# Best wood for joinery beginner



## Woodforbrains (Nov 4, 2021)

Hi,

I am trying to learn a bit of basic joinery using hand tools. I watched this really great Paul Sellers video on making a mortise and tenon, so I am starting with that.

My question is: Are there types of wood that are best, or easier to work with for this kind of work? and does that impact your decision on wood choice for a particular piece of furniture?

I started practicing with some cheap pine, and it was easy to chisel through, but was fairly easy to accidentally remove too much wood. I also tried some white oak, and I found it was pretty tough to chop through it.

Side note: I probably need to sharpen my chisels.

Also, Paul Sellers had this ancient looking marking tool, do I need one of those?

Thanks for any advice!


----------



## JAAune (Jan 22, 2012)

Poplar often used for practice. But my recommendation is air-dried lumber if you can find a local seller. Kiln-dried anything is just more difficult to cut. I've worked air-dried ash before and it was easier to cut than kiln-dried poplar in my opinion.


----------



## KentInOttawa (Jun 25, 2013)

I'm just a bit ahead of you on the curve, so take this with a grain of salt. Here's what I have discovered on my path:

Sharp fixes almost everything
softwoods will tend to dent and/or bounce back when you ignore #1
hardwoods don't tend to do much when you ignore #1
shallower cuts will help most problems, especially #2 & #3
once you get your tools sharp, stropping to refresh them will keep them that way for a while.
You can learn a LOT from Paul Sellers. Sometimes what he doesn't point out registers and gives you an ah-hah moment, so pay close attention. Just tonight I saw him using one of his modified aluminum clamps as a convenient straight edge to connect two points with a pencil line. Yup, just use what is available. That can mean marking gauges, plastic rulers, or whatever else you have available to you.

Regarding the marking gauge; you could always do without one, but having one is DEFINITELY beneficial. When I started, over time I bought a couple of different types. Each type has its strengths and weaknesses, and trying out different types lets you experience that firsthand. An added bonus is that you can leave one gauge set for a project (say the thickness of your stock) and use another for marking a different measurement. Over time, your preferences will evolve and your tool collection will grow. These are not bad things. 









As for wood choice, I prefer working with hardwoods when I'm trying to do something precise, but there are projects, like the tool rack above, that just beg for a softwood. Smaller projects will allow you to use cheaper wood because you can use smaller pieces of clear lumber cut from lower-quality larger pieces. All of the pieces in the above rack are clear and straight-grained offcuts from my workshop build, so they were essentially free. I also bought a box of hardwood offcuts from a local specialty hardwood supplier for less than the going $BF prices. That gives me accent pieces and small bits that I can experiment with to learn about the different woods.

Just keep going, do what you can and enjoy the process.


----------



## Gitbit (3 mo ago)

Can’t tell you the difference sharp tools will make, especially chisels. If you haven’t sharpened them before there are tons of how to videos on YouTube, if you’re looking to improve that’s THE move. I’d also echo that poplar is a good place to start as far as wood choice, and a wheel marking gauge is my preferred style of those tools. Severs fibers a little more cleanly than the scratch style, taytools.com sells them for relatively cheap and they’re well made.


----------



## rwe2156 (May 7, 2014)

+1 on poplar, sharpening, and wheel cutting gauge. 

I keep a couple chisels ground with 20° bevels for soft wood.


----------



## KentInOttawa (Jun 25, 2013)

Gitbit said:


> Can’t tell you the difference sharp tools will make, especially chisels. If you haven’t sharpened them before there are tons of how-to videos on YouTube, if you’re looking to improve that’s THE move. I’d also echo that poplar is a good place to start as far as wood choice, and a wheel marking gauge is my preferred style of those tools. Severs fibers a little more cleanly than the scratch style, taytools.com sells them for relatively cheap and they’re well made.


Agreed. Additionally, Katz-Moses and Wood by Wright both have videos on making wheel cutting gauges from the Tay(lor) Tools kits. This would be a great way to build your skills and your tool selection at the same time. Tay Tools also have some marking knife kits. I've picked up both kits myself but keep getting sidetracked by other projects before I build them.  Maybe this afternoon... 🤣









Search Results


Search Results




taytools.com


----------



## Woodforbrains (Nov 4, 2021)

Wow, great advice, I really appreciate it!

I have sharpening supplies, I have been a little lazy on using them.
I need to get in that patient Paul Sellers state of mind. He really takes his time with everything!

I have one other question: (a little off topic)
I notice a lot of the modern furniture designs have legs like these (below), i.e. tapered dowels.

How are these made? using a lathe? do strictly hand tool wood workers avoid this style?


----------



## Woodforbrains (Nov 4, 2021)

Gitbit said:


> Can’t tell you the difference sharp tools will make, especially chisels. If you haven’t sharpened them before there are tons of how to videos on YouTube, if you’re looking to improve that’s THE move. I’d also echo that poplar is a good place to start as far as wood choice, and a wheel marking gauge is my preferred style of those tools. Severs fibers a little more cleanly than the scratch style, taytools.com sells them for relatively cheap and they’re well made.












Like this one?

Anything else from Taytools, that you recommend?


----------



## controlfreak (Jun 29, 2019)

I don't have a lathe so I will stick to tapered legs when I get around to furniture. For practice wood I like to find discarded furniture on the side of the road. I break it down and make boxes for the shop etc.. Heck you can really use any type of wood to practice with. For sharpening chisels I tried a lot of things but settled on a Work Sharp 3000. It allows me to batch out all my chisels at one time usually at the start of a new project and then just touch up as needed on strop or diamond plate.


----------



## Woodforbrains (Nov 4, 2021)

KentInOttawa said:


> Agreed. Additionally, Katz-Moses and Wood by Wright both have videos on making wheel cutting gauges from the Tay(lor) Tools kits. This would be a great way to build your skills and your tool selection at the same time. Tay Tools also have some marking knife kits. I've picked up both kits myself but keep getting sidetracked by other projects before I build them.  Maybe this afternoon... 🤣
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Thanks for the tip!

I noticed that when I was trying to mark my wood using a box cutter and a metal t-square, the mark kept trying to follow the grain instead of the ruler.

Would one of those marking knives make the task easier? 

I saw they had some Narex brand marking knives which looked nice...


----------



## controlfreak (Jun 29, 2019)

I went with the Stanley knife that Paul Sellers uses for cutting knife walls. It is easy to get an angled knife wall cut with a box cutter if you are not careful with how you hold it. I have the Narex marking knife but never use it. I use a round cutting gauge for marking the thickness of a board. That little iris that is felt when you are getting close with the plane really helps. I also like the version that has the fine adjustment knob for dialing it in. Double pin mortice gauge.


----------



## DavePolaschek (Oct 21, 2016)

Woodforbrains said:


> I have one other question: (a little off topic)
> I notice a lot of the modern furniture designs have legs like these (below), i.e. tapered dowels.
> 
> How are these made? using a lathe? do strictly hand tool wood workers avoid this style?
> ...


John Brown would make round chair legs without a lathe. Plane them square, then octagonal (typically with a jack plane), then round the corners off, typically with a block plane while “thinking round.”

First try you probably won’t get anything worth writing home about, but after a few practice legs, it’s surprisingly easy to get a round-enough result to fool the eye of someone standing next to a chair. It won’t ever be mistaken for a lathe-turned leg on close inspection, but if it looks good, it is good.

I would agree with the answers to the earlier question about practicing on poplar. But my dovetail skills didn’t really improve until I built 70 boxes out of pine. Dovetailing pine is different than any hardwood, but it was still good practice through repetition.


----------



## Gitbit (3 mo ago)

Woodforbrains said:


> Thanks for the tip!
> 
> I noticed that when I was trying to mark my wood using a box cutter and a metal t-square, the mark kept trying to follow the grain instead of the ruler.
> 
> ...


A marking knife with a single bevel and a flat side helps keep the blade parallel to the straight edge. Put your knife in the marking line flat side to the non waste side, slide your edge up to it, and strike a very light line. Keep the edge in place and strike a deeper line, now that the initial line helps guide it you’ll have less problem with grain derailing it. Matt Estlea and Katz Moses have some great instruction here. And yes that’s the wheel marker, the advantage there on top of accuracy is repeatability once you set it, but you do have to make sure the edge you’re referencing is straight and square.

Taytools has a lot of quality stuff at mid tier prices, their Blem PEC combo squares are an absolute steal, and I think their block plane is a really good inexpensive way to step up from home center garbage into something usable without breaking the bank.


----------



## LesB (Dec 21, 2008)

Lots of great info given and I can't add much but for other wood choices try soft maple, beech, or alder.
There are lots of videos on making your own marking gauge. I made one using the round carbide insert used on lathe tools.


----------



## KentInOttawa (Jun 25, 2013)

Woodforbrains said:


> Thanks for the tip!
> 
> I noticed that when I was trying to mark my wood using a box cutter and a metal t-square, the mark kept trying to follow the grain instead of the ruler.
> 
> ...


Like, CF, I generally use the Stanley knife that Paul Sellers recommends.








I did try the Veritas Workshop Striking Knife but I did not like it at all because the handle was too flexible, which is something I cannot deal with at all.The small size does have its place sometimes. 








Having said that, I liked the spear-point tip, and have the Tay Tools kit waiting for my attention.

GitBit's recommendations on technique are spot-on.

Different marking gauges work differently, and there is a certain amount of technique involved in using each of them. I personally do not like the tearing action of the pin-type gauges, but filing the points to be more knife-shaped does help, as does "tipping/canting" the gauge so that the points are dragged across the work. I prefer my Japanese mortise gauge the best, but I only use the one blade (bevel-side towards the fence). Using it like this, the bevel draws the fence towards the work so it is always well registered and does not wander. It's a really cheap eBay gauge, but it works very well for an inch or two.








My first wheel gauge was a Shop Fox, and I liked it. Then I did a sawing workshop at Lee Valley and had the chance to use their wheel gauge. For such a simple device, it is amazing the difference in feel between the two! I liked the LV one so much that I bought one before I left the store. There are a few times when I would like the micro-adjust version but it hasn't been enough of a priority for me to splurge on that, yet.
One of the nice things about trying different gauges is that I can set one and leave it for my project just in case I need that measurement again. Here are all the tools that I used in one particular project. Each gauge and set of dividers was set to one setting and left (mostly) for the duration. That was until I ran out of gauges, which explains why I have two (!) wheel gauge kits awaiting construction,


----------



## jdh122 (Sep 8, 2010)

To make those round tapered legs with hand tools: the best way is to make yourself a pole or bungee lathe, there are some very simple models floating around. This will allow you to make perfectly round and symmetrical (and identical). It can also be done with a handplane, although a perfect shape will be difficult to attain. I would probably tend to do a tapered octagon in that case, I think it makes a very nice shape.


----------



## Woodforbrains (Nov 4, 2021)

Thanks for all of that info!

I had no idea there was so much to consider regarding marking the wood before you start chopping away.

I have never heard of a bungee lathe, I will google it!


----------



## swirt (Apr 6, 2010)

Here's a cheap bungee cord lathe. Not perfect, but fun to get started with. I tried using the internal search on the new site but was surprised at what did no show up.


----------



## swirt (Apr 6, 2010)

And here is another alternative if you have a bench vise Quick and Dirty(tm) Spring Pole / Bungee Lathe


----------



## Sylvain (Jul 23, 2011)

making round tapered legs by hand: 
making a simple stool 

about marking with the knife:
What 's knife wall

using a gauge:
Using a Combination Gauge | Using Guide | Common Woodworking- Woodworking for Beginners 
One has to register on common woodworking but it is free.
The common error is to push hard on the gauge; see the video.


----------

