The basics of hand tools can be had for a pittance. A #4, #5, and #7 or #8 Bailey style plane can be had for $50-$100 apiece on eBay and they'll last forever. They new Stanley Sweetheart chisels are a steal at ~$20 a piece if you buy a set on sale. If that's too much, the US-made Buck Brothers chisels are about $10 a piece at Home Depot. You want the ones with the clear yellow handles.
It's worth buying your first dovetail saw and/or tenon saw new so you know what it should cut like, but you can buy subsequent saws used and sharpen them yourself.
The expensive bits are the sharpening stuff and the layout tools. For sharpening, I spent $200 on the set of 220/1000 4000/8000 Norton water stones, and $40 on a used grinder. You can get by with a grinder, a $15 oil stone, and a strop.
Layout tools are pricey because they start overlapping machinist tools and come with commensurate accuracy. You don't need a square accurate to .001" over a foot for woodworking, but your options are pretty much that or one accurate to .030" over a foot, which is emphatically not good enough for woodworking. But depending on how you work, you need those tools for machine work anyway.
You don't need to spend a fortune on most of the hand tools. Whether or not you find the maintenance a nightmare or not is mostly a matter of committing to learning and practicing until it's second nature.
It's worth buying your first dovetail saw and/or tenon saw new so you know what it should cut like, but you can buy subsequent saws used and sharpen them yourself.
The expensive bits are the sharpening stuff and the layout tools. For sharpening, I spent $200 on the set of 220/1000 4000/8000 Norton water stones, and $40 on a used grinder. You can get by with a grinder, a $15 oil stone, and a strop.
Layout tools are pricey because they start overlapping machinist tools and come with commensurate accuracy. You don't need a square accurate to .001" over a foot for woodworking, but your options are pretty much that or one accurate to .030" over a foot, which is emphatically not good enough for woodworking. But depending on how you work, you need those tools for machine work anyway.
You don't need to spend a fortune on most of the hand tools. Whether or not you find the maintenance a nightmare or not is mostly a matter of committing to learning and practicing until it's second nature.