I’m just getting started and plan to buy the craftsman professional table saw (10″) with a built in router table. What other tools should I be looking at as resources permit? I should add space is VERY limited.
Thanks!
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Replies
Cepwin,
In general, we all end up with pretty similar pieces of equipment(in terms of funtion, utility at least), however how we get there is really a function of what we're planning on making and when. I like to think of four steps in the process: milling lumber and sizing, joinery, assembly and finishing. I started with plywood and bookcases so milling and joinery were not critical. However, soon I was into tables and using more solid wood and the needs changed. Most of us think about machinery needs (planers, bandsaws, drill press, jointers, lathes) and are usually surprised at the utility of a good workbench and wonder why we did not build it sooner....and use more hand tools.
First, thank you BG and Adam for your replies.
Interesting...I would have thought due to it's versatility the table saw would be the first major power tool one would want. I'll have to see if I can scare up the article BG mentioned and also read up on band saws that Adam mentioned. I also raided the library this morning and took out a number of books and see what they have to say. I definitely see the point of learning hand tools first (not to mention they're cheaper and take less room.) I have a miter box and saw, a regular drill, rotary tool (dremmel) and a not very good hack saw. What other would you recommend?? I have several projects in mind including building dioramas (that's how this whole thing got started) and I saw some neat clock plans in a magazine.Wendy
I saw the write up Adam did on the article (I apologize...I thought it was BG who mentioned it but it was Adam) and looked up band saws. I see what you mean Adam, it looks like it's just as versatile if not more versatile than then table saw but smaller footprint. I also liked what you wrote about try planes...I'll have to research them as well.Wendy
This could easily turn into a Bandsaw vs. Tablesaw thread... My vote would be to go for the table saw. I love my bandsaw, but my tablesaw is still the workhorse in my shop. (No, I don't usually work sheet goods...)
Anyway to return to your original question. Make yourself a good sturdy bench, it doesn't have to be expensive. Get some quality chisels... and other hand tools. BG covered the main group of stationary tools. Just do your research on tool quality before you buy.
Wendy,
After reading further in the thread you started, I noticed the recommendation of starting first with a bandsaw as your main saw. I agree... but only if you are willing to put out a lot of money to purchase your bandsaw. A good one is about the same price as a good table saw. My Delta Unisaw is 20 times as accurate as my Sears 12" bandsaw... and it cost about 20 times as much, too. With woodworking tools, as with most things in life, you get what you paid for.
Marty
Cepwin, I'm thinking back on what I used all the years I was getting started. I had a delta contractor saw, an 8 1/2 Hitachi SCMSaw (that I'm still usingtoday),a router and portable table, a good set of chisels, a few kinds of hand saws, pneumatic brad nailer, lots of glue, plenty of pencils a random orbital sander and an ssortment of sandpaper, oh, and clamps, lots and lots of clamps. Take a good look at where you want to go w/ your new shop and buy the tools as you need them. I think the table saw can be quite a versital tool.
Take a look at Kim Carlton Graves' web site. His site is a great resource for folks just starting out: http://www.carletonwoodworking.com/carleton.html.
'luck
Dan
Wendy,
Don't believe everything you read, either in books or on Knots. To do quality work with hand tools, you need to have quality hand tools. They are not inexpensive.
The best advice I could give you is to join a woodworking club in your local area and talk to the other members. You'll find them willing to have you drop over to their shops and they'll usually be willing to let you try out their tools while there. Additionally, ask the club members where you can receive training in the local area. Many high schools and community colleges provide night courses that are reasonably priced and very well presented.
I belong to the Ottawa Woodworkers Association and found that the $35 annual membership was repaid the first meeting I attended: one member gave a presentation on spraying water-based finishes, and his advice on the type of spray gun to purchase saved me at least 3 times my membership dues that night alone!
Welcome to the exciting world of woodworking.
Marty
Unless you plan on doing a lot of work with sheet goods, which I'm not exactly sure qualifies as "woodworking", you don't need a table saw. Altho I don't work with power tools, I was really impressed with a Gary Rogokowski (I hope I spelled your name right, Gary) article in FWW Tools and Shops a few years back. The title was something like: "Your first five power tools and why none of them are table saws".
My advice would be to learn to do everything by hand first, then buy the power tools you need as you need them. That aside, and tho I'm unqualified to make this recommendation, seems to me you should start out with a bandsaw, not a TS.
Adam
Edited 2/18/2006 7:35 pm ET by AdamCherubini
Adam,
What's wrong with sheet goods? As compared to making solid panels, most individuals who are eeking out a living as cabinetmakers or woodworkers use sheet goods every day. In this day and age of instant everything, if a cabinet door calls for a flat panel, unless clients are willing to pay for the additional time and material costs, veneered MDF core panels work extremely well. They're also dimensionally stable and veneers are available in a variety of woods that are not available as solid wood. Further, they're a very responsible use of good wood.
Now. as an amateur woodworker, I enjoy the flexibility of deciding when and where I will use solid wood and when and where I will use sheet goods.
Marty
After the table saw, the most-used piece of stationary equipment in my shop is my tjickness planer. Opens up a whole new world of wood that's available when you don't have to buy dimensional lumber.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Thanks Mike! After doing more research I'm leaning towards my original plan. The one concern I still have is dust. My plan was to put anything I got into the unfinished part of my basement where my washer/dryer and HVAC are. The concern is dust would go all over the place, get into the ductwork, build up, etc. The table saw I'm looking at has a port for a wet/dry vac to collect dust but I'm not sure it's enough.
If dust is a concern you need to back up a little. You're right a shop vac won't do it. The big particles aren't the problem. A shop vac could possibly cause more trouble.I work in my basement right under my forced hot air/ac system. My only power tool is an electric wood lathe and i don't use ANY sandpaper - well sometimes I sharpen on sand paper.You're gonna get dust in your heater, and in your duct work. I've got it in mine and I don't own a TS. Noise is the other issue.I made up my mind a long time ago to delay my use of power tools. That was a decision that has continually reaped benefits. The extra time it takes me to saw a board is more than made up by the times i got to work when a baby was sleeping upstairs. So no dust, no noise, no danger of a child hurting himself when I'm not home, no huge space required. Its really worked out for you.I don't care what you decide. I just want you to know you've got real choices. Its not like you're stupid if you don't buy a power saw (not that I'm evidence of that). I mean the choice isn't buy a TS or stick a hot poker in your eye or anything.sorry. I got a little silly there. It happensGood luck!adam
Thanks Adam! Yes, I'm still researching and seeing what my options are.
I'm with Adam on this. Power tools create an enormous amount of chips and dust. Your vacuum may be able to pick up the big stuff, but will never pick up all the small stuff... which will end up everywhere in your house. To make matters worse most stationary machinery is not equipped properly to pick up all the dust. (I.e. Your table saw will have a port below the table, but not above on the blade guard; our router will have nothing...)
You really don't want dust to be spread through your house, besides being messy it's unhealthy, and hard on the heating equipment. I'd keep it as far away from your furnace and such as you can.
Interesting...I've heard from others that they've done it without any major dust issues (they use dust collection and keep things clean.) As I said to Adam, I'm still researching.
PW did an article on Norm Abrahms last year. The rumor I heard was that wood dust made him real sick. So the New Yankee workshop has this state of the art dust collection system. I think there are three separate systems? Something like that. It can be done. And its probably the right thing to do. My shop still gets dusty, BTW. When I saw, I get dust. And I get some fine dust laying around. It just stays more or less where it was generated.Adam
It's the fine dust you have to catch. Not so much the larger stuff. I'm not saying it can not be done, it just a bit more work. I have a friend with multy purpose work room in his basement. He uses it for everything when it gets cold. He has a dust collector, a shop vac (with Hepa filter), and an air cleaner. You can still fine fine dust throught his tny shop.
If you haven't already visit Bill Pentz Web site (Bill Pentz.com, go to the dust collection page). He'll scare you into proper dust collection regardless of where you decide to put your shop.
I'll have to check that sight out Buster. I've been doing a lot of reading and researching and I think I'm going to do what Adam did and start with the hand tools. I'm leaning in this direction for several reasons. First, I think the scale I'll be working in is small to medium to start (dioramas, display cases, clocks, step stools, etc.) Second, it's a good way to learn technique. Third, I think they're cool!I'm going to a class in two weeks and there is a big woodworking show here in a month. They will give me an closer idea of where I want to go in terms of power tools. I think a shop vac with a hepa filter will be useful regardless.
Yes, hand tools are very cool. Check out Lie-Nielsen, and Lee Valley for some cool tools.
A class is a great place to start. That's what I did, built a bunch of stuff. Got to focus on building a small hand tool collection, instead of spending the money on big stationary machines.
Anyway, good luck.
Mike,
I'm with you when it comes to tools I use most. However, I'd put them in the following order: tablesaw, jointer, then planer. A jointer is truly indespensible, as you'll never find any other power tool as capable of flattening a twisted or otherwise warped board, as the jointer is.
Marty
I would disagree with several points in this thread. I think the general disagreement reflects not the ignorance or irrational nature of the view points offered, but rather a real and fundamental difference in the approaches to woodwork.
So for example, the last tool I would allow into my shop would be a jointer. This and the shaper share the dubious distinction of causing the most injuries of all home stationary power tools. Edge work is easily and many times better done with a really long hand plane. Removing great amounts of twist or cup can be a fool's errand. Boards cup and twist for reasons not addressed and often exacerbated by removing material. Nor are restraints or stronger screws or yellow glue the solution.
A band saw needn't be used for precision cuts. Boards can be ripped on this quiet, safe, small tool even without a fence. A ragged edge can easily be cleaned up with a hand plane. Its faster and easier than sawing by hand. Many many different types of cuts can be accomplished on a band saw, even a very small one.
In factories where parts must be interchangeable and operations repeatible, accurate machinery is required. And machine manufacturers have done a good job marketing their equipment to hobbyists. But in a tiny hobby shop, the expensive attributes of industrial machinery can be irrelevant (depending on your work- of course).
So rather than talk in terms of absolutes, or be confused by disparate opinions, I think its helpful to recognize that the differences lie in the work and approaches to woodwork. I never heard this point of view (essentially that there are other ways to skin a cat other than the way Norm does it) when I started woodworking. My year long series of articles for PW last year attempted rectify that for the next generation of woodworkers.
Adam
P.S. This is not really a response to Crocusboy. But I thought he might like to add something to what I've written. Just from a few posts I've read of his, I suspect we have nothing in common insofar as our woodworking goes. Seeing that difference, maybe helpful to the wider audience here (or at least it helps make my point).
Very insightful Adam!! I had an interesting discussion with a co-worker which brought up this very issue. He's more of a power tool person, but he has the luxury of a full basement shop. As I've been reading both books and the threads, I'm coming more towards your perspective, partially for practical reasons (I'm tiny as is my prospective space) and also the realization that this is a hobby craft and not production. That's not to say I won't get some limited power tools, but there's certainly no rush. (After my class and the woodworking show that I'll be attending next month I'll have a better idea.) It also reminded me about studying statistics in college. We learned how to calculate certain things by hand before we hit the statistical packages (which were limited 20+ years ago.)Anyway...I appreciate your insights...Can I get a reprint of your articles from PW or are thy on line??? I'd really like to read them.
You can get back issues from the publisher. Your local library may have them as well. If you have trouble locating them, contact me directly and I'll see if I can help.Adam
Thanks Adam....I'll take a look!
Wendy,
You're following the right path IMO: doing the research before spending the money.
As Adam pointed out, there are many approaches to woodworking. All of them work; none of them are necessarily any "better" or "worse" than the others per se.
The professional woodworkers generally seem to approach woodworking from more of a $$$/time perspective, while hobbyists generally seem to approach it from more of an artisan/artist kind of perspective. So....while there is a lot of cross-over between the two, the advice given from one or the other will tend to reflect that particular perspective.
[Truth in advertising disclosure: I'm a hobbyist woodworker that does all of my woodworking with hand tools.]
IMO you are following a very good path in learning to use hand tools at the front end; too many people skip that part. These are skills that you will always have a use for in woodworking, regardless of whether you stay strictly with hand tools or add power tools to your shop.
As far as tools go, here are some that you will find very useful for general woodworking:
Hand planes: low angle adjustable-mouth block plane (probably the single most useful and versatile plane of them all); a #4 or a #4-1/2, a #5 or a #5-1/2, and a #7 or a #8 for bench planes; (a scrub plane, if you're going to do your woodworking exclusively with hand tools, otherwise it's more or less optional); a shoulder plane is also very handy. My recommendation would be either old (pre-WWII) Stanleys (be prepared to do some fettling with the older tools) or new Lie-Nielsens (a bit on the expensive side); others will suggest the LV/Veritas planes (moderate $$ to expensive); special-purpose planes can be added, as required. If you prefer wooden planes, ECE, Knight, and Clark & Williams -- to mention just a couple of modern wooden plane makers -- make very nice ones, but they are not inexpensive. Old (antique) wooden planes are not my area of expertise, so I'll have to defer to someone else to advise you on them.
Chisels: a good set of bench chisels (you'll get lots of recommendations from others here; I like the Japanese chisels sold by Woodcraft, but there are many, many other good chisels out there), and a good mallet.
Saws: A good rip and cross cut saw; a good tenon and dovetail saw. Take a look at the Japanese saws, as well as the western-style ones. I use both styles.
Layout tools: a good straight edge; a good marking gauge (I like the TiteMark); a marking knife; a bevel gauge; an accurate try square and a high-quality combination square (you could go with one or the other at the beginning).
Drilling tools: a good "egg-beater" hand drill (get an old Miller's Falls or old Stanley, etc); a good brace (again, get an old Miller's Falls or old Stanley, etc); a standard set of brad-point bits; perhaps a 32/quarters set of auger bits for the brace.
Books: try these sites for books that you may find useful or interesting:
http://www.astragalpress.com/
http://www.cambiumbooks.com/
http://www.woodworkerslibrary.com/
http://www.blackburnbooks.com/
And, of course: amazon.
Misc tools: a sharpening system (oil, water, or diamond stones); a couple of rasps and files (Nicholson #49 or #50, for example); some hand screws and bar/pipe clamps big enough to fit your work (you'll never have enough clamps...); a flat and a round sole spokeshave; a good, solid work bench (buy or make yourself -- there are several threads discussing the virtues and disadvantages of either course of action).
While it's by no means an all-inclusive list, there's not a lot that you can't do with a tool set similar to that listed above, and it's not too terribly expensive to set yourself up with, especially if you buy good quality older tools off that (in)famous auction site or from some of the old tool dealers. And, hand tools (except for the bench) have the advantage of not taking up very much room, either in use or for storage.
One last thing: buy the best quality tools you can afford, so you only have to buy them once......
Hope this is of some use to you, and good luck!!
James
Edited 2/24/2006 5:48 pm ET by pzgren
Edited 2/24/2006 5:57 pm ET by pzgren
Edited 2/24/2006 11:32 pm ET by pzgren
Thanks James!
Great info and insights! I'm going to have to print it out and take a look at the web sites and use your info as input to coming up with an initial "shopping list." I agree with both you and Adam that it is a matter of perspective. As I mentioned in response to Adam's post, I'm coming to your (both of you) perspective in terms of my situation and interests right now.I'm going to the new Woodcrafters tomorrow so see a demo and scout around. In two weeks I have a weekend intro class there. I'm sure I won't come home empty handed :-)Thanks again!
Wendy, Glad to be of some help. :-) If you would like specific recommendations on tools, I would be glad to provide them, along with the rationale for the recommendation. I wish you good luck with your class! You'll find woodworking to be fun and fulfilling -- there is a great sense of accomplishment when you complete a project and it turns out well. Being honest and realistic, I have to "warn" you that there is a possibility of a bit of frustration at the beginning of using hand tools. The results you initially get may not be exactly what you were expecting or hoping for. Like many other worthwhile things, developing skills with hand tools takes time and a significant amount of practice. So....don't expect "expert" results right off the bat. Part of the frustration level -- or lack thereof -- is influenced by the quality of the tools you use....poor quality tools will do nothing but frustrate and discourage you -- because you're "fighting" the deficiencies of the tool while trying to accomplish a task; on the other hand, good or excellent quality tools will make the learning curve much lower, from the perspective that you are not "fighting" the tool to accomplish what you are trying to do. Good tools won't, of course, in and of themselves, make you an accomplished woodworker, but they won't hinder you on your journey to that end, either. Woodworking by hand is largely a set of basic skills applied in combination with each other. Once you have become proficient in those those basic skills, it becomes relatively easy to apply them to your particular project. An example of a basic skill: cutting to a line. To gain some competence at doing this, you could take some scrap wood and draw a series of lines perpendicular to one edge and use your saw to cut those lines. The first ones may not follow the line too well at all, but as you cut more and more of them, they will begin to follow the line much better. After some period of time/some number of practice cuts, you will develop the ability to regularly and routinely cut to a line without much trouble at all. Practical applications of being able to cut to a line include ripping or cross-cutting accurately, cutting tenons, cutting dovetails, etc. As you can see from this example, one "simple" skill has a fairly wide range of applications. Other basic skills include hand planing, sharpening your edge tools, scraping, carving, reading the grain of the wood, finishing, learning the appropriate joinery for the purpose at hand, etc. As you can see, there is plenty to learn and then refine; that keeps it from ever getting boring or routine. Graham Blackburn's book, "Traditional Woodworking Handtools," Garrett Hack's "The Handplane Book," FWW's "Selecting and Using Hand Tools," Aldren A. Watson's "Hand Tools: Their Ways and Workings," both of David Charlesworth's books, and Andy Rae's "Choosing and Using Hand Tools" are all very informative. There are several other books that I recommend; if you're interested, let me know.
These links have lots of good information on hand tool woodworking:http://www.woodcentral.com/cgi-bin/articles.pl#handtools (hand tool info)http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~alf/en/en.html (Electronic Neanderthal -- lots of great info on hand tools and hand wood working)http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan0a.html (everything you EVER wanted to know about Stanley planes....)http://www.traditionaltools.us/cms/index.php (hand tool info)http://www.norsewoodsmith.com/ (superb tool and technique site)http://www.cornishworkshop.co.uk/ (good tool and technique info)http://www.cianperez.com/Wood/WoodDocs/Wood_How_To/INDEX_How_To.htm (tons of info on hand tools and techniques)http://www.galootcentral.com/ (hand tool info)http://www.thegaloot.org/tikiwiki/tiki-index.php (hand tool info)http://www.rexmill.com/ (woodworking info) Well, this is getting to be rather long, so it's probably time to cut it off. Hope that this is of some use to you.Cheers!James
Thanks James!! Once again a bevy of useful info! I started looking at the links and they look pretty good!! The Electronic Neanderthal looks cool (one of the best), but unfortunately it doesn't look like he's been keeping it up for several years. Perhaps he's moved it??As for books, I have Watson's on order as well as two by Korn on Hand tools and craftsmanship. I looked at Blackburn's books and they're on the list as well as the book on planers which I currently have out from the library (but they'll make me give it back :-))I understand what you're saying about frustration. I do plastic car modeling and it can get pretty frustrating at times (you know, you go to put the body on and the entire chassis falls apart!!) Like anything you learn.On a related note...I saw a master cabinet maker, originally from Hungary, at the local Woodcrafters. His name is Frank Klausz. He demoed cutting dovetails by hand. Being determined to make my own attempt, I bought the appropriate gear as well as his DVD (in case I missed anything :-)) I need to find some scrap and start practicing. He also demonstrated planing and scraping to get the wood ready for prime time. At any rate, I think I'll talk about it more detail on the "hand tools" forum.Anyway, thanks again for the info!!
Wendy,WOW!!!! You got to see Frank Klausz do a live demo!! Lucky you!! Looking forward to reading your "report" on the demo!Glad the info was of some use to you.James
Edited 2/26/2006 10:54 pm ET by pzgren
Hi James!Yes, thanks! In fact from one of the links I ended up at the Fine Tool Journal site. I was curious so I ordered a few back issues. Also enjoyed the site that is apparently affiliated with an "early american tools/preserving american tools" group which lead me to their site. Very interesting.I posted my report on the Klausz demo on "Hand Tools" forum. I will say it was definately a very worthwhile experience. I was unable to scare up some suitable scraps to practice the dovetails today but I did practice using the mortice gague I bought on a scrap 2x4 and clearned out some more junk so I can eventually install a small workshop in the unfinished portion of my basement. I'm going to try to locate a good source of scrap for practice so I can start practicing dovetails and I'd like to plan my first project. Perhaps a simple box?Anyway, thanks again!
Cepwin,
Practicing on Scraps is good...but learning to cut dovetails is a process of continuous improvement by observing what you did and determining how to do it better next time. In Ian Kirby's book, the complete dovetail, he suggest to 18"x5"x3/4" pieces of mahogany to practice. Join the two boards with dovetails, cut off, and start over. You can probably get 18 or so practices out of those boards. It provides a consistent feel on each attempt and layout, wood prep is facilitated. Also, mahogany is a hard wood but easy to work with and cut.
Thanks BG!! That's what I'm doing. I got a plank of pine and made my first attempt this afternoon. It didn't work so I analyzed it and figured out what I did wrong (I think.) Going to make some more attempts.
Talk about getting good info right from the horse's mouth!I don't know what you'll be using for a vise but when clamping a piece on one side, most of them will try to close the other side and the clamping pressure won't be even. IIRC, you said something about the WoodWorking show- go to the Lie-Nielsen booth and you'll see that he has some dovetails glued up and he uses them to keep the vise jaw straight. You can use the practice pieces for this. Also, a 4'-6' piece of poplar would be a good place to start cheaply, since you could cut a couple of 1' pieces and cut your tails and pins. When they don't work out, cut just the first inch off and start over. You'll be able to cut 10 sets from 2' of the original board and still have half of it.Doing any operation like this is basically muscle memory, just like golf, tennis, whatever. Repetition is the key and as Vince Lombardi said, "Practice doesn't make perfect, but perfect practice does".Another thing to remember, if there are gaps in the joints, you can cut slices of the same wood in the same grain orientation, drive them into the gap and remove the excess. Done right, they're just about invisible. "I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
Edited 3/10/2006 11:43 am by highfigh
I saw Frank at the Ft Washington Pa. wood workers show and he was absolutely fantastic but once I saw HIS traveling bench I wanted to come home and throw my very fine and very expensive rosewood and pecan dinning room table into a dumptster. His bench was a sublime piece of art. Pat
Pat, Too cool! I've never seen him in a demo and haven't seen his videos, but his recent article on cutting DTs freehand really impressed me. Since then, I've read several other of his articles, and they are all filled with just plain common sense knowledge and skill.....something that one very much would expect from a graduate of the "old school" system of European apprenticeship. One of these days, I hope to attend a seminar, class, or demo that he does.James
I've got my shop in 1 bay of a 3 car garage. Still park pickup there too. Needless to say space is getting short. Two table saws, band saw, drill press, router table w/ 2 routers, (1 in and 1 out). However, out of all my power tools, I honestly got a say, the power miter saw w/laser guide is my most utilized POWER tool. What I did was make a frame under my "bench" type power tools out of 2x2. Added a cross brace. Now I keep my router table in a shelf in my work bench. Same with my small table saw w/dado blades. When I need em, just take out of shelf and mount in my "Black and Decker Workmate." System works great! Next on my list is a dedicated station for power miter saw. Highly recommend "sliding power miter." Now it does almost all the jobs of table saw. Only thing it won't do is rip sheet goods. Use a skill saw and a guide u can make for that. Good Luck.
I am a relatively new woodworker as well and have been busy setting up a shop in a 24X14 foot garage where space is definately a prime resource. I have st up a table saw, drill press, built a router table and a mitre saw table and I find all these helpful. However, like others have said, now that I'm a little more into it I relaize that a good bandsaw would have been much more beneficial then a table saw. I am in the process of building a workbench and a sharpening center so I can begin to use my hand tools more proficently. It takes careful planning to get it right with a small space. I have built all my workstations at the same height and have them all on wheels so they can be moved. There are many good articles on this topic on the finewoodworking.com site and I would think it a good idea to start there. Hope these few comments were helpful.
Another Novice,
Paul Martin
First of all good luck with starting out in this wonderful hobby/proffession. I have never found anything more satisfing, apart from winning the lottery, which I donated all the proceeds to "DELTA".
All this talk of power tools is great, yes I have more than a few. But I would say your most importand piece of equipment is a good solid WORKBENCH, preferably with some form of vise or clamp integrated into the bench. it should not rock or move when you use it - you will be a lot safer when you work and the quality of your work will be to a higher standard. It will serve you well, wether you use machines, hand power tools or just plain "old Fashion" hand tools (which you cannot do without).
With regard to the Table saw, I think that this is second most valuable piece of equipment in the shop. But do not forget to set it up properly and accurately - a good fence and mitre gauge are also required to get accurate and repeatable results.
With regard to the rest of your tool requirements, as somebody else has already said - this will depend on what you want to make - it really depends on how much money you want to invest?
As your space is limited, then I would suggest the Island system, where you can conbine the Table saw and work bench together, so that the workbench is either a outfeed or side table for the TS. - The rest of the Machines/tools can be placed on wheeels, which you can move around as needed - try to make trolleys and boxes multi functional, so that they can be used for more than one application at a time.
Once again good luck with the hobby - Tony
P.S. If somebody else mentioned the workbench, then I missed it in the stream of replies.
If anyone hasn't heard yet, theres an "Internet" tv type show on 24x7, 365 days a year! Go to: http://www.the woodworkingchannel.com. If u have high speed, even DSL, use "broadband choice."
Yes, I've watched some of it. It's a new way of doing "television" but I think this is the direction media in general will be going. They're still building content but I'm looking forward to seeing what they do.
I'm very excited about "The Woodworking Channel." There just isn't any shows on woodworking except "New Yankee Workshop" on TV, which I still try to watch each week. Ultimately would rather b making sawdust but, getting difficult to find the time. The woodworking channel next best thing.
If you have cable, look for the DIY Network. There are some good shows there, of which my favorites are Wood Works (David Marks), and Freeform Furniture (Amy Devers). Sometimes I'll also watch Woodworking (Bruce Johnson) and Woodturning (Dave Hought, I think).
Depending on your interests and budget, there are a bunch of good videos, too.My goal is for my work to outlast me. Expect my joinery to get simpler as time goes by.
There lies the problem. I have DSL and those shows appear on digital cable tv. This is exactly why "Internet Shows" will be wave of future.
Thanks Tony! Yes, I've been focused more on hand tools and I think you're absolutely right...I have a small portable bench I bought at Home Depot but I need to get a proper one. Given I'm very petite I'll need to either build or modify one.THanks again!
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