Carpentry tools for a teenager

That's great that he has an interest and talent for carpentry. I didn't learn any woodwork until I was in college for fine art and had to make panels and frames and I really struggled at first, because I never had a father to show me how to use tools and unfortunately in my school they only put the less academic or more troublesome kids into the wood or metal shop classes. Wrong way to do it IMO, as carpentry is very useful.

I later found out that my uncle was an excellent carpenter who kitted out half the pubs in the town my mother is from and made a mint working in England. I really wish I had been taught more about carpentry at an early age, as my college degree is useless for employment.

A good quality handsaw (the type that gets wider towards the handle) and various clamps are the tools I use the most, and a mitre box for making joints, which came as a set with a small rectangular handsaw. In college we had a thing that was like a hacksaw on a swivel that was clamped to a workbench, not sure what it's called. It was still powered by hand but it would click into the different angles which was handy, better than a mitre box but a mitre box is much cheaper.

Another thing(s) I use a lot that shouldn't be underestimated are measuring tools, I have a metre long metal ruler that has a handle in the middle and a level built into it, a clear plastic half metre one with a steel edge for cutting straight lines with a stanley blade (sometimes i start cuts into ply that way) a T square, and another metal ruler that is shaped into a right angle. Measure twice cut once and all that.

I was looking into buying power tools but the price and the prospect of injuring myself put me off getting a table saw (was warned about kickback injuries, googled it and yeah, no thanks) and for what I do it turned out I didnt really need it, I just needed to practice more with the hand saw, and get a better, more stable work bench.

Another item that isnt a tool per se but might come in handy is a respirator mask. I do a lot of sanding, and though I usually do it outside and my sander has a thing that sucks up dust, I have one on hand anyway cuz sometimes I use MDF which can be harmful and also I use lots of paint and solvents. Gotta protect the old lungs. They vary a lot in price I use a cheap 3m half mask was like 20 quid i think.