Am I insane to be thinking of selling my Festool kit?

[Prashun Patel]

I have a G0555 and it's a reasonable saw. Sometimes I want for larger capacity, but I make the kind of stuff you do, and it's more than adequate for that. Gotta get a good blade and the Bandsaw Book. I'd get the riserblock with either this, the P or the X. This will solve the capacity issue.

Personally, I don't see the hype of the G0555X. The biggest improvement is the extra 0.5hp vs the 0555. The other bells and whistles just don't matter to me. If you were prepared to spend on the X, then look at the Polarbear 513. You get 2hp for close to the same price.

I also think a better investment than a planer at this point would be a plunge/fixed router for you. Make a table for it. With a plunge router and a spiral bit, you can do a lot of what a track saw can do. Plus, you'll be able to rig jigs to do tenons/dados and most of the things a tablesaw is good for.

If you really want a planer, look into the Ridgid and Steel City benchtop planers. The Steel City comes with a helical head and is on sale at a lot of places like Highland WW. The Ridgid planer - like its jointer cousin - is an excellent buy for what you can probably get it for between coupons and sales @ HD.

[Josiah Bartlett]

Since we're spending your money here... I would get one of the better quality combo jointer/planers instead of the Dewalt if you have the room for it, but it sounds like you are pretty cramped. Having a nice jointed right angle on the wood you are resawing makes a huge difference in time and effort of resawing your material.

[Jon Toebbe]

Festool stuff hooked up to a vacuum will be by far the cleanest option.

Unquestionably. If I were to keep the Festool tools (Festools?), a "dust extractor" would certainly be in my plans. A parallel guide is within my reach. A parallel guide plus a Festool vacuum isn't going to fly -- at least not right away.

The MFT and guide rails tuck up nicely along the wall, so they take up less space than the other options. That's their biggest appeal for me at this point, having just spent the morning trying to consolidate and downpack as much of the junk stored in our garage as I can.

The noise a lunchbox planer generates will likely not be tolerated by neighbors.

Oddly enough, dust and noise aren't enormous constraints. There are a few carpenters, contractors, and hobbyists like me with garages opening onto the same parking lot. It's pretty typical to hear a table saw firing up during the day. Being in grad school, I can arrange my schedule so that I can plane or saw when most of the neighbors are at work, or are planing or sawing away themselves.

Small gifts like knife blocks or recipe card boxes seem to smooth over any rough edges that remain.

I would try to see if I could steal one that someone has already upgraded (riser, carter guides, below blade dust collection, etc.) off of CL.

You better believe I've been trying! I just missed a Delta X5 with all the trimmings for $380! And a Powermatic PWBS-14LS for $475. And... well, let's just say you need to be pretty quick to snag a deal on a 14" bandsaw in the Denver area. Now, if you're looking for an abused "5 hp" Craftsman contractor saw with warped tables, no stand, a rip fence of dubious moral virtue, and enough rust to start a tetanus breeding program -- there are half a dozen "winners" to pick from. Not that I've been looking obsessively or anything...

If you were prepared to spend on the X, then look at the Polarbear 513. You get 2hp for close to the same price.

A sweet saw, to be sure. But it's too big to squeeze into the available space, and 2hp is right out given my electrical limitations.

I also think a better investment than a planer at this point would be a plunge/fixed router for you.

Good advice for a power tool woodworker getting started. I've got a very decent Porter Cable plunge/fixed router combo and a T-square dado jig for bookcase-scale projects. It gets very little use since I discovered the joys of rabbet and plough planes. I keep it for the occasional edge profile more complex than a chamfer.

Since we're spending your money here... I would get one of the better quality combo jointer/planers instead of the Dewalt if you have the room for it, but it sounds like you are pretty cramped.

Ha! I wish! The Jet 12" jointer/planer (with helical head... we're daydreaming at this point anyway) is on my long-term, "when I have some dedicated shop space again" list.

Edge-jointing is easy and quick with a sharp plane. Face-jointing small boards enough to send through a planer safely isn't much tougher. Like I said, I actually like jointing by hand. I'm weird that way.

Thanks everyone for your views -- this has been a really helpful discussion so far. I ended up buying the DW735 on a delta mobile tool stand -- like new condition for a price that I couldn't let pass. I think I'll take the planer off the stand, find some shelf space for it, tuck the stand along the wall where the MFT lives right now, and offload the Festools. A 14" bandsaw will tuck right in next to the bikes, and my wife will still be able to get to/from the car without banging elbows or shins. Domestic tranquility and lots of new woodworking capabilities...