What is your next tool purchase?

Mine is going to be the Grizzly 19” band saw. As soon as I become financially adjusted :)

John

-- John -- Racine, WI -- Woodworking..."It's not just a Hobby, it's an Adventure"

I’m not sure on make and model of bandsaw yet. Was looking at the “Rikon 14 deluxe bandsaw. I would love to find an old industrial saw.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

Wishlist of upgrades:

Cabinet Saw – considering Sawstop but may look at General or Hybrid
16-18” Bandsaw – Minimax
16-32 Drum Sander – Performax

More than likely, the tool budge is blown for quite some time. I hate to say what this spring’s upgrades set K and T Woodworking, back.

Plus, I have no room. :)

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

I would love to get a small CNC router for some production work, if I had the room, if I had the $, (if I had the time).

-- surplusdealdude

Thinking of a drum sander, leaning towards Woodtec 25”

-- Nicky

A Laguna brand band saw. Model # LT16. Just after I win the Power Ball Lottery.

-- Carpe Lignum - Seize The Wood,

Well last week I got the Jet 16” bandsaw and it’s quite the item… I’m really liking it. I already have the performax 16-32 so my next tool purchase will probably be either the Delta mortise machine of a floor model drill press.

I’m waiting for Wayne to stop by my shop and oogle all the cool toys I’ve got, and then it’ll be easier for me to convince him to come down here for the Saturday morning Central Valley Woodworkers Club (that he and I are going to start) and then maybe we can get Bill to drive the 13 miles from Turlock and we got that guy in Twain Harte that has his own mill… this could be quite the little venture…

-- http://ye-olde-cabinet-shoppe.com/

lathe

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

A large tenon saw and Dt saw from….

http://www.adriatools.com/

At least that’ll be my nest big purchase…

Jimmy

-- Jimmy

I got an 18” bandsaw a few weeks ago so that kind of taps me out for a bit.
Then I marched back an bout a down draft table.

p.s. the saw is on sale at Busybee tools for $799.00 CDN.

I paid the creeps $999.00 and they said is was retail $1299.00. – go figure.
“NAHC”- Not a Happy Camper!

I do have my eye on the new Leigh DT jigs.
If I was honest with myself, hand cutting is just about as easy with the proper saw , but…. (evil grin)

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

The Leigh jigs have been on my wish list for quite a while as well.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

I’m not sure I’d slow down if one of those creeps from Busy Bee was crossing the road, Bob. Sorry to hear about that little touch you just got.

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

Thanks for the scoop on Busy Bee. I’ve never heard of such a place, but if I hear of it, I’ll warn others.

-- http://ye-olde-cabinet-shoppe.com/

we bought several of our tools at Busy Bee. We had no difficulties.

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Sorry folks if I came across as trashing “Busy Bee Tools”
That was not my intention.
They have the right to merchandise their wares as they see fit.

I of course, have the right to discuss the merits of same.

Given the level of customer support I got when I called them and having had other problems that were not remedied at the store where I purchased them I am hard pressed to continue my support for their wares.

I think I would demand a “time limited price guarantee” on any major purchase from them were I to consider another in the future.

As an aside, when I asked them for an additional insert for my new bandsaw they told me to wait till Monday, and call head office and they would mail one out to me from there.
I’m scratching my head as to why they were not in stock and why I should have to pay $9.00 or $10.00 postage to ship one out when they have orders arriving weekly from head office.
When I returned a 1/2” bearinged router bit that fell apart on first use they again told me to call head office for a replacement.

The question becomes- “Why have an outlet here at all?”

Regards

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

good info to know.
I wouldn’t call it “bashing” if you are sharing the issues that you have dealt with!

I will be sure to watch for all of these things – where ever I purchase tools again!!

re: outlet. I think I would probably have just ordered it without questioning. ha.. Now I’d be saying, “No—you order it for me and I’ll stop by and pick it up”.

Sounds like you have had a series of frustrating interactions :(

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Finishing prep (sanding) is my least favorite activity (Amen?) but I’m thinking that maybe I would do a better job with some better sanding tools along this line. I’ve turned many “pretty good” projects into “okay” projects with my poor finsihing prep and finishing.

I’m considering everything from a better random orbit hand sander, to a oscilating spindle sander station, to a large stationary disk/belt sander station.

-- Paul, Texas

I’ve got my eye on a decent bandsaw. I currently own one that can’t outperform a $20 jigsaw. Anybody see the movie, “Office Space”? The scene where they take the copier for a long drive in the woods. Yeah, my bandsaw’s got it coming. Hehehe. I’ll start turning a bat for such a day. Seriously, I would love to have a bandsaw with enough HP to do some decent resawing. There have been some good bandsaw threads recently. I read an article praising Craftsman’s 1HP 14” steel body bandsaw the other day. It’s under $500. I’m most likely several months from the purchase though. Maybe Hohoho time.

-- Jeff, South Carolina

When I went for the bandsaw last week, there were several things that I took into consideration.

They started out at 12” 3/4 hp for $350.
12” 1 hp for $450
12” 1 1/4 hp for $550 these were Jets.

Then we jumped up to the 12” Powermatic 1 1/2 hp for $899 with a 6” resaw and right next to that one was the Jet 1 1/2 HP 16” with a 10” resaw for the same price as the Powermatic , but with 3 features that made the sale.
1) 4” more resaw capacity
2) Would accept a bigger blade
3) Same price

Jet made the sale.

-- http://ye-olde-cabinet-shoppe.com/

Fantasy: Festool sander
Reality: Kreg K3 upgrade kit. (just got it)

-- John

Those Festool Sanders are nice, John. I admittedly look for things to sand since getting one. I often resisted doing any sanding with with my DW sanders and used alot of card scrapers. With the Festool stuff, I still use scrapers, but sanding is almost fun….almost.

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

I’m looking to expand my hand tools. I’m looking at a nice bench plane, dovetail saw, and some nice chisels. I’m looking at Lie Nielsen’s products right now. I have a desire to add more hand work to my projects.

-- http://theinquisitivewoodworker.com/

I have three things I need to complete my shop and stop with the work arounds. First is a jointer. I would love the 8” but will probably have to settle for a good 6”, I don’t want to try and not turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse.

Second would be a Lathe. Again, I want to get decent quality so it will last and be safe and stable. I wouldn’t buy some of them for all the tea in “china”

Last but not least, a good dust collection system. I would like one large enough to be semi-permant, so I don’t have to move it from tool to tool to use it. I like the cyclone systems, they seem to be very effecent.

Now if I did hit the lottery, I would also like to upgrade the table saw. I have my craftsman about as tuned up as I can get it but it still spews dust and can get a to be a problem with large sheet goods. I could spend the $300 to upgrade the fence but would it be worth the money if I am going to replace the saw. One of life’s ponderances I suppose.

-- Greg - Charles Town, WV

I have all the tools I need, I won’t be buying any more…........yeah right

-- DocK, WV

I just purchased a Hitachi 12” compound miter saw! ;^) It’s still in the box, but I will share pictures, later. Future purchases: Rikon 14” band saw and/or a dedicated mortiser ( would love to get the Powermax).

-- Jesus is Lord!

You know it never seems to end. I pretty much have all of the major tools that I want, except probably the one that I should have purchased first – a jointer. The beauty of it is that now that I have all of the tools, I can now begin upgrading them :-)).

On another note, my last purchase was the Performax 16-32 drum sander. It is absolutely the most used and most useful tool in my shop now. I can flatten a board, joint narrower boards and cut down on some of my sanding. I wish I would have bought one years ago, great investent.

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

My next tool purchase is probably a planer. I am leaning towards the DeWalt DW735, but also looking at the Ridgid. Both received high marks from a woodworking magazine rating. Both are 13”, but there are some differences. The DeWalt is a three blade head, the Ridgid is two. The Ridgid comes with a stand and in/outfeed tables, where the DeWalt does not (extras). The Ridgid is $379 and the DeWalt is $549 for the planer alone.

Other items on the list include a drum sander and a table saw. After that, other tools can be upgrade as needed.

-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com

Bill, Went through that desision process last year on the planers. It finally came down to this, is that extra blade worth the extra money. After thinking about it, not really. I got the Rigid and have been very happy with it so far. My only complaint is I wish I could adjust the feed rate sometimes, but other than that is works great.

I did get the Rigid spindle/belt sander at the same time (that’s what I did with the price difference.) It gets great reviews for a reason. It is very easy to convert from Belt to spindle sanding and does a great job. at both. Well worth the investment.

-- Greg - Charles Town, WV

I have the rigid planer and am happy with it. I have been looking at the sander for a while. It looks pretty cool.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

Considering the only “Big” tool I have is a table saw the field is wide open. I’m thinking 14” and saw, table top planer, small drill press in that order with some hand tools mixed in. My lungs would like some better dust collection, but we’ll see how that goes.

-- Che.

After viewing some of the turned work and viewing some of the videos, I must confess, I am thinking, “What about a lathe?”

-- John

Mike, I bought a Lie Nielsen dovetail saw last year. They are amazing saws. The single best thing I purchased to cut the dovetail.

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

I own the Dewalt 13” 3 blade planer and love it.
I used my performax 16-32 drum sander as much as I used my tablesaw last year, but since I’ve moved into the shop I’ve used my planer more.

I can’t coplain. I got more tools than most and they happen to be the ones that rank very high on the list. i still need a mortise machine, a drill press, a lathe, several hand planes, and two or three more routers. 4 is not enough and I want to see which is the best one available.

-- http://ye-olde-cabinet-shoppe.com/

Wishlist (dependent on lottery win):
Full time shop heat and 220v electrical service
Bosch Colt VS laminate trim router kit with all the bases (serious scribing-in capacities)
Bosch 5” RO sander with dust collection adapter for vacuum
Triton 3.25 HP plunge router (the 9 year old PC 690 combo 1 3/4 HP is kinda beat up)
Fein VS Multimaster Detail Sander/Oscillating Saw

Forrest WWII TS blade
A visit from some machinist-smart person to tune up all the stationary shop tools that have over-wintered in the
garage for nearly a decade. Includes PALS trunnion adjustment for the TS.
Festool Domino

Likely purchase in reality:
New feed belt for Performax 10-20 drum sander
Bottle of Old Brown Glue

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

At this point in time, I don’t have anything on my wish list. It would be nice to have bigger bandsaw, but I can resaw about 10” now. The jointer and planer are new, carbide insert cutting heads. The TS is great, I just picked up 3 new/used blades for it (free) 16” diam. Most of my tools are pre dust collection versions. So I need to get better dust collection, but the dust collector is ok its just the tubing. I’ve got the Roybi 16/32 sander and it works great. I replaced the feed belt (rubber) with a Performax version (sandpaper) and it works a lot better for consistant feeding.

A heavier duty drill press might be a nice purchase. Cutting a 3” forstner bit in oak or walnut seems to stop the drill bit quite often. Maybe replacing it with a milling machine would be the answer. and then I could also mill all of my tenons.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

I just got my hydro bill.. my wishlist item is a solar-power system, powerful enough to run my shop :)

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Debbie, you gotta take that hat off. It’s a hunnerd degrees out for crying out loud

-- http://ye-olde-cabinet-shoppe.com/

I’m floating down the river—it’s cooler on the river!

(and YOU have a hat on!!!! )

:D

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Didn’t you read that it was snowing as she was building their shed a week ago.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

hey… when I got up this morning—the furnace was on!!!!
Pool water 86 F… and the furnace came on over night… sheesh.. I took care of that pretty darned fast. I don’t own a beaver hat for nothing1!

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

—-I want one of these….!
V8 Chainsaw2
....or….
Harley Chainsaw

GODSPEED,
Frank

-- --frank, NH, http://frank.wordpress.com/

oh my goodness… lol that is just too funny
BOYS and their toyS!!!

maybe Paul Bunyan could have used them

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Those are great Frank. Must have items for every father.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov