The Tool Kit

Having opened this blog with an introduction to the tool kit, I thought it would make sense to follow up with a list of its contents. The kit was chosen mostly under the guidance of various Charles H. Hayward books, who edited The Woodworker magazine from 1935-68 and wrote a number of useful books on furniture and woodworking. The two I’ve relied on most are Tools for Woodwork and Cabinet Making for Beginners. The Joiner and Cabinet Maker (of which a tool list is available here) and Chris Schwarz’s The Anarchists Tool Chest also deserve a mention when on the topic of choosing tools.

Most of the tools were given to me by relatives or picked up on Ebay or various antiques markets, though a couple were bought new. There are a few oddities that were picked up cheaply more for nostalgic reasons that for regular use – though I did find a use for the badger plane making the wide tenons for the clamped ends on the tool chest’s lid. I’ve a soft spot for old wooden tools, especially if they are interesting or unusual for any reason (such as the badger plane, which I expect was made by a carpenter for personal use as it’s made out of mahogany, when as far as I’ve seen all tool makers were using beech except for infill planes).

I also went a bit overboard with the brace bits. I’ve a table in one of my books that lists the various sizes of clearance holes and pilot holes for hardwood or softwood for all screw sizes from No.2 – 14. So I’ve more than the average number of shell and half-twist bits in my bit role to try and cover all those ‘required’ sizes. And, once I’d finished the bit roll, I saw the wooden tube of drill bits and in a moment of weakness bought that too (because I didn’t have that 1/16 in. bit I needed!). We will see, but I rather think I will only need a few of those bits for the more common screw sizes.

I’d also note that I am already overflowing the tool chest (I was before it was finished in truth), so there are a couple of tools kept separately which are marked with an asterisk (*). This was partly planned, I never expected to fit the larger hand saws in the chest, and partly due to a mild tool addiction. Ideally I’d like to have a truly traditional tool kit (circa 1850) with all the old style wooden tools but in some cases the modern metal tools are nice to have to hand when required. I find they do make some jobs easier, especially whilst I’m still developing my skills. The wooden router plane in particular always causes me distress, and I struggle to get the fine shaving I can get with a metal smoothing plane from a wooden one.

Saws

• *Rip Saw
• *Cross-cut saw
• Panel saw
• Tenon saw
• Dovetail saw
• Keyhole saw
• *Bow saw

 

Planes

• Jack plane
• Smoothing plane, wood
• Record No. 04, metal smoothing plane
• Trying plane
• *Record No. 06, metal fore plane
• Record No. 09 ½ block plane
• Skewed rebate plane
• Fillister plane
• Plough plane
• *Stanley No. 50 combination plane
• *Moudling Planes, ¼ in. beading plane, 1 ogee, 2 rounds.
• *Badger plane
• Router plane, wood,
• *Stanley No. 71 router plane

Chisels

• Firmer chisels, 1/16 in., 1/8 in. – 1 in. in 1/8 in. intervals, 1 ¼ in.
• Bevelled-edge chisel, 1 in.
• Mortise chisels, ¼ in., 3/8 in.

Marking out and Testing

• Try Squares, 12 in., 6 in. and 3 in.
• Mitre square
• Sliding bevel
• *12 in. Combination square set with protractor and centre square.
• Marking knife, striking knife, pencils etc.
• Marking gauge.
• Cutting gauge.
• Mortise gauge.
• Panel gauge.
• Dovetail template
• Dividers
• *Wooden straight edge
• 2 ft. three fold rule.
• 2 ft. folding slide rule.
• 1 ft. steel rule.

Boring Tools

• Ratchet brace, 10 in. sweep.
• Brace, 5 in sweep.
• Assorted brace bits
• Brad and Birdcage awls
• *Hand drill

Other Tools

• Wood spokeshave
• Half-round file
• Rat tail file
• Cabinet-makers rasp
• Scraper
• Pincers
• Pliers
• Punches
• Oilstone
• Slip stones
• Oil can and rag
• Leather strop
• *Framing square (which should have been in the marking and measuring photo)
• Hammers
• Assorted cabinet makers screwdrivers
• *4 ‘Perfect handle’ screwdrivers, parallel tips sized for No. 4, 6, 8 and 10 screws
• Burnisher
• File card
• *Various files, handles and saw-sets for saw sharpening.
• Cork rubber
• Needle files
• *Hatchet
• *Metal plate
• Inches/Millimetres equivalent chart.
• Old candle for greasing plane soles, screws etc. and general lubrication. 
• Mallet

 

So there's the kit, which is rather more extensive than I realised. Next up I really ought to start building things...