Curated quality minimalist tool list for a beginner woodworker

[tibi]

Fair point Ian
I missed that point that Dictum tools could be the biggest outlet in Slovakia.
It's only recently that one has to take this into account, I must be more thorough in future!
There must be something like Homebase and maybe also an engineers supplies close to Tibi, that he might get a good long stout stainless ruler or two from
and some other bits and bobs, for a reasonable price.
Pick up as you need kinda things.
If a certain job is down the road and needs a tool, and one can only afford secondhand, then planning is a good idea.

This probably makes buying used tools like planes on ebay uk a bit more troublesome to find a seller that has cheaper postage than the rest.
There maybe cheap alternatives like a parcel motel service for Slovakian's to use?

As for new..
I would bet that quality controlled tools from Soba might be available from Dictum for a cheap engineers square or verniers for example.
I imagine for that price that there could be seconds to be found, maybe not so much these days with everything CNC'd...
I suppose this kind of thing would relate to cast iron or other soft metals rather than precision machined blanks of tool steel.
Something middle of the road, rather than the absolute cheapest.

On a slightly different note Stavros Gakos in Poland might be a youtuber or other forum to follow also, as there could be folks in the same boat regarding tool sourcing.


All the best
Tom

Thank you Tom for your reply. I have a 300 mm , 600 mm stainless ruler and I have an aluminium 1500 mm straight edge. I would like to also buy 1000 mm stainless ruler. So I will be more then equipped with rulers.

As for combination square, I can buy Soba here, but as far as I know, it is made in India, so I am a little bit concerned about the quality. It would not be a big upgrade from the chinese aluminium one, that I have right now. I will probably spend 50 € to buy a 150 mm student version of Starret.

We have some resellers in Czech Republic, that sell tools from Dictum or Fine Tools. Prices are the same as on German Sites or even lower, but the number of products is far lower and the shipment is sometimes even more expensive than get it directly from Germany.

I know Stavros Gakos as well, he makes really nice hand made tools. But he has a handful of machines as well to work with both metal and wood.

 

[Droogs]

You could try Narex directly for tools they have a shop in Brno i believe

 

[tibi]

You could try Narex directly for tools they have a shop in Brno i believe

I can buy this set of 4 chisels for only 33 €. They are not Narex Richter ( those cost the same, but per piece).
These chisels have a handle of hornbeam, so they may last some use. I do not know much about the quality of the steel for this line.

 

[Ttrees]

Maybe it's just me but I wouldn't want to rely on an adjustable square.
This 150mm all steel engineers square is what I was talking about, might be worth looking at.
Good enough for me anyways

Tom

 

[Droogs]

I have a full set of those exact chisels, the full 8116 range and they are my main chisels I use. The handles cope with mallets very well and the metal holds its edge very very well. Once you get past the first couple of mm of the blade. They Do need to be sharpened when you get them as the first little bit of the blade is slightly softer thatn the rest due to the process used to make them. Once done thay are superb for the price

 

[tibi]

I have a full set of those exact chisels, the full 8116 range and they are my main chisels I use. The handles cope with mallets very well and the metal holds its edge very very well. Once you get past the first couple of mm of the blade. They Do need to be sharpened when you get them as the first little bit of the blade is slightly softer thatn the rest due to the process used to make them. Once done thay are superb for the price

Thank you very much. That review will help me a lot. I do not want to buy chisels where one piece costs 50+ Euros, if I can get the job done with these Narex chisels as well. Do you also use mortising chisels or these bench chisels can handle mortising decently as well?

 

[tibi]

Maybe it's just me but I wouldn't want to rely on an adjustable square.
This 150mm all steel engineers square is what I was talking about, might be worth looking at.
Good enough for me anyways

Tom

I already have a similar solid engineer's square, it works pretty well. I use my cheap combination square for locking a dimension and transfering the same dimension to multiple places.

 

[Droogs]

I have a range of imperial pig stickers for morticing and just use those. More than accurate enough for the rule of thirds when making M&Ts. The 8116s will be fine but as per their design will have a tendency to twist in use as a mortice chisel. The Narex mortice chisels will be more than good enough for you to add to your set

 

[tibi]

I have a range of imperial pig stickers for morticing and just use those. More than accurate enough for the rule of thirds when making M&Ts

Thank you. I will try to use those Narex Chisels for mortising as well and If it will be difficult, I can buy mortising chisels from Narex as well. They have some. I have not seen pig stickers in my country, maybe in Germany there will be some available, or they can be ordered from ebay.co.uk as second hand ones

 

[Droogs]

Pig stickers are an "English" tools rather than a continental one much like differing styles of wooden plane

 

[jorge]

For bench planes you have more than enough, but you'll need a few joinery planes

-A plough plane, for making grooves. There are plenty second hand options, wooden or metal
-A router plane, for cleaning and helping with joints
-Some sort of rebate plane, wooden, metal, fenced or unfenced, to make step-downs along the edges of woods. Again plenty of second hand options.

When you will need those will depend on your projects, but if you are going to make all that, and will make them with hand tools, then you will need them.

 

[jorge]

For bench planes you have more than enough, but you'll need a few joinery planes

-A plough plane, for making grooves. There are plenty second hand options, wooden or metal
-A router plane, for cleaning and helping with joints
-Some sort of rebate plane, wooden, metal, fenced or unfenced, to make step-downs along the edges of woods. Again plenty of second hand options.

When you will need those will depend on your projects, but if you are going to make all that, and will make them with hand tools, then you will need them.

 

[SteL]

Read The Anarchist's Toolchest. You can pick and choose what specific tool you'll buy, it gives you a very good idea of what is *really* needed rather than desired. I loved reading it and I've significantly cut down my use of Ebay since then.

I read The Anarchist's Toolchest recently and would also recommend. The only problem is that it triggers that part of the human brain to want to collect things - like panini stickers I suppose. I've had to fight the urge to tick off the tool list in that book. The other thing is it leads you on to building a tool chest, so without tools, it's going to be a pretty empty tool chest. I'm just trying to buy the tools as I need them but I do have the occasional relapse!