Router vs. Table Saw as first major tool purchase

Reply to
terry boivin
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On Wed, 07 Jan 2004 05:00:57 GMT, "David Binkowski" wrote: Holy Moly!!! That story would scare any newbie out of a router purchase I think. BTW, I like your Linux line...very clever.

Reply to
terry boivin

Well, the answer to your question is, well, both. I am really broke and (as this is my second kid) I do know what a "money-sucking poop factory the rugrat is going to be" (that made me LOL).

And thank you for your offer. It just proves that this group has a great bunch of folks.

Thanks again.

codepath

Reply to
<nolove

Thanks to all! I appreciate all of your advice and opinions. I am now sure that I made a good choice. I was looking for comments to let me know that I did the right thing and you folks have given me plenty.

I will check out the book that was suggested and probably skim a little cash off of my paycheck for a cheap carbide blade (just don't tell SWMBO).

This is the best community I have seen (and I spend about 60 hours a week online in my day job).

I didn't really have buyer's remorse per se, but was afraid that I may have followed the wrong path to jumpstarting myself into woodworking. I am very excited and can't wait to dive into my first project.

I know that I have a lot of skill-building to do before I can tackle something like a bedroom set, so I made a list of projects to take be from newbie to, well, not-so-newbie (I'll layout my skill-building plan in a new thread for opinions).

Thanks again everyone,

codepath

Reply to
<nolove

You did just fine. Go make a few things and then add to the collection of toys as your budget allows. Some of the finest pieces have been made with the simplest of tools and devices. Tools are extras. It's imagination which counts.

Reply to
C

I feel compelled to relate a story from the holidays.

I went to visit my brother-in-law. I offered to put up some moulding for him. I figured I'd just borrow my other brother-in-law's compound miter saw. Oops! He said it got stolen. Bummer. Okay, I'll go rent one. The blade on the one at the local shop looked terrible. Too expensive to buy a blade. My brother-in-law offered a yellow PLASTIC miter box that comes with a saw made by BUCK BROS. I figure that will never work, so I go search the wreck. "You need a compound miter saw." "You need a Lion Miter Trimmer." "At the very least, you need a Nobex miter saw." "The Craftsman hand miter box isn't too bad." All of these options are expensive enough that I can't imagine buying the tool just for 8 cuts.

Okay, so I ask my BIL if we can paint the moulding. That way, if there are gaps in the corners, I can fill them with caulk. Nope. He wants to stain it. This is going to be a disaster.

It gets down to the wire and I try the yellow plastic miter box. I cut and measured carefully, doing the best I could. I hammered carefully to not dent the moulding. (No pnuematic nailer, of course.)

In the end, it all turned out great. The joints were tight and everybody said it looked great.

The moral to the story: Take the wreck with a grain of salt. All this talk of "only cry once" and "crapsman" makes it sound like you can't do ANYTHING without the most expensive tools. Just work carefully and be innovative. If you can't easily cut dados, then don't use dados. Maybe you can use splines instead.

(Now if I could just pay attention to this story myself...)

Mark

Reply to
Mark Wells

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (Mark Wells) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:

Did a few door mouldings with it. It probably isn't too bad if you accept +- 1-2 degree accuracy. But by the time we were done, we had yellow dust all over the bottom of it, so you have to wonder how long it's supposed to last :-)

How many cuts did you survive with it?

ken

Reply to
Ken Yee

I agree. Also IMHO the router is highly over-rated. It is pressed into use for many things but does all of them badly. It is quite possible to manage without one. Wobble saw is highly under-rated. A good quality modern unit (NOT an ordinary saw blade with added wobble washers) used for cutting slots along the grain e.g. in frames for holding panels, is fast, clean, accurate, quiet, highly adjustable and vastly more effective than slotting with a router.

cheers

Jacob

Reply to
jacob

Don't know how to use a router, huh?

Reply to
CW

I agree. I think all the stuff at

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is retouched photos and animation from Dreamworks. Routers should be banned, or at least taxed like tobacco and alcohol to keep them out of the hands of children. Ed

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

perhaps you've not enough experience with a router to effectively use one? Ever done rails and stiles without one?

dave

jacob wrote:

Reply to
Bay Area Dave

Well yes have done thousands of rails and stiles without a router - planer/thicknesser to size, rebate with rebate head on spindle moulder, mouldings with spindlemoulder, slots with wobble saw, mortices with morticer, tenons with band saw or table saw. All much faster, more accurate, less noisy, less dusty, than a router.

Jacob

Reply to
jacob

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