Beginning tool selection...

[Bullwinkle J. Moose]

ROTFLMFAO!!!!!!

[mac davis]

or even good 12" blades.. *groan*

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

[Silvan]

I have to say, Andy, most of the time when I say I'm laughing, I'm not really laughing. It takes quite a lot to get me to laugh for real, and this one brought on a good one. I needed that.

[Silvan]

All 10" saws aren't created equal. My first one was a Skil 3400 that I got new for $50. It was worth $50, but not anywhere close to what those things usually sell for. When I went looking to upgrade, I tried to find a small saw that wasn't a piece of junk. I discovered I wasn't going to get by with a small saw, so now I have the deck from an aircraft carrier in my eency weency little shop. It's unwieldy to say the least.

I'd say most benchtop saws are about equally crappy, and I made some very nice things with mine. In fact, for various reasons, I haven't actually made anything of real substance with my new saw yet. Everything I have to my credit was done with a complete POS with a warped aluminum table. Or even less. I started off with nothing but an electric drill, a crappy B&D jigsaw and a miter box/backsaw. I got a Crapsman router with Depth Randomizer and Carbide Ejection System next. Big mistake.

Well, you just heard me raving about it, so I won't rave again. I really love my drill press. I traded my 10" benchtop for a 15" floor model after just one year, I think. Maybe two years. I love it. Yet there are folks here who are content with a crappy Harbor Freight 9" benchtop that they leave sitting in the corner most of the time.

[Silvan]

Serious mucho $$$$$$$ here. It really is a world unto itself. It has so little in common with "flatwood" that the two can hardly both live together under the name "woodworking." Which is why they call themselves turners, not woodworkers, and keep their $7,000 lathes and $250 bowl gouges over on the other newsgroup. :)

Don't shoot yourself in the head/eye/arm/heart with it though.

[bkr]

James, thanks for the advice. I was looking in the bookstore yesterday for woodworking books. Any suggestions for books on jigs? I noticed a couple other comments yesterday about low or mid-range saws with a good set of jigs can be passible for quite a lot of work.

I have considered a lathe, but honestly I don't have the space and I'd rather get reasonably decent at other aspects of this hobby before investing the time and money into that side. I've used a lathe a few times in the past and I enjoy it, but it takes far more effort to learn to do well (in my opinion).

I'm assuming the other parts of your post were made in humour so I'll just leave them alone.

bkr

[bkr]

Thanks for the advice. I guess the consensus is build more stuff until you absolutely can't live without a particular tool. That is honestly what I was thinking until I actually started getting a couple of the power tools that have made my life much easier. I've always been of the mind that if people could build this stuff 150 years ago with hand tools, I must be able to do /something/ with the small selection of tools at my disposal. Thanks for reaffirming that.

By the way, this was some funny stuff. Hole-r-izer...that's brilliant.

bkr

[J&KCopeland]

Start with the internet. Go to google and input "woodworking jigs". There will be enough to keep you going for quite a while.

There is a little mag called "Shop Notes" that comes out every month. I buy it at the grocery story. It's tiny, but generally, every issue has worthwhile suggestion(s). Bob Wearing's *Router Tips and Techniques* is excellent.

out the video of the router jig. That's probably next.....

Amen.

"Humour" ???? Are you British? (American's spell it "Humor") Just you wait (Grinning) Come back in several years and we'll see what's humorous and what isn't.

[Andy Dingley]

Yes, power tools will make your life easier. You should have plenty of them, particularly a good table saw for turning big wood into small wood (for that's hard going by hand). "Plenty" is a pretty small number though. It's all too easy to get caught into the Big Shed marketing plans that tell you you just can't do anything without buying their new plastic gadget.

Most of us could use some better tools. Few of us really need more new ones. If you have to shop, get something you really need, and get the best one you can.

[Bob G.]

====================== I have had a Cheap Sears Lathe since the mid 60's and for just.. plain.. relaxing... fun... it was well worth them money...

I build furniture as a hobby...BUT between projects when I am in one of my lost, funky, what the hell am I going to get into today, moods I find that I can fire up the lathe and have a blast... To me it is a tool ...that I use as a toy...

I am not a "turner" for sure... BUT I do not have any other machine in my shop that I use as a toy to play with..on days that I feel like being a little boy again... lol

Bob Griffiths.

[bkr]

Actually I'm American, but for some reason occasionally spell colour and humour like a Brit...generally I don't even notice and it depends on my leisure reading of the moment I think.

Thanks for the link to the shopnotes.

bkr

[bkr]

This is of course the best advice, in nearly any situation. Thanks again everyone for your comments and suggestions.

bkr

[Prometheus]

Of the three you mention, my vote would be for the miter saw. But the drill press is awfully handy as well- just make sure that you get a big enough drill press for your needs- the wife bought me mine, and while it works well, it won't accept a mortising attachment and leaves me wishing for a few extra inches of clearence fairly often.

If I were to just pick one from what you've said, though, I'd go for a decent (or even a cheap POS) router. The number one reason for I'd suggest that over any of the others is that you'll be able to make dadoes and rebates with it- something you probably can't do with a 8" table saw (my guess is that the arbor is too short for a dado stack, though Ryobi may have done better than Delta in that regard). and those are some awfully useful joints for all sorts of projects. Once you've got one, I'm sure you'll discover that it's one of the most versatile tools you have.

The other suggestion would be a biscut cutter- I don't have one, but I've used them in the past, and they are really very nice for jointing tabletops. You can do it with butt joints or dowels, but the biscut cutter makes things a little easier. Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

[Lew Hodgett]

A decent router package (I have the older PC690 kit) which will be about $200 and a decent saber saw (I have the Bosch) will be about $150 would be my choices.

HTH

Lew

[Silvan]

Don't get me wrong here, I have a lathe too. I'm just pointing out that it's a whole different world, and probably not something I'd put on a short list of must haves for a new woodworker.

I'd say I'm in the same camp. If you take turning seriously, it's just too much money, too much equipment, too much everything. I like to have a bit of fun, but I haven't actually found much practical use for my lathe yet, other than making replacement knobs for hand planes. I have enough change dishes, mushrooms and candlestick holders to last several lifetimes. My lathe is a mini, and I can't do much else on it. I definitely don't have room for a full sized lathe, so that's basically just the end of it for me. It's a fun toy, but it's basically useless as anything other than a momentary amusement. Make something neat looking, then throw it on the fire so it doesn't clutter the place up.

[Silvan]

Wellllllllll... I just built a printer stand with dadoed shelves, and I don't have a dado stack or a working router. Or a suitable hand plane for that matter. About five kerfs, some chisel work, came out perfect.

Stopped dadoes are more fiddly though, such as a rabbeted box bottom on a piece where the sides aren't mitered. You either have a lot of weird fiddling to do to pare off the slopey curvy bits the blade didn't hog off, or else you have to go back and glue in little cheater pieces. Of course, you'd have the same exact problem with a dado stack, just with fewer kerfs.

Routers are good for this kind of stuff, I'll admit. Fast, easy. It's probably something I'll do with a router if I ever buy one that's more practical to use.

[DarylRos]

Never overlook a jointer, even a small 4" one. Without flat square stock, you wil lalwaus have trouble.

What kind of work do you do, what kind of budget?

[Bob G.]

============= Have not followed this thread..

I only semi agree with you.... My 1st Joiner was a little 4 in POS....which I purchased for the very reason you gave,,,,BUT it really was completely useless... may have been sufficient if I only made birdhouses...

I would tell anyone to just wait until the budget could handle a 6" one...

Bob