digest
Short Summary
Main recommendation: To get started in woodworking cheaply, buy a handsaw-free core kit of a table saw, a router with a router table, a handheld jigsaw, and a sander, plus wood glue and sandpaper, for roughly $400 total. Steve Ramsey argues that the craft is about cutting, assembling, and sanding wood, and that modest tools are enough for a beginner to build simple projects like a box.
Key Points
- Woodworking boils down to three tasks: cutting wood into shapes, assembling pieces, and smoothing them by sanding, with imagination as the fourth essential ingredient.
- Ramsey says many woodworkers overcomplicate the craft and make it seem to require expensive shops, which discourages beginners.
- He admits modern woodworking practically requires some power tools, though he admires craftsmen who built furniture with hand tools alone.
- He estimates a table saw handles about 80% of a beginner's cutting, making it the first tool to buy.
- He recommends starting with inexpensive pine (3/4 inch lumber) and a simple box as a first project.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: Buy a table saw first (a contractor's saw, about $200 new) since it handles roughly 80% of cutting.
- Concrete instructions: Add a router (he used a Ryobi, about $50 to $60) and a router table (about $50 to $60, or build your own); mount the router under the table to make rounded edges and picture frames.
- Concrete instructions: Get a handheld jigsaw (about $30) for curved cuts on flat stock, instead of a band saw at the start.
- Concrete instructions: For sanding, use a Black & Decker Mouse hand sander (about $30) rather than sanding by hand; a random orbit sander is an option but he uses the Mouse more.
- Concrete instructions: Buy 3/4 inch pine from a lumber yard or big box store, cut it, and make a simple box to give away.
- Concrete instructions: Use wood glue for assembly, not screws, nails, or a hammer, for the basic project he describes.
- Concrete instructions: Stay safe by never putting fingers in front of a moving blade and by visualizing where your hands will be through each cut.
- Ramsey notes that the total for these tools is around $400, or less, and compares that cost to a weekend away with a spouse.
- He admits he rarely uses his handsaw, having used it about three times, and says he rarely routes by hand (since his router is mounted in a table).
Bottom Line
You can start woodworking affordably with a few core power tools and cheap pine; the imagination to plan a project matters more than an expensive shop.
