Last week a good friend of mine and woodworking mentor died suddenly at the age of 55 after being retired from teaching for only ten months. In his passing I’ve realized that my commitment to “take woodworking up more seriously when I retire” isn’t such a wise idea and that I should consider living my life more in the present than in the future.
I’m starting to assemble my own shop now. I’m interested in building book cases, dressers, built ins and traditional mission style furniture pieces for the house.
I have a decent collection of hand tools but beyond my table saw, router, circular saw and hand drill I’m not sure what to get next. I have several jigs for the table saw and router for squaring off lumber, cutting miters, dadoes, mortises, etc. Is a planer the next wise investment for me? A jointer? Or am I overlooking something?
Thanks.
Replies
I would say it's a toss up between a jointer AND planer,or a bandsaw.If you plan on making furniture you will need to be able to thickness and flatten your stock.Unless you plan on spending alot of time with a handplane the jointer/planer combo is a necessity.
A bandsaw opens up all kinds of possibilities.Cutting curves,re-sawing,cutting joinery are just some of the things a bandsaw is excellent at.
If it were me,I'd buy a good jointer and a planer first.You can't do anything else if you don't have good square stock to start with.Even if you plan on buying S4S lumber,you'll be hard put to find enough straight stock for a project of any size.
Brent
amen!
Interesting discussion...I'm in exactly the same position. Have finally started putting together my shop. Just got a nice table saw, have about the same combination of other tools already mentioned (router, router table, various other small stuff).My thinking had been running towards a bandsaw. Reasoning is....Only usable lumber I can get from the local stores (Mowes/HD etc..) is Oak, Pine or Poplar. If I want to use anything more exotic (Walnut, Maple, Cherry etc...) I can only get it in rough/undimensioned form. Seems to me that being able to re-saw such lumber to more manageable size would be most usefull. Aside from the fact that the band saw could do things the table saw will never do.Once re-sawn, I think I could use the table saw to square up the thin edges...only remaining issue would be the face side's....I'm wondering if small batches of lumber could be smoothed/squared with a hand plane untill I could get a power planer???Seems that getting a piece of 4/4 cherry, then planing away half of it to get a 1/2" thick plank would be waste??Appreciate any thoughts or suggestions.
you could use a hand plane and it is a worthy goal to learn to use one to flatten the face of lumber. Just a couple of thoughts on that that I have is that you will probably need a couple of good handplanes to acomplish that, at over a hundred bucks each you on your way to decent usable jointer, and you must know that it takes a reasonable amount of skill and alot of practice to flatten a board with a handplane, also even if your bandsaw is properly set up it still requires a fair amount of skill to resaw cleanly. I agree a good bandsaw is sweet, and using handplans is way cool but dressing all your lumber like that is a fair amount of work.
I must say that I like to build things but,dressing lumber is not my favorite part,so I would be lost without my jointer and my planer, some people are different and they really like to use there planes for that purpose so really it's whatever floats your boat.
It's good sound advice to buy tools as you need them.
"take woodworking up more seriously when I retire" isn't such a wise idea and that I should consider living my life more in the present than in the future.
Chit.. I'm OLD.. I SHOULD HAVE done what I dreamed of!
Well.. I think I did.. I had a GREAT wife and the children OK too! Just wish I had gotten a BIGGER shop!
Do you have a router table yet?
I was recently in your place on deciding which to get next and in what order. I am on a limited budget and have to plan and save up for my tool purchases - usually from tax returns.
I will now speak heresy. I went with a Planer (Delta 2 speed) and am now going with the Grizzly 14" Band Saw with the riser kit for resawing. I will get jointer eventually, but with a jointing face on my router table I can square up an edge real well. I use a straight bit with a shear cut and get a nice smooth edge. It is not as fast as a jointer(has to be set up each time and adjusted) but it works well for now.
My router table is one I built from a combination of plans ( like this on this one and that idea from that one and the fence from another ...) the table top is 2' front to rear and 3' wide. I installed some T track and a miter track as well.
I found that a good router table with at least a 2hp, variable speed router is an invaluable tool.
If you are going to be doing cabinetry, you will probably want to look at frame and panel construction for items as well as just doors. The router table is really a MUST for that unless you have a shaper.
My next purchase will be an overhead air filter of some sort (shop vac dust collection for now)
Good luck
1 - measure the board twice
2 - cut it once
3 - measure the space where it is supposed to go
4 - get a new board and go back to step 1
I'd say the jointer/planer is the next step. Both were the type of tools that after I got mine I wondered how I'd managed so long without them. Only regret is getting a 6" jointer instead of 8". Too hard to get that first face flat with the 6 incher.
The other thing I'd suggest is a chop saw.
Amen to the not waiting until retirement thing. I'm a lot of years from retiring, but thankful I didn't wait to start building my shop. The sense of accomplishment I get from woodworking counters the lack thereof in my "real" job.
The jointer or planer should probably be your next purchase.
Truth is, using power tools, you can't get 4 square stock without both.
If I had to pick it would be a jointer. The jointer allows you to get
two flat faces on the lumber that serve as a reference side for planing.
Many woodworkers like 6" jointers. I wished I had bought a bigger one.
Jointer and Planer next. Try to get both with 12" capacity.
How much did you pay for your 12" jointer? I could almost outfit my shop with the cost of that one1 - measure the board twice
2 - cut it once
3 - measure the space where it is supposed to go
4 - get a new board and go back to step 1
Whoa!
Slow down a minute.
My advice is, get started on your next project whatever that may be. When you get to the point that you can't proceed, buy whatever tool that allows you to continue. I think this will make your dollar go a lot farther than just throwing greenbacks at the shop wall just to see what sticks.
Chris
My advice is, get started on your next project whatever that may be. When you get to the point that you can't proceed, buy whatever tool that allows you to continue. I think this will make your dollar go a lot farther than just throwing greenbacks at the shop wall just to see what sticks.
I agree. And I think in most cases, this would lead someone to get a jointer and planer.
I really don't see how one can do anything significant in woodworking with S4S stock. First off, it's expensive. Plus, the quanity and selection is usually pretty limited.
But most importantly, wood moves. From the time the wood is surfaced to the time you buy it and start to work it, it has had lots of opportunity to change shape. In fact, most of the S4S stuff I see in stores as some warp or cup in it. You can't make tight joinery on stock that's not square.
if I couldn't get both, I might try with a planer first. You can edge joint stock with the proper router table setup. You can face joint on a planer with a jointing sled; it just takes a long time to set up. Thngs can go alot faster with both jointer and planer.
Hey JSR what have you decided? or have we scared you away?
1 - measure the board twice
2 - cut it once
3 - measure the space where it is supposed to go
4 - get a new board and go back to step 1
Rip one edge, square that edge & adjoining side on the jointer rip the other edge with in 1/32" of final dimension joint to final dimension plane with jointed side down. Now you have in your hands the material machined ready to be cut to finished length ready to make your project. These are the steps taken to get from rough cut to finished dimensioned material.
I keep my jointer set for 1/32" most of the time so I know to rip 1/32" wider that finished dimension.
I hope this helps answer your question of what tools to purchase next if your going to start with rough cut material?
Edited 5/19/2005 8:11 pm ET by Bart
hand planes...????
Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
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