what's up guys it's travis in
this video i'm going to tell you all about my woodworking journey
and which tools you should buy first it all started about seven years ago when
my dad gave me an old circular saw kind of like this one right here it was very old didn't
cut great and had several repairs to the cord but that didn't stop me from building this awesome
coffee table but before you get all excited about buying tools buy some safety equipment first
woodworking is dangerous a tape measure you're gonna use one for almost every single cut you
make so buy one in fact you're gonna lose it so buy two you remember back in high school
when squares or something that weren't cool well now that you're older they're cool again and
you're gonna need them to make perpendicular cuts there are a lot of different types of squares out
there so i would suggest buying them as needed for each type of project the first actual tool i would
recommend is a circular saw as you can see i've since upgraded from my old saw the circular saw
can be used to make freehand cuts plunge cuts and also lap joints in fact i was able to get by for
a very long time without a table saw by using my circular saw with a straight edge and a Kreg rip
cut and for those times when you don't want to cut in a straight line the jigsaw is a great addition
to the circular saw the jigsaw is versatile and can be used for home improvement and woodworking
projects this one can even cut bevel cuts sometimes i even use my battery powered jigsaw
in the home depot parking lot to cut down pieces of wood so they'll fit my car i need a truck so now
you think you're cool because you can cut stuff well don't get too excited because you also need
to be able to make things smooth with a sander there are many types of sanders you might want to
eventually buy but i would start off with a basic orbital sander i also use my belt sander a lot
for smoothing out large glue ups after planing and if you need to make any small touch-ups or do
any detailed work a sanding block or a paint stick with some sandpaper on it work great clamps i know
you've heard this in every other youtube video on woodworking ever but you cannot have enough clamps
sometimes you'll use clamps for clamping things down and sometimes you use them for large glue ups
you never know get more clamps so now that you can cut things and sand things you need to be able to
screw things together and drill holes that's where screw guns come in you don't need to spend a ton
of money on your screw guns but i use them a ton and i do recommend battery powered once you get
a handle on installing screws with your screw gun you might want to start hiding them in the
beginning i used pocket holes all over the place i started out with a very simple Kreg pocket
hole jig but eventually upgrade to a nicer pocket hole jig and there are lots of other
manufacturers who make pocket hole jigs as well pocket holes are great for when you're first
starting out but they're also great later on for things like cabinet boxes and drawer boxes next is
a miter saw i still bust out my miter saw for some woodworking and home improvement tasks i mostly
use it for miter cuts and cut longer work pieces into shorter more manageable lengths but what i
use it for the most is home improvement projects and also cutting crown molding and when i do cut
crown molding i use a Kreg crown molding jig next i bought a powered hand planer for
flattening large glue ups i also have some manual hand planers but i'm not very good at
sharpening them yet so i don't use them very much in addition to making things flat the hand planer
can also be used to remove little bits of material to make two work pieces fit together or
trimming something flush chisels are super handy for cleaning up cuts and trimming things
flush they can even be used in fine joinery as you've probably already seen all over youtube
there is an art to sharpening chisels properly which i have not fully mastered yet so you're not
going to see me busting out my chisels too much just yet next it might be nice to have a router
there are many types of routers and router bits but i find my trim router does almost everything
i need but a plunge router would also be nice i mostly use my router for flush trimming adding
edge detail and cutting out pockets but coupled with a nice straight edge you can also use it for
cutting rabbit and datto cuts once i got my table saw i used it on pretty much every woodworking
project i did and it is by far the most important tool that i own i also got a dado set for mine
which is great for cutting rabbits dados and box joints with jigs and fixtures like these your
table saw can do many things and can even replace the need for other tools if you're interested i
go into way more detail about table saw jigs and fixtures in this video right here unfortunately
i don't have one due to lack of space as you can see but a drill press is great for when you
need to drill perfectly straight holes when i need to drill straight hole i use this drill
guide it's not ideal but it gets the job done if you thought a circular saw with a craig rip cut
and a straight edge was nice wait until you try a track saw a track saw is great for cutting large
work pieces like plywood or live edge slabs but it can also be used to put that first straight edge
on a piece of lumber that you're trying to mill planers and drum sanders are great for cleaning
up boards or taking them down to an exact thickness i usually use my planer for flattening
small glue ups like this cutting board and milling lumber sometimes they even use my planer for
flattening boards with the use of a planar sled also if you're interested on how to build lumber
without a jointer i have a video on that right here a band saw is just like it sounds it's
a saw with a blade in the shape of a band the bandsaw can be used to rip boards make
intricate cuts and re-saw a board into two thinner boards i do not have a bandsaw because my
shop is tiny a router table is far more precise than a hand router and can do most of the same
things in addition it can also do things like cut styles and rails for cabinet doors a jointer is
used to make a board with flat perpendicular sides and as you can see it's another thing i do not
have room for although you can make pretty good edges for glue ups using a table saw and planer
a jointer is the right tool for the job a scroll saw is kind of like a band saw but it has a very
thin blade that moves up and down although i did this sign with a jigsaw a scroll saw would have
been the perfect tool for it as it's designed for intricate work like this and finally if you want
to do intricate repeatable work you should get a cnc router a cnc router is perfect for when you
have a small business and you need to make a lot of things to sell quickly they're also great from
when you want to engrave details into workpiece like this i used a dremel when i did this but i
would love to have had a cnc router in this case i don't have enough space or money for a cnc router
well thanks for watching my entire video guys i really appreciate it if you think i left out
any tools please leave them in the comments also don't forget to like and subscribe if you haven't
already and i'll see you guys in the next video
