Essential Power Tools for starting wood worker

[sunnybob]

There's always a "power tools v hand tools" debate at times like these.
I admire people who have the TIME to learn hand tool skills.
For sad people like me, fairly new to woodworking, I use power tools to save me both time and money.
Learning to use handtools is admirable, but takes a lot of time and destroys a lot of wood (you should see my efforts at hand planing edges!)

I have a DW745 table saw, no it doesnt get used every day, but when it is used, it SAVES me a day!

A router table is something I could not work without, but so is a bandsaw and bench mounted belt sander.

If you want to LEARN woodworking, then spend the time to master the handtools (dont forget it was only 50 years ago that an apprenticeship was 5 years of 44 hour weeks).
44x50x5 = 11,000 HOURS to get qualified (2 weeks annual holidays taken into account)
If you want to MAKE STUFF, then theres no no shame in having power at your elbow. =D> 8)

 

[powertools]

I find it hard to believe that someone would suggest to a new woodworker that they should consider buying a domino or a top of the range biscuit jointer.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

Double post- apologies.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

I'm a newbie, although I have made a vast number of wooden things over the years, but none of them with any skill or ability.

I bought a table saw last year, and it is a fab bit of kit. I can do things that would be impossible without it - raised panels, accurate 90° tenons etc. I've had a router for years, but a) it frightens the willies out of me, and b) it seems to do more damage than good - leaps about like a thing possessed. Putting it into a table may well be a better plan, and it is on my to-do list.

Despite being in love with my table saw, I think I should have bought a bandsaw first. This is because I have an unlimited supply of wood in the raw, and absolutely no access to hardwood otherwise. Your circumstances are different.

I would recommend you not buy anything, but get your teeth into a project. The project will dictate what you need, or not need, in terms of tools. The best advice so far is a good bench. I really must get one of those. Trestles in the meantime.

 

[MikeG.]

........I would recommend you not buy anything, but get your teeth into a project. The project will dictate what you need, or not need, in terms of tools. ........

Absobloodylutely. =D> =D>

 

[Jacob]

If you have room and want to do real joinery then a TS is a precision implement and much superior to a bandsaw.

 

[deema]

I find it hard to believe that someone would suggest to a new woodworker that they should consider buying a domino or a top of the range biscuit jointer.

Simple really, they are two of a very limited range of hand power tools that should you wish to give up and sell them you will get most of your money back.

 

[woodbloke66]

If you have room and want to do real joinery then a TS is a precision implement and much superior to a bandsaw.

Tosh Jacob :lol: Look at the projects in my sig block below; almost all of them were made without recourse to a tablesaw. What it depends on is how you work and the methodologies you employ and a tablesaw ain't one of them - Rob

 

[Jacob]

If you have room and want to do real joinery then a TS is a precision implement and much superior to a bandsaw.

Tosh Jacob :lol: Look at the projects in my sig block below; almost all of them were made without recourse to a tablesaw. What it depends on is how you work and the methodologies you employ and a tablesaw ain't one of them - Rob

TS not essential - but is undoubtedly more precise than a band saw and can produce repeated and accurate cut requiring no further finishing such as tenon shoulders, which a bandsaw definitely can't. Band saw has lots of other uses of course.

 

[sunnybob]

The ONLY way to decide what tools you need is to decide what you want to do with them. I started woodworking (as a hobby, not a job) 5 years ago because I wanted to make bandsaw boxes. Try doing that on a table saw :roll:
Then I made a router table because I wanted decorative strips and curved edges. Try doing THAT with a biscuit jointer :shock:

From there I have branched sideways a couple times and now have a table saw as well (still no biscuit jointer though :lol: ).
If I had started off by making a fitted kitchen then the purchases would have been in a very different order.
So the questions that should be asked by a newbie is "whats the best tool to do "whatever"? and then to always buy the best that you can afford by stretching the pocket a little.

If it all turns runny and you decide to sell it all, you will get a much higher percentage of your money back on a GOOD tool than a CHEAP tool.
8)

 

[Trevanion]

I started woodworking 5 years ago because I wanted to make bandsaw boxes. Try doing that on a table saw :roll:
Then I made a router table because I wanted decorative strips and curved edges. Try doing THAT with a biscuit jointer :shock:

Watch and learn Bob... Watch and learn.

Its Art. I've called it "Pants Brown" £500, please!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The OP is also a beginner, so unlikely to be thinking of mass production of doors and windows.

 

[SammyQ]

"finishing such as tenon shoulders, which a bandsaw definitely can't."

Dear Deity, first rounded bevels, then sharpening in general, now this sophistry....Jebus wept....

The clue is the word "finishing". "Cutting" the shoulders can of course be done on either saw. "Finishing" needs a nice heavy shoulder plane, Record 73, 74 or similar.

Sam

 

[Trevanion]

Mr. Pitts mentioned he’s got a mitre saw, that’s practically all you need for good shoulder joints straight off a machine, just bandsaw off the rest of the waste.

 

[SammyQ]

Mr. Pitts mentioned he’s got a mitre saw, that’s practically all you need for good shoulder joints straight off a machine, just bandsaw off the rest of the waste

Absolutely. Sharp blade = sharp shoulders. Just take care in the setup.

Sam

 

[Jacob]

"finishing such as tenon shoulders, which a bandsaw definitely can't."

Dear Deity, first rounded bevels, then sharpening in general, now this sophistry....Jebus wept....

The clue is the word "finishing". "Cutting" the shoulders can of course be done on either saw. "Finishing" needs a nice heavy shoulder plane, Record 73, 74 or similar.

Sam

:roll:
You don't what you are talking about do you, Mr Pabulum? :lol: :lol:
I'm not saying thats what the OP needs, but he did ask. I'm saying that a TS can be a very precise tool, especially with a sliding table, for all sorts of stuff large and small, including sheet materials.
Before Mr P chips in to say you can't do 8x4' sheets in a small space - you can if you reduce them in size first, e.g. cut them in half, by hand if necessary.

 

[MusicMan]

Yes to the router as a first addition, and a secondhand deWalt 1/2" and a small Katsu would be a good pairing.

Just to be obstinate, I would really not part with my table saw, an old Wadkin. But I echo the point already made, it depends on the sort of work you intend to do. Much of the above advice is highly relevant if much of your work is on sheet material. For such material, a table saw has to be huge, with sliding tables etc and it is still difficult to manipulate. In this case an assembly table and track saw makes sense, and may well be the case for you in house work. Especially with a small workshop, you may find a bandsaw more useful.

Most of my own work, however, is with reclaimed wood such as floorboards, and furniture restoration. Here I find the combination of the accuracy of a tablesaw followed by a lunchbox thicknesser takes most of the hard work out of preparation and leaves me with good material for hand tool work. On the occasion I need sheet material I get it cut to size, or at least to usable size, in the store.

So do have a think about what you want to do!

 

[SammyQ]

"You don't what you are talking about do you, "

Drat, you are quite right, Troll.
1. Cutting (saws)
2. Dimensioning to line (planes)
3. Finishing (waxes, solvents).

I equated "finishing" in my earlier post as 'finishing to the guage line'.

Sophistry rules?

Sam

 

[thetyreman]

I'd spend the most you possibly can on a decent bandsaw, don't skimp, also get decent blades, tuffsaws are recommended, I had a table saw once and honestly don't regret selling it. The bandsaw feels so much safer and there's far less dust, it really depends what you do or plan on making though, I mostly work with handtools with the bandsaw doing the donkey work.

 

[Jacob]

"You don't what you are talking about do you, "

Drat, you are quite right, Troll.
1. Cutting (saws)
2. Dimensioning to line (planes)
3. Finishing (waxes, solvents).

I equated "finishing" in my earlier post as 'finishing to the guage line'.

Sophistry rules?

Sam

You can dimension to a line with a TS - or make a finished cut, whatever you want to call it.
If you need to plane on a shoulder you have done it wrongly in the first place. The normal hand tool thing is to cut the line with a knife (if it's going to be visible) and then saw, but undercutting very slightly. If not so visible you should be able to do it with one saw cut.
spelling - gauge.
4/10 must try harder. :roll: