The Hand Tools You Need, From the Beginner to the Advanced Woodworker. An in-depth shop tour. 

Excellent run-through of your hand tools, with solid pragmatic advice. I also appreciate your clear, succinct and unpretentious presentation. New subscriber.

Terrific content. It's great to hear what you use or do not use and why. Thanks for sharing.

Since i don't have a functioning planer, i use the Veritas Scrub plane quite a bit, but i also have an old stanley nr 5, that's been converted to a scrub/foreplane. For anyone that is doing this with hand tools, you need a scrub or foreplane to quickly remove material to flatten boards. But flattening boards by hand is a lot of work, so buying a planer and useing it safely is truly time saving.

Great insight, thanks for sharing.

Building that cabinet as well, I have 1 car garage and I barely can move because I keep buying power tools I didn't had space for: -Dewalt table saw (sold my Jet) -Dewalt planer (sold my older one) -Wen bandsaw (sold my bigger bandsaw which I don't remember the brand) -Craftsman drill press -Metal bandsaw -Triton spindle and belt sander - Lathe -Lincoln mig with tank -6" joiner (rarely use that, most of the time I use my 5 1/2 bench planer) -Freezer -CNC (not using because I have no space) -Bosch 12" sliding miter saw (why 12"? a 10" would be fine) -A few more things like a stick welder, generator, etc. I don't learn with my mistakes and anytime I try to gain space selling a tool I end up buying another one.

I have the veritas version of the edge plane, it's amazing how easy RU-vid videos can convince you to purchase some of the tools you see everybody uses... Sometimes it's good and sometimes it's just way too expensive ha ha ha. We have an extremely similar tool cabinet, I don't have as many tools as you do but I'm trying to be careful not to buy something I don't need. You should keep your tools and don't get rid of them, you never know when your style might change and you want to go back to hand tools more

I really like your channel, your builds and your approach in the tool selection you use. I share a similar style and when you said you like to finish with your number 4 smoother i was like YES! Sanding sucks! I aim for the same thing. Id really love to see a video on how you use and tune up your smoothing plane for a perfect finish thats ready for oil. I know theres many on here, but id like to see the way you do it and any tips or tricks you have in adjustments or sharpening. I can only watch so much Rob Cosman. Thanks!

It’s shiny! I need it! When I was at a woodworking class we started talking about how we worked and what we used. The Tormek got brought up as a want and they had used one but hadn’t bought one. I realized that many items like this are things you don’t have, until you do. You forget about the money you spent very quickly. It’s sort of a puzzle where you dont want to spend but want the thing and once you have that thing you just move on to wanting the next thing.

seems like you build a very nice cabinet to keep all of your buyers remorse well organized and safe.

BTW built similar cabinet but used nothing but off fall from over the years. It was challenging and to be honest it is more utility in appearance, looks like a shop cabinet but works

We all been there and done that. I am a LOT older now, find myself using those hand tools more. Proudest of the ones I built

Great video! Thank you for sharing?

Excellent video, thank you very much for it!

Thank you for this tool tour. I would guess that there are many who have gone the same route as you and me, buying hand tools then migrating to more power tools. I wouldn't want to change this progression though, learning to sharpen plane blades when doing all your processing of rough wood has been essential, now we can get a razor edge on our smoothing plane to use after weve used a power jointer and planer. I can also sharpen a hand saw as needed. But I too find that a few power tools replace MANY hand tools. Great channel, very low pressure, love of the craft on display!

Very nice video. I love your honest opinions. Thank you

Some beautiful hand tools there thanks for sharing your experience.

You have a very good presentation and on camera demeanor. Every man's man

Virtually every centre join tool cabinet I have seen has box doors- i.e. the middle sides are the same depth as the rest. Why? They can be shallower, or non existent. Makes secondary doors easier to position, and avoids any clashes with the tools in the main part. I have drawers in the bottom of my cabinet, and they can be deeper than the centre, because I do not have these unnecessary sides

Thanks very much for video, very good

Thanks for sharing.

Great video! I have been woodworking for a long time but always with great shop machinery. Just getting into hand tools and I bought a Veritas low angle block plane and their cabinet scraper as well. You gave me a lot of insight into what I should be looking at next few purchases. Thanks!

thank you . very honest of you . yup we do get taken by the shinny stuff . i have to check out your channel .

Wow Kevin, sweet collection of tools and love the palace you build for them. Your videos and interesting and fun. See you at the holiday dinner on the 20th. (Thanks for the honesty on the less/not used tools.

Awesome cabinet my friend. I plan on making one of my own in the near future. Cheers.

O you only have few, "wish I hadn't splashed out on." Nice cabinet, not so big. You have good taste. O and I am glad my tool shop is a few hours drive away!

Another great video, Kevin.

Loved your step by step assessment. My only quibble is that most of the tools you wouldn't buy in hindsight are those you've replaced with power tools. I'm a mixed tool user as well. I don't regret any of my hand tools even though I can do the job faster with my power tool. Some days, especially for smaller projects, I'm really glad to not have to wear the ear and eye protection, turn on and listen to the dust collector and the whine of a motor. Just a bit of quiet wood removal with a handful of shavings to scoop into the bin. I hope your kids make parole soon.

Beautiful cabinet and great tour! I completely agree about the Japanese saws replacing the Western ones. I think about selling some of my regret purchases, but sometimes they do come in handy for the odd task or when you don't want to mess with a machine setup for something quick.

Thanks for the share. I've bought a bunch of tools that don't get used that often. Of example, that side rabbet plane, I've got the left and right. They sat for years unused. Recently, I was working on a 4 foot tall chest and between the two sides I had 20 housing dados. To get the proper fit, it was handy to have the side rabbet plant to widen this housing dado. Having said that, it will sit probably for 3 or 4 years before I need it again. As such, I have mixed emotions about owning them. I've decided I will just keep them as sometimes they come in handy and they don't take up much space. But I hear you and can understand the feeling.

Great video. Thank you for sharing. For info the LN low angle block plane apron style is one of my most used hand tools and has pride of place at the centre of my work bench!

I picked up a Stanley #55 combination plough plane and the cutters for the price of just one of the "name" brands, if you enjoy hand working, i can't say enough about the versatility of them. I've even added the #45 and a Trouts patent to the mix. These are not your average "go to" planes. But the versatility when adding beading or creating one of a kind moldings is fantastic. And thanks for setting me straight on a few of my purchases. I hate dusting, so I equate the price of the tools to the price of cleaning products over my lifetime. And i still came up short. So i incressed the value of the labor. Wow! Did i save some money buying those dust collectors! I have found that for dovetail saws, if you do your searching, you can find high quality antique saws that are on a completely different level than what's in production. Once you master sharpening and setting you can't beat them for their value. I even recut the teeth on one that looked like it was used for trimming finish nails, for that added detail look i imagine. To a pull saw and i can't believe that someone didn't produce them. The one thing we can take from some of our less than genius purchases is, we can impress people with our knowledge of tool nomenclature and how well we care for them. Mainly because they never see the light of day and therefore don't endure the tortured lives of the ones that do. Great video and the drawer was the best feature, its a dad thing. And when we look at some of our less than purchases. We can always look at our smile maker and push on with the project. Thanks for sharing yours along with your experiences.

Great video~! I really like Mike's tool cabinet and having seen yours, I'm liking it even more. Will have to put this on my list since I'm in need of one myself. I too have some tools where I share buyer's remorse, but live and learn. This was the first video of yours that I've seen and I'm definitely going to check out more. Put a +1 on the subscriber count~! 😉

Nice

Really enjoy your channel and approach to making videos. Very nice tool cabinet and collection of hand tools. I'm gearing up to build a similar Pekovich style cabinet myself in the coming year for all my overpriced and over-collected tools lol

Don't normally watch these type of vids but enjoyed thank you when's the next project

Why do you find yourself using the low angle block over the rabbeting? I have the rabbeting, but would be curious if I'd also benefit from the 60 1/2, or even the no.102 for something a bit more maneuverable. Again, your content is great. Keep it up. I know you have spent years building up this collection -- I'd be curious for a sort of retrospective on your work as you've started and developed skills over the years.

Another excellent video! Thanks for sharing your cabinet as well as your knowledge…if you decide not to make a New Year’s resolution with that plow plane, hit me up! (Seriously) I’m still holding on to my #7 just like you…it’s too beautiful to part with.

Nice Cabinet and tools. While I disagree with some of your regret tools, it's your shop, your rules.

In your first drawer you said you have sanding blocks to keep surface rust off the hand saw, what kind of sanding blocks do you use for this? Thanks for the video.

Man, the tools you wouldnt buy again would look awfully nice in my shop. I love those saws especially. I prefer western style saws. Not really a fan of the Japanese ones. I know it's a personal preference but I just cant get into the whole "throw away the blade and buy a new one" model of the Japanese style. I like sharpening. It slows you down and becomes meditative.

Wow, amazing video! It makes me wonder what you could’ve bought your wife with the money spent on all those now unused tools 😢😘

If I had seen this video 3 months earlier, I'd now be a lot less in debt and a lot farther from poverty 😂

Love your tool cabinet. If you ever want to sell the Lie Nielsen dovetail saw let me know. I might be interested.

How do you sharpen a fishtail chisel?

I'm going to argue with you about the scrub plane. I have an old Stanley 40 scrub plane. I don't use it much. But when it is needed, nothing else could do what it does. Of course I only paid maybe $20 for my Stanley. I don't know what a Lie Nielsen 40.5 scrub goes for.

Hi. Another great video. I enjoy your channel and work. What process do you use to sharpen chisels? I’m just starting out, have purchased some decent chisels but not what to buy for sharpening process. Thanks for any thoughts. Warren.

At that age school definitely felt like prison!

This video was targeted for me. There are a couple of tools that I was on the fence about. You suggest not to buy them so I will not waste my money. The router plane is one that I believe you would recommend.