Charlie Self wrote:

models for almost each tool on the list, but these have all been tested by
a professional with more than 40 years experience, yours truly!

Resume, please.

He's not telling the truth, I guaran-damn-tee. Spamming has only been
around for a little over 10 years now, so there's no way he has over 40
years of experience in his profession.

Just so newbies don't get sucked in by the spam, here are some real thoughts
on that subject from a bona fide low budget woodworker...

A complete wood shop for under $500?

No, I can't do it. I sat down to do a bit of figuring, and the best
reasonably complete shop I could come up with was $750. That was a small
table saw, a good corded hand drill, a workbench, vises, sharpening gear,
chisels, two inexpensive used hand planes, rulers/gauges/squares, clamps,
basic drill bits, basic hammer/screwdriver/utility knife, economy backsaw,
flush cut saw, cheap circular saw, and a couple of decent Freud blades for
the power saws.

It notably did not include a router, router table, router bits, sander,
drill press, bandsaw or even a shop vac, so it wasn't even as complete as
my own little shop.

It's nuts to think you have to start with all of that though. I started
with a backsaw, a miter box, a cheap jigsaw, a cheap combination square, a
hammer, a Craftman screwdriver set and an electric drill. Most of these
were wedding gifts. The only tools I remember going out to purchase were
the backsaw/miter box kit and a cheap set of B&D countersink bits.

Among other things, the plant stand and house shaped curio box on my web
site were fashioned with nothing more than those simple tools. Fashioned
in my *kitchen* I might add. So was my tool cabinet. I still have and use
all of these things to this day.

When starting out, one trick is to buy as much as you can pre-cut to size.
Avoid complex joinery and complex clamping by using screws and nails.
Exploit every source of free, salvage wood from pallets to trash piles.
Don't let all these folks on here with $15,000 tool collections and 1,000
sq. ft. shops fool you into thinking it takes a fortune to wreck some wood.
They most likely didn't start out with all of that either, and they most
likely didn't get all of that in one shot.

Begin at the beginning. Don't even try to buy a shop in a box. Buy tools
as you appreciate the need for them. That way you get things you will use,
instead of things somebody on the internet told you you'd need.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/