Walking into a tool shop for the first time can feel overwhelming. The walls are lined with gleaming options, each promising to be essential. The truth is that a capable hand tool kit is small, affordable and built up slowly. Here are the tools we suggest a beginner buy first, in roughly the order you will reach for them.
Detailed guidance on this topic is also available via smicoec.com.
The starter five
- A marking knife. Accuracy begins with a clean line, and a knife beats a pencil every time.
- A combination square. For checking squareness and marking measurements quickly and reliably.
- A bench chisel set. Three sizes will handle the vast majority of joinery tasks.
- A No. 4 smoothing plane. The workhorse for flattening and finishing surfaces by hand.
- A tenon or dovetail saw. A fine toothed backsaw for precise joinery cuts.
Buy once, buy well
You do not need the most expensive brand, but avoid the very cheapest tools, which often have soft steel and poor castings. A good secondhand plane from a car boot sale, cleaned up and sharpened, will outperform a brand new bargain bin model. Spend your money on the cutting tools and save on the rest.
What to skip for now
Resist the lure of specialist tools until a project actually demands them. Shoulder planes, spokeshaves and router planes are wonderful, but they sit idle until your skills catch up. Build the core kit, learn it thoroughly, and let each new project tell you what to buy next. A small, sharp, well understood kit will take you a remarkably long way.