Orth Furniture Apprenticeship Tool List
It is advisable to consult with me before purchasing the tools on this list.
Summer apprenticeships require only the safety equipment.

 

Fine Woodworking tools:
#04 smoothing plane - one of the following: Record (good - about $60), Lie Nielsen with high-angle frog( best - about $250 - If you only buy one top-of-the-line tool, this is the one to get.)

Cabinetry chisels (1/8", 1/4" , 1/2", 3/4", 1")

Hand scraper (about .031" or .80mm thick)

Cabinet scraper - Stanley #80 (good - about $35), Veritas (best - about $50)

Japanese Dozuki handsaw

Fine and ultra-fine sharpening stones (generally I recommend a soft arkansas and an ultra fine ceramic - 6 inches long is a good size for either)

Spokeshave - one of the following: Lie Nielsen-Boggs Flat, Veritas Flat

General Shop tools:
3/8" VSR electric drill & small set of high speed steel bits

Hammer(16oz)

Pocket knife

Measuring & marking tools:
16ft tape measure

6ft folding ruler (such as natural wood Lufkin, not the white one)

Try square - 3" or 4" engineer's (or equivalent)

Folding bevel - approximately 10"

Marking gauge or mortising gauge

Vernier caliper (this should read in thousandths of an inch - fractions will be a bonus)

Scribe

Exacto knife and a few extra standard blades

Drafting and drawing supplies:
Basic drafting tools (adjustable triangle, architect scale rule, flexible curve, technical pen, compass)

portable drafting board & T-square

Drawing supplies (12" x 18" paper pads: newsprint, tracing, & light sketch (Strathmore Drawing Medium is prefered); pencils: 4H, HB, 2B, 4B)

calculator with trig, square root, pi, and fractional functions

See below for software alternatives to some of these design supplies.

Photography equipment
camera (digital or otherwise)

camera manual

tripod

Safety equipment:

disposable nusiance dust masks

eye protection

full face shield

ear protection

work gloves

needle point tweezers (Since these are specifically for digging out splinters, it is not healthy to share tweezers.)

work apron with pockets (the short type with the criss-cross tie in back is recommended)

respirator as needed (OSHA, for organic solvents)

Software:
If you have a laptop that you can carry around, you might be interested in some of the digital approaches to design, illustration, and photo editing that we can explore during the apprenticeship. Please do not be concerned if you do not have a laptop. Most apprentices do their design work by hand.

DesignCAD (about $70)
This is a powerful little 2D/3D drafting program that can do most of what AutoCad can do. If you are interested in drafting on a computer this is a good place to start. I use it all the time for 2D line drawings. Adding color to the printed out line drawings by handshading with pencils makes a very nice illustration.

Photoshop (about $600) or Photoshop Elements software (about $100)
Photoshop is an industry standard photo editor that can also be used as an illustrator for your designs. I use it mostly for tweaking my photographs, adding text, and the occasional illustration. I am not personally familiar with Photoshop Elements, but I understand that it will do a good bit of what Photoshop does. I would be interested in talking with someone who is familiar with Elements.

If you want to go hog wild, look into FormZ Renderzone at formz.com. This is the modeling program I use to produce photorealistic images of design ideas. An alternative that is easier to learn and cheaper is Rhino/Flamingo. But I don't know Rhino (and won't be able to help you much with it) and it is not as flexible as FormZ - but it is widely used and fairly intuitive. I don't recommend purchasing either unless you have had previous experience with CAD and Photoshop.

Miscellaneous
2 tubes of valve grinding compound (available at automobile parts stores). This is for flattening plane soles and won't be needed if you have purchased one of the finer planes such as a Lie Nielsen.