Christmas Money and a New Shop

I know that January is almost over and I'm writing about Christmas money, but since I just started this blog, I have some catching up to do.  I'm very fortunate to have parents and in-laws that feel the need to spend a lot on me for Christmas, but since they don't know what to get me, they just give money.  It was just before Christmas that I decided to start my hand tool workshop and I knew that I would likely have some cash coming my way to fuel my new interest.  With my "Made by Hand" book I used Christmas vacation to plan what I would need to get started and I used the internet to price everything out .  From what I had read, it became apparent that I needed several types of planes and some specialty saws for cutting joinery.  I would also need various layout tools and chisels.  After adding up the cost for all the tools that I wanted, I realized that my Christmas money wouldn't come close to covering it all.  I would have to make some tough decisions on what I needed first.  


I decided I would start with a good all purpose hand plane.  I also decided to get a quality dovetail saw, since dovetail joints are very common in furniture making and give a handcrafted look.  I ended up buying a new block plane and dovetail saw from Lie-Nielsen Toolworks, who make the best hand tools you can buy, or so I've read, and they're made in the good ol' USA.The picture at the left is basically the beginning of my hand tool shop.  In the back is a large hand saw I got from Home Depot a couple of years ago. From left to right are a miter saw I've had, my new Lie-Nielsen dovetail saw, an adjustable square, a new marking gauge I got from Veritas, my new Lie-Nielsen block plane and a card scraper.  I also have an assortment of Irwin clamps.



This picture shows what I'm using for a workbench.  It consists of a couple saw horses I built last year and a small piece of plywood.  It definitely isn't an ideal situation, but so far I've been able to improvise.


Now that I have some tools, what should I build first?