A Quick View of Tools Around the Shop

I'm a Normite... becoming more of one with each passing day.  I don't want to be a Normite, I want to be a galoot!  I think they have more fun.  You see, I think the moment one puts a bunch of power tools in the shop, it means one has a bunch of stuff to do.  And, I do have a bunch of stuff to do, but I don't want to do it with just power tools.  Moreover, I want to take my time, feel the wood, and use my hands.  I want it to be "fun."  Don't get me wrong though.  I believe there are some great reasons to open up a shop for hire: it's a very fun way to make money, to be one's on boss, to make a honest day's wage for an honest day's work, and I'm sure a few others that I can't think of right now.  But, there's a down side too; got to crank out wood, got to produce, or I don't get paid.  No days off, no rest for the weary. 

It's a strange paradigm, but I don't want to ever make a penny on woodworking.  It's my hobby, and as such, it should cost me money, not make me money.  The second I start taking cash, now I've got schedules and deadlines.  The guys at work know I do this.  They've seen some of my work.  A couple of them have even offered me "commisions" of a sort.  One of them offered me $1,500.00 plus materials to build him some new kitchen cabinets.  Another guy offered me $100.00 each to refinish two old pine footstools.  Turned 'em both down cold, and when I did, both of them looked at me like I just peed on their shoes and kicked their dogs.  Of course, when I told my wife about turning down the cabinets, she looked at me like I owed her $1,500.00!!!

If I really want to be like the great flannelled one, I'm still missing a few things...  Of course, the biggies are really biggies.  I don't own a band saw or joiner, but they're high on my list.  And, I don't own a biscuit joiner either, and I actually don't plan on getting one.  This alone may keep me from ever becoming an actual Normite.  But, most of the other tools are shown below.  It's not a bad setup for a weekend warrior; it's rare for me to find a job that I can't do with the setup I have.

And, now for the real reason I put this page up:  I can never find the setup articles or manuals to my tools, nor can I ever seem to find the part and serial numbers if I need service, but I always know they're online.

The Portable Power
Coming soon...

The Miter Saw
The miter saw is an old Ridgid.  I've treated this thing like a borrowed mule and it just keeps coming back for more. 

The Radial Arm Saw
I have an old Craftsman (spelled Emerson) radial arm saw, ca.1965.  This thing is a beast!  The Army would have been proud to call this tank one of their own.  If this thing weighs an ounce, it weighs 300 lbs. 

Sad part is, even if I were to use it at all, it would only be for cross-cutting.  I have a chop saw that I use for cross-cutting smaller pieces, and I'd use my table saw for ripping or cross-cutting anything to large for the miter. 

I bought it from a friend of mine from work, and I gave him $35.00 for it.  He said he didn't have room for it and wanted if out of his shop, and at the time, I thought it was a good deal.  Now, I understand... It's not on casters, it weights too much to move by myself, it's big and bulky, and if I could get my money back out of it, I'd be proud to get it out of my shop.

Truth is, I just didn't think the ownership of this thing through.  I bought this pig thinking I'd get some pork chops and bacon, but all I got was the rendered fat.  Anyone out there want a vintage Craftsman RAS?  I know where you can get one for about... oh, say $35.00.

The Band Saw
Coming soon...

The Jointer
Coming soon...

The Planer
I'm just a hobbyist, so I don't need anything in industrial scale.  Still, I wanted a decent planer, and the best that I could afford.  I did what I thought was a good bit of homework... at least I looked for a long time, but there isn't a lot out there on small shop planers.  But, there's a ton of stuff on mid range and high end planers.

I wanted a planer that would last; a unit that I could depend on for years to come.  So, I went with a Powermatic 15HH.  Truth of the matter is that this is the smallest planer that Powermatic sells.  It's a 15" machine and has a Byrd Shelix helical head.  It's heavy (on the order of 750 lbs.) and very stable... it's a rock solid unit and it's proven to be a great box for a home hobbiest.

I've seen a couple of forum posts from fellow woodworkers that complain that the 15HH is a little underpowered.  Powermatic list the max depth of cut as being 1/8".  They state that the 15HH will stall when trying to take off the 1/8" listed in the box specs if it's a full width board.  I can't make any complaints about the performace of my machine, but I can't attest to this potential performance flaw one way or the other either.  Truth is, I don't ever try to take off that much in one pass, but if you're one of those "time is money" woodworkers and need to hurry project millwork along, you may want to test this before you sink the bucks into one of these boxes.  Ultimately, I love my planer and think it's a great machine.

There may be better units out there.  Fact is, there's better units from Powermatic, but this planer will do everything I need it to do, and it'll do it for the rest of my life.

Routers
Without a doubt, routers are the most versitle power tool in a shop.  Seems like I own a ton of routers.  Friends of mine count them as six, but I don't have a lot of "quality" friends.  I own an old Dremel and a RotoZip, and they're fine for what they do, but they're woefully underpowered to be considered routers.  Legitimately though, I do own four routers.  Pat Warner thinks highly of the routers I've picked for myself, and I think a lot of Pat.  If you're unfamiliar whith Pat, grab a couple of his books.  He's a true router guru.

Anyway, I have a Bosch PR-20 Colt trim router.  For a trimmer, it's well powered and well balanced.  Bosch has been around a long time and I bought the Colt based on the many reviews I read in the many woodworking magazines when it came out.  But, the first time I used it, I was sold on its utility.  Now, I just don't use any of my other routers for light trim work.  The Colt has impressed me that much.  If I have a gripe with this tool at all, it's that it tends to get a little warm when it's used for more than a couple of minutes.  Still, it is the best laminate trim router I've ever used.  This is the PR-20 manual manual.

For "normal" hand held use, I have two Dewalt routers; the DW-618 fixed base router mounted in the D-handle base, and the DW-621 plunge router.  These units started off as the DW-618PK combo package, but I was pretty quick to buy a second motor to dedicate them to their particular tasks.  Both of these are excellent routers, and if you're on a very limited budget, then the 618PK is the way to go!

My very first router has been dedicated over to my router table. It's an old 892 from Porter-Cable.  At 2¼ horses, it's a little underpowered for table use, but I don't try to hog out cubic feet of sawdust in a single pass either.  Truth is that I probably baby it a little more than I do my Dewalts.  One of these days, I'll upgrade the unit in the table with one of the locomotives above... the venerable Porter-Cable 7518!

Sanding, Grinding, & Sharpening
It's just about impossible to do any woodworking without being a little bit of a metalsmith.  Pardon the whine, but I don't want to be a metalsmith... I want to be a woodworker.  Of course, the only thing worse than the drudgery of sharpening tools is using dull tools.  And while I'm on a whining rant, sanding SUCKS!  I hardly ever think about what a good time I'm having when I'm sanding, but I guess every worthwhile endeavor has its necessary evils.  In an effort to reduce my own pain and suffering, I have several tools designed to sand, grind, cut, and shape woods and metals.  They "help" me.

First, I want my planes and chisels very sharp... Scary Sharp in fact!  Scary Sharp is a process for dry sharpening chisels and plane blades by hand using sand paper and a dead flat surface.  Works great; takes forever to get them up to speed.  To help me get them close, I've added the Work Sharp WS-3000 to the shop.  This is a fairly new (Christmas 07) addition and here's a great online review you can look at if you're considering one.  Here is the WS-3000 manual if you can't find it.  It's not the tool to end all my sharpening woes, and I still put the final edge on my hand tools using the Scary Sharp method, but I can now get them close zippy darn quick.  One quick note about the PSA sanding discs from Worksharp; they'll eat ya alive on the price if you get the whamo, super-duper, Worksharp approved versions.  The ultra-fine abrasive that comes with it is a product called Micro-Mesh from Micro-Surface Finishing Products, but the best price I've seen on Micro-Mesh is from a place called Scientific Instrument Services.

The spindle sander doesn't oscillate... yet!  Sleeves and spindles get chucked up in the drill press.  Of course, the sleeves wear out a little quicker, but I figure I can buy a butt load of sleeves for $400.00, or roughly the cost of a good oscillating sander.  Still, one is on the horizon.  And I plan on eventually investing in a little disc/belt combo unit.

Gross grinding is another one of those typical shop jobs, and like most folks, I use a bench grinder for that.  I'm lucky.  I have an old direct drive Stanley bench grinder.  This thing is ancient; at least a billion years old.  It's quiet and it weighs about 90 pounds.  When it gets up to speed, it's smooth as silk and doesn't vibrate at all.  Wish they still sold these things, but it's from an era gone by.  If you can find one at a garage sale, get it... you just can't get quality like this anymore.

The Table Saws
The table saws are nothing special; nothing at all!  One day, I'm gettin' a Powermatic PM-2000.

My main saw, right now, is a Ridgid TS3612.  It is/was a gift from my wife and it is my first table saw.  And, all things considered, it has been a good saw.  It does take a little TLC from time to time... I have to re-align it on occasion.  But, it's mobile and it cuts straight.  Both are qualities that I need in a garage shop.  The manuals can be found at Ridgid's site, or I have a .pdf copy here.  When this saw grows up, I think it's going to be a Powermatic.

I have outfitted the Ridgid with a couple of after-market accessories.  Of course, one of the conditions for each was that it will port over to a different saw when I make an upgrade.  I did as much research as I could on each of these upgrades, but it's hard, sometimes, to make an "informed" decision with so many opinions out there (magazine reviews, blogs, forums, etc.).  Still, I made the best decisions I could, and I'm happy with them.  First, I bought the Osborne EB-3 miter.  Rock solid, and dead accurate!  Here's the EB-3 manual.  The other upgrade was the Freud SD608 dado stack.  Square sides, flat bottoms, and easy to use; who'd have thunk it?  Great dado stack!  Here's the SD608 manual.

The other saw is barely worth mentioning... It's a little Hitachi C10RA2 jobsite saw that I bought in Atlanta while working on Dad's house.  It features a machined aluminum table top, stamped aluminum wings, an arbor with some play, sloppy miter slots, inaccurate fence, and a trunion that has to weigh all of five or six pounds to keep the blade square.  Other than that, it's not a bad little saw.  Still, it'll cut a straight piece of wood if one is willing to take the time to align it every time it's moved, and it's fine for a small jobsite.  The manuals can be found at Hitachi's site, or if the link goes dead, I have a .pdf copy if anyone needs it.

The Drill Press
The drill press is a Jet JDP-17MF.  It's a pretty generic 17" floor press.  It's a run or the mill unit that's comparable to a Delta or Powermatic press and it's suitable for woodworking.  Like most woodworking drill presses, this one was designed for traditional metalsmiths, with woodworkers as a distant and faint afterthought.  So...

To turn it into an effective tool for woodworking, I built and put a table top on it to make it a little more woodworker friendly.  Check out the drill press table article for more info on that project.

Anyway, I didn't do a lot of homework for this thing.  I had started to look at several different presses because I was in the market and I had looked at both, floor and bench top presses.  But I hadn't gotten too far in the process when I saw an add for this thing for $249.00 including the mortising attachment.  SOLD!!!  Just after Sears started selling "other stuff" besides Crapsman... er, Craftsman, they ran an ad and I bought.  I even suffered that mortising attachment for a couple of years before I bought the one below.  The manual, if you need one, is up at Jet's Website, or it's available as a .pdf here in a slightly shortened version. 

Besides the table top, I did add one more upgrade to this thing.  I put a drill press laser on it.  It's an aftermarket unit from Woodcraft, and this puppy is sweet.  The alignment procedure is a pain... it's not hard, but it's very tedious.  I saw an online post somewhere that said to "loosen it all up" to make the alignment easier.  Strangely, this was far more effective than the procedure in the manual.  The tricky part then becomes to tighten it all up and not move it.  It took about a half hour or so, but it was worth it.  Its dead on and easy on the eyes.  If you're going to add anything to your drill press, take my advice; skip the mortising attachment and go with the laser.

The Mortiser
The mortiser is a Jet JBM-5.  It's a bench top unit.  I don't do enough mortising on a regular basis to warrent a floor mortiser.  Those bad boys run $700.00 - $1,000.00 depending on the make and model.  If I was running a production shop, I might think a little more of those floor units.

I did my homework though... When I decided to buy one, I read all the reviews that came out over the previous year or so.  All of the articles gave it good marks.  One, in particular, was rather refreshing.  American Woodworker gave it a "Best Buy" award.  In the article, they got a little snippy because all of the units tested had what the editors considered to be shortcomings of one kind or another, and all of them required extra hold downs or clamps to work effectively.  As a result, none of them got an "Editor's Choice" award. 

I went up to Jet's website.  For the longest time, they had manuals online for just about everything they make... except the JBM-5.  I considered that a little bit of an aggrivation.  I can't always put my hands on any given manual as quickly as I'd like to, but I always no where my PC is.  Anyway, they finally got around to putting the Jet JBM-5 manual online.  And, here's great little general setup article from American Woodworker (May, 2007) that will work for virtually any benchtop unit.

The Dust Collector
The dust collector is a Jet DC-1100A.  I bought it with all the best of intentions, but as they say, the highway to hell is paved with those. 

I should have done considerably more homework than I did.  When I bought this thing, it was about $600.00.  It came with the 30 micron filter bag.  30 microns is only slightly smaller than a 4'x8' sheet of plywood.  All of the "bad for you" stuff shoots right on through the bag.  Of course, about six months after I bought it, they outfitted these units with a two micron canister filter.  And to add insult to injury, they dropped the price on the bag units.  I can retrofit the thing with a canister, but that's another $350.00, and for what winds up being a thousand dollars, I could have been on my way to a full blown cyclone system with .5 micron hepa filters.  So, now I have a dust collector that doesn't, and as a consolation prize, a shop and lungs full of dust!!!  Anybody want to buy a used DC?

Seriouly, if you're in the market for some sort of dust control system, and if you're using any power tools, you should be in the market for a dust control system, get some information first.  According to OSHA's wood dust site, "exposure to wood dust has long been associated with a variety of adverse health effects, including dermatitis, allergic respiratory effects, mucosal and nonallergic respiratory effects, and cancer."  Fellow woodworker, Bill Pentz has done a ton of dust collection research and is fairly well recognized as an expert in the field.  Check out his site and grab some knowledge... unless you want to buy mine.

I went up to Jet's website.  They don't have manuals online for their dust collectors either.  I find this to be an aggrivation too.  Oh well, I guess they'll put it up someday.

Tool Part Numbers, Serial Numbers, and Manuals