I am new to wooden ship building and as you may have noticed I have the Surprise in my stash and probably will be a year or two away from the build with the way my job is and life in general.

My question is specific to this build what tools would you, who are building or may have built the Surprise recommend that I buy, and maybe even consider a must have.

I also have 2 other wooden ship builds that I will proably do before I do the Surprise. I am still on the Dinghy and am inching further on that project.

I am on a limited budget...but hey, christmas is coming up, and if I space out the purchases I can get tools by the finance committee (my wife)

Thanks in advance.

Hi Roger,
everyone has their favorite tools for ship building.Files and drills are always useful and some way to help bend the planks-either using a crimping tool like the Amati makes or an electric plank bender that uses heat to bend presoaked planks.A small plane is good for tapering planks.There some more specialized tools for rigging to help thread an guide the ropes.Micromark and model expo sites are great sources for tools and Model expo often has great sales where they slash the prices of the tools.if you get on their mailing list they will give you a heads up when the sales are.I have the Sovereign of the Seas and just got the free toolkit-It is very good and has most of the tools you will need.

Thanks everyone, I did get the tool kit with the Surprise and have been using some of them.

Just looking at your suggestions I definitely need more files and some clamps.

And I have gotten some things from Micro-Mark and so do you guys have any suggestions on what are the best files and clamps to get from Micro-mark, or anywhere else.

Thanks

I normally use these clamps they are only small and fairly cheep. Also use these speeader clamps which work very well.