Advice to a newbie

[Dorset Treeman]

As I cut wood for a living and occasionally mill it up for selling, my wife has decided that she would like to start making things out of wood for a hobby (to start with!). She is thinking of things that appear simple such as chopping boards and tea light holders (these may not be as simple as they appear!). The questions I have is what is the best tool for cutting out these out of the boards that I have (scrollsaw?) and how do you drill the holes for tea lights to leave a flush finish as the auger and flat bits I have obviously leave a hole in the centre deeper than the cut I am after.

 

I am very happy that my wife is finally showing an interest in what I do. Its only taken 8 years! My kids took to it more naturally and absolutely love the pole lathe and the shavehorse.

 

Any other advise anyone would like to give would also be appreciated, such as simple things to make for beginners, useful books etc.

[Graham]

What you need for holes are Forstner bits.

[Stompy]

Circular saw for straight cuts, jigsaw for curved cuts if your going for power tools.....

 

Bandsaw would be a perfect start if your willing to splash out, pretty versatile and safer than power tools.

 

As above forstner bits to cut flat bottomed round holes and a pillar drill would be perfect for accuracy but easily done with a hand drill if you go steady.

[Graham]

Bandsaw boxes are a nice thing to make. Plenty of videos on youtube.

[RDB logs]

Hi mr tree man, if you use a Forster bit you will get a dimple, so if you want a flat bottom( and who wouldn't) I use a rowter (spelling!) and a hole template with an appropriate collet, you can also then use it with a ogee cutter for putting a nice rounded edge on the board. Alternatively you could drill hole with Forster or flat bit and finish the bottom of the hole with the router.

 

I do a lot of wood turning and am not very good at making things look like something else eg apples or pears

 

Make sure she has a good extractor and dust mask, a good bench grinder and sharpening jig for keeping her chisels as sharp as possible- therefore less sanding.

 

Axminster are good for quality tools that are hard to find else where

 

Cheers (from Wimborne) rich