Beginner woodworking tools: what five teachers buy first, round by round
Kate Swann, Wood and Shop, The English Woodworker and two Popular Woodworking editors, side by side. I have not bought this kit.
Guides
How to choose a first tool from what experienced woodworkers and owners actually wrote. Not a test I ran.
A reading order for the first month
- Beginner woodworking tools: what five teachers buy first, round by round
- Measuring and marking, before you cut
- How to choose a marking gauge: pin, wheel or cutting gauge
- How to choose a first hand saw
- How to choose a first chisel set: what the tests actually compared
- How to sharpen a chisel, from two published methods
- Diamond plate or water stone: a first sharpening setup, from what I read
- How to choose a first hand plane: what the research says
- Japanese pull saw or Western handsaw: what one comparison measured
- Wood glue types, from the maker sheets
- Wood glue for furniture: what the bottles and the editors say
- Clamps for a first shop: which ones, and how many
- What wood to buy for a first project
- Pilot hole and clearance hole, before you drive the screw
- Sanding grits, without inventing a scratch depth
- A first bench: what to decide before the vise catalog
- A first cutting board: an edge-grain plan I have not built
- A cutting-board finish: where the sources disagree
- When a pocket-hole jig is worth buying: one evaluation, and a real split
- How to choose a random orbit sander: what the tests measured
- Card scraper or sandpaper: whose advice is a test, and whose is a shop
Clamps for a first shop: which ones, and how many
Bar, pipe, parallel, one-handed and spring clamps, from Fine Woodworking, Woodsmith and Popular Woodworking. I have not glued up a panel with any of them.
Diamond plate or water stone: a first sharpening setup, from what I read
Diamond plates, water stones, and a word on oil stones and sandpaper, from three Fine Woodworking pieces and two working woodworkers. I have not sharpened on any of them.
How to choose a marking gauge: pin, wheel or cutting gauge
One Fine Woodworking test and four other write-ups on a first gauge. I have not scribed a line with any of them.
How to choose a first hand saw
Rip, crosscut, and the one-blade pull saw, from maker geometry. I have not sawn a board with any of them.
Wood glue types, from the maker sheets
Original, II and III, as Titebond prints the water ratings. I have not glued a joint with any of them.
When a pocket-hole jig is worth buying: one evaluation, and a real split
Kreg’s three jigs from shop blogs, plus a model I will not recommend because I found no review I read. I have not drilled a pocket.
Japanese pull saw or Western handsaw: what one comparison measured
Pull versus push, from TechGearLab and two joinery-saw write-ups. I have not sawn with them. The photo is a kugihiki, not a ryoba.
How to choose a first chisel set: what the tests actually compared
Narex, Stanley Sweetheart, Marples and Lie-Nielsen, from published tests. I have not pared a hinge with any of them.
Wood glue for furniture: what the bottles and the editors say
PVA, liquid hide and where the waterproof claim actually comes from. I have not glued a joint.
How to choose a random orbit sander: what the tests measured
Dust, noise and speed from published sander tests. I have not sanded with these machines. A US corded tool is the wrong voltage in much of the world.
How to choose a first hand plane: what the research says
Block plane or bench plane, from maker geometry and published tests. I have not planed a board with either.