The Essential Woodworking Tool Kit: Where to start.
- Andrew
- Jun 18
- 3 min read
When I was a small boy I spent a lot of time pottering about outside or around the house in a world of my own. My house was never a house it was a castle or a ship (either pirate or space depending on the mood) and outside wasn’t never my garden or my village where I lived, but some far off land of wild creatures that needed to be battled and where adventures were to be had. Toys took on real significance for me – they were always accessories to this imagined world and rarely used for their intended purpose of organised and educational play. One toy I had was a wooden case that had a selection of ‘pretend’ woodworking tools in it – I say a toy but they were more or less functional tools made of steel and wood. Until this very moment I hadn’t realised the significance of that play set but looking back I remember picking those tools up and how that case made me feel – it was a comfortable addition to my personality and added a practical tangibility to my imaginary world.
If I am being brutally honest the tools themselves were a bit useless for any real work that needed doing, I think fairly soon I realised that these pretend tools both literally and figuratively wouldn’t cut it and I generally used the proper dangerous stuff in the garage to make the things I wanted to make. However they were, it would seem, a gateway to a lifelong comfort (and slight addiction to) using these simple and ancient tools to shape things in my world.
Whenever I need to have a really good think about things I tend to pace around a lot. Again, I have just realised that I used to do that as a child but instead of thinking I was playing in my imagination (this blog is slowly descending into my own personal therapy sessions…). Unfortunately, as I pace around now I am thinking about rational boringly sensible things, but I have noticed if I am doing some intense pondering while I am in my workshop I tend to wander around with a dovetail saw in my hand just because I like it. This is what I have done all my life – simple objects become comforting and their tactile nature helps focus my erratic chattering mind.
“What the flippin chips are you wittering on about?” I hear you all ask. Well, I was wanting to write a series of posts about building the essential woodworking tool kit, where to start looking for them and what order to buy them in. As I was trying to think of what would be my recommended first tool you should buy, the above stream of consciousness came to mind. For the life of me I cant remember what tool was the first woodworking tool I owned because I don’t remember a time when I didn’t own or have access to woodworking tools. To pick one over the others as being the one to start with is impossible because to make something is impossible because I have never been in a situation where I only had one thing available. I would argue you will always need at least 2 but 3 would be ideal.
So this long a rambling introduction is to tell you I am going to be publishing either on a weekly or biweekly (the biweekly that means twice a week not the one that means every other week) recommended tool kit post where I look at one specific woodworking tool in detail, what to get, where to find them, how to look after them BUT the order is not the order they should be necessarily bought in. In fact the first three tools (saw, chisel and plane) should be got more or less at the same time. The rest I would recommend adding to your set only when you feel you need them, but hopefully this little guide will help you on your woodworking journey.
As always, if you are just starting out on a woodworking journey or looking to hone your DIY skills a little, my Beginners Woodworking courses are ideal introductions to the core tools you need to master to be able to tackle a range of household woodworking jobs. My courses run from March to November here in Weardale in the North East of England. I offer 1 or 2 day courses to give you the skills and confidence to have a go yourself.