advice on basic set of woodwork tools

Mungo

Well-Known Member
I've just started taking a woodworking course. Really enjoying it - enormously satisfying.

I'd like to get a simple set of tools to be able to carry on at home.

I'd be very grateful if people could recommend what I would need as a basic kit, and perhaps where best to get them from.

Thanks!
 
Murray's tool shop Edinburgh.
Good stock,new and second hand.
Good help and advice.
Don't knock second hand tools,a lot of them are better quality than new,especially chisels.
Well done for doing it,you will never regret it.

ps... a Black & Decker Workmate is a great investment.
Interesting story attached to the workmate inventor, who died a Very rich man...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/technology
-obituaries/8339197/Ron-Hickman.html

I think the patent agent who helped him was the same one who helped Ben and Dave patent the Theoben.
Notta lotta people know that...as Michael Caine probably never said.
 
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Hope not.
It closed the shop in Morrison street cos of the hopeless parking probably but I thought they still had a shop in South Clerk Street.
It pains me to see the old and good things in Edinburgh disappearing.
Long may the good pubs last.

ps... wife just found it on facethingy..Pitt Street near Leith Walk off Newhaven Road
 
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Yes Murrays have moved down to Bonnington and now only do chip pies type tools - ie the sort of stuff you use a few times and throw away.

Does anybody know where in Edinburgh there is an antique shop that does lots of good old tools. Needing some brace bits and other bits and pieces.

Mungo - can give you some guidance on this when you have extricated yourself from the in-laws.
 
Tools depend on what wood you are working, from jewelry boxes to log cabins.

Tools from even very good companies come in several grades.
Stanley Tool Works, out of Connecticutt, owns a lot of smaller firms now.
Record makes excellent planes.

Example: Chisels
Stanley chisels with the full tang and steel cap are very good.
The ones up from there are expensive and not needed by most.

Tyzak handsaws are very good. And the old ones are just as good, if you can get them sharpened.

You need a good steel block plane to start, like a Stanley Sweetheart.
If you are doing big wood, like tables and doors, you will need a two-handed plane. Again, nothing cheap or you will be unable to tell what is your skill problem and what is a tool problem.

Lufkin 6 foot beech wood folding rule.
Quality T-Square with level and scribe - good lettering, stainless rule.
Wood mallet for the chisels, proper hammers for the type of wood working, a small mallet for things like gun projects ( Stanley 57-594 ).

Quality hand brace and bits.
Good set of screwdrivers, properly cut, slot and Philips.
 
As far as old tools go, my furniture maker father reckoned that you should not be afraid to buy a worn tool…it shows that the owner liked it and used it a lot, and there is a good chance you will too! His favourite makers for hand saws were Henry Disston, which he sharpened himself; his shooting and smoothing hand planes were Stanley/Bailey (Stanley bought Bailey for their plane design) for everyday and handmade Norris planes for Sundays. (William?) Addiss for chisels and gouges.

I have bought quite a bit of stuff from Axminster tools over the years they have a good selection of hand and power wood working tools, they have a good website/catalogue to drool over.

Alan

www.
[FONT=arial, sans-serif]axminster.co.uk/ [/FONT]
 
we is very lucky here our local car boot has a vintage tool specialist.so stanley sureforms,bit augers and real resharpable chisels etc are available.being oldish ive got various british made tools from back in the day.my dad used to service the green goddesses in our local ord depot and left me some very nice tools.blacksmoth pliers ,lucas wrenches etc.mungo get car booting and local auction houses u will be amazed whats available in job lots for buttons
 
Don't know what there are for catalogs and stores in the UK, but you can see the tools online at Rockler and Woodworkers Supply, Garrett Wade, Stanley Tool, Marble's. There is probably a big woodworking show annually somewhere. Fine Woodworking Magazine is a good read to find ads, etc.

I still have not only the Disston hollow ground crosscut hand saw and rip saw which I bought in 1972, but my father's Disston, the cabinet maker's saw he was given as a boy, and my grandfather's Disston. For reference, mine were $10 in 1972, to give a real gauge of currency devaluations.
 
Don't know what there are for catalogs and stores in the UK, but you can see the tools online at Rockler and Woodworkers Supply, Garrett Wade, Stanley Tool, Marble's. There is probably a big woodworking show annually somewhere. Fine Woodworking Magazine is a good read to find ads, etc.

I still have not only the Disston hollow ground crosscut hand saw and rip saw which I bought in 1972, but my father's Disston, the cabinet maker's saw he was given as a boy, and my grandfather's Disston. For reference, mine were $10 in 1972, to give a real gauge of currency devaluations.

Axminster tools used to have a grand open weekend for hobby woodworkers, with many "star turn" wood turners and carvers on hand demonstrating the kit and their skills…don't know if they are still doing them. They developed a whole series of clever chucking systems for wood turners that my father collected in his later years...when he couldn't see to cut a joint for furniture he could still feel the form and surface of a bowl on the lathe.

I still have all my fathers equipment, his woodwork shop is next to my forge and is basically just as he left it ten years ago. Disston are from Philadelphia aren't they? Do you have Marbles or was that a typo/predictive correction for Marples? They used to make edge tools, I think I have some chisels of theirs.

Alan
 
Yes, typo: Marples chisels, which is top quality, owned by Irwin Tool.

Disston was/is from Chicopee, MA, same as Savage Arms, a center of tool making, from chisels to lathes and milling machines. I don't know if you can even find a new Disston hand saw. I saw one last year at a local tool store, but it may have been in there a while. Best bet is to go into old hardware stores, and look for fine old saws, like the Stanley Miter Box and saw, which no one uses on job sites any more.

Rockler catalog
Woodworking Tools Supplies Hardware Plans Finishing - Rockler.com

Woodworker's Supply
woodworker.com/official

Woodcraft
Woodworking Plans & Tools | Fine Woodworking Project & Supplies at Woodcraft
 
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What sort of woodwork are we talking about here?
odd jobs of skirting boards and moulding repairs or are you building a nice mahogany cabinet?!

surprised no-one has mentioned saws
i have chisels and they are Irwin but the most used items by far are three saws of varying size and shape from 24" rip to small tenon.
so long as you have at least one stiff blade fine tooth variety and one flex blade medium tooth variety you can do most things

Decent ruled square
Chisels (see above)
flat stone for sharpening said chisels

screwdrivers. Harder the better, lots of sizes, also a box of bits in a variety of screwdriver fittings
i have a very reasonable gunsmith inv kit from pachmayer that has a wide variety of screw driver bits

cordless drill
dont mess around with black and decker, Bosch green or makita. You will be buying a new one soon after
Get a bosch blue or dewalt at a push (with at least two if not three batteries)

get a decent quick release bit/drive fitting - dewalt make a cracking one that has a drill bit and integrated countersink on one side, quick flip over and it has the screwdriver bit.
 
Or you could do it my way,
Planer / thicknesser
electric hand plane
dewalt power shop
electric bench belt sander,
various electric saws
electric biscuit jointer
electric dowel jointer
electric sanders (various)
pedestal drill

etc, etc

Does this mean I'm lazy :oops:
 
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