Thread: Buying 4 Essential Workshop Machines

get a Jet Bandsaw as per my post: http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ead.php?t=9757

Stephen

It really depends on what type of things you are going to make.
A thicknesser is almost indispensible.
But some would find a woodlathe much handier than a bandsaw and vice versa.
some people would prefer a scrollsaw and so on.

Echnidna,

Fair point, mostly cabinetry and furniture rather than turning.

HH.

PLease dont take my post as a "holier than thou" hand toolers gloat but..................

I'd be cautious about stepping out and spending thousands of fazhoos on fixed machinery without making afew basic hand tool projects first.

I dont have any of those machines yet but, Ive made a few little things, plus laboured on an outdoor table and bench with hand tools and I'm starting to learn where the larger machines are needed.
A thickness planer or jointer would have been great but if I'd convinced SWMBO and got one I wouldnt have learnt so much about sharpening, planing and other things.

I've read somewhere that it's good to actualy learn how to do something, and when you start to value speed, get the machine.

Having had my little speil, I'd say that a Bandsaw would be the first thing I'd get. A CS does the basic ripping which I finish of witha plane. But a with a bandsaw.........I could do all sorts of things!

I started with a 3/8 el-cheapo electric drill that had a (shudder) 3" saw blade attachment, My Stanley #4, a hacksaw(!) (Ozwinner doesn't have a mortgage on bodgey carpentry) and a couple of screwdrivers.

The Triton came next

Then all the stuff in this order:
Table saw - (best investment I ever made!)
Thicknesser -(best investment I ever made!) but needed a few tricks in the absence of a jointer.
Dust Collector -(best investment I ever made!)
Jointer - (best investment I ever made!)
Bandsaw -(best investment I ever made!)
Thickness Sander - (best investment I ever made!)
Big Drill Press -(best investment I ever made!)

I guess you get the picture!

At each stage the job got easier, and the product better, and I love owning stuff rather than doing stuff, but I don't think there is any more satisfaction with the outcome!

It's been dealt with elsewhere as well, but in your shoes....maybe a bandsaw and thickness sander first, jointer, then planer... but that is just my VERY amateur view.

I'd say after the table saw, the next most important machines are a Thicknesser and a Jointer, followed by a bandsaw. The reason being that this combo will allow you to break free of buying DAR (dressed all round) timber from retail suppliers, and buy roughsawn & secondhand timber that you can mill down to your own dimensions.

Down with DAR slavery !!!!!



Justin.

YAY to Justin!
Still being a DAR slave, the expense is killing me. My next big purchase machinery wise will probally be jointer/thicknesser combo.

As a perzample DAR Jarrah costs 'bout $5000.00 cube buying 'lil bits at a time from my closest supplier (2 hrs)
Jarrah straight from a mill delivered to me 'bout $1500.00 cube. Big difference, big hassle is I live in NSW, JArrah resides in WA. :mad:
With my current TS I can cut to size, I'll probably joint/plane by hand for a while till I get sick of it and justify the expense.

So the upshot is, anything to get away from DAR gets the big thumbs up from me.

Saturday on the Norm Show, Norm recommended getting a table saw and a jointer as the first tools. I have both and want to get a thicknesser and a bandsaw. I think I love owning the tools as much as using them.

As the saying goes...

He dies with the most TOOLS, wins!

So BUY em all.

Gordon.

Hey Happy

MY list went like this..
1) Cheap table saw....it was a pig and has now been replaced with a reasonable quality unit
2) Cheap jointer thicknesser combo....sold in divorce but it was hard work to keep accurate....now being replaced with a quality Austrian Unit
3) Homemade bandsaw....I'd rather not talk about it ...looking at a Jet
4) Oscillating spindle sander (Jet)

Don't forget the power requirements and dust extraction. Combo units are great for saving space. Machines can also be money pigs. Theres always something you need to buy for them (its part of the fun) Despite all that my handheld router, sanders and drills do most of the work.

You can go berserk with machines but even with the above and some others, I'm currently trying (get that pun) to decide between a HNT Gordon or Veritas smoothing plane (try-smooth get it .....Oh brother). I reckon I'll get just as much satisfaction out of the hand plane as I did out of my divor...Oh..setting up a shiny new machine.

But, for mind, if money wasn't an issue, I'd be into the Felder or MiniMax combo machines. Even if you didn't know how to use it.. MAN! would it look cool in your shed.

Originally Posted by bitingmidge

and I love owning stuff rather than doing stuff

I know just how you feel. I am the same way about some of my tool stuff.

Gday happy

this sad story of tool addiction all started about three and a half years ago

I started with a Makita SCMS
then got a triton 2000 & dewalt 9" saw and all the bits (good to get people into woodwork)
then a router
then the triton router stand
then the 6" jointer
& dewalt thicknesser
then a leigh dovtail jig ( found Mik in adelaide and havent stopped spending money since)
dewalt biscuit joiner ( lots of money to make a nice little slot in the wood)
then a large drill press

had a break for a while

( then the dewalt radial arm saw picked up by some bloke not paying me never used it and sold it about 6 weeks ago)
then the dust collector
then the bandsaw

and in the last two months

10" table saw ( man this is getting to be a bit expensive by now)

Sold the Triton to help pay for the new table saw

Sold the 6" jointer
Sold the dewalt thicknesser
added this money and the radial arm saw money to buy
new 15" thicknesser & new 8" jointer
then
12" sander
back goes 10" table saw ( long story )
in comes 12" table saw ( very nice ) more money

not to mention all those other hand tools and all that very expensive little bits and pieces like router bits, good quality hand chisels,planes man the list will never end.

next is the lathe its already on the way ( man im running out of room)

and i am sure that there will be some machine at the woodworking show that i just can't do without

As you can see I am trying very hard to win the "He dies with the most TOOLS, wins!" comp but i'm sure im not really in the running as there must be somebody thats more crazy than me, I hope so anyway, do you think i've got a problem? should i see a somebody????


but i write all this to answer your Question
yes there are tools out there that will meet your requirments
how to get them is to have a very large wallet a loving wife and kids
and work like a man with a mission
or option 2 is win the lotto ( my numbers havent come up yet but when they do im going to have a hell of a lot of fun and will win that comp for sure)

go the thicknesser and jointer the biggest and best you can afford

Hope you had a laugh at my sad but true tool addiction
but your troubles are only just starting.

Cheers Ian

Thanks Guys, some good info but mostly a good chuckle to start my day at work. Owning tools seems to have all the joy and heartache I was hoping for.

I think I'll look into a Jointer and Planer justified to the wife on the basis that I can scrounge around for cheap timber and avoid DAR costs which will over time mean the machines pay for themselves......OK so I won't put it in writing.

I've heard mention of the Austrian and German machines being high quality so anyone know of an Australian retailer? Brand names? Websites?

And Linelefty I'll also spend more time with my hand tools but time is precious at the moment with two kids so I'd like to speed up the completion of my projects so that her indoors can't say "...I haven't seen anything come out of that garage except firewood..."

How much money have you got to spend, Happy? I think you'll find a huge price difference between the European machines and the Chinese/Taiwanese machines that most people here have got. If you're cashed up, by all means go for Felder, Hammer and the like.

Most people rave about Jet but at the end of the day, they still come out of factories in Taiwan. Check Carba-tec and Hare & Forbes for rebadged Chinese and Taiwanese machines and Major Woodworking Equipment in Sydney for Jet. You'll get an idea on prices.

Buy the best you can afford.