I’ve casually worked at carpentry and woodworking for several years. My interest is increasing from making the basic junk I’ve made and begin true projects around the house like:
Decorative Boxes, toybox, oak Cabinets above the washer/dryer, gun cabinet, bunkbed, dressers all as lessons to get to the point of making furniture such as a dining table with hutch (and chairs of course) and eventually “fine” furniture.
I’m no longer near my relatives so my access to the family shop is gone. And I am contemplating how to stock my own shop with larger purchases on a limited budget. I have a good supply of circular saws (2), drills (3), Miter saw, routers-non-plunge (2), router and drill bits, clamps, squares etc. I really am now looking at large power tool purchases and good woodworking hand tools.
In researching the archives, I have found several threads related to beginner’s asking which tools should they buy. Let me ask it again in two parts to fit my situation to start the debate again….
PART ONE
How well can I get a way with a bandsaw before I buy a Table Saw? I have been thinking this one through and was pretty convinced that my first purchase should be a 14″-16″ bandsaw. In the recent FWW Power Tool special publication, Gary Rowgoski mentioned if he had to do it over he would wait on the TS. What do you think?
PART TWO
Maybe the basic question is how do I sequence the following purchases or do I even forgo some of them based on being hobby status (i.e. opt for hand-tools and patience).
Bandsaw
TableSaw
Jointer
Plunge Router
Top Notch hand tools
Drill Press
Planer/Thicknesser
others?
My intention is to buy good quality for each of these and not futz around with junk.
Replies
The tools you need will depend on what you want to do.Based on the projects you listed, here are my recommendations.
If you want to do any cabinets and furniture, you really need a tablesaw and a jointer.
So, in my opinion your list could read:
TableSaw
Jointer
random -orbit sander
belt sander
Plunge Router
Top Notch hand tools
Bandsaw
Drill Press
Planer/Thicknesser
Good luck!
Rick W.
Most shops feature the TS as the prominent tool in the shop. There are some who consider their BS to #1. It really depends on what you plan to do. If you'll be resawing wide boards and cutting curves alot, obviously a BS is critical. If you're doing cabinets, tables, boxes, etc, a good TS will be most valuable to you IMO.
A jointer and planer work incredibly well in tandem. Which to get first is an often debated topic with rational arguments from each camp.
IMO a DC system should be close behind. Not only will it enhance your shop time, but it's much better for your health.
I'd also consider building a good workbench and router table.
I think you mentioned one very important piece of equipment and that is a work bench. Without that it is very diffucult to conplete quality work!
Yep...and a TS, planer and jointer are really handy to help make it. So Forestgirl if you try to take either one away from me you'll risk losing a digit or two in the process! ;-)....'course, a workbench would be really handy to help build a workbench too! What to do, what to do?....
Edited 9/12/2005 8:40 pm ET by scotty
Familyman,
I won't defend my suggestions but I know it would work fairly well for you.
1. Workbench with good vises
2. Planner
3. bandsaw
4. Good quality meauring and marking devices
5. Good used hand tools
6. Clamps..all kinds
Rogowski freely admits that his BS first recommendation is highly controversial.
If you want to make cabinets and tables and hutches as you say, your first purchase needs to be a TS.
If you can't afford a good TS with a good fence.. wait until you can.
After you buy a good TS you need to add a jointer and then a planer. (Preferably both at once)
Don't buy a BS until you run into a project where nothing else will do. I predict that won't be for quite awhile.
Set aside some money for a two stage dust collector, too.
Happy woodworking!
Buy the best table saw you can afford. I have a decent, but low end table saw that I'm about to take to the dump because it is a piece of junk. The only reason I don't is because it is one of the most useful tools I own.
Buy tools only as you need them, then buy the best you can afford. A good tool will last you a lifetime, a piece of junk should be thrown away after you take it out of the box.
Then get a good plunge router, a jointer and thickness planer.
With those tools you can make ANYTHING that has mostly square edges. (Although I'd add some hand planes and scrapers for making the wood really smooth and some hand saws for fine work.)
Once you want to make some curvy stuff, you will need a bandsaw, carving chisels, and....
Hmmm, a drill press. Think about what you are REALLY going to use it for. A new brace costs about $50, a new drill press costs significantly more. If a brace will meet your needs, why buy a drill press?
Ahh.... BS vs. TS
Depends on what your going to do. If you are going to work with sheet goods at all, any bandsaw of less then about 30" is pretty worthless. A tablesaw is the best way to work sheet goods. If you are building sleigh beds or bombay chests on the other hand, you'll use a bandsaw more then the table saw.
I'd say your going to need both eventually, but the typical first projects don't require a bandsaw. I didn't have one for the first year and a half of my woodworking addiction. Now I have a 14" and 36", that I use all the time. As your projects get more complicated, the need for a bandsaw increases.
Focusing on the planer vs. jointer issue for now, I'll ask this question of the crowd:
If you had to give up one or the other (jointer or planer) for one year, which one would it be??
The answers should provide some insight. For me, it would be the jointer. I could live without a jointer much more easily(?) than the planer.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Hi FG,
My $.02.
I'd loose the planer, as long as I could keep my big bandsaw to resaw with.
The jointer is the fastest way to clean up edges of boards to be used for panels, which we all seem to make a lot. A plane will work fine here too, but, the jointer is faster and harder to mess up.
The planer will do a great job of thicknessing, but so will a plane. I smooth all boards in my shop with planes, and a board sawed to thickness with the bandsaw only takes a few more passes to clean up then one that came out of the planer.
Steve
The last time I answered this question, I was definitely in the minority, but I'll say it again anyway, I would give up my planer, but I would really hate to because it's brand new. The Delta 22 580. What a great little planer!
I like the fact that a lot of different approaches can be used to accomplish the same thing. It keeps things interesting.
Forestgirl, A while ago you said in one of your posts that you needed one more piece of equipment to complete your milling process. Which one?
Cheers. Walker1
"A while ago you said in one of your posts that you needed one more piece of equipment to complete your milling process." I did? Hmmmm, I'll have to think about that. Just finished a busy day here at the store, and my brain is fried [have been surrounded by teenage boys for 5 hours!]! Can't remember the context of that statement.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
No one asked how big is your shop. Big shop, big tools. Small shop, smaller tools.
Small shop, no large tools. Big shop, also small tools.
Familyman, I am in a similar position, so I will give you my thoughts based on what I am experiencing.
I started w/ a tablesaw (already had all the typical construction tools; circular saw, chop saw, jigsaw, sanders, etc). I then bought a big router to use as for both plunge requirements and primarily in the table which I built as an extention of the TS. Very handy! I'm getting ready to make a permanent fence for that, but have been using the TS fence w/ some scraps clamped as faces.
I just bought a Delta 22-580 planer and that thing is nice. I would like a bandsaw, primarily for resawing, but not in the cards right now. But here is what I have learned about tool choices:
I intend to build a sled for face jointing on the planer and I use the router table for edge jointing. I borrowed a Delta benchtop jointer that is fine for short pieces, but if you are going to be using anything over a couple feet long, don't waste your money. It is simply too short (the beds) for me to get good results on longer stock and has been the biggest headache so far. At some point I'll probably get a good, long jointer, but in the meantime I'll make do with the tools I have and get better results than w/ the benchtop.
I'm now realizing I need to get serious about dust collection, so that will probably be the next big investment.
My biggest regret, in terms of which thing to buy when, is not having put serious dust collection at about thing #2 (after table saw). Been working with MDF lately and I am not comfortable with the level of collection my Delta 1.5 HP dc provides. That's nasty dust!
-robert
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