Workshop and Hi

[Esox Lucius]

Firstly hi to everyone. I am new to the forum and live near Skegness in Lincolnshire. I was given the link to the forum by a work collegue. Real name is Mark but as i like my pike fishing i thought the name would suit.

I am just starting out into the world of woodworking after a lifetime of looking through the goldfish bowl wishing i had done it earlier. So mistakes aplenty are on the cards but i am very persistant so am looking forward to the learning curve. I am aiming to have my workshop set up by the Spring or earlier if all goes well and i find the bargains i hope for.

All aspects interest me from lathe work to furniture making. I will start on the basics first.

I am after some advise on what is considered the must have electrical tools, both static and hand held for my workshop.

Any advice on setting a workshop out would also be greatly appreciated.

Regards

Mark

 

[Vinny]

Hi Mark and welcome. I was in your shoes a couple of years ago, pretty much the same circumstances, wanted to give it a go for ever but there was always "something else" that put the whole workshop thing on the back burner. I also liked the hunt for essox lucious as well as spending half (if not more) of my time in a past time that involves removing your brain, turning it round and reinserting it - carp fishing. Unfortunately pike and carp fishing have stopped as while I was "bankside" I was always thinking of what I could (and should) be doing in the workshop.

As for starting out tools this is the way I went:

Small table saw (axminster ts200)
Pillar drill
Hand held router
Circular saw (for cutting down big sheet material into a size manageable by the table saw)
Hand plane
electric drill
cordless drill/driver
hammers,screwdrivers, etc etc.

Your question will proabably start a debate on what is the best saw to get, table saw or band saw, I now have both but tend to use the table saw more than the bandsaw, it really is horses for courses and is highly dependant on available space.

If I have one bit of advice it would be plan your work areas carefully before yopu start the build, I sort of rushed into mine and have very recently changed everything as there just wasn't enough room to do what I wanted to do, its time consuming and expensive.

just my 2 pennys worth, hope its helped a bit.

Vinny

 

[Dibs-h]

Hi Mark

Welcome to the forum. With respect to equipment it all boils down to whether you want\need\wish to prepare your own timber or are happy to buy it all ready done for you. The latter is usually more expensive, but it boils down to volume - if you are only doing a bit, you may not get your monies worth out of the kit.

As with most things - buy what you need when you need it based on what you are looking to make. A basic list of things like,

- hand saw (here the disposable hard point saws are fine, a 1st fix and 2nd fix would do)
- tenon saw
- coping saw
- square
- chisels (this could be a forum all of it's own). I'd personally start cheap, ruin them and then progress to more expensive ones. :wink:
- planes (perhaps either a 4 1/2 or a 5, or both), an old Record\Stanley should do fine.
- mortice gauge
- a cheap'ish router would be a very versatile tool.
- there's probably a whole load of other things you could buy, but a very good start would be a bench and vice! And then depends on what you want to make, but the above hand tools would easily allow you to practice most joints relevant to furniture.

Initially I'd reckon you get a lot more use out of a small\medium bandsaw than any other static machine (although folk may disagree)

Ultimately depends on your level of previous experience\aptitude, how much you want to spend and what you want to make.

HIH

Dibs

p.s. my own personal advice would be to not buy expensive tools, but not necessarily tat either. Keep an eye on Ebay for the larger bit of kit, not initially to buy, but to get an idea of what stuff is worth , etc.

 

[Pvt_Ryan]

Top of the list:
Vice
Bench
Tool box (cheap will do, you want to protect all the nice tools you are buying.
A set of sharpening stones or sand paper + flat glass for the "scary sharp" method, a lot of planes / chisels you buy come sharpish but a quick polish makes all the difference. Stones are cheapest in the long run (imho).

Ryan

 

[Esox Lucius]

Thanks all for the replies.

Vinny i to also went through ten years of carp fishing and whilst i did enjoy the time i did waste a lot of my life looking back at it...I ended up doing all weekends Fri to Mon morning and at least one other night session mis week. Wife really got annoyed for some reason.

I have an olde worlde set of out buildings with the room i intend to use having a 5 1/2 and 5 1/2 metre area. Trouble i do have is the floor is very uneven so i will be needing to make it flat so may be making standing stations at each pieve of equipement. Digging it out and concreting may be abit much on the budget just yet.

One thing i do need to know and is a dust extractor a must???

Thanks

Mark

 

[mailee]

Hello and Welcome Mark. I am just up the road from you here in Grimsby. As has been stated already it depends what you will be building as to what tools to buy first. Obviously if you will be dong some turning than a lathe is a must of course. (Incidentally mine actually came from Skegness as I bought it from the stuff 4 sale site) As for other tools you will find as you go along you will buy tools as you need them for a certain job. I would say one of the most important first buys would be a circular saw, good screwdriver, and a plane. Something for measuring of course and something to make sure everything is square. There is much more you will need as time goes by but start small and ask plenty of questions on choices. :wink:

 

[Chems]

Hi Mark,

Start with dust extraction. It will make everything that follows much more enjoyable! A good air filter, a good shop vac and a big chip extractor if your going to be usings planer/thicknessers.