Essential Tools for Newbies: Part I - Introduction

Well, opinions are like assholes.  Everybody has one.

- Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry

Opinions are like assholes

I have a problem with the thought many writers have regarding their opinion of what a basic hand tool kit should contain.  So, let me tell you what tools you really need when starting out.  :o)

First, a little philisophical drivel:

You will want to do some research before blowing your hard-earned money.  I will venture to make a statement that everyone (including me) who has published a list of what the basic tools really should be, didn't start out doing that way.  We all went and blew a bunch of money on tools that we didn't need first. 

Read books and check out what bloggers are saying.  Find out not only what are the best tools, but learn what tools different basic skills require.  Make informed decisions based on not only your current project, but what projects you are likely to do in the future. 

You will want to read a bunch of books about what interests you in woodworking.  But, beware!  Just because your favorite author uses a $700 tool to make sliding dovetail joints, doesn't mean there is not an economical alternative.  Learn this joint with a saw and a chisel.  If it turns out you decide you want to make this joint 20 times a day, five days a week, that specialty tool may be worth it.  If, on the other hand, it is just for this one project, use your basic tool kit, and perhaps think of an alternative, simpler joint that may work just as good.

So in other words, this really is a list of "Now That I Know a Little Bit, Here Is What I Should Have Done."

If you want to learn to use hand tools effectively, focus on getting good at the fundamentals.  I know, I sound like your piano teacher from when you were a kid.  Nobody likes to learn scales, but once you do, you can make music!

Furniture building  requires tools to perform the following tasks:

1. dimension wood
2. straighten wood
3. prepare surfaces for finish
4. join wood

That's really all there is to it!  Oh, except you need some way to keep your tools sharp. Without truly sharp tools, you will quickly become frustrated and take up something easy.  Like golf.


Since I have started looking at my tool needs through this lens, I have found that I need a lot less than I thought.  Also, buying a couple single tools here and there makes far more sense than the false economy of buying entire sets (for example:  chisels).  Purchasing only the tools that you really need and use on a consistent basis keeps your shop cleaner and neater.  As a bonus, SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) doesn't give you the evil eye when you bring home yet another crusty tool that only sits in the shop somewhere not being used.  Make those looks worth it.

The upcoming posts in this series will hopefully teach us (myself included) about what it is we really need, how to conserve your "new tool fund" to get the most out of it by acquiring tools that will last and how to make them last, and also (something I haven't seen that much of) several different alternatives as to what choices you may want to make.

While you are waiting, read The Anarchist's Tool Chest by Christopher Schwarz.  This book, more than any other will help you put the "what tools do I need" question in perspective.

Microbevels - Bringing Woodworking to the Masses

I have always sucked at sharpening.

When I was a kid I loved whittling with a pocket knife.  I remember spending forever one day with a small stone grinding away at my pocket knife trying to make it sharp.  After an hour or two of scrubbing away at it, my uncle Ed let me see his pocket knife.  Holy cow!  That thing was sweet!  I never felt a blade so sharp, and it was amazing how much better it worked on the stick I had.

I asked him how to sharpen like that, and he said to keep at it.  Someday it would just "click," and I would then know all the mystery of sharpening a knife.

Looking back, decent steel and a decent sharpening stone probably would have made more of an improvement than continuing to do the same thing.

Fast forward a couple decades, and needless to say, I never got a knife blade any sharper than that.  That is, until I got in to woodworking with hand tools.  Now I absolutely needed sharp.

Advice at that time was still a bit on the sketchy side.  I was told to hold a chisel at an angle on the sharpening stone, and rub it back and forth, making sure that no matter what, I maintained the same angle the whole time.

Easier said than done for a beginner.  Especially when moving through the different grits.

Finally, in frustration, I bought Leonard Lee's book, "The Complete Guide to Sharpening," and more importantly his accompanying video.  Happily, he starts with sharpening kitchen knives, and his methods are easily repeatable.

The next big jump for me in my quest for sharpness was Christopher Schwarz's video, "Handplane Basics."  This video really shows how to sharpen plane blades fast and easy.

Both of these authors advocate microbevels.  This may spark a few questions:

• Is it possible to get sharp without microbevels?  
• Yes.
• Do any of the old woodworking books mention microbevels?  
• No.
• Are there big name woodworkers out there advocating and deriding one way or the other?  
• Yes.

So here are my two cents:

Without the use of microbevels, I don't think I probably ever would have discovered "sharp," and my woodworking pursuits probably would have ended in my few tools being hawked on eBay.  I suspect it may be the same for a zillion other amateur woodworkers.

Think about it.  Most of the old-timers, as well as many of today's advocates of sharpening without a microbevel, learned sharpening in their professional apprenticeship.  In a professional cabinet shop, time is money, and sharpening freehand is by far the fastest way to do it.  As long as you can do it.  Hobby woodworking has never been lucrative in the old days, like it is today.

Having a master walk you through it, and then having him give you every chisel in the shop to sharpen, followed by him dropping them all on the floor for you to do over, is a fantastic way to learn to sharpen.  The benefit is if you are in the middle of an operation, and you can just step over to the stone and make a few swipes to refresh an edge, you can get back to work making money.

The rest of us do not have those kinds of resources, and learning tricks from a video can be a valuable experience.

What do microbevels do?  They give an absolute beginner a shot at knowing "sharp" and getting on with working wood without the tool gettng in the way.  Honing guides and angle jigs allow us to repeat movements and angles without having the muscle memory won over years in a professional cabinet shop.

I am an amateur woodworker, with only four or five hours of shop time a week.  If there are others out there like me, and I suspect there are, how long will we have to work before sharpening freehand "clicks," and we can stop wasting time sharpening and start working wood?  My guess is by the time that happens, most would give up.

Go ahead, and buy a honing guide.  Roubo and Moxon didn't use one, but guess what?  Your shop looks a lot different than theirs.  If you are an amateur, and struggle with your stones, a microbevel will be a revelation.

Before you poo-poo microbevels and honing guides, think if you could work with tools sharpened this way.  Chances are you are a little faster doing it freehand, but you also have some experience with it.  If it takes twice as long to sharpen because of the honing guide, that still is not going to cost the amateur woodworker any labor.  But, we do get a truly sharp blade to work with.

Once I learned what "sharp" was, I was then able to learn how to repeat that freehand.  But, I still use a honing guide 90% of the time.  It is easy for me, and it works.  You will need freehand sharpening skills to do things like heavily cambered blades, or profiles, but learning it on a honing guide will show you the way.

Let's face it.  We are woodworkers in order to work wood.  As Christopher Schwarz says, I enjoy making tools dull a lot more than making them sharp.  If you can start your journey with a truly sharp blade, your path will be a lot smoother than mine was.  Over time you will learn and refine more sharpening skills.  Why not do it while having success actually building stuff?

The Fastest Way to Fast is Slow

I'm a former music teacher.  The title of this post reflects one of the little jewels of wisdom I picked up learning to play the trombone, and I passed it on to almost all of my students.  I think even the guys in the hobby big-band I still play in have heard this many times from me.

The fastest way to fast is slow.

In other words, if you want to learn "Flight of the Bumble Bee" on the trumpet, you shouldn't start by trying to play it as fast as Rafael Mendez.

The fastest way to learn that piece is to slow it down.  WAY down.  Play with a metronome and make each note last one second or so.  Then play it again, the same speed.  Once you can play it perfectly that slow, bump up the metronome a little and try it again.  Keep going, you get the idea.  Soon you will have all of those notes just like he does.

Does this have anything to do with woodworking?  Yes!

I have been inspired to try to learn resawing, thanks to a recent post and video by Steve Branam.  Yesterday I posted my success with a small 5" by 9" piece of pine a little over an inch thick.

Today I thought I'd try the big side of my tool chest till.  It is 5" by 36" and a little over an inch thick.

This was much trickier.

But, I decided it is a basic skill that I need, since I don't have, nor do I plan on getting a bandsaw.

Once again, I started it just like I would a tenon.

The much longer length of this piece of wood compounded the difficulty.  This is a LOT of sawing.  Human nature is to try to get it over with as fast as possible, so start pumping your arms back and forth like a cartoon character, right?  I think not.

I want to actually get good at this, so I slowed down to make every stroke count.  Watch the line, push the saw, and analyze the stroke.  Repeat.  This board didn't give me a whole lot of wiggle room.

Eventually, I got through the whole thing.  The complexity of the longer board really showed, though.  One of the pieces had a small hump in the middle.  And the other one I accidently went off the line on the backside of my stroke.  I'll either have to cut another one, or patch an errant cut.  I think I'll go with the latter.

Anyway, the point is that I learned how it felt to make this cut.  From previous experience, I know that next time will be a little better because I know what it should feel like, and want it to go better.  Eventually, when I can make a nice, clean, even cut, I'll then start to experiment with going faster.

Remembering my music lessons, there is no point in going faster if the basic skills are not there.

Use the Tools You Have

It is amazing to me how my mindset regarding tools has changed since I have started using handtools in woodworking.

More specifically, since I started paring down the number of tools I own and use to do my woodworking, along the lines described in the Anarchist's Tool Chest.

I used to have absolutely no problem in buying a new tool to accomplish a one-time task.  Recently I discovered in a box of tools I had rolling around a stethoscope for listening to a running motor, a brand-new impact driver, and a used-only-once motorcycle carburetor synchronizer capable of reading four carburetor's pressures at the same time.  You never know when I might need one of those again.

Today I was drilling some 5/16" holes in the leg of my bench to install the roller brackets for my leg vise.  Rather than use a brace for this task, I have been using a breast drill that was recently given to me.  Beautiful tool and perfect for holes just a little too big for my eggbeater.

This worked perfectly until I got to the holes on the back of the front leg, as the rear leg was now in the way of drilling straight holes with the breast drill, eggbeater, or any of my braces.

In the old days I would have gone out and purchased some attachment for my cordless drill that allows you to drill at a 90 degree angle, such as this one from Amazon for the sale price of $41.75.

You never know, this might come in handy some day!

So, more than forty bucks and a week or two for shipping and I could finish this job, right?

Instead I got out a #5 brace bit, and dropped a t-handle from my tap and die set (also found in the box of old, brand-new tools) over the end of the bit.

Voila!  A makeshift gimlet!

This resulted in holes just as perfect as were required.

Christopher Schwarz was right when in the ATC he says his list of tools has everything you need to build furniture.  Once I got away from fixating on the gizmos available to woodworkers and focused on a decent set of basic tools, my personal journey got a lot easier.

But, I think I'll still keep that carburetor synchronizer.  You never know...

Professional Woodworker?

As a hobby woodworker and blogger, you may note that at times there is a break between posts.  My intention is to post every week, but occasionally life gets in the way.  No apologies, but an explanation of how I work.  Perhaps someday I can become a full time hobbyist, but not yet.

Notice I did not say professional woodworker.

Having been a professional musician, I know what is required of a professional craftsperson.  I would like to keep wookworking fun, and be able to do what I want to do.  I have no ambition to do this as a profession.  As a professional, there are deadlines, compromises of all sorts, and when someone pays you for a commission, it may not be what you want to do so much as what the customer wants.

There are many out there who do this, and I think it is great, don't get me wrong.  I want to do things my way, for enjoyment's sake, on my own (slow) pace.

At least for now.

OK, less soapbox, more woodworking:

Going Against My Own Advice

It's amazing how much woodworking and blogging one can get in while the wife is away on a business trip.

I started another project today.  Allow me to get on my soapbox for a minute to warn about the dangers of working on too many (ie. more than one) project at a time.

Two projects take twice as long to finish as one.  If you are a hobby woodworker like me, time in the wood shop is precious.  I find satisfaction in sneaking in there for an hour or even twenty minutes during the day.  If you are a professional woodworker and wonder why my projects take so long, it is because I feel I did good if I get 4-8 hours of woodworking in a week. Sometimes it is less, or none.

A wise one on the Old-Tools list once said that a shop in motion stays in motion.  That means that the converse is also true.  If it has been a couple weeks since I was in the shop, chances of me going down there tonight are low.  But, if I am cruising on a project, it seems easy to find a little time to get in there just to get the next step done.

When you undertake a second, third, etc. project on, as a hobby woodworker you do yourself no favors.  Because now it takes twice as long to complete two projects, you are not getting that mental boost that comes from finishing a project.  I don't know about you, but when I put that last coat of finish on a piece and stand back and look at it, I am amazed, and at the same time can't wait to start the next project.

I love to do a small project after a long one.  If it takes several months to complete something, there is something gratifying and self-validating about finishing a weekend project.

The more often you get that little boost, the more efficient of a woodworker you will become.  This is because (for me, at least), you ride the positive endorphins from the last success into the new one.

I get mentally bogged down when I don't have the skills or tools for the next step in the project.  As an example, it took me almost nine years to finish a blanket chest.  By the time it was done, we didn't even live in the same place that I built it for.  I got hung up on flattening the lid and keeping it straight.  In fact, now that I think about it, there is one small project in my shop that has been there longer than that.  I'll have to get back to that someday.

Anyway, I am going against my own advice right now, as I currently have three separate projects going.  But, there is a reason.  We have a second apartment in the town where I work, which is about an hour's drive from here.  I happen to work on an Army post that has a wood shop for me to use (for now).  There, I am building a table for my in-laws, and plan to start a dining table for our second apartment once that is complete.

Here at home, I have my new workbench to complete.  It's going slowly, but it is going.  I can kind-of justify doing these two projects because I can work on whichever one I happen to be near that day depending on where I stay that night.

I hope I didn't jinx myself because Today I went to a third workshop, the kurs.werkstatt workshop run by Dictum here in Munich.  Peter is a great guy and helped me resaw a maple table leg for me to make a Krenov style jointer.  I brought it back to my hand tool shop where I hope to finish it in the not-too distant future.  Hopefully I will be able to use it to flatten the top of my bench.

I'll let it sit in this state a couple days to let the moisture levels equalize.  Hopefully this won't slow me down too much.

Come to think of it, this photo shows another almost-finished project, my tool chest.  Is there no hope?

Almost Famous!

The big news here today is that unpluggedshop.com now has this blog on their feed.  I sent a note to them with a link here thinking I'd get a "thanks but no thanks" reply, seeing as most of the other blogs on this site have content from authors with actual skill in woodworking.

I guess that means now I should start proof reading my posts.

Charge the batteries in my camera.

Start wearing pants in the shop.

Seriously, though, it just so happens that I am in the process of renovating my shop space, and starting up a new blog.  Both items that have been topics of The Literary Workshop Blog lately.  Great stuff to think about.

Unfortunately, the bit about charging my batteries is true.  Not sure where the charger is, so until I find it there are going to be only either low quality pictures from my phone or brilliant descriptions that will paint a picture in your mind with my mastery of the language.

Today's is the latter.

I got the base of the table project glued up.  Note to self:  when doing a glue-up in the future, don't start it five minutes before the shop closes.

I was very worried about this assembly because I wound up being forced into a big hurry.  I thought I would be manly and not a wuss by drawboring the tennons without any clamps.  Strangely enough, the drawboring worked perfectly.  The problem was my tennons weren't precise enough, so there is now a giant gap in the front of the table apron.  Why couldn't I have done it the other way?  The inside of the table shows some wicked tight tennons.

old picture of the table due to not having a functioning camera for this post.

Back at the shop at home, yesterday I got some new lighting installed, finished the planing stop, and got the tail vise put in my bench.  I had problems with the vise wobbling all over the place, so I bit the bullet and cut my chop shorter.  It is now only about 10 inches long.  It would have looked cooler taking up more real estate, but this Taiwanese vise just couldn't handle it.

I think it will work fine, though.  My guess is than 99% of it's use will be to hold a board between dogs to flatten it.

Speaking of dogs, I made the decision to use wooden dogs one inch in diameter.  I ordered some 1" walnut dowels from the internet and plan to keep a dog in every single dog hole on my bench.  It is annoying to me to move dogs all over the place.

Why one inch?  Because they will look cooler than 3/4" dogs.  I was thinking that my Gramercy holdfasts would not fit in those holes, but all of those holes will have a dog in them anyway.  Also, pleanty of people are happy with square dog holes and still use their holdfasts effectively, so why not?  Also I'll have the coolest dogs in Germany because who wants to buy a 26 mm drill bit just to chew up for a one-time use?  Stay tuned for my brace and bit demonstration.  My guess is the holes I drill at the end will be a lot straighter than the ones I start with.

Enough drivel for today.  If you've stuck with me this long, you are hooked.