Workshop Powertool Decision

[Roy Hill]

I would like a little input from the serious woodwokers out there on the four most important tools for a general woodworking shop. I plan on buying at least four new tools. Which four would you recommend? I have a few old tools but let's just consider I don't have anything and am starting from scratch. Thanks in advance for your input.:)

Roy

[Dennis Peacock]

Roy,

A lot depends on what kind of woodworking you plan on doing.

If it's general woodworking on the "flatwork" side, then I'd suggest the following:

1. A good 10" Cabinet Style Tablesaw (I prefer the left-tilt)
2. A good quality 8" jointer
3. A good quality 15" planer
4. A good quality 16" bandsaw

In most woodworking shops, the tablesaw is the heart of the shop and this needs to be your biggest investment, as a good quality tablesaw will help you work better and more accurately.

IMHO, a tablesaw, planer, and jointer all go hand in hand when making things like furniture and cabinets.

If it's "round work" that you will be doing, then a good bandsaw and a PM 3520B lathe will do the trick.

Hope this helps.

[Roy Hill]

Dennis,

This is exactly the kind of information I need. I have an old contractors tablesaw I plan to replace with a good cabinet saw. I have an old Craftsman 12" bandsaw that is worn out and I am looking to replace it with a 16" to 18" model. I have an older model 12" planner I am planning on keeping for the time being. I do not have a jointer. I am strongly considering Grizzly tools. IYHO is this a good choice?

Roy

[Roy Wall]

Dennis,

This is exactly the kind of information I need. I have an old contractors tablesaw I plan to replace with a good cabinet saw. I have an old Craftsman 12" bandsaw that is worn out and I am looking to replace it with a 16" to 18" model. I have an older model 12" planner I am planning on keeping for the time being. I do not have a jointer. I am strongly considering Grizzly tools. IYHO is this a good choice?

Roy

Grizzly has a pretty good reputation for quality tools from members of this board. I don't have any but the following is a fair assessment of what I've read:

The 1023L TS is a solid value at $900 or so
They make a good 17" and 21" Band saw
I would recommend you take a look at their 12" jointers if you can swing it....since you're keeping the planer for a while anyway...You will be very happy with a wide jointer!

"Good" Used machines are always a great value.....

[Roy Hill]

Thanks for the information. You are right on target of what I have been looking at for the tablesaw and bandsaw. My only experience with a jointer is several years ago with an old used 4" Craftsman. It did not impress me. Will a 12" jointer really be that much better than a 6" or 8"? I was under the impression you used a jointer for mostly edge finishing? Thanks for the reply.

[David Giles]

If you are going to do mostly flat work, consider a Festool 150/3 sander and vacuum setup instead of the bandsaw. It's about the same price! But I spend as much time sanding as any other WW activity and the Festool makes it a joy.

[Roy Wall]

I am certainly no expert.....but I love the fact I can face Joint a 13.5" board.....square the edge...then run it thru the planer and have a furniture top with only one glue joint (usually).

Now I choose wide boards with nice grain for tops and I get better results.

I sent you a Personal message (PM) also......

[Kim Spence]

My two cents...I think you're smart for taking a look at Grizzly's lineup of tools, they have some nice machinery. I own machinery from many of the major brands - Delta Unisaw, Jet Bandsaw, Jet Lathes, Craftsman RAS, Powermatic Planer, but my favorite piece of machinery is my Grizzly G0593 8" jointer with the spiral cutterhead. This machine does what it was designed to do as good or better than my other pieces of big name equipment do what they were designed to do. And at about $1000 its a steal. Based on my experience with this jointer, if I had to re-outfit my shop I'd take a good look at Grizzly's 15" planer with the spiral head, and their Bandsaws. Not sure about their lathes though.

That said, if you're in the market for a cabinet saw take a good hard look at the Powermatic PM2000 for the riving knife, and the SawStop for the riving knife and brake. These safety features alone are worth their extra cost.

[Andrew Williams]

Not just to be different, I will make a few suggestions that folks have not mentioned yet.

My workbench is the heart of my shop. Without it, nothing would be easy to make. It is most definitely a tool, and the largest and nearly heaviest one, with two iron vises. I use it for handwork, but also for handheld powertool work, assembly, leveling. The list goes on and on.

Next up is the tablesaw.

Next is the planer. I do not have a jointer and am doing fine without one. I do, however, use a lot of hand planes. You cannot use a planer without a dust collector.

Fourth is the drill press. This tool is rarely mentioned among essentials, perhaps because it may be possible to do much of what the DP does with hand drills, but just in terms of how much use a tool gets, it has to rank up there. Possibly tied for fourth (but more likely fifth) is the miter/chop saw.

[Don Bullock]

Roy, you have received some great advice from people here with a lot of experience. Your woodworking needs really depend more on what you plan to make than what tools are the "best." Each tool, whether power, hand or even, as one suggsted, furniture, are all dependent on what you will do with them once they're in your shop. Doing a search of this and other forums will give far more information than just the replys in this thread.

I'm facing the same problem as you are and I'm buying tools as I need them for a particular project, or when I can find a fantastic deal on a tool I know I will need. Due to the fact that my space is highly limited along with my money, some tools that I would love to have are going to have to wait until I move in a few years and hopefully by then I'll have recovered money wise from the purchases I've made this year. Yes, as many here know, I did spend a wad on a SawStop that I could have used for other tools. It's a purchase that I don't regret one bit. Now that I have some good tools and a little shop time, I'm now busy working on projects with the tools I have and I plan to take some classes on woodworking.

[Mike Wilkins]

Since you already have a planer, use Dennis P's advisory listing, and add a serious workbench. You may be able to get by with a piece of plywood on a couple of sawhorses, but your work will suffer for it.
FWW had a review of workbenches in their last issue of Tools and Shops and had some good benches in it. Or just build your own.
Good luck and watch those fingers.

[Jim Becker]

What I haven't seen mentioned for the most part is dust collection...so that should be at the top of the list followed by a nice cabinet saw and perhaps the 12" J/P combo or a 12" jointer to match with your existing planer. Grizz tools are just fine if you are considering them...good value for the money.

[Wilbur Pan]

I have a small basement shop, so space was a consideration for me. As it turns out, I had room for only 4 machines:

1. Rikon 10" jointer/planer combo machine
2. Walker-Turner 16" bandsaw
3. Walker-Turner 10"x36"/12" gap lathe
4. Delta/Milwaukee Homecraft 11" drill press

You might be able to guess that the last 3 machines I bought used, which is a great way to stretch your budget. All of those machines date back to the late 1940's/early 1950's. If I could have found a used jointer/planer combo, I would have bought that used as well.

I also have a dust collector and air cleaner, which I think should be a given, and so not included in your list of which 4 machines to get.

I made the choice of a bandsaw rather than tablesaw based on the type of projects I wanted to do. I don't see myself dealing with a lot of plywood, and I wanted the ability to cut curves, so I went with a bandsaw.

[Paul Dwight]

I mostly agree with Dennis: (1) tablesaw; (2) jointer; (3) planer.

If you don't already have a good router, that would be my no. 4 choice. Definitely a plunger, probably 3HP so you could spin a panel raising bit.

If you already have a good router, then my no. 4 choice would be a dust collector -- Maybe the Delta 50-760.

I own the Grizzly 1023 cabinet saw and recommend it highly. I have a Delta 8" jointer, but if I were buying today I'd probably buy the Grizzly 8" with a Shelix head. I have the Delta 13" 2-speed lunchbox planer, which I think does a nice job on most stock. I have a hard time keeping mine from sniping on long, heavy boards, though. A stationary Grizzly planer with a Shelix head may be in my future.

Good luck with your decisions! -- Paul

[Dennis Kelly]

Hello,
I agree with everyone else that a good quality table saw (which I am also in the market for) should be your first step. It will truly be the work horse of your shop. My other two suggestions would be a jointer...if you have the money you might as well go 12" and maybe a Kreg Jig. It doesn't create the same type of joint as mortise and tenon but it if you're new to woodworking it will get you started right away on some quality projects.

Dennis

[tim rowledge]

Roy, you need to tell a bit about what you want to do and how much you feel able to spend in order to do it - oh and *how* you like to do it. Are you a handtool kinda guy or a powertool junkie like most of us?

I went with a combo, modest bandsaw, topnotch dust collector and a decent router+table. That means I can easily cut full sheets of ply perfectly square, I can prep rough lumber up to 12"x8" by almost any length, make shaper mouldings and mortises, resaw and cut curves, rout whatever, and all without ruining my lungs. Worth the $20k to me but maybe not to you.

[Wilbur Pan]

Tim,

Not to hijack, but a quick question. By "combo" I'm assuming you're talking about one of the 5-in-1 machines, which usually has a shaper built in. If you have a shaper, when/why would you use your router table instead?

[tim rowledge]

Tim,

If you have a shaper, when/why would you use your router table instead?

Horses for courses really; a shaper is a big scary fire-siren, excellent for moulding sizable profiles. It seems a really good way of doing panel raising because I can clamp the panel down, retire to a safe distance and push the slider. The router table is very useful for smaller profiles - for which the router bits are both cheap and easily available - as well as using with a jointech or incra etc. Since one needs a router anyway, a table isn't much more cost or effort and makes a useful shopcart into the bargain. I got a Veritas steel rectangular top and a Triton router. Makes a nice pairing.

[Roy Hill]

Thanks folks for all of the great advice. I have been out of town for the past three days and that is why I'm late in my reply.

I did not mention in my original thread, I already have a great (Clear Vue) dust collection system. It was part of my new workshop design. I promised my self I would not move into my new shop until I had a good DC system. All my older tools are not DC system freindly. I have managed to save a few bucks to purchase some new tools and I was unsure which tools would be most advantageous or the best buy.

Most of my shop work has been flat work (book shelves and cabinets) and I got by on what tools I had. I might venture out into some other projects in the future. So, all of the advice from you fine woodworkers is really great.

I currently do handyman work and don't have a lot of spare time to work on my workshop. In fact I have been working on the thing for about three years. However, I have finally got the building complete and the DC system installed and am now ready to purchase tools.

Thanks again to all for your advice and suggestions.

Roy