Woodworking tools: What's needed, practical ?

The grinding machine thread got to be interesting. 1-phase vs. 3-phase, converters, etc. Big help for John Ziegler. So maybe a pass on woodworking and general shop tools will get similar results.

What do you guys like for woodworking tools ?

Is it all power tools ? What's a middle-of-the-road setup list for a do-it-yourself ATM ? Neat workarounds ?

Anything to avoid ? (Sears Flex Shaft table saw, Central Machinery everything....) Sites that support amateur woodworking ?

The Equipment forum ran a thread on carry-along scopes. Pretty amazing stuff.... ;^) Same for tools ???

For me, it would be a good quality table saw and a good plunge router with a circle cutting guide. Those, along with a decent hand drill and bits, can go a long way for you. I made a lot of scopes and things with just cheap hand tools and having a table saw and router have made it sooooo much easier.
Bill in SA

I'm a professional cabinetmaker with my own shop [35 years], so I already have everything. My minimum setup for light woodworking would be a benchsaw [tablesaw], maybe the Ryobi, something that would cut to the center of a 4' X 8' sheet of plywood, or 24". A takeoff table for it, so you can slide the sheet off without it overbalancing. Small jointer, maybe Delta. Drillpress. Drill motors, router, sabersaw, belt sander, orbital sander.

For increased capabilities, a pockethole cutter, plate joiner, bandsaw, Fein machine, doweling jig, planer, router table, and LOTS of clamps.

Use pushsticks, hold-downs, and jigs for safety, wear eye and face protection, and don't do any operation you're not comfortable with.

All the above suggestions are excellent.

If I had only a smaller fixed-base 1.5HP router (like the Porter Cable), a simple shop-made router table, a small power drill, a random orbital palm sander, several shop-made jigs for cutting straight edges and circles with the router, and some basic hand tools, I could make an attractive, functional telescope. If I were to add to that list tools that would make things more convenient and enjoyable, I would include the following:

- 1" belt/5" disk sander (Delta)
- Circular saw & straight edge (table saw replacement)
- Plunge base for router (Porter Cable)
- A small, benchtop drill press (Harbor Freight)
- Drill jig (for drilling 90-deg holes that you can't reach on the small drill press
- Jig/saber saw (any)
- Small 3-wheel bandsaw (Grizzly)
- Cheap compressor, finish spray gun, small brad nailer (Harbor Freight)
- Small jointer (Delta/Grizzly)
- Power miter saw (any)
- Mini-metal lathe (Harbor Freight)

Harbor Freight and Grizzly Industrial sell many tools that are highly useful and great values. Many/most tools are made or sourced in China now, so it makes no sense to try to avoid them for quality reasons.

My 10" dob was the first time I've done any woodworking since making a rotten spice cabinet in the 9th grade. I was able to get by with these tools:

1) Hammer
2) Screwdriver
3) Cheap cordless drill
4) Fairly cheap hand jigsaw
5) Free hand-me-down circular saw from my brother-in-law who upgraded

There are plenty of tools that would have made the job easier, like a table saw as mentioned by some. But it's hard to buy tools if you've spent your tools money on optics. :-)

Bandsaw: the recommendation for the little 3-wheel bench model is interesting. These sell for $100 - $160. $140 gets a 3/4 HP motor, variable speed control (220-2300 fpm) and access to wood and metal blades.

Everybody likes band saws. The professional models are the preferred basic tool for home work.

Table saw. Recommended strongly, but not universally. A first-rate fence is the #1 requirement. Grizzly.com has a belt-driven super saw for $ 825 (G1023) and a competent worm-gear positioned direct drive for $325 (G1022SM). Somewhere in there....

Router. Big votes for the router. Shapes wood end-surfaces quickly and precisely. Cuts circles, odd shapes to patterns.

Ed recommends building your own router table -- large and convenient. James, the same. Sounds good.

Fein Cutter oscillating machine. Fein's a German company. Fein originated oscillating power tools. This is not the Fein MultiMaster. Cost is high: near $500. Zillions of attachments.

Most ATMers have a Dremel. Add a flex shaft... get similar functionality to the Fein Cutter.

Pocket joiner. Got zip for this on google. A small cabinet joiner, but I'm not sure what James has in mind. The biscuit joiner is a professional tool, but the biscuit attachment for a router is an ace.

Most amateurs use dowels to get strength. A hand drill makes clean doweling holes with crisp Forstner drill bits. Forstner set, $25 ecomm. A drill jig is useful.

Scopes make light demands.

Planer... portable, high-speed knives. The portable planers cost $200 - $350 for a 12" capacity throat. The hand power tool type of planer is not as useful, unless you're building houses.

An alternative is the hand finishing plane, $30 new. The hand plane does small surface corrections and bevels. Test of finger skills.

Ed Taychert has a wonderful comment about building a scope with just a jig saw and a drill. Ed poo-poo's the mighty table saw. He gets those cuts done at the lumber yard.

Sanders. Porter-Cable's electric finishing sander get the nod for 110V units. If you have air, a small jitterbug and any 6" orbital rotary are useful. The air 6" orbital is tops for removing lots of material.

Drill press is universally recommended. Bench top, $ 100-175. Get one that has a crank to set the table height.

Joiner. Heavy equipment. Bevels and rabbiting. Not necessary, as a router with a big table does the trick.

Clamps. Buy 'em, make your own. All are good.

Thanks to everyone !!