What tools do you wish you would have acquired/learned to use a long time ago?

[Mike Allen1010]

I am a self-taught, amateur, hand tool woodworker. I was inspired to pursue hand tools 35 years ago by James Krenov's books. My early work (which sounds inappropriately very self-important was limited by the small set of hand tools I had and my ability use them.

My thought for this thread is the possiblity of Learning from previous experience and not having to re-create the wheel/mistakes of previous generations. Over the last 35 years, there are several hand tools that I have really come to appreciate that I wish I would've acquired/ learned how to use much earlier in my woodworking experience. This may just be a function of I'm not very smart: but perhaps there is some value for folks starting down the hand tools slippery slope of learning from those who have already gone that way.

For me, I nominate:
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Dividers - (In my early days I spent hours With the calculator trying to figure out spacing for dovetails,– Dughhhh, dividers much easier!).

Card scrapers: once I learned how to sharpen these appropriately, I found them to be great labor/timesavers for smoothing everything from large, flat planed surfaces;, to especially smaller, curved moldings etc. Much easier/faster than sanding.

One of the biggest evolutions in my woodworking has been incorporating curves (I'm not creative and find these very scary!), Hand stitched rasps have been incredibly helpful for me in forming curves. I never would've thought one could achieve smooth curves/reasonably flat surfaces with a rasp.

Lastly, I am old and fat now, so perhaps that colors my opinion that a rolling bench stool is invaluable in the workshop. In my younger days I spent many hours bent over the benchtop. Probably better, but at my age, a stool that let you do chisel work while sitting down is great for me!

I look forward to hearing the thoughts of my fellow Neanders. As someone who grew up without the huge benefit of learning from the Internet, anything we can offer to the next generation that helps them avoid the many mistakes I know I made, might be helpful.


All the best, Mike

[Barry Dima]

As a 2015 version of you 35 years ago, Mike, I'm going to watch this thread pretty closely. Thanks for the great idea. Maybe my path down this slope won't be so reckless afterward.

[Allan Speers]

Early this year I bought a completely new sharpening system, primarily so I could hollow-grind all my blades & chisels, based mostly on Derek's concept:

CBN wheel, Tormek tool rest & jigs, Spydeco stones, and a diamond leveler.

Expensive, but it's the best upgrade I ever made. Now I can finally hand-hone with confidence, which really speeds up my work. Also, I have much less mess and water to clean up. I absolutely love it.

[Stew Denton]

Hi Mike,

Jointer plane to flatten a piece of rough lumber. My efforts in that regards are still fairly sorry.....but hope springeth eternal.

Stew

[Frederick Skelly]

I'm going to try the items that you listed Mike. I don't use enough curves. Dividers baffle me. I want some Auriou, just haven't ponied up yet.

To answer your question, so far, for me it's been the obvious ones: hand planes, chisels, backsaws. Each of these has added flexibility and quality to my hobbyist work.

[Matthew N. Masail]

Great Thread Mike!


Funny I'm still in my youth but many of the same things that come to mind.


1. card scrapers - see original post. I don't ever want to do a plane tote without these again.


2. Good Rasps - I'm saving up until I have like 500euro to spend on these... might take a while /-:


3. Adjustable height stool, best thing ever for detail work. a miniature leg vise that clamps in your face vise is very handy too, or any vise that you can bring work to comfortable height.


4. tools for curved work! gouges and such... still discovering them but wow


5. BENCH GRINDER - regular 6" with 46grit white wheel, it changed my life with sharpening, but it's funny that now I could get along without it grinding the primary down on a diamond plate or 80grit PSA.


6. Western saws. I assume I'm the odd ball here, but I started with only Japanese and it was years until I tried a good western saw... now I recommend a LV or LN the anyone who dare ask.

7. Router plane

[Robert Engel]

The one "gotta get" tool for me is a rabbet block plane for tuning large tenons.......

I second the card scrapers. Once I learned to prep them quickly they are very handy.

I still haven't mastered the shoulder plane.....

[William Adams]

Can it be a tool which I regret, and one which I want to buy / learn?

I bought a CNC a while back, and rather regret it most days --- too much time drawing on the computer, too many experimental cuts in cheap material, too noisy.

Really wishing I’d bought a JointMaker Pro instead --- I’d probably have bought the plans for the Hammacher Schlemmer Combination Bench and Tool Cabinet and made one of those for my living room, and rather than being consigned to my basement w/ hearing protection and safety googles baby-sitting the machine, could be working comfortably in my living room.

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[Malcolm McLeod]

Shoulder plane.

My dad gifted a LN medium to me. First tenon I tuned with it was an epiphany. It was so easy, I thought I must be cheating!

[Daniel Rode]

I began woodworking as an offshoot of learning carpentry and various DIY home improvements. This later became a small business. I started woodworking after I close the business. Most of what I knew initially was from This Old House and The New Yankee Workshop. I started buying magazines and books. All of these things were very much power tool driven. I bought power tools because that's what I had learned. Mortises are made with a mortising machine. The very idea of working with handsaw, chisel and plane as primary tools never occurred to me. To me, a block plane was a mysterious and finicky device; a chisel a rough tool to be beat upon.

I wish that I could have had a proper introduction to hand tools at 15 instead of 45.

[Mike Holbrook]

Love your thread Mike,

For me the whole idea of working green wood has changed my woodworking immeasurably. Working green wood, in a very real way, envelopes one in the entire process of turning wood into something. The process of drying, bending, dealing with expansion & contraction and dealing with grain direction are personified when one works with green wood. The major tenant I learned in green woodworking that has changed the way I look at woodworking has to do with wood grain. Making wood parts with grain running through the entire length of pieces really helped me to observe and understand more about grain direction. Not that I feel I have found my way to any kind of mastery, just the opposite. I just feel like I might understand the questions.

The draw knife, spokeshave, scorp, travisher, adze/axe, actually most of the green wood tools tend to require a greater appreciation of wood and how to work it, in my humble opinion.

Several of the other tools mentioned I am still learning to appreciate: 1)dividers 2) Sharpening discoveries like a grinder with CNC wheel and Spyderco stones have also started moving me to new levels of speed and success in maintaining sharp tools with appropriate bevels. Certainly I could have become better at sharpening without CNC wheels or Spyderco stones but they provided me the speed and success rate I needed to see the results I was looking for in the time frames that I find available.

I am very interested in the comments about sitting and the rolling/adjustable bench stool. I am not as young as I once was and if I stand too long my feet and legs get sore. The apple watch I just got for my BDay nudges me and tells me I need to stand up and move around if I sit too long. Maybe I can work out a happy medium. Pictures, more info would be appreciated.

[Matthew N. Masail]

Can it be a tool which I regret, and one which I want to buy / learn?

I bought a CNC a while back, and rather regret it most days --- too much time drawing on the computer, too many experimental cuts in cheap material, too noisy.

Really wishing I’d bought a JointMaker Pro instead --- I’d probably have bought the plans for the Hammacher Schlemmer Combination Bench and Tool Cabinet and made one of those for my living room, and rather than being consigned to my basement w/ hearing protection and safety googles baby-sitting the machine, could be working comfortably in my living room.

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Sell the CNC. Follow your dream.

[Phil Mueller]

Other than high school wood shop, I entered this hobby in earnest after semi-retirement. So my answer could legitimately be "everything." If I could go back a few years, the one "tool" I wish I would have started with is a work bench. The toy benches and workmates got me started, but added much frustration and disappointment when attempting just about every task. Regarding specific hand tools, well, my slope has been very slippery...downright free fall! And the one tool I hope to learn to sharpen and use is the simple, inexpensive card file (as mentioned above). The other skill on my list is sharpening a saw.

[Ray Bohn]

Instead of buying the original set of 5 Narex paring chisels, I wish I had simply purchased 2 of higher quality/thinner.

[Jim Koepke]

+1 on card scrappers. Those things still vex me.

jtk