Tool Wishlist

With the core list of tools I already have, I have a good start on my shop, but for the type of woodworking I want to do I still have a few important tools I 'need'.

Likely the first I'll pick up will be a Jointer. My great friend Grizzz wants to upgrade his 6" to an 8" jointer, and I'll likely be picking up his old craftsman. I learned on a similar unit (different stand) in my shop with John. It isn't the largest unit, but with only 240 sq ft in the shop, I won't be able to fit a lot of 'big' tools. When I get a jointer, no matter which one it is, it will be mounted on a mobile tool base and will be stored under my chop saw station along the east wall of the shop. I'll put up a layout later, I'm on my work laptop right now, and don't have the image handy. or do I?

that's an old layout, but for the sake of time, I'll use it for now. I'm going to have 4 more feet of room on the long dimension, but that is essentially how I plan to lay out the shop. The left side of the floorplan there will have a loft above it, so instead of only 240 sq feet, I'll have 360, although the loft will not have full height ceilings, I'll be able to have lumber storage and some bins stored up there. I'm undecided as yet how I'll access up there, I don't want a staircase, I might go with a ladder instead.

As you can see I also have plans for a bandsaw and a mini lathe at some point. I expect them to show up in that order.

As for the bandsaw, until recently I was dead set on buying a Grizzly G0555 14" bandsaw with a riser kit. Lately, however I've heard good things about the steel framed euro style saws, particularly the Rikon 14" which has plenty of resaw capacity. I've got a lot of other items to get before that will be needed, like power to the shop. The Rikon needs 220 power, and that is definitely something I will have to save up for. The rest of my current tools all run on 110, but better power will be required.

I'm leaning toward the Jet VS midi lathe as my first lathe. again, it will be awhile before that arrives, but it is on my wish list. I have some turning tools already thanks to Grizzz, and i just picked up a grinder for free last weekend, so I'll be able to learn how to sharpen as I learn how to turn.

One of the first things I'm going to assemble once I get the shop dried in and the tools moved over from the storage unit is going to be a shop-built air cleaner. It will be a three furnace filter style unit which I'll mount in the loft space, but likely hung from the rafters to get more air movement. I'm going to put it on a timer with a dedicated switched outlet.

While I'm thinking of dust control, my little one lung DC tries hard, but it sure isn't the be-all end all of DCs. I only paid $75 for it several years ago, and it is an older 'Blue' Jet starter unit. It will work fine for one tool at a time, either the tablesaw or the Planer, but not both. That is how John and I had it set up in the old shop. In the end, John wound up just sweeping up loads and loads of shavings, literally letting the chips fall where they will.

Marty Walsh down in GA from family woodworking built his super shop, which is an inspiration to so many of us who frequent fww. Thanks Marty & Denise! He built a drop box for his DC which is a monster unit with 10" main runs under his shop out to his 'dust shed'. I am going to scale that concept down to my shop size. I'll get as much DC as I can afford, again, after the shop is constructed and powered up. The little DC will do for awhile, I've lived with it as my only DC before and will 'do' until the budget allows an upgrade. I will go with a multi stage unit if I can. I'd love a cyclone of course, but I expect that I'll have a HF 2hp unit instead, with bettter bags and/or a filter upgrade.

More later, I need to go drop off a change of clothes to the LOML for her pushball game this afternoon.