Indeed! I'll also mention long sleeves, gloves and drawstrings (like on a hoodie or jacket).
This is also a good time to link this fantastic table saw safety thread.
Table Saw Safety
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Workshop Tools - the essentials???
- Thread starter BassHappy
- Start date
Indeed! I'll also mention long sleeves, gloves and drawstrings (like on a hoodie or jacket).
This is also a good time to link this fantastic table saw safety thread.
Table Saw Safety
Having owned a Shopsmith, there is one place they excell.......a cottage. Otherwise, the job needs to be really well planned to execute the task at hand in a way that doesn't have you reconfiguring the unit an excessive number of times. I recommended it as it seem to appear that the price was right, possibly minimal to nothing.
Hey Everyone
Well, I must say - I feel like an absolute fool - indicating my "LIKE" for almost every post in this thread! It seems almost patronizing and a bit of a sham for me to do so - but it's real. So many of you to thank for imparting your wisdom and your considered advice. I really appreciate it. Such a diversity and a wealth of experience and knowledge.
I am thinking that since I have such handy and ongoing access to the other well-equipped shop - I should use them for all the "millwork". When I purchased the two 9 footers - Honduras mahogany and flamed maple - I had the yard cut them down to approximately 20" sections, so I could get them in my car. Later on, I discovered an ambrosia in the maple on one of the maple tops, and it made it unusable - at least for me. Had I taken my time and examined the lumber more carefully, I might have detected it and figured a way to work around it. I didn't need the full 20" - and maybe I would have had 5 nice maple tops instead of 4. You live and you learn.
With their table saw, radial arm saw, jointer and thickness planer - I can get the bodies pretty much clamp and glue ready - and then carry on in my own shop. The band saw is a must and I can see where the drill press and a good router - and even a router sled - would be pretty essential. I love the idea of buying the tools as I need them and as I go along - and yes, it will certainly be a while before I even consider building and fretting my own necks!
I also have the distinct advantage of calling on Glenn and Ernie at their shop to get me over any bumps in the road, so that is a real plus. Thanks again everyone - for doing such a great job of pointing me in the right direction!
Well, I must say - I feel like an absolute fool - indicating my "LIKE" for almost every post in this thread! It seems almost patronizing and a bit of a sham for me to do so - but it's real. So many of you to thank for imparting your wisdom and your considered advice. I really appreciate it. Such a diversity and a wealth of experience and knowledge.
I am thinking that since I have such handy and ongoing access to the other well-equipped shop - I should use them for all the "millwork". When I purchased the two 9 footers - Honduras mahogany and flamed maple - I had the yard cut them down to approximately 20" sections, so I could get them in my car. Later on, I discovered an ambrosia in the maple on one of the maple tops, and it made it unusable - at least for me. Had I taken my time and examined the lumber more carefully, I might have detected it and figured a way to work around it. I didn't need the full 20" - and maybe I would have had 5 nice maple tops instead of 4. You live and you learn.
With their table saw, radial arm saw, jointer and thickness planer - I can get the bodies pretty much clamp and glue ready - and then carry on in my own shop. The band saw is a must and I can see where the drill press and a good router - and even a router sled - would be pretty essential. I love the idea of buying the tools as I need them and as I go along - and yes, it will certainly be a while before I even consider building and fretting my own necks!
I also have the distinct advantage of calling on Glenn and Ernie at their shop to get me over any bumps in the road, so that is a real plus. Thanks again everyone - for doing such a great job of pointing me in the right direction!
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Thinking about this as I'm working today, I realize that it's important to determine what kinds of builds you'll be doing. I don't use "tops" or make wood "sandwiches" for my bodies, and most often will buy a neck as opposed to make one. So I don't own a bandsaw, and have gotten along fine without it. Certainly, it would have made a few processes easier, and I really missed one when I did make the few necks, it's not essential for the types of builds I do. I find a table saw essential, but i can see how other builders wouldn't really need one. I like using a belt sander for body contours, but a rasp would do easily enough.
I made my first build with just a drill press, power drill, jig saw, and router, along with the associated bits, attachments, and templates (and home made drum sander that fit into the drill press, made with a hole saw). Along with clamps, sandpaper and sanding blocks, files/rasps and a variety of drill bits - forstner, brad point, and twist bits. Your milage may vary.
I made my first build with just a drill press, power drill, jig saw, and router, along with the associated bits, attachments, and templates (and home made drum sander that fit into the drill press, made with a hole saw). Along with clamps, sandpaper and sanding blocks, files/rasps and a variety of drill bits - forstner, brad point, and twist bits. Your milage may vary.
Hopkins
Commercial User
Just out of curiosity, what do you use your table saw for that makes it so essential?
Hopkins
Commercial User
IMHO, a router is by far the most necessary power tool, more so than a bandsaw ore drill press
So when I buy wood from the wood store, many times the edges are rough cut, so I have to make them straight and square in order to glue up the 2 body halves. Sure, I could use the router, but that would cause a bit a wear on the bit. So I run each side through the table saw, and then hand sand them down to removed the saw marks. Or, run that through the router and jig, taking down just a smidgen to make it perfectly flat for gluing.
Headstock wings.
Making templates out of plywood, I'll use the table saw to cut the strips to the correct size.
The list goes on.
Hopkins
Commercial User
I have a top bearing upcut spiral bit that I use in conjunction with a straight edge to get rough lumber ready for glue up. It makes for a perfect glue joint. The only time I have ever used my table saw for building purposes was cutting strips of cedar for the bracing on my acoustic guitar build.
I need to upgrade my router. I'll bet I would be less dependent on the table saw if I had a proper router. I think that's my next purchase after the compressor.
Hopkins
Commercial User
I am a Porter Cable guy to the core when it comes to routers. I wouldn't recommend anything else.
Hey Hopkins and 'Glo
I hear you both and thanks for weighing in. The flamed maple billet I bought was 9' long and just under two inches thick by just under 8" wide. After I had it cut in 20" sections and got it back to the shop, we had an awful lot of millwork to do before we could book match it and glue it up. While the board was beautiful and I was really enamored by the pale area near the center, it had some warpage and we spent quite a while with the table saw, jointer and thickness planer to get it to a workable state.
Since I am highly inexperienced in these type of things, I have no idea if this is the norm. I would have thought that you buy a board, true it up on the table saw and get out the glue - but at least on these, there was quite a bit of millwork to do.
Hopkins
Commercial User
You have to have a true edge already to true true up the other one on a table saw. I use a router and a flush trim bit because it gives a perfect glue edge with no saw marks.
When I go to the wood store (woodworkerssource.com), I look specifically for boards that won't need that type of work. There are maybe 50 shelves of 20 or 30 types and sizes of each species in their warehouse, and I can usually find a few different boards to pick from. So yes, I bring it home, cut it straight on the table saw, sand out the saw marks, and glue it.
I have never used anything besides the table saw and sandpaper to join two pieces of wood, most times I don't even need the sandpaper. I have started with rough cut lumber a few times. In extreme cases I'll screw a piece of lumber to the bottom of the piece I'm cutting to create the first square, straight edge, then continue on from there. I am lucky that my dad has a super nice table saw. I couldn't tell you what kind it is, but the cuts that come out of it are really clean.
It's interesting how differently people approach the same end result. I am not yet experienced enough to speak to the easiest way to approach anything so I am reading and learning some different approaches.
The easiest way to approach anything will be different in different shops (and not infrequently in the same shop for different people, though to a lesser extent) - no, really, it will.
It's literally the case that the dewarping, squaring up and thicknessing parts of BassHappy's prep job in #51 could have been done all with the router (and a sled, and a straightedge, and appropriate bits.) A workmate or equivalent would also be handy for holding the board while you joint the face of it with the sled, and then flip to thickness plane with the sled. A plain old non-electric handsaw (perhaps with a miter box if you are not comfortable with it alone) might make the needed crosscuts to get plank to workable size if the lumberyard won't do those for free, or if you figure out how to get the board home intact and want to take more time in leisure to decide how you cut it up.
If done by someone used to taking that approach, probably faster than mucking about with the jointer, planer and table saw. More importantly for someone considering setting up shop, with one tool that you arguably really, really need (or at least which has many uses) at the heart of it, rather than 3 that you can probably do without - even do quite well without. Neither the cash to buy them nor the space to store them come for free...even though many people use them.
Now, the bookmatch cut is a usual reason to reach for a bandsaw - but if you can buy sequential boards from a sawmill, that works too.
You can also joint an edge for gluing with nothing more than a bench to clamp it to and a jointer plane - but I've largely given up on bothering to mention that approach here after repeated and vocal negative reaction to the mere concept. Suffice to say that it can work quite well, and not as slowly as you might think, but is not even slightly tolerant of dull tools.
It's literally the case that the dewarping, squaring up and thicknessing parts of BassHappy's prep job in #51 could have been done all with the router (and a sled, and a straightedge, and appropriate bits.) A workmate or equivalent would also be handy for holding the board while you joint the face of it with the sled, and then flip to thickness plane with the sled. A plain old non-electric handsaw (perhaps with a miter box if you are not comfortable with it alone) might make the needed crosscuts to get plank to workable size if the lumberyard won't do those for free, or if you figure out how to get the board home intact and want to take more time in leisure to decide how you cut it up.
If done by someone used to taking that approach, probably faster than mucking about with the jointer, planer and table saw. More importantly for someone considering setting up shop, with one tool that you arguably really, really need (or at least which has many uses) at the heart of it, rather than 3 that you can probably do without - even do quite well without. Neither the cash to buy them nor the space to store them come for free...even though many people use them.
Now, the bookmatch cut is a usual reason to reach for a bandsaw - but if you can buy sequential boards from a sawmill, that works too.
You can also joint an edge for gluing with nothing more than a bench to clamp it to and a jointer plane - but I've largely given up on bothering to mention that approach here after repeated and vocal negative reaction to the mere concept. Suffice to say that it can work quite well, and not as slowly as you might think, but is not even slightly tolerant of dull tools.
The jointer plane is fantastic for the initial flattening of one face also, and you can do any width you want. Making an hollow body bass with a 17" width top and back? Good luck finding much less owning a mechanical jointer to flatten the face. Even finding one large enough for a 13" wide bass body you would need to go to a mill, but a Stanley #7 or 8 can do it all.
I primarily use my table saw for ripping neck lams. The Freud glue line rip blade I have in it is fantastic and gets the joints pretty dang-near glue ready, if not already there. I think as I get better with setting up router guides/jigs, I will use that to ensure a squared-up joint, but I haven't had any issues to date. That said, my router is of the compact variety (Dewalt), so with a more powerful motor, I may utilize the tool more.
I've been looking around a while for an inexpensive #8. I can't pull the trigger quite yet, but I look forward to finally grabbing one up. Would you recommend the corrugated or flat bed?
Either works fine. I have two #8s, one flat the other corrugated. The corrugated will take less time to flatten if you need to lap the sole, which is usually a good idea. If you can, stick with the planes made before WWII, the quality is better, the machining is better. You can tell by those planes because they include the really old ones from the 1800 may have no marks on the bed, the early 1900s had patent dates cast into the bed behind the frog, the sweetheart era when they stamped the blades with a little heart logo and the "made in USA" era, when they cast made in USA into the bed. After that the quality can get sketchy.
