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Lohr
Woodworking Advanced Joinery Course
Recommended
Tool List
Minimum
Required
tool list:
1. Chisels - 1/4" through 1" bench chisels
2. Mallet
3. Dovetail Saw - See recommendations below
4. Combination Square
5. Marking Knife
6. Steel Bench Rule
7. Tape Measure
8. Random Orbit Sander + Abrasives
9. Quick Grip clamps (min. 2 each) Irwin
brand is highly recommended. Others do not work well.
10. Card Scraper
11. Extension Cord - 25' recommended.
Additional recommended, but not required tools
to bring to class:
Note: we have at least 3 or more of all
the items below for shared use in class. Students are not demanded to bring the
tools listed below, however, all will find it individually useful to bring
the additional tools below so they are available to you on a use at will
basis.
11. Plunge Router (1hp to 3+hp) 1/2" chuck recommended.
12. 5/16" two flute straight cutting
bit.
13. 1/2" 14-degree dovetail bit with 1/4"
shank
14. 1/4" to 1/2" router bit shank bushing
15. 7/16"O.D. - Router Template Guide to fit
your router.
16. Shoulder or Rabbet Plane
For
Clarity purposes, click on thumbnail photos below to view both
"Required" and "Recommended"
tools for the Advanced Joinery Course.
* Please Click Here for an important note on DOVETAIL JIGS!
Optional tools:
Router - specific recommendations to follow
Marking Gauge
Of course we have these tools in
the shop, but at this stage in your woodworking careers, if you don’t already
have them you may wish to consider purchasing your own. Throughout this
document, the listed sources are only suggestions - you may well be able to find
cheaper elsewhere. Of course this list is not exhaustive - these are only our
suggestions, and I stress that
purchase of these tools is NOT obligatory for participation in the course.
However, you’ll find having the following tools will help you to complete the
course project more efficiently:
Chisels
There are many types of woodworking
chisels - Butt; Bench; Firmer; Paring; Mortise; Dovetail; Skewed and more,
described for their function. Initially, a set of bevel edged bench (also known
as cabinet) chisels are the most versatile, and are the first set you should
consider. A set of five or six of these will cover most woodworkers for their
entire woodworking careers. Sets can be purchased that usually contain 1/4”
through 1”. If available, it’s worth purchasing a 1/8” as well. You will
need to bring 1/4”, 3/8”,
1/2” and 3/4” chisels for your project. They don’t need to be matched
sets, nor do they need to be new - pre-war tools are generally made from
excellent quality steel, and are the mainstay of our shop. However, whatever you
bring, it goes without saying that they must be sharp. Brand new, out of the box
is not sharp. We mean sharp, with the backs properly flattened, the way you were
taught. Please do not bring blunt tools to the shop, expecting us to sharpen
them for you. Look after your chisels once you’ve sharpened them. They are
some of your most important tools - don’t leave them rattling around together
in a bag with their blades knocking up against one another. Wrap them
individually in cloth, or leather.
To begin with, you certainly don’t need anything fancy or expensive. However,
to an extent, you get what you pay for in terms of steel quality. If you’re
serious about your woodworking, you need better steel than you’re going to get
in a $15 set of four from one of the big chain stores, or you’ll spend more
time sharpening them than using them. If you are a more experienced woodworker,
you will already understand the benefit of having a good set of chisels in your
shop.
We advise that you purchase ‘Western’ style chisels rather than
‘Japanese’, as the latter take considerably more effort and skill to prepare
for first use and to keep sharp. Unless you consider yourself an expert chisel
sharpener and tool fettler, go ‘Western’.
Moderately priced brands we like, in no order of preference are:
Irwin Blue Chip (aka Marples) - www.woodcraft.com
or
www.rockler.com $70
set of 6
Footprint 87 Series - www.amazon.com
#3127463
$71 set of 6
Garrett Wade - www.garrettwade.com
Cabinetmaker’s
chisel set #10T15.01 $72 set of 6
Narex - www.highlandwoodworking.com
Bench
chisel set #146012 $50 set of 6
MHG - www.hartvilletool.com
#44012NB
$90 set of 6
Middle priced chisels that we like, again in no particular order,
are:
Pfeil Swiss Made - www.woodcraft.com
#05T29
$170 set of 6
Two Cherries - www.amazon.com
#500-1561
$170 set of 6
Hirsch chisels are made in the same plant as Two cherries - no
difference
Robert Sorby “London Pattern” - www.thebestthings.com
#167-S5
$175 set of 5
If you really want the best Western style chisels available, look at:
Lie-Nielsen - www.lie-nielsen.com
#C-BS-NR
- $275 set of 5
Blue Spruce - www.bluesprucetoolworks.com
Bench
chisel set $445 set of 5
We don’t particularly like Crown, Grizzly, Ashley Isles, Lee
Valley, Craftsman or Stanley, although they’re perfectly adequate for most
needs.
Finally, if you can find a set of pre-war Stanley 750 or Buck Bros. chisels in
salvageable condition, ignore all the above...
Dovetail
Saw
You do not need a dovetail saw
to complete your project; please do not purchase one specially. However, if you
have one, please feel free to bring it with you.
Should you wish to purchase one at some time in the future, you have a choice -
Western or Japanese. The former cuts on the push stroke, whereas the latter cuts
on the pull stroke. Which you use depends entirely on your own preference - we
like both, but you should go with one, practice with it and stick with it.
Western
Saws
There are two types of handle - pistol
grips (open or closed) or straight handles (aka ‘Gents’ saw). The most
important thing is that the handle should feel right for you and the angle it
places your hand with respect to the angle of the blade should be comfortable.
With pistol grip handles, it really is important to try before you buy to make
sure the handle fits your grip. Not so important for straight handles.
Given the above, all the following cut
very nicely:
Crown (www.highlandhardware.com
-
pistol grip #452801 $75; gent’s saw #431168 $22)
Veritas (www.leevalley.com - pistol grip #05T05.01 $65)
Pax (www.thebestthings.com - pistol grip Thomas Flinn dovetail saw $85)
Lie-Nielsen (www.woodcraft.com - Pistol grip #S-DS $125; straight grip #S-SH-DS
$75);
Wenzloff & Sons (www.thebestthings.com - pistol grip #KS_9_16 $130 - good
for small hands)
Adria (www.adriatools.com - pistol grip #A001.1 $135),
Grammercy (www.toolsforworkingwood.com - pistol grip #GT-DSAW9.XX $150 - good
for big hands)
Independence Tools - now sold as Lie-Nielsen
Japanese
Saws
A Japanese tenon saw is known as a
Dozuki. It typically has a finer tooth count than the equivalent Western
Dovetail saw - usually between 18 - 30 tpi and comes sharp and ready to go right
out of the box. For dovetail use, remember that you ideally need a rip-cut saw -
most Dozukis have a crosscut tooth pattern with a secondary bevel - these will
cut a dovetail acceptably, but slower than a rip pattern. They do make superb
general purpose detail saws, though and we use them for dovetails without issue.
Some Dozukis come with a rip, or modified rip pattern specifically for
dovetails; however, these will not crosscut particularly well.
Our three Dozuki recommendations
are:
Deluxe Rip Dozuki (www.toolsforworkingwood.com - #MS-JS340, $99)
Gyokucho Rip Dozuki (www.japanwoodworker.com - #19.311.0, $39)
Dozuki “Z” saw (Woodcraft - #12F27, $51) or (www.traditionalwoodworker.com
#406-7031
$50) this last one rips adequately and crosscuts well - a good general purpose,
smooth-cutting saw.
Mallets
You will need to bring a
small/medium wood or brass headed mallet with you to class. Any smaller mallet
will do - our preference is for a carvers mallet (the round type) as opposed to
the English pattern/carpenters mallet (the square type), but it doesn’t really
matter - just bring what you have. Ideally, you’ll want something between a
10oz and 16 oz weight or thereabouts, or a weight that you’re comfortable
with. There’s no hard and fast rule, here. What won’t do is a dead blow
mallet, the sort that looks like a large hammer and has lead shot inside it; nor
will a solid rubber mallet work.
Combination
Square
Every woodworker should have
one of these. The 12” is the most useful, but a smaller one (3”, 4” or
6”) is also handy. If you don’t already have one, the 12” is the way to
go. If you have a smaller double square (4” or 6”), a fixed engineers
square, or a wood and brass T-square, bring that,too (but don’t buy
specially).
Our favorite is our old (1960s) Craftsman, but be warned that modern Craftsman
stuff is not really that nice. The quality of the steel is just not as good. Nor
is the Empire brand that you’ll find in Home Depot or Lowes.
You don’t really need to buy one with a protractor head attachment or a
centering attachment - the square head is all that is strictly necessary.
Good brands are:
General Tools (Ace Hardware, Amazon). NOTE: General Tools, NOT General
Starrett (the forged version is better than the cast iron, but both are
excellent)
Brown & Sharpe (thebestthings.com)
Rockler (their own brand - ‘Only@Rockler’)
Pinnacle (Woodcraft)
Woodcraft’s own brand
Steel
Rule
You can always use the one on
your combination square, but they’re a little bit on the thick side for
accurate transfer of measurements, and we don’t particularly like taking them
out of the combination square. If you have a good, readable thinner one, then
bring that too, whatever its length. We like to have a 24” around the shop and
use 6” rules all the time. All nice-to-haves, but one will suffice. If you
have good rules, please look after the edges - don’t just throw them into a
bag with other large lumps of metal.
Here are some of the many available:
Veritas 6” Pocket Rule - www.leevalley.com
#60N47.01
$9.50
Veritas 12” Cabinetmaker’s rule - www.leevalley.com
-
#60N20.06 $12.95
Tape
Measure
A 12 foot length is sufficient
for all cabinetry work. You don’t need metric scales as we operate exclusively
in Imperial. Large 30 foot construction tapes are a bit too cumbersome for shop
use, but OK if that’s what you have.
Marking
knife
You will need a single sided
marking knife for the course. By single sided, we mean that the beveled edge is
only on one side of the blade, and the other face is completely flat, like a
chisel, so you can scribe right up to a perpendicular face, i.e. unlike an X-acto
knife where the scalpel blade is sharpened from both sides of the blade. We like
the Veritas style of knife as it can mark both left and right handed.
These are available from little expense all the way to rather a lot, but the
cheapest work exactly the same as the expensive ones:
Veritas - www.leevalley.com
Striking
knife #50D01.01 $18.50
Pfeil “Swiss Made” Marking Knife - www.woodcraft.com #05Z25
$17.99
Pfeil Marking Knife - www.woodcraft.com #05E72/3 $24.99)
Czeckedge (www.czeckedge.com - various styles from $41.95)
Blue Spruce Toolworks www.bluesprucetoolworks.com
-
$mucho)
Pencil
You can either go the manual route and
worry about having it uniformly sharp every time you use it, or get yourself a
nice mechanical engineering pencil. You do need one that takes a 0.5mm lead,
though, in 2H. Anything larger is too fat. We particularly like:
Pentel P205 Sharp Pencil (Staples #434350 $8.29 pack of 2)
Pentel Premium High Polymer 0.5mm 2H lead refills (Staples #882888 $1.49)
...but really, anything else is fine, as long as its 0.5mm
Sander
We demand you bring your own
random orbit 5” finishing sander, and a sufficient supply of aluminum
oxide sanding disks in the following grits: 80; 120; 180; 220. Of course, Home
Depot or Lowes won’t sell you all these grits, so we use Klingspor as
they’re the cheapest and best for what we need. The website is: www.woodworkingshop.com
Remember you’ll need to specify how many holes your particular
brand of sander has in its base. No matter what you have, Klingspor will have
the sandpaper for you.
Our favorite sander continues to be the Makita B05010/B05030, which is
available from allprotools.com for approx $64. You don’t need to get a
variable speed sander, as you’ll be using it at its max speed all the time.
The variable speed versions are about $30 more expensive.
Extension
cord
Please bring your own three pin extension cord -
of 12 or 14 gauge, and around 15’ - long..
Advanced Joinery Home Adv.
Joinery Syllabus Adv. Joinery
Materials Options How to Enroll
Advanced Joinery Schedule