OhDear
Member
Hi folks, sorry to be a pain. I was Inspired to join after reading through the secret santa thread and thought this seemed like a good place.
I posted this question on another forum (lumberjocks) but haven't had any responses just yet although they all seem to be very friendly folks!
A bit of background: I’m a 23yr old trainee cabinet maker at college in the UK and I’m getting on quite well. Up until now I’ve been using only the tools in the workshop, so spending a lot of time regrinding and sharpening before being able to use a tool. I’ve wanted to get a few better tools for a while but haven’t had the money to do so. I’ve recently come-in to a small sum and am going to use a large portion of it to get me a few quality necessary hand tools.
One of the items on my list is a good plane. I know the maker I am interested in (QuangSheng, Lie Nileson copy from Workshop Heaven) but am unsure as to what size to get. I was dead-set on getting a No. 5 as it seems like a very useful size and able to do a lot of different tasks but a friend of mine at college (whose work I rate quite highly) suggested that the No. 6 would be considerably more useful (QuangSheng don’t produce a 5-1/2, which was his other choice, and I would like to stick with them).
What would you say? Should I go with a No. 5 or is a No. 6 really that much more useful? I should add that this will likely be my only personally owned plane for about the next 6 -12 months so, while I will buy atleast one more in the future, it won’t be next month or anything so soon so it will have to be fairly useable in a lot of situations.
The work I am mostly interested is very fine, high quality fine dovetails and fine tolerances, I won’t be working on anything too large for a while as I will mostly just be completing the college projects and one or two small projects of my own along with practicing at home.
I would also like to buy a nice dovetail saw but was unsure of what to buy. I am happy using the Japanese style saws but understand that this is generally not considered best practice for fine furniture makers who often prefer to learn proper technique with a European style saw instead. I would like to learn with a European saw if possible. I am familiar with a lot of the brands such as Lie Nielsen and Veritas but haven’t been able to actually try anything. While I would rather spend Veritas money, if something like a Nielsen would be that much better for me to learn with I could stretch to it. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I’m also a bit perplexed about the tpi as I would have thought for dovetails that the finer the blade the better (20tpi) but am seeing a lot more aggressive saws (14-16tpi) than fine ones, indeed Lie Nielsen sells their progressive saw with a blade graduating to 9tpi at the handle. Just wondering what advantages and disadvantages come with each choice.
Finally (for now…) I am going to get some nice chisels. I am unsure of wether to get a set of 6 or just the ones I think I’ll use the most. My college instuctor and the friend I mentioned earlier have swayed me slightly to the side of buying a full set but my initail reaction was to pick maybe 3 sizes and see how I got on. What do you think?
The only other things I’m buying at the moment will be a good 300/1000 Diamond stone (I will get a finer stone very shortly too hopefully), a marking gauge and two dividers for marking tails and pins. I already have a steel rule, a mallet and a tack hammer.
Hopefully, that’s everything covered.
I’d really apreciate your oppinions, Obviously (by the length of the post) I’ve tried to be as thorough as possible, sorry if you had to read it all!
Thanks for having me!
OD
I posted this question on another forum (lumberjocks) but haven't had any responses just yet although they all seem to be very friendly folks!
A bit of background: I’m a 23yr old trainee cabinet maker at college in the UK and I’m getting on quite well. Up until now I’ve been using only the tools in the workshop, so spending a lot of time regrinding and sharpening before being able to use a tool. I’ve wanted to get a few better tools for a while but haven’t had the money to do so. I’ve recently come-in to a small sum and am going to use a large portion of it to get me a few quality necessary hand tools.
One of the items on my list is a good plane. I know the maker I am interested in (QuangSheng, Lie Nileson copy from Workshop Heaven) but am unsure as to what size to get. I was dead-set on getting a No. 5 as it seems like a very useful size and able to do a lot of different tasks but a friend of mine at college (whose work I rate quite highly) suggested that the No. 6 would be considerably more useful (QuangSheng don’t produce a 5-1/2, which was his other choice, and I would like to stick with them).
What would you say? Should I go with a No. 5 or is a No. 6 really that much more useful? I should add that this will likely be my only personally owned plane for about the next 6 -12 months so, while I will buy atleast one more in the future, it won’t be next month or anything so soon so it will have to be fairly useable in a lot of situations.
The work I am mostly interested is very fine, high quality fine dovetails and fine tolerances, I won’t be working on anything too large for a while as I will mostly just be completing the college projects and one or two small projects of my own along with practicing at home.
I would also like to buy a nice dovetail saw but was unsure of what to buy. I am happy using the Japanese style saws but understand that this is generally not considered best practice for fine furniture makers who often prefer to learn proper technique with a European style saw instead. I would like to learn with a European saw if possible. I am familiar with a lot of the brands such as Lie Nielsen and Veritas but haven’t been able to actually try anything. While I would rather spend Veritas money, if something like a Nielsen would be that much better for me to learn with I could stretch to it. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I’m also a bit perplexed about the tpi as I would have thought for dovetails that the finer the blade the better (20tpi) but am seeing a lot more aggressive saws (14-16tpi) than fine ones, indeed Lie Nielsen sells their progressive saw with a blade graduating to 9tpi at the handle. Just wondering what advantages and disadvantages come with each choice.
Finally (for now…) I am going to get some nice chisels. I am unsure of wether to get a set of 6 or just the ones I think I’ll use the most. My college instuctor and the friend I mentioned earlier have swayed me slightly to the side of buying a full set but my initail reaction was to pick maybe 3 sizes and see how I got on. What do you think?
The only other things I’m buying at the moment will be a good 300/1000 Diamond stone (I will get a finer stone very shortly too hopefully), a marking gauge and two dividers for marking tails and pins. I already have a steel rule, a mallet and a tack hammer.
Hopefully, that’s everything covered.
I’d really apreciate your oppinions, Obviously (by the length of the post) I’ve tried to be as thorough as possible, sorry if you had to read it all!
Thanks for having me!
OD
A block plane is a Most Useful Thing (end grain, chamfering edges). Again an extra blade is handy. Low angles are good for end grain, but a common angle is better for edges. 
