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Thread: Justifying A Major Tool Purchase

  1. #31
    My DeWalt 734 benchtop planer had overload problems. DeWalt replaced the switch and problem solver.

    I use a little 6" jointer I found on Craigslist for $75. Do I wish i had a big 8"? Yup. But the little 6" does the job for anything 5-6 feet or less.

  2. #32
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Medina Ohio
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    Quote Originally Posted by Julie Moriarty View Post
    All my neighbors know I'm an electrician. They have seen the panel change I did, conduit I've installed, many have come to me for help on little things and I've told them all if they have any electrical work to call me and maybe I can do it for less. One neighbor is doing a major renovation, two have built new houses but not one has talked to me about possibly doing the work. A couple of guys in my local moved down here. One I talked to said we can't get a license in Florida because they first require you work for four years for a contractor. In Illinois I'm a master electrician. Here I'm bupkis.
    Now you know how I felt when I worked in Chicago. I had to hire carpenters that had no experience in installing CVS fixtures and equipment and the electricians told me that I couldn't show them the correct premade cable to hook up the pharmacy cabinets. I wasn't installing them just pointing out which cable goes where as they had no clue. The did try to steal the light bulbs that I had bought because their's were burnt out and they would not get more. One crew even blew up a bunch of equipment because they hooked up 220 to 120 stuff.
    Last edited by Jim Becker; 08-15-2018 at 8:30 AM. Reason: fixed quote tagging

  3. #33
    I like my 12” jointer planer. A combo machine gives the typical user more jointing capability and less planing capability than they would buy in separates.

    It works for me.

    I like having a spiral head for both ops. I wouldn’t have splurged for this if I had separates.

    Look for precise depth setting, because you may need to switch back and forth between ops.

    One thing I underestimated with the combo is the pain of dust hose management. The jointer vents below the table, and the planer vents above, so that has to be planned for. The two ops also vent on opposite sides.
    Last edited by Prashun Patel; 08-15-2018 at 8:23 AM.

  4. #34
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Punta Gorda, FL
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    Quote Originally Posted by Phil Mueller View Post
    I figure you can... or take a deep breath, take the pressure off, and take some pleasure in moving at a slower pace.
    Phil, this has played in my head since I first read it. Yesterday was pretty frustrating in part because the gnarly wood kept changing grain direction causing edge jointing to be more of a science project. I kept dreaming of a spiral head jointer creating flat, smooth surfaces in minutes rather than hours. But Zen woodworking certainly has its benefits.

    I don't know if a JP is in the cards but I do know I can't stop creating, designing and building. Kinda like this guy: https://vimeo.com/78788086
    “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness..." - Mark Twain

  5. #35
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
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    65,694
    Some of this comes down to how much and in what way you want to invest not just for now, but for your continued woodworking activities. I'm not sorry in any way that I took the long term approach some time ago to invest in the tools I did, knowing that it would certainly be harder to do so when I reached retirement or something. (which I did last fall) You can do a tactical buy or you can do a strategic investment. Or you can do neither... It's nice to have choices! And I will say, given your talent, I hope you'll be doing this for a good long time.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  6. #36
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
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    IMHO, the jointer/planer is the foundation tool. Don't skimp on this one! A high quality combo will make you much more productive and allow you to spend your time on more productive tasks.

    Mike

  7. #37
    I have a Parks 12 inch planer that my dad purchased new in 1973 or thereabout. Has a little surface rust (very little) on the beds but otherwise would clean up like new and has very few hours on the Baldor motor. I have a 20 inch grizzly with a byrd head in it so I really don't need the Parks but to this point haven't had the heart to sell it since my dad passed 18 months ago. A byrd head for this planer is $828 and the heft and power the planer offers cries out for one - way more than a lunchbox style. Buy the Parks from me for $500 add the byrd and you're in business for rough cut lumber all day every day for years to come. Plus if you decide to sell it I bet you could get 1K anytime you wanted with that head on it. Those old Parks are tanks.

  8. #38
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
    Location
    Modesto, CA, USA
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    9,894
    I would recommend a 18" rockwell wedgebed planer and a 8"jointer. should get those for under $2,000. I realized most of my drawerfronts are between 6-8" tall so a 8" jointer lets me do then in one piece.
    With a planer you will have to have powerful dust collection or the chips will be recycled and crush the finished wood causing bad surfaces.
    Bill D.

  9. #39
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Location
    Flower mound, Tx
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    514
    Julie,
    I think you already know what is best for YOU!
    Your #2 option leads me to believe maybe you’re not “all in” with woodworking?
    My advice... If you’re totally passionate about woodworking, then buy the best, most expensive equipment/tooling you can afford. No one ever regrets buying nice equipment, new or used.

  10. #40
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Princeton, NJ
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    Prior to buying a J/P I spent the majority of my time prepping material. After buying it I spend the majority of my time cutting joinery.

    I don't regret doing it all by hand prior, but I'd be hard pressed to go back. The best part is that the machine makes a more consistent and reliable product, doing similar work by hand is very time consuming (to nail the accuracy on four faces on every stick). For all intents and purposes I can make the material 'perfect' which is a wonderful place to start, when I make a run of something the last part fits the same as the first.

    In the rare cases I did outsource material prep, I found it extremely difficult. I'd constantly get material back that had been run through a planer with dull knives, or against the grain or sniping, or what have you and the end result was always that I was chasing out the error of the operator or of the worn out machinery being used. When you bring it in house you can keep after the end product a lot more carefully. I change knives very rapidly given the volume of lumber that I plane, it's my prerogative to do so but something that I couldn't ask of someone else running their own machine.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  11. #41
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Punta Gorda, FL
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Holcombe View Post
    In the rare cases I did outsource material prep, I found it extremely difficult.
    Even when all I was doing before was having the supplier joint one edge, I sometimes found chip out. And in cases where long boards had a bow, when they jointed the board, it could lose an inch of more of the width. Sometimes that meant I'd have to buy more lumber. When I control how the wood will be milled, there's little waste.

    I just got a quote from the Felder rep nearest me (curiosity killed the cat). The Hammer A3-31 with Silent Power, mobile kit, dial indicator & handwheel and two 200mm extensions delivered is a bit over $5.8K. Online, the Silent Power is 4-8 weeks out. The rep has it in stock. My head is spinning! And the Titanic is headed for an iceberg.
    “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness..." - Mark Twain

  12. #42
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Location
    Florida
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    1,950
    More than I thought based on online price but probably due to all the extras. Is that delivered?

  13. #43
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Fairfax, VA
    Posts
    103
    Maybe there's sales tax if she's buying from a local dealer. Online prices may not have tax although you really should be remitting them at tax time anyway.

    Julie, did you consider the fact that you can likely sell your 735 on CL when you get it back? It may get you $300 easily, which takes off some of the sting of buying this beautiful piece of machinery.

    I'm doing my part to steer the ship toward the iceberg heheheh.

  14. #44
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Toronto Ontario
    Posts
    11,248
    Hi Julie, do you really need the extensions?

    I don't normally use mine. The only one I always have on the machine is the planer outfeed, the feed is 6m/minute so short pieces fell on the floor

    regards, Rod.

  15. #45
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Location
    Marina del Rey, Ca
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    1,934
    Quote Originally Posted by Julie Moriarty View Post
    ...The Hammer A3-31 with Silent Power, mobile kit, dial indicator & handwheel and two 200mm extensions delivered is a bit over $5.8K...
    It can be a lot of fun to blow a bunch of $ unnecessarily. But I get more of a kick out of finding bargains on great used machines.
    "Anything seems possible when you don't know what you're doing."

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