Introduction
I am glad to find such a great place to mull over woodwroking ideas. I have been locked in a construction phase for several years now. Constructed a building to do dog training in, finished a basement, finished a play/study/multimedia room for my daughter, storage building, chicken house...Now I think its time to start building shelves, cabinets and furniture.
My shop Plan
My "shop" has been an unfinshed storage bin for construction materials and tools. I am in the process of reworking this 15.5 X 20 room into a real functional work shop. Just off this room I have another smaller room that was serving as a materials storage room. As the construction materials got used up, my wife slyly began to fill the gaps with other junk that I am now trying to relocate. Just off my shop there is a covered patio, with the house on two sides and a concrete wall backed with dirt on a third side.
I am setting up my rough sawing (12" mitre saw & sawing rig, old rough bench, saw horses and a painting/sanding etc table) on the concrete floor of the patio. I hope that moving the dustier work to a semi outdoor area will help me get by a little longer without a true dust collecting system.
Dilemmas
I have a bunch of tools, but most of them are geared for construction not wood working. I bought a double vise workbench and I have some pretty good hand tools which I upgraded over Christmas. I think my greatest weakness is the lack of a table saw capable of handling large wood and panels. My greatest challenge is all those tools, screws, nails etc. without good places to store them. I have a couple over flowing metal shelves and a couple particle board storage cabinets that may not be strong enough to hold the weight of my materials and tools. I am currently covering the stud walls with 3/8 plywood ( I had some of this on hand), two walls are concrete (basement). I want to make wall and base cabinets for this shop ASAP. I am thinking about running 220 to one wall before I finish it.
I have been reading all the posts on table saws with great interest. I was thinking about trying to sneak by with a table mount table saw (building a work station around it) but my reading has about convinced me that I should go ahead and get a contractor or cabinet saw. I was checking out the Powermatic 1791227K Model 64 10" Artisan, left tilt table saws that I see such great internet deals on but The Grizzly 1023SL Cabinet saw sure seems to have a great number of strong followers.
I am wondering if a novice planning to build a bunch of shelves and cabinets in the near future can justify the Grizzly? I am pretty good at cutting plywood with a skill saw. I suspect that building all of the European style cabinet bases I am planning on would be an exercise in futility without a good table saw though.
One other thing, I am on 12 acres covered in timber. I always seem to have a nice hardwood or two or 6 that have to come down. I sure would like to turn some of it into boards. I guess my ancient 12 " Inca band saw is not going to "cut" it.