Putting Together a Small Workshop

I'm looking for ideas concerning putting together a small workshop. I only have a small portion of my finished basement available for a shop so I plan to buy mobile bases for my stationary type tools. I will be using my shop tools to build hobby projects such as bookcases and shelving units but not for furniture. What shop machines should I plan on purchasing.

Philly45

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philly45
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Philly45 -

A typical answer would include Safety Equipment, Table Saw, Jointer, Planer, Routers, a Bandsaw, Planes and hand tools... But that's a chunk of cash to "see if you like it" You could start out with a bandsaw and some of the other tools and use already surfaced lumber as a start. I'd also suggest taking a WW class at community college or take some of the one day classes at a Woodcraft if they're nearby. Also, READ! Most of my skills and experience are self taught and I learned alot by reading EVERYTHING I could get my hands on. The most important issue is safety. Be familiar as possible with what you plan to do, and how you plan to do it so that you can still "count to ten" when you're done. Others will add their remarks, but this should give you an idea.

John Moorhead Lakeport CA

Reply to
john moorhead

If you are going to use pine boards from the home center or plywood, a table saw would be good but you will not need a planer or jointer. They will be needed if you want to use rough sawn wood or thickness plane for different dimensions.

I get a lot of use from my drill press. Same with a small compressor, stapler, and brad nailer. I built a cabinet for the drill press and the pancake compressor in in the base. It is on casters so moving it is easy.

Buy tools as you need them. In the case of shelving, you can make a dado and insert tracks for the shelf brackets, or you can drill holes for pins. Depending on your preference, that is the time to decide if you buy a dado blade or shelf pin fixture.

Plan to cut contours and arches? Jig saw can do it, but I like the bandsaw better. A 14" is the most popular, don't even think about the little 9" saws.

Router with a rounding over bit is nice to have. Of course lots of hand tools, drills, corded or cordless, plane, sanding stuff, etc. Ed

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

The previous posters did a fine job answering your question, and the only thing I would like to add would be to consider looking for some used tools. That way if you don't like woodworking, you can resell them for probably the same money. Just make sure you aren't dragging home someone else's junk.

Reply to
ToolMiser

Feh. I don't have room for and can't afford a planer or jointer. Learning how to do these jobs with hand planes is not without its gotchas, but it's definitely possible. The real bonus for me is that they have a much, much smaller footprint than their mechanized counterparts. I'm not afraid to buy real wood now, even if it's rough. Just takes me longer than you rich people with the big wallets and the big shops. ;)

Anyway, if I were starting a small wood shop, I'd do a lot of research and buy the best, biggest table saw that would fit my budget and space, then adapt the rest of the shop around that. My current situation is that I'm stuck with an underpowered, poorly-made saw that makes accuracy very difficult. I have no way to accomodate a larger machine (all better saws are significantly larger than this one, even the BT3000) without getting rid of something important, because of the way I populated the rest of my floor with machines. It's a bit of a conundrum, and one I would take care to avoid if I had the luxury of starting from scratch.

Reply to
Silvan

Thanks to all for your replies.

Reply to
philly45

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