Last September 16, Hurricane Ivan pushed five feet of salt water through my shop. For various reasons, it was about two weeks before I could get in to sort out the tumbled sheets of plywood and dig for tools. Most of them, including the Jet cabinet saw with the Jessem router lift, had rusted beyond repair. Since then I've been working to restore the house. (SWMBO: "Now that we're down to the studs we should invite everyone to an open house.") I'm retired, and the time I spend working on the house is saving enough of the flood insurance that I can put the shop back even better than it was.
Because I needed to get started on the kitchen cabinets, I decided to buy a router table rather than make one. So, I got:
- a Bench Dog 40-037 Complete Router Table System
- a Bench Dog 40-016 ProLift Max Router Top-Adjustment System
- a Bench Dog 40-025 Panel Hold Down and Safety Accessory
- a Porter-Cable 7518 3-1/4 HP Speedmatic 5-Speed Router
So, here's the problem: I watched a Wood Rat video and read a lot of reviews and comments by owners. The things listed above are still in the original boxes, though I've had them past Amazon's 30-day return policy. I think I'd be better off with the Wood Rat because it would take up less space in my
17x17 shop, and I wouldn't have to buy dovetail or mortising tools.I could use advice from anyone who's actually used a Wood Rat on whether or not I should swap out for it, and I could use advice on the best way to sell what I have. (I have a Bosch plunge router to use with the Wood Rat.) The insurance money is not infinite, and we just had to replace SWMBO's '94 Escort.
The other morning SWMBO wakes up and says, "In the middle of the night I realized that if we don't use the furring strips to shim the drywall out to where the plaster was, the old crown molding that we saved will be too short."
Thanks for any help, and thanks for everything I've learned from you when I DAGS.
Lionel Pensacola, FL