New woodworker looking for advice on taking the next step

[justin sherriff]

Checking Facebook I found a Hitachi C10RJ for $350; looks like they sell new on Amazon for $399 and at Lowes for $499 (they will price match Amazon) with a 2 year warranty.

I also found one on Big Sky Tools (reconditioned grade A) on sale for $169; with shipping would come out to $254 with a 1 year warranty.

I really like the looks of this saw; does anyone have any opinions? Also, that deal from Big Sky almost seems too good to be true. Anyone have experience buying reconditioned from them?



Thanks. For $50 it seems like a no-brainer to get me started.

Hitachi is being rebranded as Metabo HPT so go into Lowes and see the what the price of the saw is. At my Lowes they have the last of the hitachi tools all marked down. All so ask if they could knock down the price some more for you maybe you could save a few more bucks.

[Tom Bender]

Get a Dewalt ROS, good bang for the buck.

Drill press is good for precise work and it doesn't use up much floor space. Get a floor model, it's the last one you will ever buy.

Get into hand tools, with them you can make anything, just a little slower.

Good rasps will empower you to do fine work.

A planer is really good to have.

TS, a cabinet saw has a smaller footprint than a contractor saw. Save up for it and use your circular saw for now.

A couple of hand planes are needed. Start with a block plane, inexpensive and you will learn a lot from it.

A band saw is a great tool and has a small footprint.

Build yourself a bench.

[Alex Zeller]

Since your budget is, lets say light, I would just look for used tools. Last month I bought a used Powermatic cabinet saw for under $200. A week later a Delta Unisaw sold for about the same money (https://www.irsauctions.com/popups/p...GKRT5&id=23009 ). You do have to watch out as they have things like taxes, loading charges, and a buyer's charge of 10% to 15% that add up and then there's the extra cost if you buy a 3 phase machine to make it work on single phase power. But if you are a little bit handy you can bring one of these back to excellent shape with mostly elbow grease and you'll have a great saw that's more that just one step up from what you can buy new for less than $500 (in fact you would need to spend well over $1000 new to equal that Unisaw). Table saws are one of the few things that are always coming up at auctions.

Routers are also easy to find used. See lots of them on Craig's list. If you stick with woodworking you'll own at least 3 routers before you know it so I wouldn't buy new. Also if you buy used you may find the seller is actually someone who is competent and can give you advise. I've read lots of good things about the DeWalt table top planer (DW735 I think). Also 6" jointers can be found used for a reasonable price as most people upgrade to something with more width. Of course I'm probably 3 times your budget already.

[Jason Matisheck]

Some more thoughts to muddy your water:

Craigslist and similar sites are good places to look. The trick is being able to evaluate the tool well enough that you are not buying someone else's problem. I highly recommend joining a local woodworking club if you can. Not only can you get some great mentoring, but they often have members selling tools, and leads on woodworker estate sales. The odds of finding good equipment are much better.

Table saws are considered the heart of a woodshop, but they are not really the end-all-be-all of woodworking. They take up a lot of space and are relatively dangerous. A job-site saw will not be good for sheet material. You already have a circular saw for that. Joinery can also be cut with routers, or bandsaws, or hand tools. Look up "worth the effort" on you tube. He recently replaced a job-site saw with a hybrid saw and has a good video on the issues he had with the small saw. One of his primary problems was that the saw wasn't capable of the repeatable accuracy he needed. Some people do all their rough cutting with jigsaws.
The point is if you don't have room or $ for a good table saw, there are ways to live without one.

You can also build your own machines, if you are so inclined. Matthias Wandel has a website and a tube channel that include his builds of every major tool out of wood, including table saw, bandsaw, jointer, sanders, dust collectors, etc. His horizontal mortiser would be good for loose-tenon joinery.

I personally lean towards hand tools for joinery. They are generally inexpensive and don't take up a lot of room. (Until you get bitten by the plane hoarding bug.) You spend your time developing skills and cutting joints rather than setting up machines and cutting test pieces. For one-off projects, they are not a lot slower. You do need to learn the skills, and a class or mentor is probably the best place. That said, Paul Sellers on the Tube is a good place to start. You can also go to the Lost Art Press website and look up "The Naked Woodworker" video, which is about how to get started in woodworking from zero.

If you want to work with rough lumber, the DeWalt 13" planer should be high on your list. There are ways to make a sled to use it for face jointing, and there are ways to use a router for edge jointing. (I personally wouldn't bother with a 6" jointer, unless all you make are small boxes. They aren't wide enough to face joint anything useful.)

Finally, if you're doing a lot of router and circular saw work, you should probably be wearing a respirator. A real one, not a white dust mask.

[Thomas McCurnin]

This is really an expensive hobby if you're going to go the power tool route. Even on the cheap, these are some rough prices on the discount or used basis in order of my priority:

Table Saw (Most important tool in my shop) $800-2,500
Sliding Miter Saw ($500-$1,000)
Band Saw $800-$2,500
Router Table and Router(s) $1,000
Drill Press $500-800
Jointer $500-$1,000
Planer $500-800
Sharpening Stones $150
Jigs Make Your Own or Purchase $150-$1,500

Hand Tools are a fraction of the above prices and you can do a lot with some cheap chisels and some used planes. I also recommend watching some Paul Sellers videos. That guy could build a house with a handful of tools. You'll need a decent set of chisels and a couple planes and saws, even if you go the power tool route. Learn how to sharpen them.

[Joel Turner]

Hi Will,

As a new woodworker you might want to consider looking into joining a makerspace in your area for a few months before you start buying tools. The cost will be nominal and they will likely have all the equipment you need to do some of the projects you are contemplating. This in turn will help you decide what tools you really need to tackle your upcoming projects.

I'd also suggest you go the library and get a copy of Bill Hylton's Power Tool Joinery since you seem to be leaning towards the power tool route. He does a really good job of exploring different options for each type of joinery using different tools.

If you want a completely different approach to acquiring power tools for furniture making, see an article by Gary Rogowski in Fine Woodworking #153 where he offers his opinion on the top five power tools to get. A table saw is not on the list unless your looking to build cabinets and/or work with plywood. His first choice is a bandsaw. An excerpt from the article:

"A bandsaw can start the rough milling:slabbing out boards from logs, roughingout bowl blanks, trimming out shapes forcarved work, ripping boards to thicknessand width, and resawing. The saw will thencover your joinery needs: cutting tenons,finger joints, slot mortise and tenons, slot dovetails, half-lap joints and through-dovetails. Finally, the bandsaw can also be usedfor shaping, tapering, cutting circles,curves and templates, edge work and trimming joints."

It's a great tool and if you can find a mid 50's to late 70's Delta or Rockwell in your area you won't need to spend a ton of money to buy it.

[Will Pate]

Just wanted to say thank you again for all of the advice given! I wanted to give an update on what I decided to do.

I picked up the used PC 690 router with fixed base and a basic set of bits to get me started. I will pick up nicer individual bits as I figure out what I will need/use often.

I bought a Bosch corded jigsaw and a pack of fine blades.

I got a DMT diamond sharpening stone (I think it's 600 and 1200 grit) and will start by getting my chisels nice and sharp. Also have some chefs knives in need of a tune up.

And last but not least I got a Hitachi C10RJ jobsite table saw. Lowe's put them on clearance and one of my local stores had 1 in stock. Went into the store and found that it compared nicely to the top-of-the-line Dewalt jobsite saw. 35" rip capacity, soft start, brake, rack and pinion fence. I was able to get them to knock another 10% off because the box was a little damaged and then got 5% off for my Lowes card. Came out to just over $250 which I think is great to get me started. Picked up a Diablo blade for it as well.

Other than that I got glue, a couple bar clamps, and an assortment of F clamps. I already had eye/ear pro, masks, and shop vac so should be good to go there. I did get one of those small cyclone dust separates you attach to a 5 gallon bucket which I think is awesome.

I built a mobile workbench/outfeed table and plan to make a simple router table next.

My first non-shop project I'm going to try is some end grain cutting boards; I would also like to get into making frames and eventually nice boxes.

[lowell holmes]

One last suggestion. I found Homestead Heritage and took classes. Paul Sellers was there then.
They still conduct classes.