Jet B3nch Tools?

[John Adam]

New to Sawmill, wish I'd found you last year (but no time for regrets)...

Does anyone have an opinion on the Jet B3NCH line of tools (http://www.jettools.com/b3nch/)?

I have a (very) limited budget and a small shop - the 10" jointer/planer looks especially attractive. At $400, I can barely find a good 6" jointer, much less both tools. The drill press also looks strong....

I know the bed is a bit short, and the planer is a bit narrow (by 2"), but I'm very intrigued.

If it wasn't Jet, I'd probably take a pass.....

Any comments?

[John Adam]

Well, I couldn't resist - bought the 10" jointer/planer.

I have a low budget and small space. I know the bed is short, but so are most of my projects...

I'll report back once i get some time with it - although I'm new to WW and don't have any frame of reference.....

[David Christopher]

John, welcome to the creek. congrats on the new tools ( we need pics ) and looking forward to see some projects in the near future

[Chris True]

It is a tempting tool for a just starting out wood worker. I'd have bought that in a heartbeat rather than the 6" Ridgid jointer + 12" lunchbox. At the time that was the cheapest setup available to do real work and after buying a Unisaw I needed cheap :).

[John Adam]

Thanks guys, I've been reading these threads for a while, just got courage to post.

Amazon had it for $419 + free shipping. I'd been searching for two months and couldn't come close to that for discrete tools.

Box arrived today and of course, i ripped it open. My first thought was "man that table looks short!". I think my first project will be some sort of outfeed extension.

I can also see that many of the knobs are plastic, and the depth adjustments probably aren't as fine as the top tier tools. I must remind myself why I bought this. I can upgrade after I quit my day job and take up ww full-time :).

Finally, there'll be no projects for a while. In fact, I won't even unbox it for a few weeks (if I can stand it). I'm converting my 'workshop' from a general storage, clutter, dog-room, lawnmower storage room into a 'real' workshop. It's all plywood and particle board for now....

I think my first project will be a woodworking workbench modelled after the one in the Oct '08 Popular Woodworking article (but my sections will be 10" wide instead of 12" - see if you can guess why ;)

You guys seem like a supportive bunch, I'll do my best not to be an advice vampire....