You don’t have to be a genius to figure out that, if you want to build stuff out of wood, you’re gonna need some tools. Aside from a bunch of screwdrivers, socket wrenches, pliers, and electrical tools, I had none, and it’s not like the soldering iron and crimper are gonna help much with woodworking. When I was still living in Chicago, I got myself a toolbox and gradually started to pick up some smaller things that would probably be useful, such as clamps, a mallet, and a claw hammer.
At some point, I needed to drill something and drive some screws, so I got a cordless drill and a set of twist drill bits. I added a brad-point set later. However, the drill was more of a necessity for non-woodworking tasks. I’d decided by that point that I’d steer clear of a lot of power tools, especially when starting out. Electricity is nice and all, but it’s pretty impersonal, and some of those tools are really dangerous.
As a whole, my approach is going to be one of reading a boatload of stuff about woodworking, then gradually getting the tools as I need them. This is practical for a number of reasons; first, there’s no need to buy anything that I’ll never use; second, there’s no use in buying something that I don’t know how to use; and third, I don’t exactly have a lot of space anyway. Understand that I live in an apartment in a big city. Solving the workshop space problem is already a work-in-progress; I don’t need a bunch of stuff encroaching on my living space.
One my earlier discoveries in woodworking is that, as the beginner, the modern world has generally conspired to deprive you of good hand tools that don’t cost an arm and a leg. Yeah, there are some very high-end tools that you can buy new for hundreds of dollars. And guess what–they are about as good as the same stuff that sold for $3 back in 1930. But most of the new hand tools on the market are garbage, and that means that you have to figure out a way to stock your set with stuff that’s about 70-80 years old.
When you try to do that, you run into these people who collect rare old stuff, driving up the value of this “rare” old stuff, and the weenies who try to fob off old stuff because you might be a collector and hey, “it’s old, so it has to be worth something, right?” Wrong. They made bazillions of these things, so there’s no reason to think that it’s King Tut’s Tomb or something. Sadly, this leaves you with eBay, yard sales, and flea markets, each of which can have its own excessive (and unique) depression factor.
I got four hand saws for practically nothing at a garage sale shortly after I moved to San Francisco. These two ripsaws and two crosscut saws were in decent shape. The two crosscut saws are very unspecial “Warranted Superior” saws, one with a skewback. One ripsaw is another “Warranted Superior,” but a bit better-made; the handle is carved and the blade has a nib. The final ripsaw is a plain old Disston D-7, probably about 70 years old. One thing I immediately liked about these saws, at least in the case of the ripsaws, the previous owner obviously knew something about using them. Unlike any other handsaw that I’d ever seen while growing up, the teeth were actually sharp and not mangled in any way.
With this (and some other miscellaneous non-wood related stuff) in the toolbox, two weeks ago, I made a list of the remaining hand tools that I’d probably need to at least start doing some damage to wood. The items are as follows:
- Try square
- marking gauge
- Tenon backsaw with crosscut teeth
- Saw set and files to sharpen saws
- Mitre box
- Bailey #3/#4 smoothing plane or equivalent
- Bailey #5 jack plane or equivalent
- Bailey #7/#8 jointer plane or equivalent (not a pressing need)
- Shoulder plane (not a pressing need)
- Firmer chisels
- Mortise chisel(s) (not a pressing need)
- Some sort of sharpening paraphernalia (oilstone, waterstone, or “scary sharp” sandpaper/glass)
Keep in mind that this stuff is for the very first project that I have in mind, a bookshelf. I’ll get into more detail on that later.
Hi,
I’ve read your tool tips page many times. I’m an apartment woodworker as well, starting on the hand tool route. I like your make old new approach. I’ve been proudly losing disston saw and stanley plane auctions on ebay left and right for fear of paying to much. Perhaps I’ll let from the ones I’ve won and know better next time.
I realize these are uber-old posts, but I find starting from the ground up and faithfully following your travels is very admirable. I don’t see a lot of comments on your posts, but it really helps me to see your progression from the start.
I plan to rifle through your posts as time allows. I’m particularly interested in how you solved the workbench-in-limited-space conundrum.
Best of luck,
Dallas
Hi Dallas, there are actually two reasons my old posts don’t have many comments. The first is that this blog was once on Livejournal, and when I converted to WordPress, somehow the comments got lost. It was no big loss; there were not many to begin with. Very few people read the blog in the beginning, and I don’t know if there was any reason to. There were not many posts at certain times, and I didn’t really put it up on any aggregators, either.
It’s interesting for me to look back at some of these posts. For example, on this one, I now wonder why I wanted a mitre box. I don’t have one and I really don’t need one. I also don’t have a shoulder plane, though I do think it is a useful tool. The rest of the stuff I have, and if I had known better, I would have added a brace and bits to this list.
Note that I’m no longer in an apartment, but I did make a lot of really good progress before I moved. I built my whole workbench there! The two biggest issues I had in a small space like that were keeping it clean and trying to get by without being able to pound on chisels most of the time. For the first, I was just careful and attentive. The second was tougher, but in hindsight, I should have gotten a lot better at paring stuff with chisels. It takes longer, but it works if your tools are sharp.
Feel free to ask any questions you may have. Hopefully I’ll have answers!
Appreciate the response. I’m finding that being small in space makes cleanliness a huge issue. Being married affects that too. I think I’m learning some good habit as far as cleaning as I go. Also, it cuts down on unnecessary strokes with the hand plane. If it’s square (which is rare!), then you don’t need three more swipes. Just more to clean up. Also, I’m learning to let the weight of my hand saws do the work as opposed to digging in. I saw on the back porch with a workmate and can really tell the difference in the sound when I’m digging in too much – it shows in the finished cut too.
Of course, my chisel work isn’t getting much practice. Too much banging. Your paring focus might be a good way to work around this. Sharpening is key – but, again, messy with water stones.
My biggest issue right now is clamping effectively. I’ve fashioned a pretty inventive bench top using my washer & dryer as a base. It’s stable and heavy thanks to the appliances. Plus it adds counter space in the corner of the kitchen that we didn’t have before. I have a planing stop, bench hook, jig for holding water stones, etc. Except, I don’t have under the top space for holdfasts or a vice. I’m improving with clamp on vises, but it’s tedious to clamp on, clamp off.
I’ve got a wonder pup coming, so we’ll see how much that helps.
I know where you are coming from on the shoulder plane front. It seems so useful (dadoes and shoulder trimming). After I get my starter set 4, 5, 6, 7/8 and la block, I see it being my next plane purchase with a router plane.
Best of luck.
If you have the opportunity to do some stuff outside, you should definitely try to do most of the really messy stuff out there. It’s good that you’re doing the sawing out there. I didn’t have a balcony or anything like that when I lived in the apartment, so it was sort of hard to make really big cuts.
You may want to make a saw bench since you don’t have a dedicated workbench. Those things move and store easily and you can use them for several tasks.