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I am starting to get more serious about woodworking and am embarking on a project for my church (A readers' stand with six sides and a rotating top with 3 book holders). I go to a Greek Orthodox church where a traditional aesthetic is important so the project should conform to some traditional standards of finery; although it doesn't have to be ornate by any means.

Up to this point I have only done more rustic projects for my own home using a lot of pallet wood (changing table, crib, shelves, coffee table, etc...). I've gotten away with using a crappy chop saw, a circular saw, a kreg jig and a drill for construction. As you might guess perfect joints and such were not part of the aesthetic. This sort of stuff isn't quite appropriate for a sacred space though.

So I am thinking that I should set myself up with a good traditional hand-tool set (no power) and follow some older traditional American techniques for construction. Does anyone have a recommendation for what basic tools I need and where to get them and also maybe a book?

I'm planning on working with alligator juniper (very dense softwood), oak (dead wood from forest) and ponderosa pine, all from the AZ high country. I'm want to be able to do the following:

  • cut planks from 6" - 18" rounds that are square (3/4" to 2" I should think)
  • square rough lumber stock from yard
  • make good through mortise and tenon joints for 90 deg
  • make whatever basic joint works for 45, 30 and 60 deg
  • plane variable thickness and warped planks

No carving or curves.

I know it'll take longer and be a lot of BST, but that's kind-of the point. I'm hoping I can get a good set of tools to get myself started for less than $1k.

Ian
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    Aside from equipping yourself, be prepared to face some practice projects before diving into projects for show/display. Much of hand tool use is skill based, and those come from practice, not the tool. – Ecnerwal Jun 06 '17 at 18:22
  • wranglerstar has a nice set of videos about finding a good set of value hand tools. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0cmIu4ZDFj7lqXx1Zc60RV1CvWiRDg8A – Rob Elliott Jun 06 '17 at 19:56
  • I bought old hand tools to start. It is not a bad idea. But I quickly grew tired of cleaning old tools and lapping/grinding blades. It can be worth it to just buy quality tools as their need arises. – jbord39 Jun 06 '17 at 20:27
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    This is very broad and you could get a hundred similar but different recommendations, particularly if people start getting into specifics such as types of saws, planes, etc. A good starting point would be to take a single operation or example project and split each component out to a separate, more specific question. For example, there are many ways to make square joints, but the tools and techniques for a dovetail joint are very different from those for a mortise and tenon joint. – rob Jun 06 '17 at 21:15
  • @rob - I know its pretty broad, and I figured someone would stick it on hold. But as someone who knows very little about traditional techniques (or woodworking techniques in general) I was hoping to generate a broad discussion and just soak up what I could before I decided what techniques I would try out and what book I would buy. – Ian Jun 07 '17 at 00:26
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    "I was hoping to generate a broad discussion and just soak up what I could " This isn't the venue for broad discussion, SE is a question-and-answer site. If you want a broad-reaching discussion you need to head to a conventional forum such as SawMillCreek or the Reddit woodworking forum (both of which I highly recommend by the way, in different ways). But you should search first because I know there are a great many threads on "What tools should I get first?" and someone is sure to ask if you'd tried a search first :-) – Graphus Jun 07 '17 at 07:46
  • Re. your proposed budget, if you're buying new you could easily hit that mark unfortunately. If you buy vintage tools on the secondhand market you could set yourself up for well under half that. No idea what the market is like where you live so this may not be practical for you the way it is for some where there are a good number of yard sales, useful CL listings, flea markets and junk shops where old tools can be had for little money. Then you just invest some time and effort (sometimes not much) into cleaning them up and prepping them for use and you're on your way. – Graphus Jun 07 '17 at 07:49
  • @Graphus - Yeah, I'm realizing that its simpler than I thought. I have a good set of chisels and a cheap plane (works alright if you sharpen the blade a lot). If I get a good detail saw, a sturdy work table, marking gauge, a couple more planes and good protractor I should be able to work with rough lumber and cut good joints. On top of that I'll just need a frame saw for cutting my own stuff (after I've cut the large stuff down with a chainsaw or something). – Ian Jun 07 '17 at 16:15
  • Note that, in addition to the actual tools that you use on wood, you will also need sharpening equipment or you won't get very far. You could easily blow 10-50% of your $1000 budget on sharpening equipment and supplies. On the flip side, you can make your own saws, planes, clamps, gauges, etc. It all depends on how much time you have vs. how much money you have. Also keep in mind if you are milling your own lumber from freshly cut logs, you will need to allow anywhere from several months to several years for drying, depending on the thickness and drying conditions. – rob Jun 07 '17 at 16:23
  • @rob - I've got some files and a stone, what else could I want? – Ian Jun 07 '17 at 16:41
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    Several stones of progressively finer grits, something to flatten the stones (if you have actual stones instead of diamond plates), possibly a sharpening guide, either a belt sander (and sanding belts) or grinder (and wheel dresser) for reshaping edges, strop, honing compound... – rob Jun 07 '17 at 16:50
  • Re, sharpening, you can make do with just one stone for honing only (not for all sharpening tasks) but it depends on the stone whether that's really enough. In the past and for a few people today a single-stone setup is perfectly sufficient, but usually it's supplemented with a strop to get finer edges when required (v. important on your chisels). There are a few previous Q&As on honing and sharpening here worth reading, plus of course many hundreds of other pages online on the subject :-) – Graphus Jun 08 '17 at 06:28

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I would not approach it like this.

What I would recommend you do is pick a project you want to work on, and then get the tools you need for that project. Chances are very good that all or almost all of those tools will be needed for the next project, too. Whenever you encounter a task that can only be accomplished (or can be accomplished much easier) with another tool, buy it then.

For example, do you need a miter box? Well, that depends. Does your current project need any miters? If not, then you don't need it. Your next project might not need any either! And by the time you do have a project that requires miters, maybe you'll be comfortable enough sawing by hand that you don't feel you need a miter box anyway. Or maybe (almost definitely) you'll have some scrap wood from another project and decide to make your own to save some money.

I have number of tools sitting in my shop that I didn't have a specific project in mind for, but I saw them and thought, Oh yeah, I'll definitely use that! And they're still sitting there, never used, collecting dust, taking up space. (Massive random orbital sander that I thought would come in handy when I someday decided to do a large panel glue up, I'm looking at you. Meanwhile, my card scrapers take up such little space that half the time I have at least one of them out on my bench even though I'm not using it.)

Katie Kilian
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Expense will vary a lot with sources of supply - while there are good new hand tools available, they are often expensive - if you have any flea markets that tend to old tools (or a vendor that does) they are often cheaper for similar quality - but that is a well that's deeper in some geographic regions than others.

You'll need a frame saw - that's often best built by you, and covers the "bandsaw-ish" jobs of making lumber from logs, resawing lumber, etc. without getting into the absurdity of a very hard to source blade (frame saw uses bandsaw blade stock that's easy to come by)

You might also want a froe &/or a set of splitting wedges/gluts for pre-processing your large rounds before the sawing starts.

A mitre box & backsaw help with angles. A shooting board can again be built by you and used with a plane that need not be a "shooting board plane" (but the cheeks should be square to the sole) to make things spiffy.

Jack, smoother, and block planes for a typical start. A roughing plane may also be useful when starting from split or very rough-sawm lumber.

Marking gage (how you get uniform thickness on the other side of a board you have planed flat, with hand planes - and many other joinery jobs)

Chisels. Mallet.

Squares. Winding Sticks. Clamps.

A bench of some sort.

Ecnerwal
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