The following list makes a fair outfit for nearly and sometimes all the work the average amateur is likely to do, excepting the bench appliances and such contrivances as you will make yourselves and the occasional addition of a bit or chisel or gouge or file, etc., of some other size or shape when needed. This is not a list to start with, of course, unless you can afford it, for you can get along for a good while with only a part, nor is it a complete list, but merely one with which a great amount of useful work can be done to good advantage. You can always add to it for special purposes.

For further remarks about these tools and others and their uses, see Part V., where they will be found alphabetically arranged.

1 two-foot rule, 1 try-square (metal-bound). 1 pair of wing compasses. 1 marking-gauge, 1 mortise-gauge. 1 steel square (carpenter's framing-square), 1 bevel, 1 "odd jobs." 1 chalk-line and chalk, 1 knife. 5 firmer chisels (1/8",1/4", 1/2",7/8", 1 1/4")

2 framing- or mortising-chisels

(1", 1 1/2")

3 gouges (1/4",1/2',1").

1 iron spoke-shave (adjustable).

1 draw-knife.

1 hatchet.

1 block-plane.

1 smoothing-plane.

1 long fore-plane (or a jointer).

1 jack-plane.

1 rabbet-plane (3/4 " or 7/8" square).

1 cutting-off saw (panel-saw, 24 ). 1 splitting-saw (26"). 1 back-saw(12"). 1 turning-saw (14').

1 compass and key-hole saw (combined). 1 bit-brace.

3 auger-bits (1/2", 3/4", 1"). 3 twist-drills (1/8", 3/16", 1/4"). A few bradawls and gimlets. 1 screw-driver for bit-brace. 1 countersink.

1 hammer and 2 nail-sets.

2 screw-drivers (different sizes). Files of several kinds (flat, three-cornered, and round for metal, and half-round and round for wood).

1 large half-round rasp.

1 cabinet scraper and burnisher.

1 mallet.

1 pair cutting-pliers.

1 pair of pincers.

1 wrench.

1 oil-stone and oiler.

2 or 3 oil-stone slips (different shapes).

1 glue-pot.

2 or more iron clamps.

2 or more wooden hand-screws. 2 or more cabinet clamps (2' to 4')

An adjustable iron mitre-box will be a valuable addition to this list, and a grindstone is of use even when you get most of your grinding done.

A few carver's tools are also convenient at times if you can afford them, as a skew-chisel (1/2"), a parting-tool (1/4"), and a small veining-tool.

General supplies, such as nails, screws, glue, etc., specified in Part V., will of course be required.

There are still more tools than those given above, as you doubtless know, but by the time you have become workman enough to need more you will know what you need. Ploughs, matching-planes, and all such implements are omitted, because il is better and usually as cheap to get such work as they do done by machine at a mill. I also assume that all your heavy sawing and planing will be done at some mill. It is not worth while for the amateur to undertake the sawing and planing of large pieces, the hewing and splitting of the rougher branches of woodwork, for such work can be done almost anywhere by machine at very slight expense, and stock can be bought already got out and planed for but a trifle more than the cost of the wood alone.1

Be sure to get good tools. There is a saying that a good workman is known by his tools, and another that a poor workman is always complaining of his tools, that is, excusing his own incompetence by throwing the blame upon his tools. There is also another saying to the effect that a good workman can work with poor tools; but it is simply because he is a skilled and ingenious workman that he can if necessary often do good work in spite of inferior tools, and of course he could do the same work more easily and quickly, if not better, with good ones.

So do not think that because you sometimes see a skilled workman making shift with poor tools that you are justified in beginning in that way, for a beginner should use only good tools and in good condition or he may never become a good workman at all, so make your tools and their care a matter of pride. If your tools are of good quality, and proper care is taken of them, they will last a lifetime and longer; so good tools prove the cheapest in the end.1 There are some cases, however, in which it is as well not to buy the most expensive tools at first, as a cheap rule will do as well as an expensive one, considering how likely you are to break or lose it, and a cheap gauge will answer quite well for a good while; but this does not affect the truth of the general statement that you should get only the best tools. There are also quite a number of tools, appliances, and makeshifts which you can make for yourselves, some of which will be described. I advise you not to pick up tools at second-hand shops, auctions, or junk shops, except with the assistance of some competent workman.

1 If you are so situated, as possibly a few of you may be, that you cannot get the benefit of modern methods, but must do all the rough work that your grandfathers did, you will require a few additional tools, but these you can readily select from the descriptions given farther on.