My Top 10 MUST HAVE Woodworking Hand Tools For Beginners 🛠 Gift Guide

what's going on everybody I'm Johnny Brook welcome back to another craft workshop video and welcome back to my shop so today I have another one of these kind of list videos must-have tools videos I did one a couple years ago now on kind of your beginner woodworking tools those are more handheld power tools like drills circular saws routers that kind of thing I'll link to that video if you want to check that one out and then the follow up to that one I did a kind of beginner metalworking tools video I'll link to that as well so today's video is on might in what I consider must have hand tools for woodworkers and hand tools are a great option if one you don't have the budget for some of the larger kind of stationary power tools like a table saw jointer and planer also it's great if you don't have the space because I know a lot of you guys work out of your garage maybe you have to share that with a car so a big table saw and jointer might not be in the cards for all of you this list is not really in a specific order which tools you buy are gonna really depend on what projects you're working on but these are just some of the hand tools that I find myself grabbing most frequently so let's go ahead and dive into it the first tool on my list is going to be the pull saw so this is a tool I use on almost every project that come in a lot of different shapes and sizes I kind of lump a flush trim saw into this category as well even though these can be kind of used for different things but I really like a pull saw like this with two different sets of teeth these finer teeth are for cross-cutting and these kind of more aggressive teeth are for rip cutting it definitely comes in handy when you maybe can't fit another type of power tool in that same spot now this tool is also nice since it has no spine it's great for flush trimming as well so it's very flexible blade that's it it can get a little bit tricky when you're actually trying to use it as a regular saw it can get a little bit floppy so if you find yourself doing a lot of cross cutting with hand saws I would probably recommend picking one up that has a spine like this one this is what I use for pretty much anytime I hand-cut dovetails it's nice and stiff very inexpensive I think 30 or 40 bucks and the teeth are set for a cross cutting another type of kind of flush trim saw is one of these little guys sometimes these are also called dovetail saws this one is again a cheap one and it's nice when you need to do flush trimming in kind of maybe some tighter areas where a larger pull saw won't fit so it's handy to have one or all three of those saws depending on your situation number two on my list is gonna be a good set of chisels so I've had this set of narek chisels for probably three or four years now and they've served me really well they're a good kind of budget-friendly chisel I think a set of five of these will run you about 80 bucks and when you're looking at chisels you want to be looking in my opinion at bench chisels as your first type of chisel and that's what this chisel is there are all kinds of specialty chisels including mortising chisels and two chisels and corner chisels all that kind of stuff but really a pinch chisel will do all of that just maybe a little less effectively but as a general all-purpose chisel a bench chisel is kind of hard to beat the other thing when you're looking at chisels you don't need 20 different sizes of chisels generally speaking I think it's set from maybe a quarter of an inch to three quarters of an inch maybe four or five chisels will do most of the work that you're gonna be doing with a chisel so the other thing that's gonna go along with chisels and pretty much any hand tool woodworking is gonna be sharpening so I did a whole video on my sharpening system I'm definitely far from a sharpening expert but it worked for me I'm able to get my tools sharp enough to shave with plenty sharp to cut wood with but sharpening is one of the age-old debates in woodworking so do some research there's a ton of different options out there I went with something that's simple and quick and kind of easy to do because for me sharpening is one of those things that I tend to avoid so I wanted to make it simple on myself so go check out that video if you're interested in sharpening but just know that if you want to get into hand tool woodworking you definitely need to dial in your sharpening as well another honorable mention when you're talking about chisels is going to be some sort of mallet this is a great one from wood is good it's got this kind of rubber coating on the head of the mallet so it doesn't damage your tool you also make your own mallet I did a video on making your own mallet as well if in case you want to do that alright number three on the list is probably not much of a surprise though as you watch a lot of my videos and that is the block plane so this is probably my most used hand tool in this shop I obviously unfortunate enough to have a lot of free fancy tools here but I still use the block plane a lot it's great for adding a chamfer on the edge of a piece for flushing something up real quick it's just surprising how handy these are and I think that has a lot to do with the size they're very easy to hold kind of get into tighter spots and just super useful this is a fancier block plane from AMT Gor it's a krenov style plane which means it's got this little wedge system for holding the blade rather than that more traditional stanley style where you use the screw to advance and retract the blade both are great you just kind of got to decide which one you like you can also make your own planes it's a great project you can buy the plane irons and that's what these blades are called and then you can just kind of build the body with whatever wood you want and it makes a great kind of weekend project there that's it I would definitely recommend picking up a block plane and these range everywhere from $30 to a couple hundred dollars depending on what brand you go with the next tool in the list is actually gonna be two tools and really which one you go with is kind of up to you probably end up going with those but which one you start with kind of depends on the work you're gonna be doing with it so first is going to be a low angle Jack plane this is one of the more versatile planes that's why it's called the Jack plane it's kind of a jack-of-all-trades especially this particular plane from Veritas you can get a couple different plane irons from it with different bevel angles so if you're working on super curly figured wood you can use a higher bevel angle or if you just want it a little bit easier to work with for flattening and that kind of thing you can use a lower bevel angle these are super easy to adjust with that kind of screw mechanism this one's got an adjustable mouth so you can kind of adjust this opening here depending on how fine of work you're doing it's just a great all-around Jack plane great for flattening work benches flushing up parts really all kinds of different tasks a smoothing plane on the other hand is going to be really for more kind of refined work you certainly could use it for flattening work benches and that kind of thing but it's a smaller plane so it's gonna take longer it's got a shorter sole so it's not going to be as accurate as something like a jet plane with a longer sole when it comes to flattening and really a smoothing plane as the name implies is used for that kind of finishing work a lot of really really good hand tool woodworkers which I am NOT 1-up can use a smoothing plane and pretty much skip sanding maybe a little bit of card scraping that kind of thing so now this is an old stanley flame that I picked up from some garage sale or something like that used here's a much nicer HMT Gordon smoothing plane and so again you can really grab these in a multitude of price points depending on your budget next on the list and one that kind of goes together with that smoothing plane is going to be a card scraper so the super simple tool just a piece of steel essentially you burnish this edge wood rolls over just a tiny amount of this steel and forms a little burr and so what you can do is you hold the card scraper you bend it a little bit that makes that burr kind of protrude and then you can just push it along your workpiece and get a really nice smooth surface finish this allows you to go from kind of a rough surface one that you would have to maybe start it like 80 grit with sanding up to you know something that would be the equivalent of maybe a hundred eighty grit all without sanding and much lower dust as well so card scrapers a great thing to have you can buy a burnisher to go with it these are kind of unnecessary but I bought one it actually came with a card scraper another option in case you find yourself using a card scraper a lot is a cabinet scraper and so this is essentially just a card scraper on steroids it's got a bit of a beefier kind of piece of steel in here this little thumb screw allows you to kind of put that curve on it and the nice thing is it's got a couple handles this nice flat sole on it so you do a big large maybe tabletop or something like that really easily but it also will keep your thumbs from getting super hot because we're using a card scraper there's a lot of friction generated and these things actually get pretty toasty you can put a refrigerator magnet on your card scraper to kind of protect your thumbs but a cabinet scraper is also a great option there as well and to me these are a lot easier to use if you've got a lot of scraping to do alright before we move on to tool number 6 on our list let's take a second to talk about the sponsor of this week's video Joe Berg's so one thing that I don't have on this list but is to me it very essential in any hand tool woodworking is a good quality workbench I've been using this Joburg elite mm workbench for I guess a couple years now and it is awesome it's made of solid European Beach it's got 2 really beefy vices that won't rack if you put an offset piece in them and it's also got a ton of dog holes which are great for work holding whether that's with bench dogs or hold fast on the workbench overs also offers some really cool options on this bench including a cabinet down below the workbench as well as an accessories package that has a holdfast a small little anvil that actually drops into one of the dog holes as well as some jaw cushions so if you want to learn more about this Joe Berg's elite mm workbench and all of Joe Berg's work benches check out the link in the video description below and thanks again to Joburg for sponsoring this week's video all right tool number 6 and 7 really go together to me a marking gauge and mark knife they're both layout tools and I'm gonna throw an honorable mention tool in here a dovetail jig all three of these to me are super super useful when you're doing hand-cut dovetails the marking gauge allows you to kind of set a distance usually using another board as reference and then create layout lines actually cutting them into the surface of the wood with this little cutter wheel and so the benefit of cutting in the line not only is it a much more precise line than you'd get from something like a pencil but it actually cuts the wood fibers so if you're gonna be doing chisel work it just helps to prevent tear-out and that type of thing a marking knife is kind of in that same vein it's a super super sharp knife with a bevel on one face so that you can use this flat face to ride up against a square or something like that and again it's going to actually cut in your line and give you a much more precise line another great tool if you're going to be doing hand-cut dovetails kind of an optional tool but in my opinion something that will really help you when you're getting started is a simple dovetail jig so this one's from my buddy Jonathan Katz Moses I've used this on a couple different dovetail projects now and it's super super useful the nice thing about this jig particularly because it's got this little addition of a 90 degree face as well as the faces for the pins and tails you can just bite your saw right up against this the magnets will keep the saw stuck to the jig and cut a really nice square cut very easily with a handsaw so all three of these very very useful and I think the dovetail jig gets the honorable mention here alright so the last three tools in this list all kind of have to do with working with curves number seven is going to be the spoke save which is a great tool for getting into those curved corners whether you've cut that corner with a jigsaw or bandsaw a coping saw and really kind of refining those inside corners because if you've ever tried to do that really without a spokeshave there's not much of a choice besides just doing a heck of a lot of sanding and since a spokeshave is a bladed tool similar to a plane it leaves a super nice clean surface finish and can really give you some awesome beautiful inside corners to your curves it's also great for adding something like a chamfer on the edge of a curve which again you can't get to that with a block plane so if you don't have a router set up you can knock it out real quick with a spokeshave and so these do have curved soles on this one's larger so it's better for kind of larger curves I've also got this smaller spoke shade that's great for tiny little curves these are both from agent T Gordon again gonna be a little bit more expensive they're very very nice spoke shades but you can get these in a whole range of prices tool number eight also again kind of having to do with curves is going to be a good set of rasps so graphs are essentially like files for wood so they've got a little bit more of an aggressive to set that you can buy them and do different tooth sets depending on the type of work you're gonna be doing but I would recommend a set of probably three drafts one with kind of this half round shape which is good for larger curves one with I think this is called a rat tail shape which is good for those kind of either inside curves or very very small holes that's great for elongating holes if you're doing draw board holes so that kind of thing in breadboard ends and in a flat rasp these three are gonna allow you to really refine your curves or just refine your work in general these are a little bit rough I might buy a set that are a little bit finer to kind of follow up with these but if you're doing anything like a Maloof rocker or something like that where you're really trying to shape a part also if you're doing guitar making that kind of stuff rats are gonna become your best friend for sure this is a set from their ex pretty inexpensive and they've served me really well so far and tool number ten last but not least is going to be a coping saw or this is a fret saw in my case so imagine this essentially as the hand tool version of a jig saw they're great for getting in really tight spots I'm actually surprised how often I find myself using this thing I even used it in my buddy Alex's van build quite a few times because sometimes you just gotta get into a tight spot where a power tool will not fit the nice thing about these saws is you can kind of choose what direction you want the blade to be facing I'm a lefty so depending on what I'm cutting I'd like to be able to curve things so that I have easier control with my left hand and also just depending on what situation you're in sometimes there's only one direction you can cut the only nice thing is these have a really big opening in the frame so you can get pretty deep into a piece without kind of interfering with the frame here these are very expensive though you can get a basic coping saw for very cheap but I personally think if you're gonna be using a coping saw a lot it is definitely worth at least taking a look at some of these fret sauce because they are very nice to use alright hopefully you guys enjoyed this one and there's a tool that was not on my list that's on your list I'd love to hear about it down in the comments below again this is not a end-all-be-all lists and hand tools these are just the hand tools that I find myself grabbing most frequently also big thanks to Joe Berg's again for sponsoring this week's video if you want to learn more about this beautiful Joburg elite 2000 workbench you can check out links to that in the video description below also in the video description below will be links to all of these tools in case you want to purchase some of these for yourself and last if you're not already go ahead and get subscribed and ring that little notification bell so you don't miss my future videos alright thanks for watching everybody and until next week happy building [Music]

Channel: Crafted Workshop

Views: 164,773

Rating: 4.8704562 out of 5

Keywords: woodworking, hand tools, woodworking project, hand tool, hand plane, woodworking gift ideas, gifts for woodworkers, christmas gift ideas, woodworking gifts, woodworking tools, best woodworking tools, top 10 woodworking tools, gift guide, gift ideas for makers, gift guide for him, hand tool woodworking, woodworking tools 2019, paul sellers, woodworking tips, diy, make, build, woodworking tools you must have, woodworking christmas gift ideas, workshop, crafted workshop

Id: va5uiQou5Pg

Length: 13min 42sec (822 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 15 2019