Hobby Metal working on a budget and lessons learned - conclusion

In my previous post, I talked about some useful tools and a project where I tried out my Harbor Freight bench top drill.  In this post, I am simply going list out what I think is a useful progression of tools and some of the reasoning/needs.  I originally had a goal of producing a post with a spreadsheet which could help in determining a rough tooling cost but that  turned out to be too complex.  There are too many variations in needs to do what I wanted.  Someone who just wants to some arc welding can probably get by with < $1000 in equipment; maybe a touch less if you find deals/used items.  Someone wanting to welding + precision metal working on larger projects might be looking at $10,000-$50,000 in equipment depending on the details (but still talking about hobby scale).

Some of this is based on my own limited experience.  Some is based on research I did on various manufacturers, suppliers, youtube videos and numerous blogs.  I also have a few books which have been extremely helpful.

• Machine Shop Essentials - Questions & Answers
• Second Edition, Frank Marlow, PE
• Welding Essentials - Questions & Answers
• Expanded first-edition, William Galvery, Frank Marlow
• Welding Know-How - Tips & Techniques of Master Welders
• Frank Marlow, PE with P.J. Tallman

I highly recommend those books, especially if you are new to welding or metal working.  Overall there is a huge amount of great content.  You will find some parts that are pretty much shared as-is between the books - mainly between the welding books and a lesser extent with the machine shop book.  There is still interesting and/or useful content in each book.  I also think that there are a few mistakes in the books but I have not gone to check and see if there was existing errata covering the items I found. The writing is generally pretty clear.  There are a few items I wish could be expressed in more detail to make sure I truly understand.  If I had to pick the top 2 books it would be the first and last in my list.

Regarding this post, one observation I want to make is that some tools usefulness is dependent upon the types of projects you intend to work on.  It very hard to make general recommendations due to the number and/or type of variables involved - things from user skill/training, material differences, availability of supporting materials/parts, storage/usage space, portability, etc.  I am trying to focus on a more hobbyist view but I admit that several items listed are very unlikely to be found in a hobbyist workshop.

My relative cost info is very rough.  Since many of these technologies/items I don't own, it is harder to provide accurate estimates without lots of extra research.  I am saying these are best guesses / educated guesses depending. Feel free to disagree or disregard; I'm sure many folks have much more experience with most of the items.

• Items in green I use now - a general progression once I bought a welder and likely what many others start out with.
• Items in orange I am evaluating with the hope of picking one as being the most useful.
• Items in yellow I deem highly usable but due to cost need to save up for. I may have a specific vendor/model in mind - will comment if known.
• Items in purple are on a wish list but likely unobtainable unless I can move from hobby to business. 

Another useful list with a small business slant:starting a metal working business

Cutting action
Saw/slice	Abrasive	Non/low-contact	Initial cost	Ongoing cost	Cut Quality (general use)	Best Use	Notes
Hacksaw			$	$	low/medium	Small finishing cuts, parting off, straight line	Get a good arm workout
Metal snips			$	$	low	Getting forearm workout	Maybe ok for some short/easy cuts but I found much to dislike otherwise
	3" High Speed Cut-Off Tool (pneumatic)		$	$$	low	Non-cosmetic cuts, not overly thick; ok on flat stock	Need decent air compressor.  I tend to destroy blades with under-supported work (pinching).
	4 ½ angle grinder		$	$$	low	non-cosmetic cuts, not overly thick; ok on flat stock	I tend to destroy blades with under-supported work (pinching).
	14” abrasive chop saw		$$	$$	low/medium	straight/small miter cuts on bar/tube/angle
Electric shear			$	$	low	~18+ gauge sheet metal	Tons better than snips. Variety of vendors/capability/cost
Jig saw			$$	$	low/medium	flat material was ok; must be WELL secured.	I found thick angle iron painful to cut this way. Make sure you are not setup with any type orbital action.
Metal cutting circular saw			$$$	$$	low/medium	plate/sheet, relatively straight
Dry cut saw			$$$	$$	medium	straight cuts;bar /tube /angle	user skill and maybe other factors appear to play a good sized part in how well this works.
Metal cutting band saw			$$$	$	medium	General use, small curves possible depending on material/thickness/saw style/blade type-size	Larger foot print is a downside.  Vertical/horizontal or combo models available.
		wet SMAW rods or specialized rods	$	$	very poor	making ugly holes/cuts	emergency use
		Oxygen lance/burning bar	?	?	poor	very thick materials	burning bar can penetrate concrete; high oxygen consumption
		Air Carbon Arc cutting	$$	$$	low	sever items; great for gouging	Need decent air compressor
		Oxygen / Acetylene cutting torch	$$$	$$	medium	Best above a minimum thickness; curves/shapes fairly simple; can cut very thick material	Not for aluminum/stainless steel; completely portable
		Plasma Cutter	$$$$	$	medium/high	Hand held < ~1.5” or so;easy curves/shapes	Any electrically conductive metal/material; need a decent air compressor.  Need very dry air supply.
		Wire EDM	$$$$$	$$$	very high	higher end, professional detailed cuts/shaping	It is possible that this can be done at a hobby level but would take some decent skills to build.
		Water jet	$$$$$$	$$$$	very high	higher end, professional detailed cuts/shaping	The high pressures make this pretty infeasible for hobby use

Regarding an abrasive cutoff saw, dry cut saw and band saw; I am torn on that mainly due to space.  I think a band saw would provide the most flexibility but I am running out of space fast. I have a couple other items which I would love to acquire at some point which may require the remaining space so I am just letting the decision sit for now (& save for plasma cutter).  Maybe I will find a job which will provide the spare cash for a larger garage :)  Or maybe some folks will want to put some money together for a shared off-site workshop;  maybe start something like this TechShop.

Regarding a plasma cutter; I have been considering both the Thermal Dynamics Cutmaster 42 and the Hypertherm Powermax 30xp.  It is a hard decision from the cost differential.  There is a large amount of pro-Hypertherm user reviews out there and it seems like they have their act together (Jim Colt from Hypertherm posts lots of very useful info in various forums).  From a hobbyist perspective though, is the initial cost differential worth the longer consumable life (it seems) and maybe a bit better support?  I'm certain that the commercial users get great support from Hypertherm but I am less certain from a hobbyist perspective of the support differences - I don't expect them to show up in my garage to help me figure out some need/problem I have.  At the same time, I do know that Hypertherm is made in USA.  I have seen numerous folks comment on finding a used item but at the same time - people indicate that many good quality used items retain their value so you pay near retail but may not have any warranty available.  Tough decision and I don't know anyone with units so that I can determine what is best for me.  Additionally, I am still in the "experimenting" stage so "best for me" is not easily defined (if at all) - I know I want to clean cut 1/4" mild steel and maybe stainless and aluminum - but not sure how much thicker I would go (probably not much..).

[Update] Ok, as I review the Powermax 30xp further, I lean more toward it.  There seem to be reports of repeatable good consumable lifetimes and few problems.  I don't see as many reports on the TD equipment.  I will have to see what my local welding supply places sell - I would like to know there is a local repair option for some of the more expensive equipment.  If I ever build a CNC plasma table, it sounds like I could still use the Powermax 30xp (just no machine torch and capacity pretty low for CNC work).

Here are the hole making and forming type items.

Item	Notes	My take	Cost
Hand held drill	Pretty much a standard for anyone doing any type of home/hobby work. Different size chuck and styles; corded/cordless options as well. Better for thin or softer material.	Consider more of a given than a requirement. Complements a drill press.	$
Drill Press	fast/flexible setup; fast turn-around; relatively small foot print	To get nice plumb holes, a good quality drill press really comes in handy. I just got a 50-60 year old drill press from my father and the quality is much higher than a Harbor freight version. Craigslist is your friend – reasonable deals can be found.	$-$$
Hydraulic press	Bending, pressing. Various extras allow creating box pans and such. Some cross over with an Iron worker but is generally more of a complement.	Presses can be found at reasonable prices on craigslist sometimes; quality, capability and features can vary significantly. Tooling may add a lot to total cost depending on what you are doing. Could use for ornamental art, vehicle maint, help with creating drawers and carts, etc. I'd recommend 20-50 ton capacity.	$-$$
Milling machine	Ability to do more than just make holes (compared to to drill press). Groove/slot and larger cuts. Slower setup and turn-around. Complements a lathes functions.	A vertical knee type Bridgeport clone is likely the most flexible machine you can choose. Many options; DRO, power down feed, power axis, full CNC. I would enjoy a Lagun but I think I have a better chance of finding an affordable Sharp or Wells-Index. There are a number of other good brands but these are the ones which seem to be a good value and seem somewhat common. Tooling is a very large cost to account for and should not be underestimated.	$$$
Metal Lathe	Turning, threading, complements a mills functions.	I don't really have any particular need for a metal lathe at this time. It would likely take a larger/longe item to push me to need a lathe.	$$$
Iron Worker	shear, press, punch, notch, bend. Typically flats, angle, rounds, tubing. For some operations, this is much faster than using a drill press or mill.	Part of me would really like to get an iron worker. I can envision using it to work with ornamental art and lot of other things. The cost and size are a deterrent though.	$$$

Here is a quick list of lots of useful "little" stuff - lots of it depends on what you are doing.  Low precision (maybe metal artwork) versus high precision (such as engine parts) makes a large difference in selecting items.  Browse an online site like use-enco to see a huge selection of items available.

Cleaning	Coating	Hammers	Work Holding /control	Measuring /alignment	Punch/ marking	Holes /threading	Misc
Sand paper	Foam brushes	Welding	C-clamps	Tape measures	Center punches	Tap and die set	Extra Lighting
Acetone	Paint brushes	Ball pein	Bar clamps	Calipers	Transfer punches	135 degree drill bits; HSS/ Cobalt /etc	120v & 220/240v 1 phase outlets
Mineral spirits	Spray cans	Standard	Spring clamps	Micrometers	Pin punches		Extension cords
Files	HVLP sprayers	Mini-sledge	4+” vice	Wiggler tool	Cold chisels		Storage carts
Dremel w/burrs			Vise grips	DTI's	Layout fluid		tool boxes
Die grinder			Angle clamps	sine bar	Soap stone		cutting fluid
Angle grinder w/variety of wheels – dedicated purposes			Toggle clamps	Machinist square	Markers		safety equipment
6” Grinder			Work tables	Height gauge			screw drivers
Belt Sander			Angle plates	Feeler gauge			wrenches
Sandblaster			Parallels	Gauge blocks			metal snips
Parts washer			Saw horses	Thread gauge
Cleanup magnet				Straight edges
				1-2-3 blocks
				Rotary table

This is really just a very short survey of stuff related to welding/machining. I really enjoy working with this type of stuff but it is a major black hole for $.  Definitely need to set limits.  There are many days I wish I could find work that combined my software development skills with metal working skills.  Can keep wishing but won't hold my breath - for now this makes a nice stress reliever from the existing day job.

Hoping someone find something helpful or entertaining in all this.

Wishing you a blessed day.
Scott

Hobby Metal working on a budget and lessons learned - part 1

I am looking to broaden my skills for a couple reasons:

• Hoping that a new hobby will provide relaxation and help reduce day job stress.
• Desire to gain skills which I hope to combine someday in a career change and/or post retirement money maker in the longer term.

In pursuit of this; I started with learning to weld.  This is one item which I didn't skimp after doing lots of research.  I started with a Thermal Dynamics welder and am enjoying it a lot.

There turned out to be a number of side effects to this though.  Some were expected and others less so.  Some of the expected effects are the need for safety related items like a welding jacket, gloves, helmet and such.  Some partially expected effects are the need for a wide variety of clamps, clamp/magnet devices along with wire brushes.

Since I am working with mild steel mostly, I noted a need to keep my work area clean so you end up with a magnetic sweeper and other magnetic pickups.

If you want to work with sheet metal; it only takes a very small project to decide that metal snips are tiring so you pickup electric metal cutting shears/snips.

I am still working with flux core wire only for now and that means pretty big messes with slag and such.  Also, since I am still learning, there tend to be mistakes which must be fixed so it doesn't take long to find a need for an angle grinder.  There is a big need for wire wheel, cut-off and grinder blades to go along with that.

You decide pretty early on to make your own welding cart and.. you find that you need all kinds of things. You try some things that work ok but you recognize that many of those are not what you want to do long term..

• Starting with hacksaw
• Trying out the jig saw with some metal cutting blades
• abrasive blades for the 3" pneumatic cutt-off tool
• Angle grinder with cut-off blades
• And then start eying up metal cutting circular saws, chop saws, iron workers, plasma cutters, metal cutting band saws, etc.  Plasma cutters need a dry source of air and then there are tools which are more common in 208-240V 1 phase or the more industrial 3 phase power.  So you find some nice equipment using 3 phase power and end up with a static phase converter..

Of course, most of the above items are related to cutting only but then you realize the need to make holes.  You may be working with a corded/cordless hand drill initially but you recognize that it is tiring and somewhat difficult to make very many holes in much more than thin sheet metal.

I didn't have a drill press of any sort so I searched around but couldn't make up my mind in regards to a nicer used drill press.  I ended up with a Harbor Freight 12 speed Bench drill press.  It can make holes but don't expect something other than pretty low quality.  The table and base are now stamped steel, the table height adjustment wobbles severely at best and the spindle/chuck has plenty of runout.

One project I am working on is an adapter to attach the Craftsman furrow blade (intended for my tiller) onto the sleeve hitch on my garden tractor.  Not expecting much from this; somewhat an experiment.  It is providing a good learning opportunity and test of the drill press.  Of course, a drill press without bits isn't much use and in this case I needed something in the 5/8" size to handle the pin attachment on the hitch.  Since I didn't have anything that large I ended up buying the Silver and Demming 8 pc drill bit set from Harbor freight.  As others state in reviews of those bits; the box is pretty much trash but the bits work pretty well.  I am running the drill press at the lowest speed (300rpm) and using some tapping oil at the moment.  Based on feed and speeds from "Machine Shop Basics; by Audel", I could go to a higher RPM.  I am inclined to keep it lower for now until I get more comfortable with with the drill press.

Some surprising (or not) initial finding related to the drill press are;

• Quill travel on it is pretty low
• max spindle to table travel is low and with large bits it becomes VERY noticeable 

For my above furrow adapter, the sleeve hitch attachment is only about 4" tall and when combined with the large bits there is not enough room.  Fortunately, I only needed 1/8" of extra clearance for which raising the head of the drill press just a touch worked.  I would not normally do that and if I had needed any more clearance than that; I would have looked for a different way.  I initially thought of simply removing the table but then I would need to build a (short) platform since there isn't enough quill travel to make up that extra distance.  I think what I will end up doing is watch for a reasonably nice but low profile mill/drill vice.  I think this attached to the slots on the drill press base may give me a working alternative but I will likely be going back/forth with attaching the table for the height adjustment.  Long term I would like to justify either a mill/drill press combo or a full mill of reasonable size.

Next on the lessons learned was; how do I immobilize the work during drilling?  I came up with a reasonable solution which included 2 small "super strut" angle brackets bolted to the table slots with part of the work under the edges of those and then a bolt between the 2 angle brackets which took up slack and helped keep things from shifting.  Again, a mill/drill vise may be in my future.

It was "interesting" trying to properly locate the top and bottom holes for the sleeve hitch pin.  I was able to just "pick a spot" on the bottom plate which is where I started. Since the pin needs to go through a piece of tube on the tractor side though, I knew I had to be somewhat accurate with the hole on the far side.  I bounce around a few ideas and was debating about just using the tape measure but since this part had already been welded; it would be slightly harder to do with a tape measure.  What I finally decided on (and which worked) was to dip the tip of the pin (which has a flat tip) in paint and run it up from the bottom against the top plate.  That gave me a fairly accurate point of reference from which I was able to measure and transfer the location from the underside to the topside where I was able to align the bit with it.  I successful in test fitting the plate on the sleeve.  I still have more parts to weld up but I think the hard parts are now complete.

I again am impressed by the ingenuity other folks demonstrated to successfully create jigs and other types of items to successfully hold work in useful ways.

Anyways, it is a fun hobby but don't plan on it being inexpensive for long.  I think many used tools can be good deals though but I am leery of a few used items (plasma cutter being one).

Here is a pic of the in-progress bracket for the sleeve hitch.  I cut some 1/4" angle iron, welded it together and drilled the top and bottom holes for the pin.  You can see the 1 of the brackets I used to clamp the work piece to the drill press.

 Here is the bracket test fitted to the sleeve hitch.  Next I will weld an extension and a vertical piece for bolting the furrow head to.

Here is the end result attached to the mower ;

 This is the test run; not bad.  I don' think the picture is quite as easy to tell how well it worked. 

A very good learning experience.  If I did it again I would extend it another 6" or so.  A minor issues though is that in the up position, it is so close to the ground that it can make contact as you hit bumps.  I would love to convert to a linear actuator mechanism instead of the manual lever/arm; or maybe make an extension to the manual lever to make it easier to use while driving/steering.

Anyways, hope this was entertaining and/or useful to someone.

God Bless,
Scott

DIY Wood flooring tips, tools and other stuff

We decided to replace our carpeting with 3/4" prefinished tongue/groove wood flooring.  With the cost of the wood alone being so expensive I decided to go ahead and lay it myself.  Ended up laying 57 of 61 boxes.  I will note that I am only moderately handy and have never done this before.  My job and skills are much more on the computer/technical side than carpentry side.

Summary:

1. Prefinished versus unfinished flooring
1. Prefinished flooring takes less time since you don't have the finishing steps
2. Prefinished can look very nice
3. Prefinished with beveled edges helps with hiding minor imperfections in the floor.
4. Prefinished is more susceptible to nicks on the edges due to unskilled nailer [i.e. me] and tiredness causing the nailer to twist slightly.  Maybe a better quality nail gun would help or more skill than I had.
5.  Prefinished was less messy and allowed simply moving furniture rather than removal or very careful covering.
6. Unfinished would allow for fixing minor nicks, etc during the sanding stage.
2. Finishing around brick fireplace
1. Seems like most people recommend either framing around a fireplace or laying the wood against it and filling gaps with an appropriate caulk.  Personally, I don't like the look of the examples I saw on the internet.  These are the easiest/cleanest/fastest method of handling a fireplace.
2. Undercut the brick so the wood slides slightly under the brick.  This turned out to be terribly messy but the end result was fairly nice. I recommend taping plastic sheeting from ceiling to floor all around the fireplace and wear a respirator.  If possible, you may want to hook up a heavy duty ventilation fan (type that comes with a large diameter hose) and vent it out a nearby window.  Don't bother trying a regular fan and flexible ducting - waste of time (er, not that I tried it but my wife may still be laughing a bit).  The jamb saw and masonry blades worked incredibly well for working with the brick.  I think I went through 3-4 blades for our fireplace.  Be VERY careful on the corners, make sure you cut plenty deep because when you go to chip out the brick below your cut; the corners tend to break and take material you didn't intend. Epoxy, brick chips and maybe a bit of brick dust help fix the problem..
3. Things to be aware of
1. Make sure you pound down any raised nail heads in the underlayment. They will cause much grief otherwise (noticeable rise compared to surrounding wood, snag during nailing causing gaps or a need to rework).
2. Try to mix multiple boxes together to prevent a potential patchy look if a box happens to not be overly varied.  Our wood seemed fairly varied in each box but it could be different by flooring source or flooring grade.
3. I took down all the preexisting floor molding with the intent of installing the flooring closer to the wall and then simply putting the floor molding back in place to cover the required gap instead of using shoe molding.  This would have worked EXCEPT I had not considered how much the house had settled over the years which resulted in places where there was nearly a 1/2"+ gap between the bottom of the molding and the wood floor.  I ended up getting unfinished oak shoe molding and staining it myself (with help from daughter - nice bonding time).
4. Be careful not to OVER compress the wood during installation.  I have one piece which split and now I am learning how to cut out and replace a piece.  Not easy and not sure the result will be as nice.  It is somewhat hard to predict which pieces may have week spots.  I will note that the more interesting/swirled grain patterns in some of the oak pieces seem to have shrunk a bit more during factory drying.  Those end up with a somewhat lower height compared to neighboring pieces and sometimes are 1/32-1/16" thinner as well which you may not realize until you go to put the next row in.
5. Particle board is not recommended as the underlayment for the flooring.  The nails don't hold in place as well.  We had mostly carpeting before this and particle board is popular and probably reasonable for that but I wonder a bit about long term durability.  I ended up using extra nails to help.  
6. You may very well find really uneven underlayment once you rip out carpeting - especially near something like a bay window.  Fix it or it will show.. This is another place where maybe putting down a thin plywood may have helped (along with fillers or whatever) me fix some of the uneven spots.  Hind sight is 20/20..
7. Cut the door jambs earlier than later.  You don't want to be cutting near wood that is already laid - it is really easy to slip and nick it.
8. I normally did not face nail pieces near the wall.  I would move from the floor nailer to a finish nailer and then a brad nailer as space got tight.  This did result in a few problems (like breaking the spline) where I tried too hard to use a nailer instead of just glue.  I used titebond 3 wood glue to glue the last 3 rows or so together or other places where there wasn't a good way to nail it.  Using these methods meant that I had to wedge spacers between the wall and last piece of wood to make sure no gap occurred. 
9. I did put down the flooring paper provided by the provider of my flooring.  Not sure of the quality or whether it provides our specific installation any specific benefit.
10. You can try manually putting in finish nails in the last row or 2 (into spline just like floor nailer) but I recommend pre-drilling the holes and be prepared for a difficult time.  I messed up numerous splines and spent lots of time trying to get the nails set far enough to prevent snagging things.
11. Check your furniture for feet that will dent the flooring.  If you have step stools; put felt on any part that has ridges that rest on the floor! Took a day to figure out where all the dents in the kitchen suddenly came from - a bit depressing.
12. Ah, should be obvious but just to have it in writing; only nail into the spline of the wood, not the grove.
4. Floor Layout
1. There is a main main beam which runs the length of our house down the center.  The floor joists run from each each of the house to that beam.  I laid out the flooring so it would cross the floor joists.  I felt this had the best chance of reducing flex. 
2. I started the flooring in the hallway which runs most of the length of the center beam of the house.  I started near one wall in the hallway and tried to work most of the length of the hall and ending at the dinning/living room.  I used a laser level to try and keep the row as straight as possible.  This was VERY important, any waviness in the row results in hard to nail rows later (gaps and lots of floor jacking required).  I did try to add some back support to the initial row and tried to keep the next couple rows dry fitted to help keep things straight.  I could have done a better job on that first row - it would have made the rest of the house easier.
3. I did the flooring in a continuous pattern.  i.e. it is laid out lengthwise in the entire house and there are no breaks or direction changes throughout.  This is where the wood spline came in handy - as in moving into a room from the hallway and then having to reverse direction (move back toward the hallway) to do a closet.  I usually added some titebond 3 to the spline prior to nailing.
5. Shoe Molding
1. Compound miter saw was great for this.  I am thinking that a manual saw of good quality with a good quality miter box would have been more efficient (I would have been more likely to have it in the house instead of running back/forth to garage).
2. I stained the cut ends as I was installing this.  Try to make sure the dry fit is fine before staining because you can get some goo build up on the miter saw blade otherwise.
3. For inner corners I used the miter saw to start and then the dremel drum sander to cope one side.  Google for "coping molding" or "coping joints" to find some good examples.  Take your time, it will show.

Items I used:

Harbor Freight 3-1 pneumatic nailer/stapler with 2" cleats

Jamb saw and some blades for masonry (for undercutting fireplace), included wood blade fine for door jambs

hard wood spline; note that some flooring places have no idea what this is.

Flooring jack from Harbor freight was indispensable.

Hearing protection for everyone around while you are working is VERY important.

A variety of pry bars, heavy duty putty knives, flat screw drivers,etc.

Oscillating tool with a variety of blades (wood/bi-metal) and size

Flooring spacers/kits; wedge between wall and final glued row to remove gaps between last row and previous row while glue sets.  Also can use at ends of rows to keep a consistent end gap.

Stuff not pictured include:

•  Air compressor  
• There is a trade off between size, portability, convenience and usability.  In my case, running a couple of air hoses from garage into the house through the fireplace ash hatch worked but was an eye sore for a very long time.  With only a single nailer going, a small 125psi compressor would likely be fine.  Don't forget some pneumatic oil for the tools unless you like clearing nail jambs or fixing the result of nail feeding issue.
• Pneumatic finish nailer and ~ 2" nails
• Pneumatic brad nailer with a variety of brad sizes ~1-2"
• 10" Sliding compound miter saw
• This was the main saw I used since I laid out the wood in a way which mainly required cutting off length.
• Use a good quality blade to reduce chipping/splintering
• 10" table saw 
• mainly for reducing width for final row near walls. Sometimes bottom beveled some pieces to ease getting them into place against the wall.
• Use a good quality blade to reduce chipping/splintering
• Jig saw with a good quality wood blade.  I tended to use this for odd intersections like at vents or at the corner of the fireplace.  Make sure you are able to clamp the wood down well.
• Hand saw, hack saw and some spare blades (hack saw blades were useful in trying to remove a botched nail job by cutting off nails below boards after slightly prying them up).
• Wood chisels for a few odd situations
• Dremel with sanding attachment, small carbide wood cutting disk, etc. I tended to use this when I made hard to fix mistakes like nailing down a board which I had removed the end mortise from but needed one still.  Just use dremel to cut a new mortise.  It pays to keep cut pieces in nice separate piles (i.e. cut on left or cut on right).
• TiteBond 3 wood glue
• Brick chisel
• hammers
• some 1 1/4" finish nails (non-pneumatic nailer)
• pin punches/nail sets of various sizes (manually finish setting nails which didn't sink deep enough or put in some manual finish nails)
• nippers (for cutting off nails in trim or flooring boards instead of trying to remove them)
• variety of pliers
• tape measures
• straight edge
• drill and various small bits
• work gloves and eye protection as needed
• Band aids and tweezers - there will be splinters

Final result around fireplace.  Undercut brick with jamb saw w/masonry blade. (Very carefully) chip out brick with brick chisel until wood can slide partway under brick.