I should have bought the Felder stuff.

[Bob Borzelleri]

I set up my 1st wood shop about 15 years ago. The three car garage got a wall of storage units to divide one bay off. I put in a sub panel and wired for 110 and 220 and then went about buying tools. I ended up with a Delta contractor's saw with a Unifence and a Jet 6" jointer. Then came a Dewalt planer and a Delta 14" bandsaw and drill press. Along the way, much other stuff found its way into my shop.

However, before deciding to buy what I bought, I visited the Felder showroom in West Sacramento. I don't recall if Hammer was around yet, but the green stuff was in abundance. It took about 2 more visits for me to conclude that, notwithstanding the size of my shop, the cost of a 4 station combo or even 2 and 2 was too much for me to justify.

Now, 15 years and who knows how much money spent to modify what I bought back then, I am thinking that I would probably have spent considerably more time in the shop had I purchased tools that were designed with safe and efficient work flow in mind.

Now that I have replaced the single garage bay with a purpose built shop (25x25), I've been looking at the original stuff and thinking that the numerous add on infeed/outfeed tables or table slider that will never be as efficient or safe as those that were designed into the machine in the first place, and wondering what is next in the tool department

A SawStop was interesting for awhile and then I concluded that the likelihood of me sticking my finger in the blade is nowhere near as high as having a piece of wood get out of sorts and either becoming a projectile and/or banging me up side the head and knocking me out and falling across the table and spinning blade (which is now exposed because my head smashed the plastic guard on the way down).

OK, a bit of a stretch, I agree. But the fact is, I don't seem to hear about saw safety disasters and the quality euro machines in the same sentence. So here I am thinking about spending the money I decided not to spend 15 years ago.

Maybe, maybe not...

[Paul Greathouse]

Bob, all I can say is everybody has to do what is best for them. Go for the Felder stuff if its the best fit for you and your situation. From what many here have said its quality stuff.

[David DeCristoforo]

You will have a hard time finding machines that are of better quality than the Felder tools although there is a lot that is just as good. The main issue I have with them is the extensive use of small set screws and kip levers to lock things down with. But this seems to be fairly typical of machinery in this class. But if you are making your buying decision on how "safe" your machines are, Felder machines are no "safer", all other things being more or less equal, than any others. It's always a good rule of thumb to buy the best tools you can afford so if you can afford the Felder equipment, have at it.

[Jim Becker]

The bottom line is invest in the best quality tools you can afford and don't look back. Sometimes that means you may change something later and increase your investment...when you can...but in the mean time, you got all that wonderful experience and had an enjoyable time.

My very first purchases were major mistakes (low end, "brand name" benchtop tools from a popular "department store"), but the two subsequent generations paid for themselves in many ways. I will say that I'm very pleased that I was lucky enough to have a few really good years financially that enabled me to move to the Euro style equipment I now use and will continue to use until "use is impossible"...it really is a good experience to walk in the shop and fondle excellent tools each time I work on a project.

[Bruce Page]

Many of us bought our tools at that large “department store” because 20, 30, or 40 years ago, that was all we were exposed to.
I personally would have saved a lot of money (yeah, right) if the internet and SMC had been around when I got into the hobby.

[Mike Wilkins]

Bob, you are traveling a journey many of us have on. Like many other, I also started with bechtop tools(if that is what they were called) and moved up as my knowledge and experience level increased. I would have loved to move in the Felder direction, but like many others, the wallet spoke first. I am enjoying a Laguna Pro 6' slider right now, after 10 great years with an older Rockwell/Delta Unisaw. Smile every time I walk into the shop and look at that baby(sounds creepy). But beware; there is a learning curve when moving from an American-style cabinet saw to a slider. Fun curve though.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Bob....I am getting ready to retire. I purposely bought the best I could afford. In fact, I took out a 2 year loan against my 401K to buy an MM bandsaw...a Pm 3520B and a Oneida DC.

Once I retire, I probably won't be able to afford the same quality.

Everytime I use those 3 tools I have no regrets.

[Rod Sheridan]

Bob, over the last two years I've replaced 4 pieces of General machinery with 2 pieces of Hammer machinery.

I wish Felder had a better presence in Canada years ago when I bought all the General stuff.

Go for it Bob, every year spent deciding is a year missing out of the pleasures of ownership.........Regards, Rod.

[Bob Borzelleri]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. In addition to wondering aloud here, I found myself pondering this issue with my wife. She reminded me that she had accompanied me to the Felder Showroom way back then and had thought that the machines were very "nice looking". I guess I must have been asleep at the switch at the time.

In furthering the discussion, I decided to feel around and see how she was fixed for hardware (she designs and makes women's clothes). The last sewing machine we bought was about 8 years ago and it was about $3,000.

She mentioned she was aware of one machine that would be a significant improvement over hers. It retails for $10,000. Ouch.

[Peter Quinn]

Boy, if I had $25K I didn't know what to do with, I'd be all over a complete Felder set up today. Really very well made tools. And if I had bough one when I set up my shop, I'd probably have saved money at this point. Two table saws, three planers, three shapers, several SCMS's, two jointers, a slot mortiser and a big RAS later, not to mention the wire and twist locks to hook all these up, I've probably spent more than a Felder or Minimax would have cost me. Of course, with ADHD, I'm not the kind of guy that likes a combo. I don't have to break down my shaper to use my saw, or vice versa, so thats good. When I space a set of doors, or make them the wrong size, its nice to have the shaper in the corner still set up. Of course with digital power height adjustment and a stack of extra spindles, every cutter I have could be seconds from set up. But I digress.

If its in the budget, and it what you want, go for it. If not, fahgetabout it. Superfluous in the long run either way.

[Steve Rowe]

Hindsight seems to always be 20/20. If only I knew then what I know now. Unfortunately, at that time with kids at home, mortgage and car payments, and college on the horizon, going high end European machines just wasn't in the cards.

I suspect that for most of us, if it wasn't for the lower price point machinery, we wouldn't have gotten involved in woodworking at all or at least very minimally. Like many, I have upgraded (in some cases more times than I care to admit) to get better equipment. I guess I could look at these as mistakes and should have purchased better but, it was what I was willing to spend at the time and it fulfilled its purpose.

[Jeffrey Makiel]

Going from "department store benchtop equipment" to Felder equipment is quite a large swing in the pendulum. I'm certain that there are plenty of offerings in the middle that are safe and effective to do our hobby with. For instance, I don't own any Felder equipment, and I don't feel unsafe as a result of this fact.

Also, I am curious as to what modifications that Bob made to his machines to improve safety that costed so much that a premium European brand would have been cheaper. Perhaps the folks here at SMC can offer lower cost alternatives/suggestions on how to improve safety on middle cost machinery. After all, SMC'ers are a clever bunch!

Lastly, I think everyone gradually upgrades their tools as they stay with the hobby. Nothing new here. My recommendation: don't fret over it, you're in good company. The good news is that the offerings today, versus 25 years ago, make 'smarter' equipment more accessible than ever before. I attribute this to the positive promotion of our hobby by woodworking TV shows and the free flowing knowledge on the internet.

-Jeff

[David DeCristoforo]

"...she was aware of one machine that would be a significant improvement over hers. It retails for $10,000.."

OK, here's my advice. Get the Felder stuff. But up your budget by ten grand and get your sweetie than sewing machine at the same time. Just saying....

[Bill ThompsonNM]

And of course the loml keeps saying her sewing machines work fine ...
(I did manage to buy her an antique singer featherweight when I bought my unisaw)
so you could try taking her to sewing/quilting shows. Nothing likeclooking at the machines in action..

[tim rowledge]

My advice, for what it's worth, would be to go with the classiest brand that you can get local service for; whether that is MiniMax, Felder, Hammer, err... running out of names here. I got MM through a combination of luck and a fantastic deal and it has served me very well. Everyone I know that has bought MM or Felder loves them.

If you have space, consider a pair of machines(saw/shaper and jointer/plane/mortiser) rather than the 5-in-1. Changeover doesn't take much time but it does take *some* time. Strongly consider the longer slider you can imagine fitting in; I have 5ft unit but the 8ft would make some jobs a lot easier. Spend some money on shaper tooling and consider a powerfeeder. And if you don't have one yet, get a big cyclone DC; the jointer/planer can overwhelm any lightweight CD with chips very easily.