Dream Woodwork Shop Tools

Woodwork requires tools, lots and lots of tools. Unfortunately, as many woodworkers know, the collection of those tools gets limited by the budget and by space in the shop. The dream shop is usually huge and includes hundreds of tools, both hand and power, but unless you are a professional furniture builder, might render unnecessary. After consulting with experienced woodworkers that have been in the business for 30 or more years, we would like to give you some advice about what is really necessary and what is just nice to have. Maybe this list of tools will help you make fewer mistakes and save some money while stocking your own dream woodwork shop or place.
Should you get hand tools?
Our answer is yes, absolutely! As nice as it is to have a huge collection of power tools, hand tools sometimes are irreplaceable, especially planes and chisels. They are often smaller and take less space for storage and for usage. Using them sometimes might be even faster than setting up power ones. They are most of the time a lot cheaper than power tools.
There is one problem with hand tools though – using them efficiently requires some solid experience, so if you are just starting or need to make a piece of future quickly, this might be a disadvantage.
What do experts say about power tools?
The supply of power tools is endless. What used to be available for specialists only today can be purchased by anybody. They are also a lot cheaper than they were ever before. Quality varies a lot and brand names don’t always justify the price, so where can you start if you are new at this?
What are basic tools you should have handy?

  • An affordable table saw for cutting wood to size
  • 1-2 hand planes for joinery
  • An orbital sander for preparing the surface for finish
  • A couple of chisels
  • A larger table saw as you get better and projects increase in complexity
  • A miter saw, a small jointer, a router, and a belt sander will probably come next
  • Finally you are at every tool sale and things get out of control

What is the ultimate tool collection goal?
Money and space are usually limited, so you should always keep that in mind and buy only what you need now and in the near future. Learning to expand your capabilities is often more important than figuring out how to get things done with maximum speed.
Let’s imagine stocking a brand new woodworking shop step by step:

  • A low angle block plane
  • Smoothing plane
  • Jack plane
  • Jointer plane
  • Hand saw
  • A few good chisels
  • Clamps
  • Card cabinet scraper

Those eight tools can support you for a long time, but especially for the first few years as you are learning the ropes and figuring out what direction your woodwork will be taking you to.
Next come power tools:

  • Power table saw
  • A router or possible a combo with plunge base

Those two machines are pretty much what you need. Up until mid-1800’s there were no power tools at all and look at some old furniture still serving today. You can definitely do without a fancy router table or bulky jigs and templates. Trust us - you don’t want to let tools drive your project, instead you should be the driving force.
As you are getting better and better, you will most likely need those power tools:

  • Bigger table saw
  • Small jointer
  • A mitter saw
  • Small planer

Those four, however, are not necessary. Yes, they will give you some speed, but you will also have to have more space and allocate extra funds for them all. You can always rely on hand tools instead of all of these, unless you are determined to make things faster and have enough money for all that.
What are some tools that experienced woodworkers find irreplaceable?

  • Portable small planers for better cuts, glue joint cleanup, and rough lumber preparation
  • Drill press as long as its small floor model or a bench model
  • Bandsaw for resawing wide boards, ripping lumber (tablesaw can achieve ripping just fine). Bandsaw is also excellent for cutting curves
  • Scrawl saw for intricate and detailed cutting
  • Track saw systems – great for ripping and cross cutting sheets of plywood and solid stock, they are compact and portable

How important is dust collection?
This part of woodworking is often not even considered by young specialists and sometimes even by the experienced ones. And it’s a huge mistake. Some power tools, like a large planer and sawdust can’t function properly without dust system and eventually break down if dust and chips are not extracted. A large shop vac is great for smaller machines, but consider small portable duct collector, which will allow you to move it from one machine to another. This concerns your health too, so our advice is to make this investment early on and never go without it. You can now buy affordable ports and switches that will turn dust collecting system on automatically when dust producing machines are turned on.
What about sanders?
A good sander or a few of them are irreplaceable in every woodwork shop. Modern orbital sanders are quiet, last for a long time, and produce better finish. Using a smoothing plane and cabinet scraper will reduce the need for sanding and save you time and effort, not to mention all the dust production. Belt sander can also be replaced by a good stock prep and careful joinery.

So where do you buy all those great tools? There are many stores that offer basic tools like Harbor Freight, Lowe's, Home Depot it even Michael's.
You may wait until Black Friday to get the best deal, or you can buy used ones on eBay. It’s up to. I prefer to buy them in July when nobody buys stuff so I usually get pretty good deal. I shop with Retailmenot app or couponcabin app.


In conclusion, there is no limit to money spending and awesome machines, but at the end of the day we all should ask ourselves if we really need that expensive and bulky machinery or should we just work on improving our skill set? On the other hand, if you really need that extra power, make a big investment and get the right machine instead of wasting money on intermediate tools that will eventually prove as a waste. In other words, go big or learn to survive with what you already have.