Getting started with hand woodworking

[Ron D Davis]

Hello
Been looking at the forum for a year or two and finally decided to make a post. You might say I am a new wood worker interested in the old ways. I have picked up a few tools over the past 2 years, and getting ready to start building my first work bench. I have been interested in the recent Paul Sellers bench post, and have viewed all his free videos. I am wanting to build a bench with a smaller footprint, about 4' to 5" would be the maximum for my current space. I am interested in learning to do hand cut dovetails, basic boxes, making a saw bench, moxon vise, cutting boards, stools and maybe some end tables. I have picked up a few hand planes, old brace and bits, coping saw, back saw, cross cut saws and draw knife but I have yet to get any wood chisels. I am getting ready to start restoring the hand planes and saws before beginning to build the work bench. I am not interested in collecting tools at the moment, just learning to use them without power. I also picked up a wooden screw kit so I can make my own wooden screws for the moxon vise and maybe a leg vise. What draws me to this forum is the old way of doing woodworking, someone said "make shavings instead of dust" and that's important to me. I have a very limited budget, as well as a small shop so that is another reason for doing it by hand. Well enough rambling, so I Thank You all for the forum and hopefully I can make a few friends along this journey.
Ron

[Jim Koepke]

Ron,

Welcome to the Creek.

My current bench is 5' long and is great for most of my projects.

If you do not already have a work surface it might help to build a pair of saw benches first to support the work in progress.

It is often said, "it takes having a bench to build a bench." Actually one just needs something to imitate a bench while building a bench.

Chisels are very useful tools in the shop. Even with good sets being fairly economical it can still strain the budget. Be on the lookout for yard sales and such where sometimes you can pick up an old chisel or two for a bargain price. Even a lesser chisel can still do the job and help one to learn sharpening. Then they can go in the beater drawer for when a neighbor wants to borrow a chisel or if you are working outside in the rain.

Keep in touch and show us some pictures of your work if you have a camera.

jtk

[Noah Wagener]

Welcome. Roy Underhill has a school in NC fyi. If you have not bought chisels I would suggest not buying bench chisels. I think some chisels dedicated to paring and some dedicated to chopping is better. My only chisels are bench ones from the borg and i find them too short for paring and they can twist chopping. Hopefully someone give you advice on this. I have been wanting to ask about a starter set of chisels. For doing dovetails i think you want parers as a fret saw cuts most of the waste. But I never see any chisels with zero land except expensive Japanese ones. Land is where there beveled edge meets a small flat on the sides. Maybe its not necessary.

[Brian Holcombe]

I'm using Lie Nielsen chisels and I like them a lot. You don't need a full set to start, so I would get the majors and for me that would be;

-Bench chisels in - 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1" and I have an extra 3/4" chisel in 01 tool steel with a long handle cut to 25 degrees for paring.
-Mortise chisels in 1/4", 1/2" which will allow you the proper width for mortising 4/4 and 8/4 stock (technically this would be 5/8" but I find 1/2" to be fine).

[Judson Green]

Welcome Ron

I've been happy with Narex bench chisels, haven't made any dovetail drawers yet, but for a starter set I don't think ya can go to wrong with them. As Jim said go to flea markets, restores, and yard sales also check out your local CL.

[David Weaver]

Ron, if you're on a limited budget I'd get a set of chisels dictated by the budget. Narex would be a good budget option, and if you're really constrained, you can get by with chisels from harbor freight for a while (I say that from experience - there's a set that are sold at HF that are usable without issue other than that they're a little soft and over the long term, they'll probably come apart, but they'll get you going). If you decide you want a chisel with no lands for dovetails, you can literally just grind the lands off of them, though grinding lands off of chisels completely does come at a price for the corners - they will microchip off and appear to wear very fast.

As far as saws go, for getting started in crosscut sawing, there is a 12 point stanley saw 26 inches long, new, impulse hardened teeth. It will cut very fast for you and the impulse hardened teeth will last a long time. Costs about $25. I'd be surprised if you couldn't get several years of regular use out of it. It will cut straight for you, too, if reconditioning a crosscut saw serves to vex you.

You probably already have some stanley or similar planes.

Good luck restoring the saws and planes. If it doesn't work out the way you want, let us know. That leaves you only with figuring out what you'll do to mark wood.

[Anthony Moumar]

I agree with the recommendation for the Narex chisels. I have a set of them and they've served me well. If I were to go back I would actually avoid buying the set though. I've found that I only really use the 1/4", 3/8", 1/2" and 1 1/2". I recently upgraded to some Veritas PV M11 chisels and they stay sharp longer but aren't hugely better than the Narex chisels.

My bench is 5ft long and I find it comfortable to use. Sometimes it feels a bit short but I've never encountered a task that I can't do because it's too small. I would definitely try and make it at closer to 5ft than 4 ft though if you can.

[Hilton Ralphs]

I am not interested in collecting tools at the moment, just learning to use them without power.

This is what we all thought when starting out. I have to admit that I regularly look at sites like the SMC classifieds, supertool and hyperkitten etc even though I don't need anything at the moment.

[Gary Kman]

Everything you have ever seen done with hand tools has been done with edge tools sharp enough to shave the hair off your arm. Without tools that sharp woodworking is pure frustration or simply impossible. Sharp chisels and plane irons look like a mirror on the flat side and have an equal finish on the edge of the front side.

This is where it gets complicated (more opinions than the perfect motor oil).
A cheap bench grinder dressed often with a cheap wheel dresser and skill and attention will do a good job rough grinding to get ready for sharpening. Do not grind all of the way to the cutting edge. Excessive heat will result at a ground-to-nothing edge. A grinder leaves a 60 -100 grit finish. The required mirror finish is 8,000 or better.

Now the sharpening. Cheap or expensive, durable or expendable, quick and easy or slow. Machines, stones, diamonds, sand paper, jigs strops, compounds - we use them all and more. Search this forum for materials and techniques. An excellent source of information is Experiments on Knife Sharpening John D. Verhoeven found on the web. We should all have electron microscopes to see what an edge looks like. Lacking that, at least he does and tells us how.

An investment in knowledge, technique and materials at this stage will make or break working with edge tools. Welcome and good hunting.

[Jim Foster]

With all the information and help available, I think you'll find your path the working with hand tools very enjoyable. Several suggestions, that you may already know;

1) Don't skimp on sharpening needs. You need to be able to sharpen saws (with files), plane and chisel blades with a bench grinder and sharpening stones. I tried oil stones, ended up with water stones. The water part is a pain, but it works for me, you may like another system better.

2) For your first set of chisels, something used and inexpensive is more than fine. I use the blue handles Marples I got in the 90's. There are much better ones out there, but truth be told, these work fine. (I also think the edges hold a little better than the new Stanley Sweetheart I bought, even though it has been reported that the Marples chisels went downhill in the 90's) I picked up a set of Narex Mortise chisels and they are good, I did some large mortises with the 1/2 and it did a great job.

3) Tools to look for: A router plane is very useful, I found a perfectly good one for $4.00 several years back, and I use it a lot more than I thought I would to finish hinge mortises and clean up tenon cheeks. A low angle block plane if you don't have one comes in handy.

4) A shop made shooting board is a great addition to a hand work shop.

5) I finally set up a #6 Bailey as a scrub or fore plane and I wish I had the nerve to tackle this years ago, the large camber was surprisingly easy to do and it works really well at getting rough lumber flat and to thickness. Chris Schwarz has a video of setting up the camber. I ground it the same way he suggests, but freehand sharpened it (instead of the jig he uses) and it was ready to go form start to finish in about 15 minutes or so.

[Graham Haydon]

What David said

[Terry Stapleton]

Try to find someone who will let you use some of his really sharp tools in his shop for a while. I would have saved myself many hours of frustration and aggravation if I had been able to find a sharpening mentor and had known from the start what sharp really is.

[Ron D Davis]

Thanks guys, a lot of great information. I have to learn some of the terms as I do not fully understand all of it yet. I have a B&D workmate right now, old desk, and a couple of saw horses that I have used to build the few things that I have built. I hope I can get the bench made with this. I will have to pick up some clamps for the glue ups as none of mine are long enough. I picked up a Bailey #4 and # 6 and a Millers Falls plane, Millers Falls egg beater drill, brace and bit set, nice old Stanley marking gauge, couple of Disston old hand saws and that's about it for hand tools. I do have a 11" band saw, HF small desktop lathe for hopefully making my own marking knifes, and a 8" bench grinder. Small shop guys, so I plan on buying no more powered tools. Yes Sir, sharpening is something that I will need to learn right off the bat, as the hand planes need restoring and sharpened, hopefully right now I can get buy with piece of glass and sandpaper as Paul Sellers demonstrated until money comes along for a better option. I am sure sharpening the handsaws will also be a learning experience. Do I really need a saw setting tool right now? If so what vintage brand would be a good one? Also, watching Paul Sellers plane the 2x4 lumber for glue ups and getting everything square for the bench top looks like it will be something that will take me awhile. I have no experience with hand planes, and I know it is not as easy as he makes it look. I have built a couple of banjos, mandolin kit, solid body guitar, dulcimer but all of this was mainly done with powered tools. My interest is also no noise, no saw dust and no powered equipment. I want to get started as soon as the weather breaks and I can do some work outside. Thanks again for the information, and I going to go search the forum for more information now.
Ron

[Jim Matthews]

You can set saw teeth with a small hammer, a punch and a light touch.
Use a hardwood backer, and the teeth will be driven by the punch to make a "set".

The advantage of a set is to make this essentially automatic.

******

I recommend a bench no longer than six feet, for most shops.
I think it best to keep the bench height close to your belt line.

I like the "starter benches" I've seen made from Ikea butcher block tops,
or laminations from plywood.

Bob Van Dyke has published an excellent article on just that project.
http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/...bench/page/all

[Brian Holcombe]

60" is fine for a bench, and it doesn't need to be excessively deep either, mine's 32' (before the vise) but could have just as easily been 24" and I wouldn't know the difference in using it. Your bench will be your reference surface for a majority of your projects, so I think it's important for it to be heavy, stable and flat.

Often times it's incredibly important to have a flat reference surface, for dovetailing, for flatting material that has any bit of give in it, ect.