuade us from going down the same path. He threatened to cut our hands off, actually.

But when I started my first job and asked the same question as you are asking he gave me some very simple advice, which I did take, heeded and have been very happy with.

Every pay-day, buy a tool. It doesn't matter whether it's a screwdriver or a tablesaw, buy a tool.

Now we are talking early 80s here, and times were different. There were local tool shops for a start. In Beeston we had Blacks and Poole's Tools, and if I wanted to go into Nottingham there was also Mibro. All gone now, of course.

Now Dad was paid weekly and I was paid monthly, but I kept to the principle, even when I was living in digs before I bought my first house. I still have my very first purchase, a 1/2" firmer-edge chisel.

I think the advice above is ound. Decise what your first project is and then buy THE BARE MINIMUM HAND TOOLS necessary to make it, and learn from that project.

Yes, I know it's easy for me to say that, I have a big workshop with lots of kit. But I am old and decrepit and have been building this up for decades. Despite having lost lots, I'm not actually starting from totally ground zero. But if I were, that is what I would do.

It is very easy indeed to waste money buying the wrong tools.

Tools and machines are like women. Just because they look attractive it doesn't mean that it is a good idea to make them part of your life.

Thanks everyone for your replies appreciate it.

Very good advice buying the odd bits every payday. I am not starting the project for a few months so tomorrow I'll start with the odd tool. Thanks

 

[ED65]

In terms of tools I'd start with all hand tools and go from there. There was a thread on starter kit only about two weeks ago which would be well worth a look if you want to go this route: Your top 10 hand tools for a beginner Don't underestimate the need for clamps, you pretty much can't do a thing without them.

Beyond the specifics of what to acquire I'd recommend you buy as much kit from the secondhand market as possible (especially from car boots if there are any good ones in your area) as there's so much good stuff out there going for a song that only needs a bit of TLC to put right. But that's a very personal choice and if you have the money to spend and like new things then go that way, but do your best to be selective and not fall down the "Oh look, shiny!" rabbit hole.

After you get some tools together a solid work surface I think should be your number one priority. I can't get across how frustrating it is to work on something too light so it moves about as you're trying to saw or plane, or too lightly constructed so it racks. Or worst, both. It's like night and day once you get something solid underneath you so I highly recommend you spare yourself the pain of finding out the same thing for yourself.

It doesn't have to be a woodworking bench proper, just make it something good and solid, even if for the time being it's just a board clamped to a decent table.

After you have a work surface sorted the very next thing I'd build would be a bench hook and then you're set to make your first project.

 

[RobinBHM]

Im never convinced by the level of importance a bench has. I think it depends on the type of work and space.

Sometimes some trestles would be better and more fkexible in use.

Generally accurate cutting is a great starting point for any project, so a chop saw might be worth considering

 

[rafezetter]

Build yourself a second shed now, so your workshop doesn't have to get filled up with bikes, garden furniture etc.
If you don't have such things, you can use it to store wood in!

Then build a third shed, for all that "other wood" you bought / got given.

 

[CRAFTY]

A nice stash of pencils and a good hammer for when they go missing,
yes what was said above about space if you don't have much,sit down have a good think about what you want to be doing in the future,and then work towards collecting the tools you need for the job and fill the space wisely,so you might need a seat?