cpt_hammer's Workshop

Every thing at Woodcraft, Rockler, Lee Valley. LOL

-- Thos. Angle, Owyhee Design, Oregon

What Tom said! Be sure to get good clamps. Don’t just buy clamps to have them. A lot of the guys like the parallel body clamps – I like them, but I actually prefer the pipe clamps. I think the best way to get clamps is to buy them as your projects dictate. That way you get what you need and don’t end up trying to glue up a small drawer with a bunch of 48” clamps.

A good router should be on your list also. If you don’t have a router table – I would go with a plunge router. Then when you get the router be sure to buy good bits. Here again buy bits as your projects require. I’ve been bitten by the sets of bits. Usually they are not the highest quality and you end up not using most of the set. You can get by with some basics, a few straights, 1/4” and 1/2” round over and a few core box bits. A pattern bit would probably round out that list.

Since you have a one car slot to work with you really need to be sure to buy just what you need and not fall for all the gadgets that you can get. We all have drawers full of gadgets that never get used. I need to find the link, but I think it is Woodworking magazine or Popular Woodworking that has had a recent series on small shops and how to set them up. It was a pretty good series.

You’ll eventually want to get a good bandsaw – lots you can do with that.

Also, be sure to get yourself a good set of chisels. (not the Buck Brothers from Home Depot—- save your money).

Long and short – by based on projects not on catalogs!

Hope that all helps.

-- Betsy - GO BUCKS!

Most of all safety equipment. dust and hearing protection.

And have fun.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

Yeah, anything you buy, have a strategy for controlling dust. Other than that, what Thos.Angle said.

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

Hi Cpt_hammer,

How about posting some pictures of your setup? I find visual tours of other woodworkers shop to be an enjoyable aspect of this site. As for additional tools to add to your shop- there is simply no end to this story. It really depends on the direction you want to take your hobby.

Thanks for the post.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.