I’m looking forward to starting an enjoyable past time woodworking. I have some experience woodworking using borrowed tools. The time has come for me to think about outfitting my own workshop at home. I plan on building furniture for the home and various other projects for the yard. I have a very limited budget to work with, $800, and would like some advice as to what tools I should purchase first. I already have a Bosch 2hp router combo, a small benchtop bandsaw and 10″ compund miter saw. Any information that you can give would be great. I have read all the books out there about workshop design and tool, plus all the reviews. What I want are the opinions from those who use their tools a regular basis, in short you guys. I’ve thought about buying the “best value” rated tools and using them for awhile and them upgrading as time, experience and money allows. If you can make any recomendations on certain tools, or types of tools, that would be wonderful.
Thank you in advance for your info. I look forward to hearing from you all.
Jeff
Replies
The one tool I would definitely buy would be a table saw. Get a decent 10" saw and a good carbide combination blade. Usually, the blades that come with the saw must be just for looks, because they dull quickly and don't cut very well. I went without a joiner for some time with pretty good joints. When cutting wood to join together, such as pieces for a table top, cut very close to the desired line, then take a skim cut to the correct location. Once you get a joiner in the future, your joints will look even better.
I would use the money left over from the table saw to purchase a variety of hand tools, such as a square, some clamps, maybe a palm and/or belt sander, drill, router bits, etc. You could buy a couple of planes, but I would hold off until your basic skills improve. Good planes can also add up to a lot of money.
The first things to build are a good bench with a vise and a router table. Once I built my router table, I used my router as much as my table saw.
Good Luck and have fun.
Sounds like you're starting off pretty well, and I agree with JeffB about making a good table saw your next purchase, and then smaller stuff. First on the list: precise measuring tools and an excellent miter gauge.
After that hand tools, small power tools, and clamps (and clamps, and clamps), bought as you need them. Personally, I favor the catalog approach to building an information base, and I come running to the Knotheads for "how good is it?" information.
You can get a Jet contractor's saw for about $550, sometimes less. Don't know what Delta's are. The Grizzly 1022ProZ has cast iron wings and a Shop Fox fence, $595. Etc., etc. General has a competing model for these also. Bridgewood's looks good at $549.
Great catalogs: Lee Valley, MLCS (router bits, and tons of routering information), Ballew Saw and Tool, Grizzly, for starters. Others escape me at the moment. Time to go home and finish my router table frame!
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Edited 4/3/2003 8:16:41 PM ET by forestgirl
Phoneman,
Congratulations on your decision and welcome to the expensive(maybe) world of woodworking. I would not disagree with anything that has been said, but perhaps a different spin would be of swome use to you.
You mention building furniture for the home and yard. I think the usual progression we all take is to start out with plywood type projects and progress to using more and more all wood in our projects. Likewise our tool needs change along with the need for better skills. When were building plywood bookcases the issue is making sure everything is square and we have plenty of clamps. Moving from a circular saw to a table saw provides a dramatic jump in quality of cuts and accuracy. You can easily spend a ton on clamps but I have found the pony with various pipe lengths to work the best at a reasonable price.
As you begin to incorporate hardwood then you need to add flat to the equastion. To get a board flat and square you have two choices the hand method or with machines. The machines would include jointers and planer, the hand method a good workbench and planes. I have gone with a planer and a workbench and a few planes. By shopping the used market money can be spared.
The next issue is joinery and like the plywood to hardwood shift you need more tools and more skills. Again, you need to start with flat and square stock and need a workbench. At some point along the way you get tired of square and start thinking about lathes..and router tables..and bandsaws.
Starting out you need to decide if your going to go the hand tool route or machine route..or a combination of both. If its the hand tool route then I would suggest a good workbench and plenty of clamps and hit the yard sales for planes. The machine route then the table saw, plenty of clamps and then the workbench...and the yard sales. Going the combination route would be the same as option 2.
A good table saw and workbench change everything...
The tablesaw is probably the most useful machine in the shop. The fundamental importance of a solid, stable workbench cannot be overemphasized. I, for one, don't have a solid, stable workbench, and it is a major obstacle to overcome.
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