Thread: Newbie is South Africa

Welcome to the forums Bloubull, there are some very talented and informative people on these forums so you have made a pretty good start in the woodworking world. Good luck and happy hunting, you will probably find a few people indicate that new Stanley gear is middle to low range and mostly trade on the reputation they used to have. Keep looking around and asking questions. These are mostly Aussie forums but there are people all around the world so you will definitely get good info here.

Corbs

WElcome BLUEBULL (English for BLOUBULL). With that name in Durbs you may be in for some tough going.
Anyhow back to the woodwork tools. Always buy the best that you can afford - or at least tools with a reasonable quality. Buying tolls will largely depend on what you wish to make/build with them. I have had some Stanley tools for many years now (In fact bought them in SA). However there are many other reasonably priced tools on the market.
Let us know what you wish to achieve.
Regards
Les

Welcome to the forum Bloubull

Ypu will find a wealth of info here you just have to ask and trawl away

With a name like that, you must originate from Pretoria -?

Welcome to the Ubeaut forum.

Regards from Perth

Derek (ex-Cape Town 20-plus years ago)

G'day bloubull.
Have you considered secondhand tools? there is a wealth of info here on doing them up. Many here seem to think they are better than new.

Hi bloubull! And welcome! I'm from Argentina, it's nice to see that there's people from all over the world here!

Stanleys are also expensive here, and preety uncommon (hard to find). I'm with "forunna" on that, is there any flea market, garage sales, or any place where you can get some old rusty tools? You can then restore them, and will also learn a lot in the process even before using them.

For hand planes at least, another and maybe cheaper options would be wooden planes, that works a treat also!

Best!
Mariano

Welcome aboard bloubull You have come to the right placel

HI allThanks for all the welcomes and responses. I would like to start off by making some shelves, bookcases and eventually a Baby cot. I would also like to do some carving and eventually add that to some furniture and picture frames. Derek I actaully from PE but lived most of my life in Durban. RegardsBloubull / BlueBull

Bloubull,

You can do quite a bit with a circular saw and a drill. Add a chisel, a couple of clamps, and small hand plane, and you can get started building your shelves and bookcases.

Set your circular saw for a light cut, clamp some timber either side of the cut, and you can cut dadoes for the shelving. Use the drill, saw, and chisel to cut mortice and tenons for the frame. Glue it up and clamp it (even ropes or wedges will work as long as you get it square), and you've got a bookcase.

As your budget allows, you can buy the next tool you need for the next project, and over time get yourself a nice collection and develop skill in using them.

Enjoy,

Tex

Bloubull,

It is a hard call to make about what tools you need when starting out. I have found the tools I needed was driven by the project I was working on and my confidence in using them.

What types of timber are you planning to work with? I suspect reasonable dimension solid timber would have to be imported and might be pricey. If you are planning on working with plywood /laminate you probably need different tools.

For the first few years I made do with a skimpy set of tools. Straight edge, a couple of 4" clamps, t-square, handsaw, #5 plane, 1/4 in and 1in chisel, mallet, electric drill and electric jig saw. I managed to make some pretty basic plywood and solid furniture, all with square edges and butt or housed joints.

My results were functional but uninspiring. It took me a few years to build up the courage to get a 71/4" skil circular saw and work out how to safely cut down large sheets of plywood etc.

Sometimes I think I should have stopped there and just switched to buying finished furniture, but the bug had bitten and I went the route of picking up old tools at second hand stores and flea markets. I've now got lots of chisels that need renovation and more than a plane or two but I think I have become a tool collector more than a toll user

Probably the very most useful thing I bought early on was a book. Look around for a 1950's woodworking book, one that may have been used for technical school classes would be ideal. These books usually have hand drawn diagrams of joints and good descriptions of how the joints are constructed. Usually there is a section on starter tool kits and what to look for as you gain more experience. Woodworking book collecting is also a worthwhile pasttime.

I've been to Durban many years ago, before I was really interested in WW and spent my spare time walking the drakensburg instead. Is the Indian market still in Durban? Perhaps you might find some second hand tools there?

Just thought I'd add a couple of book names I have found useful over the years. I'll stick to Australian & English titles which possibly might be more readily available in SA.

The first book I found was "Woodwork in theory and practice" by John A Walton. There are imperial and metric versions of this book. It was the book that got me started and I still have it on hand in the workshop when I'm trying to nut out new projects.

I've since found a couple of Robert Wearing books. "The Essential Woodworker" and "Hand Tools for Woodworkers" which are excellent. Although they are out of print and I got a shock when I just did a web search and saw the asking prices... you might be able to find them in a second hand book shop at more reasonable prices.

Although quite different in approach, and masquerading as a bit of a decorator scratch and sniff number, another one which is more modern and still available at cheapish prices is "Terence Conran's DIY By Design". This book really approaches achievable projects from a DIY perspective and has projects using more modest materials as the starting point.

A good place to look for cheap books online is http://www.bookcloseouts.com/default...Ne=349&org=sub

The Jack Hill and George Buchanan books might be worth a look. And then there are the Taunton Workbench (Hardcover $8.73 ) and Workshop books, I suggest you DON'T get these, they'll just start you on the long slippery addicts slide to frustration and feelings of under achievement

Originally Posted by Fuzzie

Just thought I'd add a couple of book names I have found useful over the years. I'll stick to Australian & English titles which possibly might be more readily available in SA.

Fuzzie

Those books are available here in SA

How about some info for South Africa?

Welcome Bloubull