Few questions 15x18 Workshop

[glenn bradley]

There are always multiple good answers to these questions. The things I see missing from your list (most beginners miss these) are a jointer and dust collection. Dust collection should always be ITEM 1 on any tool wish list. Your shop vac will collect chips (I have a couple of vacs with Dust Deputies for this service) but, with nothing collecting the dust you will want to wear a respirator most of the time. This becomes more true as the space gets smaller or less ventilated. This is a sore spot for me so, I will leave it alone now ;-)

A disclaimer: This opinion is coming from a tablesaw anchored woodworker. My tablesaw is a joinery machine in my shop and is critical to how I work so, keep that in mind when I say . . .

I would give up the tablesaw for a jointer if I had to pick one or the other. With a good bandsaw and a jointer and a planer I can make most furniture parts. If sheet-goods construction is in your future, a tablesaw or guided circular saw system is pretty much required. If you are building hardwood furniture, not so much. The jointer sets the reference surface for all following operations. A planer sled can get you by for face jointing (it got me by for over a year) and may be a concession you need to make for space restrictions.

To the job site versus contractor saw argument, there are a couple (maybe a few?) contractor saws that are a large step up from a job site saw. Many are not. There are many things that are "better" with a contractor saw (table size, room before the blade, standard miter slots) but, most have alignment problems, poor fences and miter gauges.

You can throw a couple of hundred bucks of after-market goodies at some contractor saws and make them very usable. I went this route as I was not sure I would stick with my return to woodworking. I ended up spending much more to finally step my way to a cabinet saw than simply buying a cabinet saw would have cost. That was my path and those decisions made sense at the time. If I knew then what I know now I would have gotten by for a few months and then bought once and for all . . . once. We can all only do what we can do based on our situation at the time.

This is an exciting time in you journey into the craft. Enjoy!

[Phil Mueller]

I have a bit smaller shop than what you will have. My main stock prep power tools are a contractor saw and a lunchbox planer. After a few uses in the basement shop, both have been moved to the garage on mobile bases for outside use only. You’d be amazed how much saw dust/shavings a planer can make. You may want to consider this as well.

It saves me from needing major dust collection inside and when finished outside, all the dust and shavings can be blown into the flower beds.

I agree with the comment on the Festool vac along with the sander. It makes sanding virtually dust free. I will say I have the Festool ROS you are considering, and find it does everything I need it to do. I find it works well when using lower grits.

[David Justice]

I will also weigh in on the table saw debate. If I had a shop that size, I would not have a table saw. They take up tons of room. I have a Festool track saw and a crosscut table and it does everything a table saw does. If I got rid of my table saw, I don't think I would miss it.

[Carl Beckett]

I was in a basement shop for years. Some inputs based on my experience:

A contract saw is fine, just tune it up and be sure it has a good fence. I had a contractor saw for many years and built many nice things with it. The SS, from what I have heard/seen, is a nice high quality piece of equipment and a contractor version is a great start. Buy a good miter, or make a sled. I did both and the incra miter was used a LOT, as was the crosscut sled.

Benchtop tools save a lot of space. I had a small Ryobi benchtop jointer for years that rocked! (surprisingly great piece of equipment, for little $$). Delta makes a small benchtop as well. (stand alone jointers can take a lot of space).

Ditto on the dedicated sanders - I have seen plans for a station where tools swap in/out of the worktop area based on what you need done at the time. I might consider something like that for the sanding units - they dont take up that much space that way, and different sanding methods are always a time saver. I wouldnt buy that harbor freight sander.. it will be underpowered and unlikely to get much use. The spindle sander I use more than the combo sander, so I would bump that much lower on the list and use a belt sander with a frame. Although belt sanders arent used that much in my shop every now and then they serve a purpose, So I would have one (used off CL)

I have the Bosch ROS. It works great at a fraction of the Festool cost. Someday I may get a Festool (or more likely one of the air units)... but 'just because'. Save some $$ and get the Bosch.

You will need room for material and staging. Plywood in particular is a pain to store. But you will have cutoffs and material purchased for a particular project, etc, plus assembly space, be sure to allow for it.

Dont forget the smaller stuff. Chisels, planes, measuring, hadsaws, layout, the little stuff you use all the time. A VICE (gotta have one). Drill and drill bits. SHARPENING. Cordless drill/driver. Maybe a pocket hole jig depending on how you want to work. The little stuff will blow your budget right there...

Clamps. Then some more clamps. (they add up $$)

I am a big fan of used tools off CL, you just have to be patient.

I think a router table is an essential item. Dont know if you can use one that fits in the tablesaw extension but that might be space saving. Else you gotta have it (more important than a cutoff saw imo, but it depends a bit on what projects you like to do). So I would budget a router table, a separate handheld router, a fence and some router bits. In fact, I used the router table as a jointer for several years.

I had a tabletop drill press for years and then got a floor model. For me, the drill press wasnt top priority because I could get by with a quality hand drill. But definitely useful.

For small money you can get a dust collector off CL which would be a big improvement over the shop vac. You might try a cyclone mini separator in front of it. (not overly excited about the idea). In fact, given your space I dont have any good recommendations for you on this, other than it will cost a lot of time and $$ getting it all designed and in place. Others here will have much better advice on this than I can offer. If you are running a vacuum, try to sand outside with a fan blowing whenever possible. Wear a respirator.

Clamps. And places to store clamps when not being used.

Maybe a radio? I have to have a radio in my shop.

And some more clamps...

[Will Boulware]

Since everyone is weighing in on tool selection, here's another $.02 you might not have asked for.

You're on a budget. Used tools are your friends. The guys that taught me how to do this stuff always preached "Big bandsaw, big jointer". This doesn't work for a lot of people, but it's been pretty good for me.

Lunchbox planer - get a Dewalt 734, skip the 735 and the byrd head. I have a 734 and for $400, it works great. You're on a budget. Spending $1,100 on a plastic planer with no jointer is no bueno. I'm all for the hand tool approach, I used it myself for years, but life got better when I got my first 6" delta, and it really didn't take up much room. (Caveat - I now have a 24" jointer and an 18" planer and I still use a LOT of hand tools. There is no substitute for them when doing fine work. Not arguing that. But a small 6" jointer will save you a remarkable amount of time! My delta was a whopping $250, btw.)

Bandsaw - Find an old Delta 14". Cheap, don't take up much room, reliable, parts are easy, etc.

Skip the stationary sanders. You're a hand tool guy. You don't need a spindle sander. Buy a good rasp or two and some spokeshaves.

The SS contractor saw is fine, but I think I've saved you enough money to step up to their cabinet saw. This would be worth it, even if you need to stay with the 1.75 hp 110v motor.

You could also skip the table saw and grab a Festool track saw setup. I build a lot of tables and I'd take a good bandsaw and a Festool TS75 over a cabinet saw if it was one or the other. Again, this depends a lot on how you work and what you want to build. In your space, a jointer, planer, bandsaw, and Festool setup might save you enough space to actually have room to work!

Just food for thought.

[Jim Dwight]

My shop is 14x24 - similar in size. I have a table saw, actually two, but both are small. My main table saw is a Ryobi BT3100. I've made a bunch of furniture with it. Even a contractors saw would have more of a table and other advantages. But the quality of the end result is not dependent on the tools.

I really like my DeWalt track saw. The reviews I've seen are very good on the Makita too. With a long guide, the Festool is roughly twice as much with a smaller motor and less depth capacity. The track saw is hugely better for a limited space because if you can get the sheet goods into the shop and on a cut table (or even the floor), you can cut it up. You need 16 feet of length to rip a sheet of plywood on a table saw but only a little more than 8 feet to do it on a track saw. You lose NOTHING in accuracy or quality of cut. I also straighten boards with the track saw - without a jointer this is something to consider. I consider the cut edges to be ready for glueup.

I also really like my Bosch DEVS1250 sander. I've used it a bunch this weekend to take the finish off some old stair treads. It has a turbo mode which makes it almost as fast as a belt sander. But you can also switch it to random orbit and it is still pretty quick but with a good finish.

I use a couple Rigid shop vacs. The one in the shop has a dust deputy and an auto-on switch. The auto-on switch was less than $50 and is not as current limited as most shop vacs (I plug the Ryobi table saw into it, it is rated to draw 15A).

I have a Festool hand sander (I got it as a present) and adapted the Festool plunge base to my Fein multi-tool. I like the quality of them and I am sure the other tools are also nice. But I don't like the prices. Not when there are other tools at roughly half the price. But I've bought a bunch of tools that were not good enough over the years. That wastes money too. So there is justification to go the other way. My rule for Festool is the same as my other tools, I buy them because they allow me to do something I think I need to do and do so at a price I can afford. So far I have found other tools that I think are good enough. But a domino is probably in my future - and might be something for you to think about too. I have a little hollow chisel mortiser but the domino is faster and takes up less space. Festools portability and organization are actually good things when you work in a limited space, I believe.

[Mathieu Girard]

I just made a quick video showing my 12x13 basement woodshop, maybe it can give you some ideas:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIBHJWvAKf8