We need them. We want them. We WILL get them.

But, just how many is enough and should everyone add tools to their collection ‘till they run out of money? Heck no! Some of us can make do with just a few basic tools and most of us should only add a new tool when we can get it for free, at a give-away price at a yard sale, or simply just have to have it to complete the job at hand.

The basic tools needed for woodworking the frugal woodworker’s way include a claw hammer, a crosscut handsaw, a drill of any kind (with bits to suit), a screw driver, a metal tape measure, a pencil and some imagination. Oh, you should add a pencil or sharp nail and a pair of leather palmed gloves to this list. While you will add other items, as suggested above, these very few items are all you really need to get you started building many useful items. This means that anyone, even a moter home resident on the move, can become a frugal woodworker too.

The only other items required can be built from the trash wood available almost everywhere.

Need a try square to make sure that a cut corner is really square? Grab the nearest pad of paper and test it to make sure IT has been cut square. How? Just tear off a sheet and scribe a horizontal baseline on it. Then align one face of the pad with that line and scribe another line to it using a vertical face of the pad. Turn the pad over and align the SAME horizontal face with the baseline and see if the SAME vertical face is still aligned with the line scribed. If it is, that corner is square and can be used as a try square when needed.

Want something more permanent? Test and use a piece of plywood in exactly the same way.

Want it larger, as like a carpenter’s square? Just use a large piece of plywood and make sure its outside corner is square. Then draw parallel lines from each side and carefully cut along those lines to create your own cost-free carpenter’s square.

One other point for this edition of the newsletter is a qualification of that old admonition that you should always “measure twice and cut once.”

I have a problem with that whenever you are going to make several identical pieces, or different pieces that have adjoining edges that must match. I believe a better plan is to produce an acceptably cut initial piece for use as a pattern. This piece is then duplicated in its entirety, or its appropriate edge is used for reference. Or, you can create a “story pole” which is a simple stick or rod that has been accurately and clearly marked with the several dimensions you will need for a project. The story pole can even be kept as reference for future editions of this project if you wish.

The point here being that very accurate dimensions are seldom required. All that is really needed is a technique that will make sure that those dimensions that should be identical ARE identical.

If you have a woodworking problem that needs an answer perhaps I can provide it. A good way to tell me about it is to shift over to my message board and ask away.

See you next edition,

Jerry

© 2001 Jerry Buerge