Start with the tools that stop mistakes

It's tempting, when you first clear a corner of the garage or claim half the shed, to spend your money on the exciting things: a shiny new saw, a set of chisels, perhaps a router you've had your eye on for months. Resist that urge for a moment. Most woodworking errors I've seen in small home workshops — including plenty of my own — didn't come from blunt tools or cheap ones. They came from a line marked a millimetre out, a board that was never checked for square, or a joint that shifted because there wasn't a clamp within reach.

The measuring, marking and clamping side of the kit is also the cheapest to assemble. Budget somewhere between £60 and £100 and you can cover everything in this article, and most of it will outlast you if you keep it dry.

Measuring tools worth buying first

A 300mm steel rule is where I'd start. Look for one with crisp, etched metric graduations and a hole at one end so it can hang on a peg. Cheap printed rules wear away within a year; etched ones don't.

Pair it with a 5m retractable tape measure. Don't use it for fine work — the hook on the end has a deliberate amount of slop built in, so it's never truly accurate for joinery — but it's ideal for roughing out sheet goods and checking a space before you bring timber in.

For square, buy two. A 150mm engineer's square is your reference for checking edges and small joints, and it should be treated gently and never used as a striking tool. Then add a 300mm combination square, which gives you a 45° face and a rule that slides for repeat marking.

A sliding bevel is the fourth measuring tool I'd bother with early on. It's an adjustable square that locks at any angle, invaluable for fitting shelves into slightly wonky alcoves, which is a very British problem.

Finally, a marking gauge. This is the one people skip and then regret. A wheel gauge with a fine cutter is a joy to use on both hard and softwoods and will give you consistent, repeatable lines for joint work.

Marking tools that make a real difference

Pencils first, and more than one. A standard HB is fine for rough work, but a 0.5mm mechanical pencil is far better for joinery because the line stays a consistent width. Sharpening matters: a blunt pencil can put your line half a millimetre off centre, which is enough to show in a finished joint.

Every workshop should have a marking knife. It cuts a fine shoulder line into the timber rather than sitting on top of it, so the saw or chisel has something to register against. You can buy a dedicated one, or simply use a craft knife with a fresh blade.

Add a bradawl for starting screw holes in softwood and for gently lifting a mark when you're setting out hinge positions. A soft eraser and a small sanding block are worth keeping nearby, not for covering mistakes but for removing stubborn pencil marks before finishing. If you work with darker timbers, chalk or a white pencil will save your eyes.

Clamps: the tool nobody thinks about until they need eight

You will never have enough clamps. This is the closest thing to a universal rule in woodworking.

• Four 300mm bar clamps — the bread and butter of any small workshop. Buy the best you can afford; cheap ones flex under load and twist the work.
• Two 600mm bar clamps for carcass assembly and wider panels.
• A pair of sash clamps if you plan on gluing up tabletops or frames. They're heavy, but nothing else will pull a bowed board straight.
• Half a dozen spring clamps for holding a straight edge, pinning a batten, or keeping a dust sheet out of the way. Absurdly useful for the money.
• Two or three one-handed trigger clamps — not for heavy glue-ups, but unbeatable when you need a third hand.
• Clamp pads, or simply offcuts of scrap timber, to spread the pressure and stop the jaws denting your work.

Check the screw threads when you buy. A clamp that binds halfway through a glue-up will cost you a joint, and glue-ups wait for nobody.

Storing it all in a small workshop

Space is the real constraint for most home woodworkers, and clutter costs you accuracy. A place for everything genuinely pays.

• French cleats or pegboard on the wall above the bench for rules, squares and gauges. Vertical storage keeps them to hand and off the work surface.
• A tool roll for chisels and marking tools — it protects edges, stops rust, and rolls up small when you're not working.
• A wall rack for clamps, fixed into studs rather than plasterboard. Clamps are heavy and a shelf of them falling is a bad afternoon.
• Shallow drawers with dividers lined in non-slip matting for the small things: pencils, spare blades, awls, shims.
• Rust prevention — a wipe of camellia oil on bare steel, a few silica gel sachets in drawers, and a dry, ventilated space. Damp garages are the enemy.

Keep your measuring and marking tools together in one shallow tray you can lift onto the bench when you start work. It sounds fussy, but a minute saved hunting for a square is a minute spent thinking about the joint instead. Start with these basics, add as your projects demand, and you'll build a kit that earns its keep rather than gathering dust.