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Thread: what would be the best way to spend $300?

  1. #16
    Hi -

    I would start by looking at the tools you will use the most - and ensure you have good ones. Measuring, marking, layout is a good place to start. Sharpening is a gateway skill - make sure you have what you need (including books, video) to do that.

    Buy what you need to support specific projects - avoid looking for what you might think you need down the road.

    Stay away form big ticket items until you know you need it .... Consider used/antique tools until you have developed a method of work preference...

    Cheers -

    Rob

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Koepke View Post
    Any neighbors? Maybe an easy to reach extension phone in the shop.
    It's not hard to find cordless landline phones. Cordless so you can carry it in your pocket; landline so that, when you dial 911 just before you pass out, the police/ambulance can find you quickly.

    If your shop is close enough to the house, the radio signal from the base station might be able to reach a cordless phone.

    This assumes, of course, that you're one of those dinosaurs like me who still has a landline phone.

  3. #18
    I just tap mine on the workbench, works better than micro adjust, there is enough give in the o-ring that it moves when tapping, but does not move when marking.

    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Sommers View Post
    wow! Those look stunning and have a price tag to match.

    I have this: http://www.leevalley.com/US/Wood/pag...44&cat=1,42936
    and this: http://www.leevalley.com/US/Wood/pag...55&cat=1,42936 the imperial standard, I wish I would have bought the micro adjust, but so far I'm surviving.

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
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    Williamsburg,Va.
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    12,402
    All right,I'll take it back about the wine and women. Everyone knows I'm a huge tool pig!

    I think the best advice has been given: Wait till you actually need something.

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Nov 2015
    Location
    Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
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    55
    You're starting off in a new direction ... you'll make what in retrospect will be false starts. That's how we find our way.

    But — as you've indicated — you don't want to make a mistake that will injure or kill you. If you are anxious about serious injury or death in your workshop, there is something wrong with your workspace or workflow. Before you advance further, I suggest addressing and resolving your concern (which is, evidently, well-placed). The _second_ kickback using the same equipment is worrisome — it tells me that:

    • you never adequately solved the issue, and
    • you repeated a dangerous behavior knowing it was dangerous.

    It can be argued that never using a table saw again is a wise course to take. I propose that you do better — one can seriously injure oneself with human-powered tools, and you, yourself, seem not unlikely to injure yourself at some point with motor-driven equipment. Most importantly, train yourself to heed that voice in your head that warns you, before you do something, "This might not go the way you want". Then, spend the time _understanding_ why the kickback occurred. Even if you never use a table saw again, the time spent gaining this understanding, and the understanding itself, will not be wasted: they will have heightened your perceptions and awareness, and given you an invaluable template for controlling your equipment, regardless of your activity.

    For $300, _assuming that you will have some money to spend on additional equipment in the future_, I suggest:
    - An excellent, new, low-angle jack plane and two blades. Lee Valley and Lie-Nielsen planes are superb. Put a camber on one blade for rough removal and for smoothing, leave a straight edge on the other for chuting. Read on-line about using one plane for multiple tasks.
    Then, as soon as possible, get:
    - A 1000/8000 waterstone for sharpening your blades.
    - A precision saddle square (such as this one).

    Every woodworker should have at least one fantastic plane — to me, planing is one of the fundamental miracles of woodworking. After that, buy what you need to make what you want as well as you want to make it. The plane requires a sharp and re-sharpenable blade. Sharpening requires stones. Stones need to be flattened. Flattening requires some kind of lapping plate. And so on.

    Good luck!
    Last edited by Kirby Krieger; 04-15-2016 at 2:31 PM.

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Columbus, Ohio, USA
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    3,441
    Bill Houghton said you should cut down severly warped stock before dimensioning. Yes, for certain. I have seen this many times. Just yesterday I had a board that was pretty straight on both ends but it had this wicked curve about 2/3 down one side. I cut it at the curve, which allowed me to have 3/4" stock rather than 3/8" stock.

    Prashun Patel suggests that you do not just dump the table saw. I think that it might be nice to know why there was a kickback. Do you have a riven knife, for example? Jeffrey Martel made some good things to check.

    I think that Jim Koepke alluded to what I think is the best thing for you to purchase..... Choose a project then figure out what you do not have that you need to finish the project. Oh, Prashun AND George Wilson stated this as well.

    Now, what might you need?


    1. Sharpening supplies (Kirby Krieger)
    2. Marking tools. If you intend to make boxes, you need to be able to mark your lines. You can make one or buy one (http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/Pag...55&cat=1,42936)
    3. How will you make your boxes? What other tools do you need for that? Dovetail saw?


    If you live close by (you do not mention where you live), you can try some of my tools to see what works well for you.

    Andrew Pitonyak

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    Binghamton NY
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    16
    This isn't any type of answer to the original questions, but I just wanted to point out that the owner of Lee Valley/Veritas Tools, Rob Lee posted a reply earlier. Not only did he do a great job of answering the questions, he didn't try to sell his whole store to this person. He could of easily said "yes go buy a LAJ and while you're at it, since we have free shipping you should get the whole LA line up" But he didn't. There's to many companies that once they here you're considering buying one of they're products they want to sell you that plus the whole store. This has turned longer than I thought, but I just wanted to point this out (even though most of you probably already know). That's a true friend to the woodworking community and I thank you Rob!

    Tyler

  8. #23
    Tyler, he doesn't do that because he knows that people like you and I will read his post and then make the comment you just made. Make no mistake, he's an evil genius

  9. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Sommers View Post
    I am a newbie hybrid...
    I have my table saw up for sale. I had two cases of kickback using my cross cut sled. Thankfully nothing became airborne, but I did get the sled jammed back at me VERY QUICKLY. Now I'm spooked! I haven't used my TS since and besides I don't have the room for one anyway. I'd rather have space and be able to walk around the shop without bumping into everything.
    Brian, I am a hybrid woodworker. I use any tool that gets the job done.. Having said all that I couldn't imagine a shop without a tablesaw, or a bandsaw.. Just out of curiosity when you use the crosscut sled,were you by chance using the rip fence as the length stop?

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Nov 2015
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    Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rob Lee View Post
    Sharpening is a gateway skill - make sure you have what you need (including books, video) to do that.
    Rob
    IME, _cannot_ be overstated. I think of it as a "draw-bridge and portcullis" skill: you simply can't get over to the land of Woodworking, let alone into the Village of Craft, without understanding and mastering sharpening. Personally, I use the "Charlesworth Method". His DVD/video lays it out well.

  11. #26
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Renton, WA
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    228
    Brian whatever you do take a phone with you to the shop. If you get hurt bad 911 is your only option. I work alone a lot and it is important to have some option when you get hurt. Also spend some of that $300 on a first aid kit. Since you are relatively new at this hobby plan your power tool work with safety first. With experience comes the confidence to do things.

  12. #27
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    SoCal
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    866
    Maybe take a class about table saw usage? Failing that there are plenty of YouTube videos out there.

    I'd love to tell you go buy a shiny new plane (and yes it feels good) but follow Rob Lee's advice. He wants to sell you a tool - but only when you are sure you need it. That's not the way I've done things but that's my advice.

  13. #28
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    May 2015
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    NJ
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Houghton View Post
    It's not hard to find cordless landline phones. Cordless so you can carry it in your pocket; landline so that, when you dial 911 just before you pass out, the police/ambulance can find you quickly.

    If your shop is close enough to the house, the radio signal from the base station might be able to reach a cordless phone.

    This assumes, of course, that you're one of those dinosaurs like me who still has a landline phone.
    They can find you just fine on a cell phone - rather quickly too.

  14. #29
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Temecula,CA
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    442
    When I was younger, I worked as an electrician for several years. I worked with several journeymen during my apprenticeship, but one guy said something I'll never forget. " The moment you don't respect the dangers of electricity, that's when it'll bite you." I look at all dangerous activities in this way these days. I figure a little fear and respect can go a long way towards making you slow down and take safety more importantly.

    Like others have said, I normally rough cut my pieces before milling. In the case of small boxes, especially ones that you might resaw your stock in order to have the grain wrap around, you might be better off choosing pieces that are relatively defect free when possible.

    I dont use a thickness planer or a table saw. I also have some expensive hand tools that I bought brand new that I don't use as often as I thought I would. The thing is, when you first start out with hand tools most folks have a hard time knowing what sharp properly performing tools feel like. It's hard to tune a common #5 if you don't know what the tool should perform like. In my case, I spent big dollars on a LN smoothing plane and it is without a doubt one of the best tools I've ever held. But, and here's the kicker, I have recently tuned a #4 Stanley that my Dad gave me and it is actually my go to smoother. That's a long way of saying you can get reliable performance out of vintage tools, once you know how they should work and feel when tuned and sharp. You mentioned you have a guy who can tune these for you so maybe you already have a good idea of what the tools should feel like. The Schwarz recommends spending premium dollars on a jointer plane, I got an old round side bedrock #7 fromTablesawTom a couple years ago and it is dead flat. Vintage jointer planes are pretty hard to flatten I'm told. Then again for box making, you probably won't need a #7 but if you make anything with pieces longer than two foot or so you might need to think about one.

    The LV low angle Jack is an awesome tool as well. I am in love with it and use it quite often, but truth be told I could probably let it go as I have a 5 with decent camber, a great jointer, and a premium smoother. I guess I use it as more of a small jointer plane.

    Anyways, I hope I didn't wear your ear out! In the end, if you buy a premium tool you can feel confident that if you decide to sell it they hold their value quite well.

  15. #30
    Becoming a Contributor to SMC would be an EXCELLENT way to spend $6 of that $300, Brian.
    "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

    “If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”

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