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Starting from scratch...
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02-03-2017 9:55pm#1
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Honestly, just pick the first project and buy the tools you need for that as you go.
And you don't need a vice, it's just useful. Buy two holdfasts and drill some holes in the workbench for them and some bench dogs and you'll be able to do all the workholding you need:
That said, I love my record 53A but I would never buy a new one (because Record, Stanley and every other hand tool manufacturer went right down the tubes for quality after WW2 when the woodworking industry switched to machinery). Go on ebay, set up a search for a record vice and wait for one at a decent price. If it weighs less than 20kg, use addresspal and ship it for 3.50 from the UK to here (if more than 20kg, which would be a record 53 series, you'll have to ship it yourself with parcel2go or someone). The 52 is a little small but usable especially as an end vice, the 52½ is the most popular and is perfect, the 53 is enormous and lovely.
Or you could buy the hardware and make a leg vice, depending on your workbench.
And you don't have to wait for any of those for something as simple as a doghouse.
(ps. none of that would apply if you were doing this as a profession; but for those of us that do this to unwind in the evening or over a weekend, we can get away with things professionals wouldn't be able to do and stay in business)0 -
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jimmytootimes wrote: »Sorry I should have mentioned that in my original post. Would any vice do? Or should I look for a particular one? I left an overhang on the bench for a vice. Also what type of clamps would you start with?
Thanks
Regarding your question about clamps, sadly, you can never have enough clamps.
Though, I learned the hard way to avoid the trigger style F clamps. The trigger ones have a tendency to fail as they're only made of plastic. Steer well clear!
Go with the screw type:
The screw type are able to exert better, and more consistent, pressure than the trigger ones. I found the Aldi screw clamps to be very good for very little money. I bought 3 sets of 3 about 4 years ago and I use them all the time with wooden blocks to spread the pressure more evenly and to avoid marking my project.
Get the longest ones you can find, I think that the longer Aldi ones are 600mm long. The long ones can be used on narrow glue ups but the short ones cannot stretch if you need them for something wider.
For really wide stuff, like table tops, you'll need sash clamps, body clamps, pipe clamps or clamp heads:
Sash clamps can be quite pricey, around €50 for 1.5m length. They work very well. I got a loan of a set of them for a projest so my experience is very limited.
Body clamps are the most expensive at around €100 for 1.5m. I've never used them.
Pipe clamps are quite reasonable. About €12 for 1/2 inch pipe and €15 for 3/4 inch pipe. You need to source your own pipes and have the tapping tools to cut the threads on the ends. Because you supply the pipe you can use any length you like. You can even have varying lengths of pipe and just attach the hardware as needed. I've never used them myself but they appear to be the most common amongst YouTube woodworkers.
I personally went with the clamp heads for 1 x 2 wooden boards. They set me back about €120 for 6 sets, including delivery and two 4.5m lengths of construction grade white deal 1 x 2s. It took me about an hour to cut them to length and drill the holes and I have been using these 1.5m clamps regularly for the last 3 years. They work very well with very little bowing and I always get tight, seamless glue lines when I use them.
Drawbacks: I replaced the supplied nuts with wing nuts to make them easier to adjust. I have an additional ongoing cost of wax paper and masking tape to prevent my projects from being glued to the clamps by squeeze out.
PS Keep your eye open for woodworking tools from Lidl and Aldi especially in the lead up to Father's Day. The Aldi chisel sets are brilliant for the money and the Lidl mitre saw, lathe and cordless drill have served me well for years. They're not professional quality but they work reasonably well for the hobbyist.0 -
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The trigger ones conversely are handy for one-handed-because-the-other-hand-is-holding-six-things-in-place clamping. And if you get the Irwin quick-grip xtreme ones (while holding your nose about the stupid name), they're miles apart from the usual cheapo trigger ones.rich.d.berry wrote: »The screw type are able to exert better, and more consistent, pressure than the trigger ones.
But remember that the longest ones are a total pain in the fundament to store and to manoeuvre in smaller workshops.Get the longest ones you can find, I think that the longer Aldi ones are 600mm long. The long ones can be used on narrow glue ups but the short ones cannot stretch if you need them for something wider.
Or you can buy the cheap versions for around €45 for four (in 900mm length) and then do the modifications to them described by Paul Sellars which seriously improve them for nothing much at all.Sash clamps can be quite pricey, around €50 for 1.5m length. They work very well. I got a loan of a set of them for a projest so my experience is very limited.
Also, I found that for the really huge ones I needed for the bench, ebay was the way to go, and for those
ones I got the T-bar variety.
Also, don't forget that if you need slightly longer clamps, you can just extend the ones you have by taking off a head from the T-bar variety and bolting two together.
The smaller G-type ones from record are useful as well, in the 2->6 inch range and come up on ebay for reasonable money (I tend to use them more for holding work on the bench as I work on it rather than during glue-ups). And it's handy to have at least one of the picture frame variety that look like a length of tie-down strap with a funny handle. You can get those for a pittance off aliexpress.com if you're okay with waiting a month for free delivery.
Spot on. The lidl chisel set is identical to the aldi one by the way, and Paul Sellers has a video showing how to prep them. They aren't the best I've ever seen for that kind of price though, the ones you can find on ebay are better for less money. It may take a while of looking to find what you want though. Anything made by footprint tends to be good, same goes for marples; and anything with the name sorby or ward on it is almost always brilliant.PS Keep your eye open for woodworking tools from Lidl and Aldi especially in the lead up to Father's Day. The Aldi chisel sets are brilliant for the money and the Lidl mitre saw, lathe and cordless drill have served me well for years. They're not professional quality but they work reasonably well for the hobbyist.
I have a few wards and sorbys and marples for bevel-edged and firmer type chisels (firmers have a rectangular cross-section and are good for light to medium morticing work and can stand in for pretty much everything other than dovetailing); and there's a set of three footprint chisels that turns up for a fiver every so often that's completely worth twice that money. You'll want to search on ebay.co.uk and limit the search to Used and to UK only and they show up in Collectibles/Tools&Hardware/Tools. And the older the better in general - anything from before the 70s is probably going to be better; anything before WW2 is probably going to be very solid as a tool (the hand tool industry as a whole kindof died on its feet after WW2, or at least changed shape so dramatically as to stop being what it had been beforehand). If you're patient and avoid bidding wars using snipers like gixen or the like, you can pick up a full set of chisels for 10-20 euro that would normally need 100 euro plus to beat in quality (as opposed to beating in shiny marketing and fancier wood handles).
But be warned that if you're not careful you can wind up bargain hunting as a pastime and it's a small stumble from there to collecting planes and tools
Not *everything* from Lidl and Aldi is great, but the ones that aren't tend to be the exception rather than the rule (skip the pillar drill for example). Usually the tools you buy there tend to be basic but solid, and you'd have to add another digit to the bill to get the next tier up in quality; and for amateur woodworking it wouldn't really be worth it anyway.0 -
rich.d.berry wrote: »I can't see the mitre saw you refer to on the Lidl offers page for Thursday 16th. I seem to recall that mine cost around €100 and is able to slide for cutting wider boards. I'll post up a photo of it when I get home.
Here is the Lidl mitre saw.
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rich.d.berry wrote: »Here is the Lidl mitre saw.
The lidl and aldi mitre saws are rebranded Scheppach.
Got one here.0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvhn-PAfEW4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyKiGmRq3wY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki8tt-VjwqI
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