2. TOOLS
2.1 HOW DO I GET STARTED IN WOODWORKING?
If you have less than $20,000 to spend, forget it. You can't
make anything, not even pukey ducks, without at least that much
invested in tools. You need to watch Norm and buy all the same
tools he has. You also need to build a workshop: 60'X100' is
about the minimum size for a newbie. Anything less won't get you
anywhere. Always buy the best and most expensive tools: buy the
best and only cry once. Anything cheaper than a Northfield,
Altendorf or Felder is a waste of money.

As Ed pointed out, the tools that any shop must have as an
absolute minimum a

Unisaw
Cast iron 15" planer
8" jointer
36" belt sander
18" Laguna bandsaw
16" floor drill press
5HP IR compressor

If you cannot afford the above, take up macramé.

Don't bother with used tools, only buy new. Otherwise you're
just buying someone else's problems. Besides, where would
bottomfeeders like me get their good tools if it wasn't for
newbies giving up on woodworking and selling off their expensive
new tools at bargain basement prices?

If you can't afford the best, don't buy it. There's lots of
different ways to do any woodworking operation. If you can't
afford a dedicated tenoner or a Unisaur with a tenoning jig, you
can use your teeth to cut tenons. A well-honed scary-sharpened
pinkie nail can replace a top-of-the-line Multico mortiser or a
Sorby or Knight mortising chisel. You can do period
reproductions with broken pieces of glass and a spoon; it just
takes you a bit longer.

Even if you want to go Neander, nothing but the full collection
of Lie-Neilson, Clifton, Knight and Veritas planes will do. If
you can't afford them, you need to revise your spending
priorities.

2.2 SHOULD I BUY A TABLE SAW OR A RADIAL ARM SAW?
Buy a band saw instead. The cut wanders all over the place and
they leave nifty decorative ridge lines. Then you'll get the
chance to spend hours and hours hand planing the ridge lines and
straightening and squaring the butchered wood with antique hand
planes. (See Hand Plane FAQ)

Speaking of butchering, the purchase of a bandsaw can more easily
be justified to your spouse because it is absolutely
indispensable in cutting frozen food.

You can also use band saws to cut thick stuff in half, such as
yourself, other people, frozen bread and chickens, dead cats, and
Ming vases, none of which can be handled by a TS or RAS. The
most a TS or RAS can cut is little more than the thickness of a
hand.

2.3 WHAT IS THE BEST TABLE SAW?
No question: Sears. Bennett accurately described how great Sears
table saws are and about all their special features. They're
even better than the Inca, General, Powermatic or Delta cabinet
saws. After all, he wrote the table saw FAQ, so he should know.
Not only do Sears table saws sort of cut wood and body parts, but
they also can be used to achieve special colouring (coloring,
Unisaw) and dye effects that would otherwise require hours of
painstaking finishing work. Among the special features
discovered by Bennett, which Sears does not advertise, is the
"pulse temperature alteration" process which turn maple into
walnut and instantly ages cherry to a patina that normally takes
decades to achieve. It also enhances the grain pattern of dull
woods by having the aluminium (aluminum, Keeter) top add
attractive black streaks to your wood, turning it into zebrawood
without the aggravating unworkability or price of the real thing.

The new Ridgid saws at the Borg apparently have the same
features.

Here is a recent series of highly informative posts on this very
topic:

Poor innocent Pid asked:
Delta or Griz...which makes a better Table saw?

Silvan wrote:
The [Delta/Grizzly] [model] is *much* better than the
[Delta/Grizzly] [model] which is a piece of crap.
[Delta/Grizzly] is *much* *much* *much* better 90% of the time
than [Delta/Grizzly] so you should always prefer
[Delta/Grizzly] over [Delta/Grizzly] whenever you have
a choice.

"Mike Marlow" wrote:
Oh Bull! You're just a [Delta/Grizzly] bigot and cannot see
that [Delta/Grizzly] is really a far superior saw. Go ahead
- keep you eyes closed to the facts. One day you'll wake up
and get a real saw - a [Delta/Grizzly].

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote:
Why don't you guys knock off the petty bickering. Real men use
[Delta/Grizzly/Jet] table saws.

This was followed by a bevy of bad puns. The authors should be
drawn, quartered and hung.

Paul in MN started it:
I thought that all the saws cut quick as a Jet, but when used
in high humidity, say down by the Delta, they leave a bit of
a Grizzly finish...... in General.

To which Mike Marlow had to add his two cents:
That's where it takes a real Craftsman to get the job done.

jo4hn could not resist:
This gives me a Harbor Fright.

Meanwhile, back on another fork, Silvan uttered:
That post gives me the Craps man. Somebody ought to Bosch you
in the head for having such a Rigid attitude. Why, I'll bet you
don't have any Skil as a wood dorker at all, and if you had
to dork wood for a living, you'd DeWalt on your mortgage.

And Paul in MN replied
Maybe I could make a living at it. I think I'd be a Starrett
that game.

Aaaargh!

2.4 WHICH SAW BLADE SHOULD I BUY?
Any one will do. Don't spend too much. Freud and Forrest are
rip-offs.

2.5 WHAT ARE THE BEST CLAMPS?
Like Larry says, get 'em from Harbor Freight, don't pay the big
bucks. Besseys are a ripoff made out of plastic crap while the
Jorgensens can't be opened after they're slammed shut, even when
your finger is stuck in them.

2.6 WHICH TYPE OF DADO BLADE SHOULD I BUY, THE DIAL (WOBBLE TYPE)
OR THE STACKING (CHIPPER TYPE)?
Get both! But don't spend too much on them. Avoid Freud,
Forrest, Amana, Jesada. These guys are out to rip you off. You
can also use two or more saw blades with spacers. Who cares if
the bottom isn't flat, nobody sees it anyway.

2.7 WHAT IS THE BEST ROUTER?
For the money, buy a Crapsman. It has a nifty light that allows
you to see the Automatic Random Height Adjustment in action.
[f]Art. will tell you how great they are. Besides, as Jeremy
pointed out, the PC 69x's are way too heavy to use.

2.8 WHAT IS THE BEST CORDLESS DRILL?
Stanley. It has a neat ratchet mechanism that allows you use a
back and forth motion rather than just circular. Works all day
on just two charges (breakfast and lunch). Quiet. Any of the
German-made eggbeaters are also pretty good for small holes. For
screwing it's Yankee, despite all the Southrons' delusions of
adequacy in this sphere.

2.9 SHOULD I GET A DUST COLLECTOR?
I am one. You should see my extremely valuable collection of
dust. It is nicely layered on my workshop floor and you can
explore the geology of my woodworking by carefully digging into
it and examining the different layers. Sears tools also work
well as dust collectors. Oh, you mean those big noisy suckers?
Here's what Paul Jordan had to say about them.

They can be very helpful when hooked to machines that might
create dust. The bag will blow off at least once, most assuredly
just after you clean the rags from that last coat of finish on
that critical project that *used* to be a safe distance away;

They are better than dust creators, although some can be switched
into this mode with one careless move (this is a scream to watch,
if it happens to someone else);

Putting the strap around the bag will make you realize Lucy and
Ethel were not such klutzes after all;

Your bags will reach full capacity *just* before you plane that
last 8 footer, meaning you will surely have to dump sawdust on
the floor just to get the damnbagoff. Then you get to re-collect
the dust you've already collected once, making it a collected
dust collector;

They operate on very similar principles to a James Bond martini -
shaken, not stirred;

After purchasing one you will realize where the McDonnell Douglas
DC-10 engines go when they fail QC audit;

When you suck up a 1" piece of ash hurtling towards the fan, your
neighbours (neighbors, Keith) will instantly know whether you are
a combat veteran and whether you feel there is any decent cover
in their front yard;

They do not mix well with small, furry, free-to-roam pets;

While running, they are particularly good at making sure any
intrusion into your shop will scare the bejeezus out of you as
you catch the perpetrator wildly waving their arms, or god forbid
touching you, to get your attention.

2.10 HOW TO KEEP SPLINTERS AND MINUSCULE BITS OF WOOD OUT OF YOUR
SOCKS?

Man, you must be new. Efficient dust collection is soooo
important. Do a Google search for "Downdraft floors."

Basically, you drill a 1/2" hole every 4 to 6 inches in your
floor and hook up a Trane commercial HVAC blower to some duct
work that connects to a "dust pan" that you build under your
floor, sized to your shop. Seal the perimeter well, and oh, do
be careful to avoid drilling through the floor joists. DAMHIKT.
Bob's yer uncle, no more dust in yer Keds.

Concrete floors? No problem. Google for "Updraft roofs." Same
principle, with the added bonus of fuller, bouncier, body in your
hair.

Luigi Zanasi wrote:

This was followed by a bevy of bad puns. The authors should be
drawn, quartered and hung.

This author IS hung. Just ask SWMBO.

2.5 WHAT ARE THE BEST CLAMPS?
Like Larry says, get 'em from Harbor Freight, don't pay the big

Don't forget Big Lots for those in the USA. Good deals on great clamps at
Big Lots.

2.6 WHICH TYPE OF DADO BLADE SHOULD I BUY, THE DIAL (WOBBLE TYPE)
OR THE STACKING (CHIPPER TYPE)?
Get both! But don't spend too much on them. Avoid Freud,

The best deal is a wobble type from Homier or Cummins. The rust on the
blade acts as an abrasive to help sand the inside of the cut for a closer
fit, and the price is unbeatable.

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

Dear Ouija,

Unisaw
Cast iron 15" planer
8" jointer
36" belt sander
18" Laguna bandsaw
16" floor drill press
5HP IR compressor

You mean I have to downgrade?

Damn...

David F. Eisan wrote:

Unisaw
Cast iron 15" planer
8" jointer
36" belt sander
18" Laguna bandsaw
16" floor drill press
5HP IR compressor

You mean I have to downgrade?

Damn...

Oh shut up, Suckmeister.

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

On Thu, 01 Apr 2004 22:59:16 GMT, "David F. Eisan"
scribbled:

Dear Ouija,

Unisaw
Cast iron 15" planer
8" jointer
36" belt sander
18" Laguna bandsaw
16" floor drill press
5HP IR compressor

You mean I have to downgrade?

Some people can't read. These are *minimum* requirements. Sheesh.

Luigi
Replace "nonet" with "yukonomics" for real email address
www.yukonomics.ca/wooddorking/antifaq.html
www.yukonomics.ca/wooddorking/humour.html