Beginner woodworking tools: what five teachers buy first, round by round

I have not bought a starter kit. I have read what five teachers and editors put on their first lists, and the lists do not match. That mismatch is the useful part. Budget here means rounds of buying, not prices.

Beginner woodworking tools: the short answer

Medium. The first round overlaps a lot across these lists. The order after that does not.

If you want one list to start, this is the overlap I found:

• First purchases: a 6-inch combination square, a marking knife, a marking gauge, a tape measure, a few bevel-edge chisels, a mallet, one saw and a way to sharpen.
• Second round: a bench plane, clamps, a coping saw, a card scraper.
• Later: a block plane, a router plane, more saws, a sliding bevel.

Kate Swann runs the Florida School of Woodwork. Her first group is a tape, a 6-inch combination square, a marking knife, a wheel marking gauge, bench chisels, a mallet and one handsaw, and she says to buy them together.¹

Planes, a spokeshave, a scraper and a coping saw come after your skills grow. Measuring comes first for me too, in measuring and marking basics.

What the experts say

Joshua Farnsworth at Wood and Shop lists 20 hand tools, starting with a workbench, then a jack plane, a low-angle block plane and panel saws.²

He numbers them but does not say the number is the buying order. He says 5 to 7 bench chisels will get you going and they don’t have to match. He warns that a cheap combination square ends up replaced. The site has a store and affiliate links, so I read it as a shop page.

Richard Maguire, The English Woodworker, starts with one bench plane: a No. 5 jack with two irons. Then three chisels, one up to 6 mm, one in the middle, one around 19 mm.³

Then square, rule, knife, pencil, tape and gauge, a Japanese back saw, a cheap hardpoint panel saw, a mallet, a drill and an oil stone. He says a small kit can be a preference, not only a budget.

Christopher Schwarz, in a 2007 Popular Woodworking piece, starts with chisels, a backsaw and a coping saw.⁴

If you are not set on vintage, he suggests a new Japanese-style backsaw, because the pull stroke is easier to control.

Robert W. Lang, also at Popular Woodworking, says the hard part is sorting the tools you want from the ones you think you need.⁵

For saws: get one decent one and learn on it.

What owners report

These are people describing their own kits, not tests. Lang’s list is mostly old or inherited, down to his grandfather’s No. 4 smoother.⁶

Maguire says he has not touched a block plane in three years.⁷ Under his post, a reader tells beginners to buy chisels new because used ones are often pitted or bellied. Maguire agrees. Swann says her first group gets used in almost every class at her school.⁸

Where they disagree

Set or singles. Swann says buy the first group at once. Lang added single pieces as he needed them. For chisels, Wood and Shop says 5 to 7, Maguire says three, Swann names a four-piece Narex set. My chisel notes are in first chisel set.

Used or new. Schwarz likes flea markets for choice and haggling. He warns a used tool rarely comes with a refund and some need restoring.⁹

Wood and Shop says most hand tools can be vintage, but a used shoulder plane is hard to rehab.¹⁰ Swann’s cost estimate is for new tools.

Which plane, and when. Maguire starts with a jack and skips the block plane. Wood and Shop lists a jack and a low-angle block plane near the top. Swann puts both planes in the later round, because harder tools can wait. I wrote about that choice in block plane or bench plane.

Which saw. Swann and Maguire both point a beginner to a Japanese saw. Swann adds that a Western backsaw’s stiff back is a little better for precise joinery. Wood and Shop starts with two Western panel saws. The saw notes are in how to choose a first hand saw.

Power or hand. Schwarz says even a power tool fan will need about 20 hand tools. Maguire would take a small cordless drill. Lang says hand tools make power-tool setups more accurate. None of these lists has a sander in it. Mine waits, with the sander note.

My take

If I were buying this week, I would follow the overlap. First round: a 6-inch combination square I can trust, a knife, a wheel gauge, a tape, three or four bevel-edge chisels, a mallet, one Japanese pull saw and something to sharpen on. That is roughly Swann’s first group, and Maguire’s list without the plane.

Second round: one bench plane, learned well before another, which is Maguire’s advice. Clamps and a coping saw. And a place to work, which Wood and Shop puts first. My bench note is here.

Later: block plane, router plane, more saws. Glue joins the list with the first real joint, in the glue note.

Spend where the sources warn you: the square, for Wood and Shop and Swann, and the chisels, for Wood and Shop. Go cheap where Lang and Maguire say cheap works, like a knife or a hardpoint saw. Then make something. That is Lang’s line, and the one I need most.