The ideal flooring for any workshop is a wooden floor. They are much more
comfortable to stand on than most alternatives, but wooden floors simply aren’t
possible in every situation. My shop has a peel-and-stick type of floor that
makes sweeping up a breeze. I’m still working on concrete but after an hour or
so of planing, I’m ankle-deep in wood shavings that I stand on. An anti-fatigue
mat is a great option behind the bench, where you do a lot of standing.
Wood floors for a shop don’t
need to be fancy, Simple
plywood or underlayment
can be purchased in sheet
form and set into place.
Rubber flooring mats or tiles add a little bounce
and comfort to concrete floors and are much
more forgiving on the edges of dropped tools.
TOOLS IN THE
SMALL SHOP
O
nce you settle on a space for your shop, it’s time to start filling
it with tools—just the ones you really need. The most important
tool for a minimalist woodworker is a workbench. When working with
machines, you take the wood to the machine. Conversely with hand tools,
you bring the tool to the wood. So what you need is a solid, flat surface
that will hold your work. You also need a few work holding devices to
secure the wood on the bench so it can be more easily worked.
Building the bench you see at left is covered in chapter 8. This design
is easy to build and works well in any shop. In the absence of a bench,
you can get by using a portable workbench like a Workmate. In fact, the
first few projects in this book are made on a bench of this type. They’re
inexpensive and available at any home center. Once you have a few
projects under your belt, you’ll be ready to tackle the workbench.
Whether you’re just starting to woodwork or are approacing the craft
with a renewed interest in handwork, it’s important to start with the
tools you need and become comfortable with how they work. In a small
space, only a few tools are truly required.
In this chapter I outline a set of hand tools that would accomodate
almost any project you might want to tackle. Some of these tools are
key to any shop. Others make nice additions for certain types of work.
The key is to start small. Become comfortable with a small set of tools
and techniques. You may then want or need others. Or realize, as I do
time and time again, that less really is more.
Hand Tools
The backbone of minimalist
woodworking is hand tools. Over
the next few pages I take you
through the essential tools that you
should start with. By no means do
these tools need to be all brand-
new. There are many options for
the fledgling woodworker from
vintage tools to freshly minted
tools from a modern tool maker. I
use a combination of old and new
tools. When well-tuned, both work
just fine. For each of the following
sections I lay out what is essential
but also include tools that are nice
to have. Let’s take a look at what
goes into a basic minimalist tool kit.
PLANES
Planes are the work horses in
the minimalist shop. They are
responsible for important tasks like
flattening, smoothing, and cutting
joinery. The basic planes can be
broken up into a couple of different
categories: bench planes and
joinery planes.
Bench Planes
Bench planes are mainly used for
flattening and dimensioning stock,
and preparing surfaces for finish.
Jack Plane
The most useful size of bench
plane is known as the #5 or jack
plane. As the name suggests, this
Jack-of-all-trades is suited for many
tasks. If you’re just starting out, this
is the plane to start with. A jack
plane is long enough to flatten
most stock yet not too long to use
as a smoother. It is also the perfect
size for using on its side with a
shooting board to trim the
end-grain of boards.
FLATTENING & SMOOTHING—
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?
At first blush flattening and smoothing may appear
to be the same thing. The difference really has to
do with the quality of the surface. Flattening means
that you are getting a surface flat and aren’t overly
concerned about the quality of the surface itself.
Once you have one flat face, you can move on to
thicknessing or squaring an edge. However, just
because a surface is flat doesn’t mean that it is
ready for finish. This is where smoothing comes in.
Smoothing is what you do to get surfaces ready for
finishing. In power tool terms, smoothing is what
you would do with a random orbital sander, just
without the dust, noise, and a numb hand.
Jack Plane
More Key Bench Planes
You can get an awful lot of work
done with a jack but there are
three other sizes of bench planes
that I use.
Jointer
The jointer