My Honeydoing is about over

[Bravo]

Home projects are driving me nutz and today I am wrapping up several...arrgggh - I am sick of them.

1) 15 yo daughter needed desk for her room to study. Went to an unpainted furniture store three weeks ago and got a desk and separate corner/computer desk in raw burch...two coats of stain and three coats of polyurethane later, I am ready to put those dudes in her room and get it over with. This is the first furniture finishing work I have ever done and while it came out fine, I had no idea what I was doing at first and had no clue how many hours it would take...and the urethane gives me headaches...our weather has been so spotty that I have had to move the pieces indoors several times to let them dry/cure...

2) 9 yo daughter is Constantly drawing and doing artwork. At any given time we have dozens of markers, crayons and paintbrushes all over the house...I cannot even put the morning paper and coffee down on the kitchen table for all of it. At the same store, I got an unfinished table and two chairs. Put a nice coat of primer on them last weekend and am putting two coats of paint on today...moving them into her room tomorrow.....................................

AFTER I play golf.

 

[Davebud]

Just stay off the ladder

Those are nice safe activities, and you have to let the artist paint the table.

 

[VtDivot]

It starts with buying unfinished furniture, then when you see how expensive it is, you learn how to build your own.

My built in entertainment center prob would have cost about 2 grand to have custom built. I did it for about 600

 

[Bravo]

How much equipment do you own in terms of table saws, routers etc? My brother owns about $8000 of this stuff and I still don't know if he has broken even on it all.

I think he just likes to work with his hands.

 

[Canadriver]

Those are nice safe activities, and you have to let the artist paint the table.

Very good idea!!!

This will channel her creativity in the right direction!

 

[VtDivot]

How much equipment do you own in terms of table saws, routers etc? My brother owns about $8000 of this stuff and I still don't know if he has broken even on it all.

I think he just likes to work with his hands.

Table saw - $600
Router - $200
Pneumatic Nailer and compressor - $300


Those are the bigger ticket items in my shop, I have the usual circ saw, jigsaw, etc.

On my to buy list are a Compound Mitre saw (or make a good jig for this for use on the Table Saw) and a Band Saw. I don't really have all that much room so that will dictate what I can buy. Plus my neighbor has everything (TS, BS, Shaper, Jointer, Planer, Drum and Belt sanders etc way more than 8k worth) so I can run some stuff over there if I have to, but I hate bothering him. I like keeping it simple for now. Using the tools I listed above and jigs is enough to build moderately usable newbie woodworking furniture

 

[Davebud]

Band Saw is a must

got to have it.

 

[VtDivot]

got to have it.

Dave - do you do a lot of resawing wide stock? I have used a bandsaw a few times (for angle rips) what else is it good for?

 

[Davebud]

Gradual curves

On 1.5" material, I break jigsaw blades like nobodys business. I want to build my own small sailboat, and other than a Skillsaw, I think the Bandsaw would get the most use. If I was outfitting a shop it would be 1 of 4 saws I would have to have, Bandsaw, skillsaw, Tablesaw, Compound Mitre saw.

 

[VtDivot]

I borrowed a friends CMS for a weekend when doing trim work and kept it for 3 months. You just can't beat one for doing small mitres, or even 90 degree cross cutting on small stock for that matter.

I'll use the TS and sled for wider stuff, but I am buying a CMS tomorrow, and maybe this way cool stand:

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/pg_diy.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0293401840.1143354020@@@@&BV_EngineID=cchiaddhgfliidfcgelceffdfgidgin.0&CNTTYPE=PROD_META&CNTKEY=misc/searchResults.jsp&MID=9876&N=2984+3966&pos=n24

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

I am currently finishing my basement. 1700 sq ft. My friend has been a carpenter for 20+ years and I follow his advice on tools for the price.

Mitre Table Saw. Dewalt (Rigid is supposed to be good as well)
Circular Saw. Makita
Cordless Drill. Dewalt
Reciprocating Saw. Milwakee
Hammer Drill. Milwakee
Compressor and Nailer. Porter Cable

I beat the crap out of these and they should give you a lifetime of use.

 

[VtDivot]

I am currently finishing my basement. 1700 sq ft. My friend has been a carpenter for 20+ years and I follow his advice on tools for the price.

Mitre Table Saw. Dewalt (Rigid is supposed to be good as well)
Circular Saw. Makita
Cordless Drill. Dewalt
Reciprocating Saw. Milwakee
Hammer Drill. Milwakee
Compressor and Nailer. Porter Cable

I beat the crap out of these and they should give you a lifetime of use.

All good calls - especially the nailers

 

[Davebud]

And the reciprocating saw

Any remodel is a definite call for a sawzall.

 

[VtDivot]

I haven't decided for certain but I may scrap the idea of a CMS in favor of a good mitre gauge for my TS. This way I can save some space.

 

[wirehair]

I used to do a good bit of this stuff. This is a example. Built this with:

• Table Saw (12" is best & you need a good 60 tooth carbite tipped blade)
• If you're working with hardwood, you'll find a joiner pretty much required
• Chop saw (again 60 tooth carbite)
• Router table & router - Lots of bits
• A bunch of clamps (Pipe clamps are cheaper, but use 3/4", because 1/2" will flex)
• Black & Decker WorkMate vise table. (this also works very nicely for shafting & gripping clubs)
• Usual hand tools, Circ saw, drill, jig saw, couple of sanders, recip & belt

Measure twice, cut once.

Count your fingers, I only lost about 1/16" of one thumb & the scar tissue pretty much filled it in so it's not really noticeable.