Your First Five Woodworking & DIY Hand Tools (Fixit Fingers Fiver)

Welcome to the first proper Fixit Fingers Fiver! So you want to start woodworking and DIY projects but have no idea where to begin and don't want to spend a fortune. The good news is, I was you two years ago. While I'm still a novice woodworker, I found an amazing community online and now want to pass on my Australian take on when you need (and what you don't) to kick off the hobby.

Cheat Sheet - My First 5 Recommended Hand Tools are:

Big Box Budget - Get Building this Weekend! (Should Be Under $60 Total)
A Hand Saw, a Claw Hammer, a Tape Measure, a Screw Driver Set & a Combination Square

Already know what you are doing. What are YOUR top 5 tools? I'm a power tool woodworker so mallets, chisels and planes don't enter my workflow much. If they are in your Top 5.... what do you take out of mine to make room!? :D

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[FixitFingers]

Well whatdoyathink? No chisels or planes here sorry, these are hand tools for the power tool user 😅 Give me YOUR top 5 beginners tools and let's kick this series off. If you want to follow along with the Fixit Fingers Fivers, please subscribe to the channel as I'll be releasing episodes in between my regular woodworking and DIY projects. Any questions just shoot me a comment below. - Cheers, James

[SMee]

Nice cut on the combo square, mate 😉😆 👍🏽
Well done. 👌🏽

[MikeTheMaker]

Solid choice on tools. A tape, a saw, a hammer, a chisel, and a square are my first picks.

[kuffyswoodwork]

Everyone loves their combo squares. I have one but very rarely use it. I've been told that I'm weird, but the way I see it is that I'm the only normal one 😂🤣👍

[TakamiWoodshop]

Ha! I have that pink flush cut call it my Hello Kitty saw.

[renturner]

Nice and informative mate. I have not been on YouTube for a while man you are smashing out the content. Subs are smashing along congratulations mate well deserved

[karlpopewoodcraft]

Great information for newbie woodworkers mate. People can grab a Japanese handsaw from Aldi mate for a about 5 quid, the two sides are meant to be for cutting with the grain (fine side) and cross cutting the (rough side) I've found the teeth do blunt quite quickly though but are nice to use.

[twotone]

Well if you restrict it to 5 then those 5 will do nicely. Great concept.

[Ace-zbxr]

Calipers if you plan to do small, intricate and accurate work. Small cheap ones will suffice, just don't assume 15mm on the calipers is 15mm. Use internal logic for the cheap calipers to keep it consistent.

An awl. You can make it by grinding/filing down an old screw driver. Helps make your holes a lot more accurate.
Marking knife/cheap blade. Same as above but for lines instead of holes.
Twin screw vise. Easy to make and you'll use it frequently if you plan to use hand tools for long.

[ausfox]

Awesome video, and progressive to suit everyone. But taking apart a square while recording 😂

[ianhogan]

Japanese saw? I just use a hacksaw blade. It says it's made in Japan....or was that China? Great content mate.

[TheGrantAlexander]

I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one (but only slightly and only because you asked people to put in their input). If you are just starting out, the first hand saw you showed on screen works as a square. It has both 90 and 45 and you run your pencil along the back of the day. So you can skip the square and instead get a set of chisels. As I've been getting into wood working more and more, chisels are indispensable. Alternately, if you still suggest a square, then i suggest a speed square. I find them more versatile as you can measure/mark all of the angles.