18th and 19th century English joiner’s tool kit from The Wealden Museum, West Sussex

BEGINNERS’ GUIDE:
Using hand tools and traditional methods to make a draw-bored mortise and tenon joint.

The first of several articles on using hand tools.

This article first appeared in The GMC Group’s publication Woodwork Craft Issue 1 June 2015
We have one drawer in our kitchen that contains our shared tools.  The tools we reach for when something needs doing and I don’t want to trek to the woodshop to get my tools. It’s a set of tools that has taken years to refine, based totally on our needs. You could call them ‘Necessary Tools’. English Joiner’s through the years have used a small selection of tools  and were able to produce a wide variety of beautiful furniture.

THE TRADITIONAL JOINER’S TOOL KIT
When starting out acquiring tools it’s easy to be confused with the plethora available, some so specialized that you may only use them once or twice.  It’s important to not fall for the more is better philosophy – if I have this tool or that tool I’d be a better craftsman.

The saying ‘you get what you pay for’ is so true when purchasing woodworking tools. Unless you have a lot of money to fork out, reasonably priced, good quality tools are hard to come by and forget chain DIY stores for quality hand tools. Very few of my hand tools were purchased new and for the most part were obtained by scouring flea markets, car boot sales and online auctions. These offer the best hope of finding good quality older tools at reasonable prices.  Read the full article here…

This article first appeared in The GMC Group publication Woodwork Craft Issue 1 2015