The breakers you have may have a **very** short time current curve (you can
always get different breakers with longer curves) or the motor may pull
excessive startup currrent (tho this isn't my area of expertise). Once the
motor is up to speed, the current will stablize -- so you can judge by ear
how long the surge will last.

Matthew

The general idea is that larger overcurrents trip quickly, but that 2x or
3x currents can run for a long time. This protects the wiring, which is
one of the reasons for circuit breakers; a "shorted curcuit" level of
overcurrent would damage wires quickly, but lower overcurrents would take
a long time to overheat the wiring.

Hmm. I do have trouble tripping the breaker on the current (present) 15A
circuit. Could be that the breaker is old and trips easier? From what
you're saying, starting up a TS or planer shouldn't draw a high current
long enough to trip the breaker.