Tool and finish advice

[Chip Byrd]

Hello,


I am relatively new to woodworking and have spent the past couple months building a work bench, mitre station, and various jigs and furniture for my garage shop. This has been a really informative site. I have a couple questions and would appreciate any help:


1) I want to trim out my miter station with cedar (largely because I have it). I am looking for a finish that is relatively easy and will maintain the natural color.


2) I have a table saw, router and router table, miter saw and station, small cyclone and vac, and most of the expected hand tools. I am only going to be able to afford one more $400-500 tool this year and wold like advice. If possible, I plan to build a bed this fall. So, which of these would you suggest:


Bandsaw
Drill press and sander combo
Thickness planer
Jointer


Thanks,
Chip

[Frederick Skelly]

Welcome! Yes, this really is a great site. Youll learn a lot here. I can only answer your questions based on what Id do myself. Dont know if theres an absolute right answer.

1) I use a water based "polyurethane" when I dont want a color change. It can be a bummer to apply on nice furniture (dries too quickly) but its always fine on things for the garage that dont have to be as perfect.

2) Id buy a drill press next. But that assumes you can buy wood thats already planed to the thickness youll need from a nearby source (lumber yard that does millwork, etc). If you cant, you might want to go with the planer.

Those are just my thoughts and preferences. Should be interesting to hear what everyone else thinks.

Good luck!
Fred

[Aleks Hunter]

Hi Chip and welcome.
I wish there had been forums like this 40 years ago!
One thing is certain if you get ten responses , there could be twelve opinions.
for tools, Good used trumps new cheap virtually every time. But be sure to test out whichever it is. Unless you're the type that loves to tear things apart and rebuild them.
Check out craigslist and local shopper type newspapers, even Ebay still yields some good finds.

Personally I'd go for a used 6" jointer first of all of those. You should be able to find one for $200 or so on CL and haggle. Get used to always starting with one good flat side and every project will be easier.
When you succeed at that you'll have enough left in the budget for a used lunchbox planer. Stick with good reputable brands for this like dewalt, makita porter cable etc. eventually you will want blades.
A good alternative, but a little harder to find is a Jet jointer planer combo.

Avoid the temptation to go for any power tool with the word "freight" in it with one exception: They do sell a halfway decent dust collector that they sell as a 2hp (in reality it is more like 1.5 hp but it does actually work) for 150 or so. Look up Phil thein he is a contributor on here and has designed a pretty nice DIY dust separator baffle that hundreds of people have built. If you're doing a lot of sanding, and you don't have dust collection or at least breathing filters, you might as well be chain smoking camel straights health wise. WIth a bit of diligent looking you should be able to manage all three within your budget.