Advice needed on tool selection for a new hobby workshop

[Boxer]

Hi everyone.

I am glad to say that after many years I have moved to a house where I can set up a small workshop and finally get round to fulfilling an ambition of doing some hobby cabinet making (ie chests of drawers, sideboards, entertainment units, boxes etc). I have a few years experience in bench engineering (ie metalworking) and some of the building trades but have limited knowledge on woodworking.

So at the moment I am trying to work out exactly what tools I need to get. Space and noise are going to be a bit of an issue. The workshop will be around 4 x 3 metres and is close to another house.

I have managed to get hold of a Triton workcentre & saw, plus a router and router table which i am hoping will be a reasonable starting point, especially as they dont take up much floor space. Not totally sure where I should go from here though......

The main question I have at the moment is can I get by without a powered planer / thicknesser ? It seems these are very popular but its a big investment and I wonder if I could work on developing my hand plane skills for squaring and dimensioning timber after the table saw ? I confess that I like the idea of using hand tools rather than adding more screaming machines but I dont know if it is really possible to use hand planes to get rough sawn hardwood squared up enough for decent cabinet work.

Apart from that I would just welcome any general advice and opinions on what people think I will need to set up my workshop.

 

[riclepp]

Hi and welcom to the forum

Yes you can get by without a powered planner/thicknesser if you so whish and have time. Look at Paul Sellers woodworking Masterclass as there is a good video (subsrciptin) on how to do it. He makes it look quick and easy, but it is proberly not.

I would suggest you get a few good plnes 4 and 51/2 to start with, there are two many makes out there, all I will say is you get what you pay for, Quengsheng's are good and good value for money (try Matthew at Workshop Heaven). Cheisles are a must, most people seem to recomend Nirex. You also need to consider marking out, so I would suggest Moore and Wright stuff, very acurate and a resonable price and think about a japaneese mark knife or swann morton scalpel. In my opionion these are a must to start with. Then you can look at a good abrasive like Hermes or abronet, then glues and finishes. You should also consider dust and chip extraction, again there are so many makes and modles that it is staggering, I have a Kufu chip extractor, microcleane and Jet air filtrations units, a camvac and axminster extractor for my table saw. I am sure other will agree/disagree and make other suggestions.

The most important thing to remember is that ensure that it works for you as it can be costly and go to the tool shows/stores and have a play with them shinney things before you dip your hand into your pocket.

Hope this helps a little

 

[custard]

Welcome to the forum Richard. Tool choice is really about what you want to make, in what materials, in what style, your available space, budget etc. So it's difficult to make sensible recommendations without a lot more information.

But something to consider is this, the hardest jobs in woodworking are rip sawing and planing to final thickness. And even if you buy "planed all round" timber it's likely to move slightly in storage or not be quite the dimensions stated, in other words you'll be ripping and planing to thickness on most projects. Consequently a moderately sized bandsaw and a thicknesser will go a long way to keeping the fun in woodworking without breaking the bank!

 

[Muswell]

Since you are doing this as a hobby you have the advantage that you do not have to consider speed of production. I think you should ask yourself whether you are doing this mainly in order to have nice furniture, or whether you are doing it for the pleasure of making.

You can make things almost entirely by machine and achieve very good results but the skill is in knowing how to use the machines and doing that carefully and safely. If you use hand tools, it is more difficult to get good results but it can be more satisfying, depending on the kind of person you are. If you use machines, especially routers, you will spend your time wearing ear defenders eye eye protection and a dust mask. You can do almost anything with a router but I hate the noise and dust so much I only use it as a last resort, the same with the belt sander. You can make mistakes by hand or by machine and you can injure yourself with both as well. Machines tend to do both quicker and in a bigger way.

I think a small bandsaw is the most useful tool you can buy when you start because it is relatively safe, does not take up a lot of room and can do an awful lot. I would start making small things such as wall cupboards using hand tools and preparing timber by hand. Preparing timber by hand will teach you things you won't learn if you start with a planer thicknesser. Get one of these later, unless you are a masochist, have a lot of time and want to build up your muscles. Similarly, using a hand plane and scrapers will teach you things that electric sanders won't.

It is tempting to go out and buy a lot of tools that you think you will need , or just like the look of, but you will buy some that you regret. Better to choose a project, think about the tools you will need, and then buy these. Start with a project in a magazine or book and this will give you a good idea of what to get. A lot of people will be able to give you a list of the tools they would buy, but I reckon you will find it good to work it out for yourself.

 

[bobscarle]

If you are going to be doing a lot of work by hand then I would suggest that the first thing you buy / make is a bench hook. This is probably the cheapest item on a workbench but it will be one of the most used. Very simple to make, just three pieces, or very cheap to buy.

When planing a piece of wood, you need something to stop it shooting off the bench. Bench dogs set in holes are ideal but a thin strip screwed to the bench top will do. Oh, and thinking of shooting, another hand tool necessity is a shooting board. Mine is very similar to a bench hook but with two boards instead of one.

You certainly can go out and spend vast sums of money on machines and hand tools. I would always say, buy the best quality that you can afford.

 

[Jelly]

If you are going to be doing a lot of work by hand then I would suggest that the first thing you buy / make is a bench hook. This is probably the cheapest item on a workbench but it will be one of the most used. Very simple to make, just three pieces, or very cheap to buy.

Seconded... it's the most useful holding device for sawing small items, yet you can literally make one in under a minute with 3 bits of wood and 4 nails (if you want to be crude that is, I often made hooks like this at work as I could pick up 3 bits of flat off-cut from the skip and nail them together without having to move more than 3 feet... rather than wandering off to find one.)

The hand tool option is a cheap initial starting point... I would wait until I had a few projects under my belt, before deciding if you'll get good value out of a P/T... It will depend on where and what sort of timber you're sourcing and the scale of your projects*... some merchants may be able to offer timber milled and planed to your specification (usually at a price of course, unless you go to see the lads on the yard during a slow day), meaning you just have to do the joinery bit.

*As a rough approximation, the closer the timber is to still being a tree and the bigger the scale of your projects; the more you'll value a P/T.

 

[Boxer]

Wow .... thanks for the warm welcome and thanks for the wealth of helpful information.

I am definitely going to take your general advice of starting with the hand tool route before adding any more machinery.

I do like the idea of taking a rough sawn board and turning it into a a quality piece of furniture, therefore for my own satisfaction and bank balance I want to avoid getting it fully milled up at the timber yard.

The kind of projects I have in mind are a medium sized bookcase made of oak, some side tables made from cherry, and a sideboard made of steamed pear and birdseye maple.

The biggest questions I still have at the moment are around whether it is possible to just use hand tools to square and reduce the thickness on all the timber for these types of furniture. Would I need the skill level of a master craftsman to do this well by hand, and how much time, blood sweat and tears would go into it ?

Chris

 

[custard]

The biggest questions I still have at the moment are around whether it is possible to just use hand tools to square and reduce the thickness on all the timber for these types of furniture. Would I need the skill level of a master craftsman to do this well by hand, and how much time, blood sweat and tears would go into it ?

Chris, absolutely you can do it all by hand...that's how it was done for thousands of years.

But having done it a few times entirely by hand you'll quickly find your enthusiasm waning. I'd suggest picking the smallest sized projects you can find. Even the medium sized oak bookcase you mention is going to be a few hundred hours of hard work for a beginner working entirely with hand tools. I'd make three suggestions,

1. Stick to hand tool friendly timbers like pine, cherry, or tulipwood. And instead of looking for dramatic figure select only straight grain stock, in other words get the most boring boards you can find!

2. Think about a structured approach to projects, such as the Paul Sellers method, which will introduce you to tools, techniques, and essential joints in a logical way with bite sized tasks.

3. Think small when it comes to project selection. Stools, boxes, birdhouses, small shelves etc. Pick projects that you can complete in tens of hours rather than hundreds of hours.

 

[Roughcut]

I would also agree with the advice given for making a bench hook and shooting board.
These items can be made from scrap you have left over from over projects.
My baseboards for the bench hook and shooting board are made from 18mm mdf and the length stops (if that's the correct term?) are made from planed 2" x 1" softwood.
I can achieve a very good accuracy with a handsaw with the use of the bench hook and the shooting board allows me to produce a superb smooth finish to endgrain.