Shop Equipment Advice Wanted

[Archie England]

I live in the deep South where humidity is horrendous; but I've managed to have very low rust in my garage shop over the last 11 years. Be sure to leave a fan on to circulate the air 24/7. Rust on you TS and other heavy equipment can be a bummer.

I also believe a bench is the #1 tool (with at least one vise) to begin WW. My first two were disasters; the third try has been mostly great.

Two questions directed toward me were largely helpful-- (1) what do I intend to build, and (2) will I use plywood or milled wood stock? A band saw outperforms a table saw for ripping (especially with no danger of kickback). Get a robust bandsaw with at least 10" of throat clearance. The taller, the better. With all the warpage of wood, a jointer and a planer are likewise superior to a table saw in addressing cupping, twisting, etc. Unfortunately, wood other than plywood moves a lot once the cutting begins--the thicker the start size, typically the more noticeable the movement.

If you've got the funds, Sams carries a Maple slab workbench that can also house a separate tool storage unit (approx 72Lx26wx36.5h). It's not the perfect bench but it sure beats the clumsy crap I first built.

Have fun and be safe.

[Evan Stewart]

A good bench/assembly table can be made using a solid core door atop 2 saw horses or roll-away cabinets (preferably with casters removed). But you really need a woodworking vise.

+1 i use salvaged doors for all work surfaces. They are $20 at the salvage shop up the street. Because space is also limited in my shop i have a few of them set up for different stages of work and i can interchange them on the same base.

[Evan Stewart]

If your tools have accessories that allow you to connect them to a shop vac you might want to start focusing on dust control. Get a shop vac and put a Dust Deputy or Rockler Dust Right Separator between the tool and the shop vac to collect the dust & chips. Of course you'll want a hose long enough to be comfortable, and I've moved to smaller diameter 1-1/4 inch hose - not the 2.5 inch stuff - for hand-held tools.

I've been reading about how poorly most shop vacs do in catching the very fine dust that is the biggest risk to your health, so I've added the best filter I can to my shop vac and have started wearing a good half-mask respirator while cutting. I try to leave the area for a while after cutting to let the dust settle before returning. There is a big benefit to working in a garage where you can open the large door to get lots of fresh air and hopefully get some flow-through to remove the dust.

This is a must for sure! If you do set up a separation system you can add a filter bag to the shop vac or get a drywall dust filter for your shop vac that will catch a lot of the fine particles. I found a dywall vac on Craigslist that has a 3 stage filter and i attach it to my sanders, palm router, biscuit joiner and other hand held tools and it works great. I do need to clean the filters frequently but i can see how much it is catching and the last filter is usually clean so i feel like it is able to capture pretty much everything that makes it in. I feel that this particular type of vac does equivalent level of filtration as my dust collector on a much smaller scale.

[Ted Reischl]

A band saw outperforms a table saw for ripping (especially with no danger of kickback). Get a robust bandsaw with at least 10" of throat clearance. The taller, the better. With all the warpage of wood, a jointer and a planer are likewise superior to a table saw in addressing cupping, twisting, etc. Unfortunately, wood other than plywood moves a lot once the cutting begins--the thicker the start size, typically the more noticeable the movement.

I am going to respectfully disagree with most of what you wrote there.

A bandsaw "outperforms" a table saw for ripping? Not hardly. No matter what you do on that bandsaw you must then clean up the raggedy edge it cuts. I will agree that a jointer works well for removing cupping and twisting. But a table saw with a sled or long fence will work just fine for jointing edges.

I don't know where you buy your wood or if you cut it yourself. Most of the wood I buy does NOT move a lot once the cutting begins. I do a lot of big box store pine which is notorious for movement but it is not "a lot". And frankly, I expect it and joint it on the table saw way faster than you ever will on a jointer.

Here is one of the nasty little myths of woodworking: Joint one edge straight, then cut the opposite edge on the saw, it will be parallel. By your own statement doing so will cause the wood to move and that is the end of the jointed edge being straight. And that is exactly my experience.

If bandsaws "outperformed" table saws, the table saws would have gone the way of dinosaurs by now. But they haven't. For a good reason. They outperform bandsaws for ripping stock up to about 3 inches thick.

Oh, and ripping on the bandsaw will not prevent the wood from moving, at all.

[Archie England]

Hello Ted,

Appreciate your honest feedback.

I tend to need clean up even after a TS at times; but, yes, all the time following the band saw. I do believe ripping is safer on the bs; perhaps that's just preference since I tend to start with half logs. Though I've rehabbed a beautiful old PM66 from the early 80s, I'm moving further away from the TS for numerous reasons--the 10 most important being my fingers.

I guess my counsel is based upon my own personal entry into ww, in which the cure to all needs and problems was a table saw. Having started with a lower end saw, however, was very frustrating. It wasn't until I used the PM66 that I got better results. And, absolutely I can get great finished edges on many table saw cuts--just not all. For that reason, I've adapted to chasing the bs with planes to sneak up on the edge I want.

Thanks again, for improving on what I said. I'm still learning and certainly don't want to provide errant information.

[John K Jordan]

I tend to need clean up even after a TS at times; but, yes, all the time following the band saw. I do believe ripping is safer on the bs; perhaps that's just preference since I tend to start with half logs. Though I've rehabbed a beautiful old PM66 from the early 80s, I'm moving further away from the TS for numerous reasons--the 10 most important being my fingers. ...

Archie,

I agree with you about the bandsaw. For me, the bandsaw is the most important and useful large power tool in my shop (besides my lathes). And the safest saw too. Ripping, green wood from (round) logs, preparing turning blanks, resawing, crosscuts on short things - I use my bandsaws more than my cabinet saw or small TS. For smaller work, I would rather rip small things with the bandsaw then clean up with a plane as needed. If I were building big things, or horrors, cabinets, I would probably use my TS more. (I have a new PM66 with a Robland sliding table in the shop.)

Of course, it ALL boils down to what kind of things one does in the shop. My needs are certainly different from the next guy. And some of it depends on each person's experience and how he was taught or learned to do things. A production shop needs are likely pretty far from a hobby shop too.

An important issue might be the bandsaw itself, the blade, and how it's set up. A small, cheap, poorly adjusted bandsaw with the wrong blade is not a joy to use. I mostly use an 18" Rikon in the shop, occasionally a smaller Delta, and a Woodmizer outside.

JKJ

[Archie England]

A production shop needs are likely pretty far from a hobby shop too.

An important issue might be the bandsaw itself, the blade, and how it's set up. A small, cheap, poorly adjusted bandsaw with the wrong blade is not a joy to use. I mostly use an 18" Rikon in the shop, occasionally a smaller Delta, and a Woodmizer outside.

JKJ

Two great points JKJ.

An older friend gave me his vintage Sears 12" band saw. With a 1/4" blade it struggled on most cuts in anything deeper than 3/8 wood. I gave it away and replaced it with a stout 16" Jet, with several blades; but my go to blade is 3/4" that rips all but the half logs like butter. Plus, this blade tracks very straight rips unless I'm using bad technique. A quality TS is a tremendous tool, just not necessarily the single best one around which to build a shop since that depends upon your projects.

[Roger Feeley]

Build something for the bride. The best investment if you are thinking long-term. Always keep a steady stream of work coming out of the shop.

[Ted Reischl]

Buy the USB thumb drive that has every Shop Notes on it. Knowledge is way more useful than tools. After all, if you do not know WHAT you can build you will wind up building goofy stuff, like workbenches that wobble.

[Robert Newton]

A good disc / belt sander.

[Bill White]

If you are using the blade that came on your TS, spring for a good quality combo saw blade. You'll be amazed what a good blade can do even on a moderate table saw.
Bill