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dpb

wrote:
Having recently had a minor windfall, I decided to splurge and finally
round out my budding shop. I have a budget of about $4K, and the
entries below add up to about $3K. The rest will go on odds and ends,
lumber, and anything that I may have missed.

My shop is half of a two-car garage. I already have a table saw and
miter saw (both poor quality), a decent router, and some small hand
tools, including a decent 4-set of Irwin chisels and a few Avant
planes.
....
I'd suggest the first thing is as a couple of others have done--slow
down on the spending spree!!!

First, unless you're getting into this for a profit or other reason,
what's the hurry other than gratification of spending a wad of money in
the pocket?

If there really isn't a pressing time need, I'd also second the
suggestion (particularly if you're in a reasonably sizable population
center) to just watch for sale items in estate sales, yard sales,
craig's list, etc., etc, etc., ... , as well as go check out the pawn
shops and similar. Value is to be had there that may exceed quality of
what you're looking at now for less expenditure. Cost is some effort
and time...

Also, I'd suggest the first place I'd start as well would be to either
replace or at least upgrade the TS--it's the workhouse of almost all
cabinet work unless you're going to be primarily hand work (and, if
that's the case, I'd suggest the investment would be better served in
higher-quality hand tools instead of machines).

I'll also concur w/ one and disagree w/ one -- if cabinet work is your
plan and you have any intention of using other than already surfaced
solid lumber (and I can't imagine anything else, personally), then
definitely imo the largest jointer you can fit into the space is well
worth it. Again, that's my usage; at least one other poster always
disagrees and disparages same tool...

Again, I'd also emphasize that the shop area you're speaking of isn't
very big you'll find when/if all the stuff you've listed were to show
up--do some serious planning on work station, work flow, etc., etc.,
etc., or you'll have a roomful of tools and nowhere to work. Don't
overlook the need for assembly and intermediate work space as well in
that layout. Every board that goes thru the planer has to start on one
side and end up on the other. If it's a pile of rough lumber being
prepared, that's a need for a stack on each side and room for the cart
to bring the stack back from the outfeed end to the infeed for the next
pass. Which of course, illustrates that there ought to be room for two
carts to hold the stack so don't have to unload the one and pile it
somewhere so can return it to the outfeed side...

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