Any woodworkers?

You can find budget tools that are decent quality.

You can get quality cuts out of lower end stuff. Just have to work a little harder at being more accurate.

 

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

Permanence (I rent housing, moved cross country) is an issue. If I was more than "experimenting, but trying to be competent" I might. That end-table bottom did turn out rather well, until you get close and see the overlapping joint in the middle of the "X" is rough. I figure if I can get good controlled cuts with current tools then even low-end table saw or router table I will be making clean product.

 

Busy day in the garage. This is what's left of my work bench.

 

don't get to check this site out as much as i'd like, but definitely like checking out this thread. some real nice-looking stuff!

only made one cutting board, so gotta remember how to upload a pic. oh, there we go.

 

i've got an electric brand that LOML got me, and it can be tricky. i'll do tests with similar woods that i want to stamp, but it still doesn't always turn out so great. for the next one, i think i'll make a jig the size of the brand that i can tape to the piece, so i can redo if i need to. that's the plan at least!

 

A jig sounds like a good idea.. I'm still practicing with my homemade brand... definitely a learning curve.

 

This is literally the story of my shop.

most of my tools are ryobi or craftsman.

and 40% of my tools are purchased via credit card points turned into Home Depot gift cards

 

My tools require me to check and double check accuracy and tune them often. As long as you slow down and do your due diligence, you’ll almost always end with accurate cuts. 95% of my woodworking tools are ryobi, craftsman, or harbor freight.

and I don’t own an actual table saw (mine is a portable craftsman). Jointer is a 6”. Planer is a 16” craftsman.

you don’t have to have festool to make cool shit.

 

I want to venture into "end grain" cutting boards, if only to build the skills of "accurate, precise, predictable squares" because if I can get 60 squares looking correct (the human eye can detect that much at least) that opens the door to other precise work. Cutting board slats have variances that need to be made identical. And opens the door to getting 4/4 or 6/4 boards that I can square off.

A portable table saw seems enough, even if the "rip cut limit" is not large. Anyone have a recommendation for a portable table saw that does not break the bank, or is is necessary to pay minimum $400 to get something accurate/durable/reliable?

 

My craftsman was like 250

I have a stand for it and I also built my work bench so the saw sits flush down in the table. Has been great to me, just put a decent blade on it and you’re set

 

Couple options, wait for black friday sale, get a dewalt, metabo, kobalt, Rigid, all are decent. Even harbor freight isnt bad. Or search FB market place.

 

My Dewalt has been good. Easy to use snd maintain. Everything I've posted has been cut on it. I second FB marketplace.

 

Y'all might be surprised but I've built all those recent boards without using a table saw

 

They look good however you are doing it. My contractor friend would say “Don’t fix what ain’t broke” 7 out 10 times I find myself using my worm drive and an aluminum clamp on straight edge for longer cuts or my Dewalt 12” sliding compound miter saw for shorter runs to be sufficient. It’s definitely time for a new table saw but that would require cleaning out the garage and making more space.

 

The tools you need just depends on the quality of work or the amount of time you want to spend doing it.

For example, you’re not going to get seamless joints with a straight edge and a circular saw. Especially on long rips. You might get away with it on a quality track saw but there still might be parts you need to plane if you don’t have a jointer. Even table saws have glue line blades for this exact reason.

If you mill your own lumber to be perfectly square, especially cheap lumber, there’s really no way to get good results without a table saw, jointer and planer.

 

Just curious if anyone is running a Shopsmith? My dad had one and I learned to use it at a really young age. I really enjoyed using it and creating things. I found one a few weeks back for free on Craigslist and am restoring it now. I don't have a dedicated shop nor much room in the garage so it should be the perfect set up for me.