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23 October 2020 at 5:14 pm #683426
I tried southern yellow pine a couple years ago and failed and it had to be the twistiest, warpiest thing on the planet. Clear Douglas fir should be much denser compared Eastern white too which is really soft. Consider that in the US the construction industry has destroyed old growth Eastern white pine. It probably was once close to the stuff in the UK maybe not as good as Scott’s red but close at one time.
23 October 2020 at 12:56 am #683362Did you find your wood? I am curious too as the cut list is final sizes, after planing and after laminating so I’m not sure all what you’d get at the big box store to make it work either.
30 April 2016 at 1:13 am #136822I’ve seen a picture somewhere but there’s no videos on workbench mods from Paul as of yet. At some point they were talking of doing a new, refactored workbench build. I don’t recall where I saw the picture but I’ll look around later. It definitely was not a peg.
20 April 2016 at 9:14 pm #136547Hmm, I still have not received any confirmation of shipment. Soon, maybe?
15 April 2016 at 5:10 am #136428I have not received mine yet nor an e-mail saying anything has reached customs…
11 July 2015 at 9:01 pm #128422That depends on the variety of your work.
The number and sizes I bought came directly from Paul as a recommendation because I wasn’t sure.
Shrug. The Harbor Freights aren’t much difference in price either way.
9 July 2015 at 6:55 pm #128379Oh, how could I forget…
18. Sharpening stuff. You want a diamond plate (EZE or DMT) setup, at least coarse, fine and super fine or 250, 400, 1600 grit roughly. You could do oil or water stones if you already have them. You also want sand paper for restoral of a plane… generally 250 is good but you can go much lower to restore an out of shape plane sole to flat. The paper will have other uses. Auto shops will sell the lower grit stuff. 250 should be your mainstay. You’ll also want something flat – a granite block from Woodcraft made by Wood River for $35-40 works, or a granite tile or glass or something like that that’s flat, for your plane flattening tasks. Outside that you’ll be using the stones/plates. Also, jeweler’s compound such as chromium oxide etc for polishing your cutting edges after they’ve left the super fine plate/stone. A strop can be build with scrap wood or plywood and a piece of leather bought at a craft store like Michael’s.
-Ben
9 July 2015 at 6:51 pm #128378Do not go cheap on tools.
That being said, eBay is the best resource for older tools. Older tools are often better and cheaper for the price.
For example, you can buy a really crappy Stanley plane (modern) and have a great paperweight, you can spend $300 on a modern well-built one, or you can spend $40 on eBay for a pre-WWII #4 on eBay if you are patient. Even if you end up buying two, and one does not work out, you’re still ahead. And, the probability you have one that is totally unworkable is very low.
Be patient. I have been looking into various things for 2 years and am still working about some basic technique and trying to build my workbench following Paul’s methods exactly. There is joy in researching the older tools, how they work, their internal parts, how to restore an old one to functional use (especially planes) and finally but ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL, how to sharpen them. Note that sharpening them the first time if getting an older tool that hasn’t been used in forever will be time-consuming but regular sharpening after that will be quick, although more frequently required than one might like — just part of the trade honestly.
This comment is only for US users and only for the workbench build. In the US, the construction market has DESTROYED the market for finding decent pine to work with. You will either find the twisted-beyond-belief and 3-5 year old stuff used in construction that will frustrate you to no end or you will spend as much or more than you would on rough cut poplar from a mill. The stuff at the Big Box store, at least here in the Midwest, is NOT usable AT ALL. Their ‘craft’ aisle 1x stuff is fine for small projects. Otherwise you want to go to a lumber mill — and in the US, that means probably 100% hardwoods, 0% softwoods. If you really are lucky enough to have land with old pine / poplar on it, use it. Even our Southern Yellow Pine can be difficult for a newbie — American pines that are more available (SYP) tend to have grain that goes in both directions and can be hard to read.
Step 1 – Start with the workbench build RESEARCH to learn what tools you’d need JUST for that project. Watch all the videos and make a list.
Step 2 – Do it again but look at materials, dimensions, etc. Look into what you have available. Research local lumber mills and what they have for what cost.
Step 3 – Buy tools over time, each time watching Paul videos, other videos and researching the tool, how to sharpen it, and so on. Sharpen it. Find a safe place to store it away from air/moisture. One method of research is these very forums. You’re unlikely to be the first WW newbie to ask anything on these forums. If you do have a unique question a forums search doesn’t help, post specific question in a new topic for sure.
Step 4 – Begin your workbench build…
Tools I have determined would be useful to have to complete the workbench build only:
1. Engineer’s Combination Square — Old Stanley Rabone from eBay or Starrett from Amazon. Do not go cheap on this tool. It is going to tell you if your material is square or not. Cheap ones do NOT last. Starrett is the best if you are in the US (domestic shipping). UKers I suggest eBaying around for a Rabone due to the extra shipping to get it to you. You’re looking for cast iron stock, precisely straight rule, 32nd or 64th markings, and not too long (12″ is great). I have a Starrett, square head only, cost me about $70 if I remember right (Amazon).
2. Marking Knife — Hands down best marking knife ever is what Paul uses. It is a Stanley knife but not the typical Stanley knife. Probably due to Paul alone, an Amazon search for ‘Stanley knife’ now the first result is what you want. Stanley 10-049 knife.
3. Chisels — Don’t go cheap or you’ll be resharpening every other chop. I bought Ashley Isles bought that was about $160 for a set of 6. If you can find the set at Aldi’s, follow Paul’s videos for setting them up and sharpening them the first time, and you’ll be good to go and those are cheap. If not, and Aldi only puts them out once or twice a year at most if at all in the US (only seen them once in US myself), Narex is a good cheap option that works rather well I hear.
4. Chisel Hammer — The Thor hammers on Amazon are great, get the double-sided one where one is a plastic composite for strong percussive strikes (chisel hits) and the other rubber (for assembly hits / material hits). A basic larger rubber mallet from the big box store might be handy if you don’t have one.
5. Saws — Saws are much more hit and miss on eBay than anything else. I suggest putting a lot of research into it here. Plus, there are lots of kinds of saws. However, JUST for the workbench build to get you going, I suggest buying crappy cheap saws made by Stanley from the big box stores. They aren’t re-sharpenable but they work and should work well enough to just get you through the build. Restoring old saws is much easier with a bench I think and this is what I am doing for now. One saw I got on eBay was totally messed up and I had to file all the teeth ALL the way down, but I’m not going to try to redo the teeth as Paul’s video shows without a bench and vise. After that you’ll want a panel (rip cut 10-11 TPI/PPI and short 18-22″ long) saw and then a tenon saw (10-12″ rip cut 10-11 TPI/PPI). A cheap ZONA saw can work in a pinch for a dovetail saw before getting an actual nice dovetail saw, and the ZONA is still useful at times even if you have one.
6. Planes — Just a #4 for now. The #4-1/2 are expensive in the US on eBay as the demand is still there thanks to collectors but the supply is much lower than the #4. The #5 / #5-1/2 are nice in some cases but you only really need a good #4. Get one on eBay. Someone already mentioned the Hyper Kitten website that is the best resource on being able to date one. There’s also a good Disston page out there for dating Disston saws, useful to make sure you find something pre-1940’s and US made not Canada made. Anyway, you don’t want corrugated sole, post-1940’s, bedrock, sweetheart, handyman or anything else. You want a 1940’s Stanley #4. There’s a great but long video on cleaning them up, a few books I could recommend as well, and Paul’s videos of course. Let me know if you want more info on any of that, but the video is all over these forums; the books are on Amazon. I won’t lie, figuring out how the planes work and getting them set up just right and sharpened well is not easy for a first-timer, but persevere and ask questions here. Remain pateint and you’ll make it.
7. Clamps — You need a few of each size, 24″, 36″, 48″. I purchased 8 24″, 6 36″, 4 48″. That suits me for my bench laminating and such. The ones on Harbor Freight are want you can get for about $7 each. That’s as cheap as you’re going to find. Then you want to retrofit them with some 1x planed and cut to fit exactly (some Eclipse coping saws — cheap — work well for the cutting for now) and some wax (there’s a brand on Amazon I use if you want to know) and some thin plywood glued to the heads. Paul’s blog site has a how-to post on it somewhere on this.
8. Winding Sticks — Buy cheap as possible or create them with some 1x material cut to be exact same size and mark the top of one of them with sharpee.
9. Worktable — you’ll want some MDF or OSB or something to put on top of your picnic table or outdoors table or some such while you’re building the benchtops and whatnot. Jawhorse or B&D Workmate or similar can help too. I just use some leftover OSB on top of our picnic table.
10. Marking pencils — any will do, just make sure they are sharp and use the side, not the tip, when marking.
11. Marking gauges — these are cheap on eBay, and the old ones are better. Potentially retrofit them just by moving the steel pins from the face to the corner as Paul does, although can save this for something to do down the road. You can get standard, mortise and combination ones, but they are cheap on eBay.
12. Hand router — for the housing joints — perhaps not necessary, but a chissel and some scrap 2×4 can make the “poor man’s router” which Paul has a YouTube video about.
13. Mill / Bastard File — get a standard 8″ mill file and a set of saw files. I got all mine for Veritas / Lee Valley but an automotive store may also have them, or a big box. Avoid Nicholson.
14. Glue – PVA glue – in the states means usually Titebond, Elmer’s or such. The ‘no-nonsense PVA glue’ Paul uses is UK-only. I asked Paul and he said he used Titebond, Elmer’s and otheres when in the states and could not tell any difference. For a workbench living in a garage that is not temperature-controlled (like mine) I went with Titebond so I could get Titebond II or III for the moisture protection.
15. Drill/Driver – Battery-powered – I’m sure you have one already.
16. Brace & Bit – Great tool, and used in the workbench build briefly by Paul, but you can get away with bits for your regular battery drill to bore the holes needed I think. If you want, though, these can be had on eBay. Just do your research and make sure you get something workable. A bi-directional sort is not a given and should be sought. Ratcheting is nice if you want to also use it with certain bits for driving but not necessary for boring with auger bits, which can also be had on eBay for not too much. There is a video on sharpening the auger bits yourself. However probably not mandatory for the w/b build so save it for later?
17. Vise – One of the only areas besides the combination square I advise not going cheap. Lots of vise posts on here. People seem to like the Eclipse and Jorgensen. You’re looking for a woodworking quick release metal vise, as big as possible. Note that the spec’d length between the jaws where your material goes will be smaller once you add wood or plywood on either end to protect your materials. Dogged vise. You only need 1 affixed to the left side face of your bench (or right if you are left-handed). Eventually you may want 1-3 more which can usualyl be installed later on. Expect to spend $100-200 here. This is pretty much the last step of your workbench build though. Do plenty of research, read the forums posts you can find about it, research online but be careful with Amazon reviews and similar, ask here if unsure.
That should get you going for quite some time. Again if it takes you a while to master each tool’s care and maintenance all the batter, you’re really only buying something every month or so, and learning to take care of and sharpen your tools prior to using them is a good way to go. This is a fairly cheap route to get started. Again I’m still rather new and 2 years in, still working towards that workbench (granted, I don’t get a TON of time to hobbies and have a house to take care of etc, not a full timer nor retired). But I have done a lot of the research, restoral and sharpening work on all of the above and more tools.
Good luck!
-Ben
9 July 2015 at 7:51 am #128352Nice. I’m still doing benchtops 2 years later and having trouble getting things planed square and parallel… fun times.
16 June 2015 at 12:31 am #127803I am just starting out and don’t have my workbench finished, but I have these chisels.
They came quite sharp.
I read a lot of reviews about them and I know that Paul can recommend these. I was going to buy something non-crappy and didn’t know about the Narex, but in US so couldn’t do the Aldi chisels thing (at that time).
I haven’t done a mortise yet and I haven’t had to re-sharpen them yet, but they seem to come highly recommended.
12 May 2015 at 5:39 am #127106I was all excited about the subject of this post until I got to the last letter.
😀
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