I'm baaaaack after 7 years

[Todd Solomon]

Hi all,

I hit the pause button on woodworking 7 years ago when I got into auto racing. Between needing a place for my cars and not having enough time to woodwork, I sold my big dream machines. Back in the day, I had a Felder sliding table saw, Felder jointer-planer and MM16 bandsaw, among some other nice stationary equipment. I also downsized from a three to a two car garage, so the big tools had to go!

Fast forward to today, I'm about ready to move into a home with a three car garage. I no longer race competitively, but I do go to track days with my Viper ACR a few times a year. And my three kids are growing up and want to do woodworking projects with me. Time to get back into the hobby!

I see Jim Becker is still here and active!

This time around, I'm going a little smaller and less expensive. I kept my nice hand planes, chisels, and Festools. I'm about to spring for a few machines, likely a DeWalt DWE7491RS table saw, DeWalt 735 planer (had one years ago and loved it), Grizzly G0490X 8" jointer with spiral head, and looking hard at the Delta 50-767T2 dust collector. I'll also get a trusty Forrest WWII thin-kerf and some sort of miter gage, Kreg KMS7102 is what I'm thinking of. Everything's got to be on wheels and reasonably small footprint when not in use. The exception is the jointer, can't see going smaller than 8". Feel free to comment on that list, as I welcome suggestions .

Anyhow, just wanted to say hi and see how things are here at the Creek!

Todd

[Mark Hockenberg]

Hi Todd,

Welcome back. One of my good friends is a retired racer - He raced Le Monde prototypes. Hopefully woodworking will cost you a bit less and you'll enjoy it again. I've been in the Creek for about a year and it's my favorite forum. I find the advise is great and it's a friendly place to hang out.

Cheers,
Mark

[Todd Solomon]

Thanks Mark,

Those Le Monde prototypes must have been a blast! I raced Mustangs mainly because I could afford them. My track car now is a '16 Viper ACR, hard for any street car to keep up with that beast. Now I'm looking forward to making some sawdust with my kids.

Cheers

Todd

[Jim Becker]

Welcome back, Todd....the water's still quite warm here. 'Glad you're going to get back into some woodworking!!

[Todd Solomon]

Thanks Jim, great to be back

[Lee Schierer]

If I were starting a shop with my kids, who have little experience, I would invest in a saw stop saw.

[David Eisenhauer]

Hello Todd. As always, it depends on what you will most likely be building when it comes time to select which equipment purchases you need to make. If you think you will mostly work with sheet goods for cabinets and carcases, then a TS looks pretty useful. If I intended to use a TS as my primary piece of equipment, I might consider a little more substantial saw than the DeWalt you mentioned, but here I am throwing a little bit of shade on a machine I have not personally used, so take my word for what it is worth. If you will work more with timber for furniture pieces, then that MM 16 is looking real good. And budget figures in as usual. The BS and a a Saw Stop sound safer for kids. Lots of choices that may be better identified if you identify your target projects. And it is often suggested to buy tools/equipment as you need rather than a bunch of stuff up front before actually getting started. If you were there seven years ago, then nothing has changed much and you've heard all this before. Good luck figuring it out.

[Todd Solomon]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. My kids are 14, 16 and 19, so I think with proper training and supervision, I will be comfortable with them using any of the above mentioned equipment.

As for projects, my daughter would like to make a small solid wood chest. In the future, I imagine I’ll do a little of everything, some furniture, cabinets for the garage and misc. DIY projects. I have a fair amount of experience so I know I’ll need a small table saw, jointer and planer. I have a track saw for large sheet goods and a jigsaw to substitute for a bandsaw (and a whole lot of Festools and hand tools for other tasks).

Main issue is the small amount of room I have. As I think it through, I could fit a small slider such as the Hammer K3 31 x 31 with a mobility kit. Anything larger is out of the question. I could pair that with a Minimax FS30, I had one many years ago and loved it. I used that extra jointer width frequently.

I’ve got to think through mobility kits for both the K3 and FS30 if I go this route.