kleptic

well my laptop broke a couple months ago and dell delayed my order 4 times so I had a lot of time to realize I was doing fine without a laptop so I cancelled my laptop to buy tools instead!

I'm mostly interested in making furniture. projects I would like to do are a platform bed frame with drawers in it. a liquor cabinet. a kitchen table. a computer desk, coffee table, etc

so far my power tools are bosch jig saw, dewalt corded screw gun, and sears circular saw, random orbital sander, cordless drill.

for hand tools I have things like wrenches, sockets, screw drivers, etc.

I don't have any wood working specific hand tools like hand planes, chisels, scrapers.

I want to get a router. I was thinking about the bosch combination with plunged and fixed bases.

I was also thinking about a sliding miter saw since I don't have a table saw.

I was also thinking about maybe getting a hand plane also but I don't really know anything about them so I don't know what to get there.

so any suggestions as to what I should spend my money on to improve my wood working tool collection would be great.

thanks
Kyle

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Welcome Kyle

The most used tool in my shop is the table saw, and a close second is the router table, and if we go one more the bandsaw comes up. These are the most valuable to me.

I could list tools till the cows come in, but how I built my collection was as I chose a project and I would get the tools required to build it. I started with projects that fit my budget and added tools into the cost.

Everyone has a wish list even me after all these years of collecting. The best tools are the ones you need for the job at hand.

Just my opinion
John

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John

Cleaning my glasses will not make me look any better, but will make what I'm looking at better!

bobj3

HI Kyle

If you play it right you can have your Laptop and some tools...Laptops are almost a dime a doz.now days, not the high end ones but a good one for about 200.oo bucks..

I would suggest a good used RAS ( radio saw) it will do it all for you...


Good luck in your quest
A good place to look for good used equipment is. craigslist
You want to find someone that's moving and can't take it with them...

http://www.craigslist.org/about/cities.html

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Bj

kleptic

I agree that tablesaw is amazing, but I don't really want to get one yet. I don't really have the room for one and I know I will be moving and I don't want to have to move a huge stationary tablesaw abunch of times. I do keep my eye on craigslist incase I see something I cant pass up though.

I think I am going to go with the bosch 1617evspk pretty much for sure.

I also want to get a set of hand planes, I guess I need 4? smoother, jack, block, jointer? I dont know anything about brand names of planes. I see the stanley ones are pretty affordable but I don't know anything about quality of them.

I'll probably pick up a set of scrapers also since they are like 10 bucks or something. and I suppose I'll need to find a guide on sharpening and get a set of sharpening stones or something.

I also need to find some kind of router bit set to get me started. I assume its cheaper to buy a set than one by one. I don't know much about quality of router bit brands either so any recommandations would be great.

I'm still looking at miter saws so I don't have any idea what I might go with for that yet.

thanks for the responses so far!
Kyle

BrianS

Hi Kyle. Stanley has been making wood planes for a long time now, and I think you can buy them with confidence. About the only thing you can do to improve them is sharpen them. Yes, I know, they are sharp when you get them but I'm talking about razor sharp. I've got a link somewhere here that goes into detail about sharpening them by hand. I will try and find it later.

Router bit sets are a great way to start your router bit collection. Shop Ebay, there's lots available. Be warned, you do get what you pay for. It will get you started tho, and when you determine which bits you use the most, when you replace them due to being dull, buy better quality.

Same with the miter saw, you get what you pay for. You don't need Dewalt or Rigid quality, Sears Craftsman brand will do just fine. I would stay away from the bargain basement ones as you will probably have issues cutting a straight line with them.

Brian

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kleptic

well I've been reading as much as I can find on hand planes and it seems some people say new stanley planes are bad. seems like the only planes people say are good are old ones restored or ones that are 200-500 bucks. I did see on highlandwoodworking that they say the stanleys they get from the UK are the original bailey design except with plastic handles.
they are a little more expensive than "normal" stanley's I saw. I wonder if those are good? seems most people talk about lie-nielsen, clifton, and lee valley planes. Lee Valley cost less than the other 2 but still over 200 for a hand plane seems insane at my stage of tool collecting.

So hmm! who knows. the more I read the more skeptical I am of buying anything.

I also saw on toolking a reconditioned dewalt dw718 miter saw is 460. 100 bucks less than their normal price. anybody know if its worth going for a reconditioned tool to save some bucks? I don't want to be too cheap and end up with something that doesn't work properly.

harrysin

Sadly, these days $1000.00 doesn't go far when setting up from almost scratch. I can't give you any better advice than that given by Brian.

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Harry

bobj3

Hi Kyle

Don't waste your money on hand planes they are neat to have and show off to others ,Hi " I'm a woodworker" but it's one of the items that you will NOT use most of the time...

I know you said you have a SMALL shop,,,I will say this one more time, a RAS ,they have a small foot print ,you can use them on top of a work bench, they will do the same job as miter saw,table saw plus all the other jobs you will need to do,,I'm almost sure you will need to rip stock down to size and to cut up plywood/MDF,etc. stock from time to time...

Pickup a 100.oo dollar router combo set from Sears and a good used RAS and you will be set to do most of what you want, then if you pickup a bench top belt sand you will set...plus a hand jig saw to cut the round stuff out...

So to say if you put out about 400.oo dolllars you will have your shop setup..

Then we come to saw blades and router bits (cutting tools) they will eat you up alive..and then you will need to be smart shopper to keep the rest of your 1000.oo dollars..

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Bj

jer760

You said you want to make some furniture, follow Bobj's advice and add a good hand held drill and a Kreg pocket hole kit. Cheers.

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Jer

Miracle Stick! Made of tough, genuine wood!

del schisler

you probly need a planer? and a joiner ? I have a shop and couldn't get by with out these Got lot's of tool's Figure out what you are going to build and than figure out what tool's you need Try not to double up on tool's unless you want to I got more tools than i need but a couple extra's just make's easy dont have to change bits all the time if you are using routers Like dove tales One for tails and One for streight del

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del schisler