Christmas present for a beginner

[Aegwyn11]

So my brother-in-law has expressed some interest in woodworking. From what I can tell, he's interested in carving and furniture building. He wants to do everything with hand tools. He has some sort of carving set, but I'm not sure what exactly that means, so I'm nervous to get him anything to do with carving. He doesn't have anything for furniture building yet.

I was thinking of getting him a hand plane or set of chisels for joinery to help get him started on his journey, but I know next to nothing about the hand tool world of things. I'd like to spend less than $100. Anyone have any ideas of what I should get him?

 

[sw1211]

Haven't seen this in person but it might be worth the $20, should provide a lot of ideas and insights as to what tools to buy, maybe combine this with a GC for tools, Made by Hand Furniture

 

[Jesse Cloud]

Two of my favorite books are The Handplane Book and Classic Hand Tools by Garret Hack.  Great photos, lots of info on how to sharpen, tune, and use the tools. 

Tool choices are so personal, I would be reluctant to buy tools for him.  The gift certificate idea above is good!

 

[peter halle]

You might consider buying him some cheap japanese hand saws.  I say cheap because they are better to learn with.  The more expensive ones can often be bent or damaged more easily by pushing them in the kerf.  Possibly also a set of 4 or 6 chisels or moderate quality.  They can always be replaced / updated if the interest continues.

Peter

 

[mwhafner]

Probably not going to find much worth having in the $100 range for planes, unless you refurb an old one.  
Highland Woodworking and Lee  Valley both carry Narex Chisels.  They are excellent for the money.  An eight piece set is $75 at Lee Valley, and the six piece set at Highland is $49.  I have a set, and highly recommend them.  An unbelievable value.  

I can't remember which Big Box carries Marples chisels and saws.  They really aren't  bad for the money.  

 

[jeffinsgf]

Small (4 piece) chisel set and a British back saw. 

 

[harry_]

Probably not going to find much worth having in the $100 range for planes, unless you refurb an old one.  
Highland Woodworking and Lee  Valley both carry Narex Chisels.  They are excellent for the money.  An eight piece set is $75 at Lee Valley, and the six piece set at Highland is $49.  I have a set, and highly recommend them.  An unbelievable value.  

I can't remember which Big Box carries Marples chisels and saws.  They really aren't  bad for the money.  

They can be found in the "orange box"  [wink]. I recently purchased a set for jobsite use.

 

[john123]

Does he have any book about furniture building? if not, I think a professional book may present as a wonderful gift. However, if you really want to give him a useful tool such as a wood carving set, you may visit the following link to check out.
http://www.opentip.com/product_info.php?ref=8979&products_id=1332943

 

[PaulMarcel]

I'll second Steve-CO's suggestion of a copy of Made By Hand by Tom Fidgen especially since he's already expressed an interest in going at it by hand.  Tom Fidgen's blog site is: http://tomfidgen.blogspot.com/ where you can read more about the book; it is also a wealth of good hand-tool work information.

For another book idea, I recently received a copy of Cutting-Edge Cabinet MakingCutting-Edge Cabinet Making by Robert Ingham.

Lastly, consider subscribing him to FineWoodworking.com (or the print version if he's more a print guy).  The online subscription costs the same as the print version, but you have access to everything ever published by FWW including videos and other online-only extras.

Those three things come in around $100 and would give him a very solid foundation to carry forward and let him make the decisions on which tools to pursue (cuz it's a personal thing and if he's just getting started, likely doesn't quite know yet).

 

[Aegwyn11]

Probably not going to find much worth having in the $100 range for planes, unless you refurb an old one.  
Highland Woodworking and Lee  Valley both carry Narex Chisels.  They are excellent for the money.  An eight piece set is $75 at Lee Valley, and the six piece set at Highland is $49.  I have a set, and highly recommend them.  An unbelievable value.  

I ordered the 6 piece Narex set from Highland. Asked for 2-day shipping...we'll see how painful that is. I thought about the 6 piece Marples set I saw at my local dealer the other day, but I want to say it was closer to $70. Plus tax.

I'm gonna also order the book Steve-CO suggested...ordering a Kindle for the parents anyway so I'll just add it to that order.

Thanks all for the great suggestions!!