The Starter Timber Framing Tool Kit is a beginner timber framing tool kit with the core hand tools to lay out, cut, bore and sharpen the joinery for your first timber frame, packed in a Bucket Boss Gatemouth tool bag. It comes in four versions: an imperial or metric framing square, with a clamp lock or magnetic lock combination square.
You save over $100 with this kit as opposed to buying the tools individually.
The MHG Messerschmidt Timber Framing Chisel (1-1/2 in) and Wood Is Good Mallet (30 oz) cut the mortise. The MHG is a German framing chisel with a 7 in blade, 18 in overall, hardened to 61 HRC over its full working length, on an oiled ash handle in a steel sleeve. The 30 oz mallet has a lead-plugged urethane head that absorbs shock and will not split a chisel handle, and it is the mallet we recommend to nearly everyone driving framing chisels. The Wood Owl Tri-Cut Auger Bit (18 x 3/4 in) bores the mortise, and the Centering Mirror helps you bore square without a drill press: sight the bit against its reflection, and when the two form one straight line you are at 90 degrees. The Z-Saw Universal Kataba Saw (300 mm) cuts the tenon. It is a Japanese pull saw with no back spine, so it cuts to any depth, and its teeth handle rip, crosscut and angled cuts.
The Shinwa Japanese Framing Square (16 x 24 in, imperial or metric) lays out the joints. It is stainless steel with deeply etched graduations and carries the rafter table, brace table and octagon scale, and we put it in our kits because it is truer than the common hardware store square. The Kapro Combination Square (12 in) checks square and sets depths. The clamp lock version (Kapro 352) locks the blade with a traditional clamp, and the magnetic lock version (Kapro 325) holds it with magnets so it stays where you set it. A Stanley FatMax Tape Measure (35 ft, 1-1/4 in blade), a Lutz 357 Utility Knife for scoring lines, and three black Shelter Institute carpenter pencils finish the layout tools.
For sharpening, the kit includes our Shelter Sharpening Kit, the setup we teach in the Purely Post & Beam Online Course and our in-person courses: a glass plate with sandpaper, a Veritas Mk.II Standard Honing Guide to hold the bevel angle, and a leather strop. We add 12,000-grit aluminum oxide for the final polish and a cleaning rag. Kurobara Japanese Camellia Oil (245 ml) keeps rust off the chisel, saw and other carbon steel, and it will not dry or gum. Everything packs into a Bucket Boss Gatemouth Tool Bag (24 in) with 16 pockets, double-wall water-resistant fabric and a removable padded shoulder strap. You will need a drill, or a hand brace with an adapter, to drive the auger bit's 7/16 in hex shank.
It pairs with our Purely Post & Beam Online Course. For a smaller first project like a sawhorse or a mailbox post, start with the Weekender Timber Framing Tool Kit. To go further, step up to the Complete Timber Framing Tool Kit.
Pat and Patsy Hennin founded Shelter Institute in Bath, Maine in 1974 to teach people to build their own homes. They built their early frames outside on their farm, and Pat recalls that their most important tool was the framing square: they used it to scrape the ice off the beams.
