- The home shop should have a table saw with more than 3 horsepower, a 3/8-inch electric drill and drill bits, and a random orbital sander. The home craftsman should start with two kinds of sandpaper, 120 and 220 grit.
- Beside the obvious hammer, nails and screwdrivers, the carpenter should include a half-round combination rasp and file, a bench plane for squaring up wood surfaces and a set of chisels.
- The home woodworker needs extra tools, such as a set of sliding clamps, a set of sharpening tools, squares and straight edges. C-clamps are slow to open and close. Sliding clamps have a long bar with a fixed jaw and a jaw that slides along the bar and work much quicker.
- Sawdust spreads. It gets into corners and behind cabinets. The carpenter can attach the end of a hose from a shop vacuum to their work bench or table saw. He can collect the sawdust as it's being made instead of later when it's harder to find and remove.