Basic Woodworking Tools for Getting Started

Alright, so what I’m going to share with you is really what I have to say is an essential tool kit for a beginning woodworker to get thier start with just basic woodworking. basic woodworking tools getting started is for that that person who has an interest in power tools however they are probably not in a position to invest in buying or even using large power tools.

The Table Saws

The band saw is one of the things that you often need to get a little woodworking project work done efficiently. It is essential for cutting curves, but can be used for fairly straight cuts. To be honest, it’s really not that much that you have to have if you look across the board. I am a big fan of Festool I love the quality of this woodworking brand. I am a professional woodworker, so from my viewpoint a Festool power tool is definitely worth the money. However, it may not be for you. There are tons of brands on the market which can offer you excellent results and are very durable.

Here is a Festool TS 75 EQ Plunge Cut Circular Saw with 75-Inch Track

Routers, Essential? Yes!

Routers is truly one of the better multi-use powertools in your shop. You can do everything from jointing with a router to flush trimming. A router is something I definitely recommend. When you think of joinery, a router is not always what you think of. You could put a lot of people in the category of just thinking that a router is just used for edge treatments and round overs, however it is really so practical than just that.

Check out this Festool 574692 OF 1400 EQ Imperial Router on Amazon.

You can build jigs to support the router & do some great cutting. It will exponentially increase your woodworking workflow once you master using a router with a jig. I definitely recommend a high quality router, ideally a plunge router. A fixed base router is fine but a plunge router is absolutely going to help you to do a lot more in terms of mortising and things like that. Trust me a good router is worth it’s weight in gold to the woodworker.

Sanders. What to get?

Sanders give your work a finished touch that really can make a big difference. I recommend a more multifunctional random orbit sander. Also if you’re going to buy one, besure to get a six-inch model. There’s no doubt that the added real estate helps save time on your projects. You’ve got more sandpaper on the surface so as a result it actually will be a big time saver for you. I relly do like random orbit sanders better than quarter sheet sanders because they say they sort of sand in a random orbital pattern which isn’t noticeable to the eye. Reducing those little pigs pigtails squiggly lines is so important.

This DEWALT DWE6423K Variable Speed Random Orbit Sander, 5″ model is a great orbital sander.

Drills?

I think is essential a good drill alright you don’t necessarily need to get all different types of drills just a standard drill driver like this for drilling holes and driving screws will do the trick.

If you go the cheaper route on a drill… I actually use this BLACK+DECKER LDX120C 20V MAX Lithium Ion Drill/Driver cordless drill around the shop a lot. It is a really cheap Black and Decker but I have been pretty amazed at the quality of the way it works.

If you want to step up a bit on drills, check these out.

The Makita XFD061 18V LXT Lithium-Ion COMPACT Brushless Cordless 1/2 Driver-Drill Kit (3.0Ah) is a good drill.

Or try the Dewalt DCD771C2 20V MAX Cordless Lithium-Ion 1/2 inch Compact Drill Driver Kit. I have heard nothing but good things about this drill.

Circular Saw

Okay a good-quality circular saw even if you don’t have a good quality circular saw even a medium quality is gonna work or if you have a low budget but circular saw just put a better blade in there the blade will make all the difference in the world and I’m going to show you a way to get better results out of this that are very similar to what I get from my Festool setup with the track. You can use this to cut sheet goodsif you have a wide enough platform to work with.

This hand held SKIL 5280-01 15-Amp 7-1/4-Inch Circular Saw with Single Beam Laser Guide works really well…

Things like that circular saw is gonna be your best friend now you’re also gonna need to cut curves at some point I do a lot of this with a bandsaw but you can do most of that curve cutting with a jig saw right it doesn’t really have to be a high-quality jigsaw because a lot of times those curves you’re gonna sand them afterwards or maybe use a file or something to clean them up alright

Hand Tools

So this is it for the power tools but if you get into woodworking you absolutely I believe you can’t ignore hand tools they’re essential to doing good work and to really increase your versatility on what you can do as well as your skills so a good set of chisels is essential quarter inch half inch three quarters and one inch if you have those in your collection you pretty much have your bases covered for the most part but chisels are going to be I don’t know I use them on every single project something gets touched with a chisel at some point and a good multi-purpose saw.

Below are a few good ones:

Lynx 26-Inch Hand Saw Filed for Cross Cutting (8 TPI) with Taper Ground Blade and Stained Beech Handle

This little “FatMax” is a nice little saw…
Stanley 20-045 15-Inch Fat Max Hand Saw

Check out these chisels:
DEWALT DWHT16063 Short Blade Wood Chisel 4piece set

…and a coping saw comes in handy!

Measuring tape
Stanley 33-425 Powerlock 25-Foot by 1-Inch Measuring Tape – Original

Combination Square!
Stanley 33-425 Powerlock 25-Foot by 1-Inch Measuring Tape – Original

okay a lot of people with all these other sort of cutting implements and things don’t necessarily think that a handsaw is all that useful but you’d be surprised how many binds of this will get you out of alright and that is what I consider to be the basic tool kit now you could step this up you could upgrade from a jigsaw and get yourself a bandsaw you could stop relying so much on your circular saw and get yourself a table saw I mean you could take the router flip it upside down and put it in a table and now you’ve got even more functionality so there’s upgrades you know up the wazoo but for now if you’re just getting started and you want to do some of those things like in that Instructables link that I put in there these are tools that are gonna allow you to do that and if you shop carefully and maybe look at the used market you can get all this for a pretty low price

Have a great day!

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