Newbie needing general advice

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Well, there is work out there & money to be made. 2 examples:

1) My Dad has just spent £1200 (!!) on a small fitted bedroom cupboard made of god awful formica, fake wood panels which looks like it came from an Argos sale. I was stunned that he never asked me to help him.

2) I have seen some badly executed but nicely designed work by a new maker who is charming & dedicated. He charged a pretty penny for his work & got repeat business from his customers who must have more money than sight. He is much better now & improving all the time.

Surrey is choc full of opportunities from what I see. I'd go for pub & restaurant furniture, the heavy, chunky, recycled stuff that it easy to make & a fine ( classic professional) finish doesn't matter.. but trust no one to pay once the goods are delivered.

A good bench, a big bandsaw & great dust management are absolutely essential IMHO.. this took me years to figure out the hard way & I now kick myself for not sorting this out a lot sooner. My Makita 2704 table saw has done me proud so far but I'd love something sturdier. My DeWalt Dw733 thicknesser was ok for years but is LOUD & now am spending hours fettling a EB HC260 & wish I had space for something proper.

With my 2704, 733, woeful bench (office desk), rubbish router, a tiny bandsaw & few ok hand tools I made furniture in a 4 x 9 apex shed to a standard that I am still proud of all considering.

I am green with envy - Good luck !

Togs
 
Thanks everyone for sharing both your knowledge and previous experiences. Believe me I am taking everything on board.

I have allowed a fairly healthy budget but as suggested above I will be buying only the essential tools that I need for the first few projects I am going to make. I'm going to take a trip to the Axminster store as I spoke with a very helpful up there but I would like to explain more in detail and get more of a feel for the new tools.

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to share their knowledge. I really appreciate it!
 
Has anyone mentioned extraction? i wish i'd saved about £600 of my original budget to get a proper dust extraction system up.

JD
 
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