I built a workbench yesterday. Turned out satisfactorily and I now have some space to sit and mess around in the garage. I’d like to add a vise to it and start building some basic furniture. First on my list is a shelf, second, a low table.

Has anyone got any tips about where to start please? So far I’ve learnt the value of a bench hook, marking timber in two planes before cutting, countersinking and precise measurements!

Learn to sharpen tools: chisels and planes. I have one of these…

http://www.axminster.co.uk/stanley-combination-oilstone-sharpening-kit

Cheers! Any advice on a vise to get, or a book that’ll get me started building stuff please?

I find this book http://www.dk.com/uk/9781405332064-woodwork/ very useful.

Takes you through things step by step and also has a series of projects to follow.

Pick up a record woodworking vise from Ebay… you’ll have to use the American spelling… 👿

A Record 52 will do all you need, one with a quick release if possible – a 53 is huge, a bit of overkill but worth it if you find a good deal – should pick one up for under £20 – but you will probably have to collect it.

Vice…

Buy a second hand record ex MOD woodworking vice will sort you out.

tbh Probably better to buy a new vice as they are so heavy that the postage is a killer – so the likes of Screwfix/Toolstation get far better delivery rates.

1st bit of advice would be to avoid Axminster unless you know exactly what you want and can’t get it cheaper anywhere else.

Screwfix do a decent range of vices, I suggest buying the best quality one you can afford (no slack on the thread, no lateral play, etc) with the longest jaws and facing the jaws with 0.5(min)-1″ of good quality parallel faced hardwood.

I have a Screwfix/Toolstation close by. I can also see a few of those vices close by on eBay.

Cheers for the book recommendation. I’ll get that sorted first!

Older Record models are far superior, worth drive to get one..

My 1st bit of advice would be to keep blades sharp and respect the tools. They can damage you very quickly if disrespected. If you find yourself asking “this will be fine, won’t it?” It probably won’t!

My dad’s a very keen woodworker since retirement. One of the things that’s helped him most is finding a local woodworking group who had use of an old school woodwork room with all the associated tools and machinery but also letting him learn from other people.

I think these are the folk he meets with:
http://www.bramptonandbeyond.org/Docs/Website/BramptonCommunityCentre/TheHut/Border-Woodturners/

That’s a good idea. I’ll look for woodwork groups round my way.

Understand the point about the tools. Even my 10.8V drill scares the crap out of me sometimes!

Buy good quality gear. I know the ‘no-name’ Chinese stuff is tempting, but Record/Marples/Trend gear will last for ages, and is worth the outlay.

Scour boot sales etc for old chisels + other hand tools. I’ve found ancient, rusty Marples chisels for £1, which are made of much better steel than modern stuff. A quick clean up + re-sharpen and you are good to go.

old record stuff bob on before they went bust
new stuff since the staff bought the company is ALL chinese are poor just like the axmionster stuff

I can’t give you any advice really…I’m in the same position.

Always been interested in woodworking, and we’re currently renovating a house that has a garage.

The garage is going to be my workshop and I’m going to make stuff. I’m assuming my wife is looking forward to owning lots of poorly made wobbly furniture.

My list of projects is getting longer, but first on the list is building a sturdy workbench. It’s a small garage so I’m looking for space saving ideas – I think I’ve got enough workshop related projects to keep me busy for a year.

I got the book mentioned above for Christmas, so will work through the projects in that too.

Obviously I’m going to be building a wood store too (for the wood burner we’re getting fitted).

I’m tempted to go power tool crazy, but I’m concerned I’ll miss the lessons that come with making stuff by hand.

I’m completely self taught and I’m now a full time furniture maker. It’s my second career after leaving the world of IT 11 years ago. I don’t use tree wood as I’m making the equivalent of Hammonds and Sharps bedrooms and studies, albeit with slightly better quality materials, so my materials are vinyl covered MDF and melamine faced chipboard.

The 5 things I would say are:

Check out woodwork and carpentry clips on Youtube

If you’re going to use screws to join stuff together only use Reisser R2 Cutter screws and DeWalt PZ2 driver bits. I’ve almost never had to drill a pilot hole, and I’ve never had the bit slip.

Also, if you’re going to screw stuff together look at the Kreg R3 pocket hole jig system. I get my Kreg kit from Appleby Woodturnings and have equipped myself with the jig, jig clamp and corner clamp for about £70 and it makes building super strong and square wardrobes a doddle.

If you’re thinking of getting a circular saw, a cheapy is fine for occasional use and you can make a guide rail out of a few offcuts. See Youtube for detais. But for regular use bite the bullet and get a Festool rail Saw TS55 REBQ from FFX.

Use a vacuum dust extractor whenever you can and ear defenders when you need to.

…and the difference between a carpenter and a cabinet maker is the number of clamps you own…

Cheers. Can you recommend a decent impact driver as well? I’ve been using a DeWalt which is fabulous, but feels like it has a bit too much power for me. Would a 10.8V impact driver not have enough grunt for woodwork?

I don’t use an impact driver, i use a Makita LXT 18v drill driver. Great piece of kit, and sometimes B&Q have them on offer with a 101 piece accessory kit, but I also use a cheapy DeWalt that I paid £30 for as well. As long as it has a torque setting you won’t do any damage. Mine will drill a half inch hole through a house but with the torque down low it won’t overdo the smallest woodscrew.

It’s worth having 2 drills – 1 to drill the holes, another to do up the screws, as quite often the job you are doing means you have to be doing both at the same time.

It’s also worth making up some “Curiousyellow Carpentry Company” letterheads, price lists, invoices and quotes and grubbying some up a bit. then you can open trade cards at Tradepoint, Magnet etc which gets you lots of stuff cheap. When you open an account at Magnet you often get a free gift. For me it was a massive case of Reisser screws in all lengths and gauges. Worth about £50 and really useful.

Search for Workshop Heaven, I’ve Narex chisel from him, these are proper, proper good chisels, superbly priced & they hold a lovely edge. Forget your Stanleys & Marples etc. he knows his stuff ‘re. Tools & Sharpening

I use this honing guide…but you can even go crazy sharp with plate-glass…

If you’re going to be cutting by hand have a look at the Japanese pull-saws.

As a life long apprentice trained woodworker,

always keep tools sharp and always keep fionger behind anything that will cut you.

always know where your other hand is when using power tools, chap i knew of cut his fingers off when supporting a short lenght of timber he was cutting with a hand held circular saw, he didnt realise till blood started squirting out from under the wood.

Always buy the best, stanley, record, marples,and others preferably second hand, better quality steel them old ones have,

buy a descent oil stone to sharpen tools,

measure twice, mark once, and cut once.

Put a piece of hardboard, dimpled side up on workbench to protect top, replace when damaged, painted on, small pannel pins to hold it down.

always wear eye protection when using power tools, and dust extraction.

http://freewoodworkingplan.com

Good site for plans

Hi , I’ve been a cabinet maker for many years now

As others have said well worth looking for a woodworking class to learn the basics of :-

sharpening and keeping your tools sharp, a blunt chisel is more dangerous than a sharp one
I think I spent over a week as an apprentice just flattening the backs of my chisels and then sharpening them and still have them (30 years)

Learn how to cut joints by hand I.e lap , mortise, dovetail etc etc , go to a library or search on www/youtube you can then use power tools to assist you when you have gained some experience

Learn how to cut straight with a hand saw

Practicing on scrap pieces of wood making joints will benefit you a great deal getting you used to , marking out , cutting and fine tuning with a chisel , you will need this to make your low table

Your bench , hook and vice will hep you greatly , I also have a separate board which I keep my oil stones for sharpening on and then put it away under the bench when finished with it just stops the oil from getting everywhere

My first project as an apprentice was to make my bench and then an oil stone box out of a solid piece of teak which I still have over 30 years later and then a tool box with hand cut dovetails

Tool kit to consider
Tenon Saw ,gents saw ,panel saw and the Japanese saws as above I’ve never used them but the do look great
Chisel set
Square
Steel rule
Tape measure
Hand screw drivers flat and pozi/Philips for large and small screws
electric drill drivers with good quality drill bits and screwdriver bits as mentioned above(dewalt bosh makita to name a few brands )
Pencil ( must be kept behind ear )

I’m an occasional lurker on UK Workshop and have found some fairly good advice with regards to old and new tools. As said anything Record or Marples that’s made by Irwin isn’t worth it (some still say made in England as well IIRC).

Kirschen chisels seem to be well regarded but a set of Aldi specials are good to learn on (I got a set of Bahco 434’s for general chipping which have been excellent out the box barring an unfortunate encounter with a nail). Record vice is a must for willy waving but there are other brands that are as good such as Wotan and the others that made standard war pattern equipment.

Re. your question about drivers – I’ve recently changed from Ryobi One+ to Bosch Professional 10.8v. Amazing little drivers, much lighter and smaller than any 18v stuff. For the price of the 18v Bosch I bought two 10.8s – one for a pilot drill and countersink, the other for a driver bit. Hugely torquey when you need it as well – I’ve not needed my impact driver since, and they are much quieter as well.

Check out Paul Sellers. He has an excellent blog and YouTube channel with several video series to take you through a whole project. He definitely has a table or two plus other furniture.

I’m almost done making his workbench which has been great and I’ve learnt a lot.
https://paulsellers.com/2012/06/making-your-workbench/

I like his no-nonsense style and focus on traditional methods with hand tools.

Also Aldi chisels are indeed great if you can get your hands on some…