Just joined. Need some suggestions.

Hello to all.

I have been looking at this site for awhile and think it is excellent and joined to get into the fray. Frankly, I'm a little envious of people who have the skills to create the very fine works that are exhibited on this site and would love to be able to, at the very least, duplicate some of these same items.

I have worked with and been around tools and machinery for most of my life, but was never trained in machining, etc. Where would you suggest I start to get up to speed to learn to use a lathe, a milling machine, layout work, accurate measuring etc. If possible, please recommend specific books or titles of videos that you have either had success with yourself or know that others have used successfully.

I will be fully retired in about 9 months and will have some dollars to purchase a modest amount of equipment. Until then, I have nothing but time to get up to speed at least as far as reading or watching videos.

Also, has anyone used Tooling U's webpage to help them?

And lastly, would anyone be able to recommend a basic laundry list of hand tools and machinery to start out with so that I will be able to develop "hands on" experience (as opposed to just reading books or watching a video)

Any and all suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you to all.


Two of my favorite quotes: "Speed without quality means nothing". Unknown
"Quality is Contagious" Bridge City Toolworks

Hi bigbanddave,

Welcome - glad to have you here! :welcome:

Retirement sounds as though it's going to be great!! :cool:

You've posed some excellent questions and are sure to receive some replies. You'll get a range of opinions on the components of a basic set of hand tools, but the minimum kit (I'm assuming that you currently own little or nothing along these lines) would surely include:

• A full set of sockets, standard and metric, regular and deep.
• A full set of wrenches, standard and metric, open and closed (combination is fine).
• A range of scales, standard and metric, from short to whatever length will suit your work.
• A full set of screwdrivers, flat and Phillips.
• Bubble levels in several lengths
• Squares
• Clamps of all different sorts and sizes - you can never have too many!

That's just off the top of my head. Lots of extras and "nice-to-haves" that can be added along the way as required by the project at hand. There are tools I only use a few times each year, but wouldn't be without. My digital level comes to mind, for one.

What's the first thing you'd like to build?

Ken