tools advice

[david123]

Hi guys
Pretty much new to woodworking, and have been have been more or less retired for a few years now.

I am looking to start making small furniture items and would like some advice please.

The kit that I have squired from a friend are as follows.

Ans Elu router
A Trend dovetail jig
A jigsaw
A power drill
chisels
A hand saw
A small bench planer
A dowling Jig
A book “the router workshop” by John Sainsbury

I also have various bits and pieces of my own, just the usual hand tools.

What what I intend buying is A Walko worktop 3 which I know is expensive but I only have a relatively small space in which to work.

The rest of my budget is up to about £300 for a hand circular saw and saw guide. About £100 for a small inexpensive worktop router table.

I would appreciate any advice on the last two items that I have mentioned, as I have not got the experience to judge what is good or bad in these things. Any other comments that you may have on anything else that I have overlooked, or indeed It may be that I would be better of buying something else.

Thank you in anticipation.

Dave

 

[mseries]

I'd save the £100 for the router table and make one myself. It's what I did, out of scraps and cost me next to nothing. I got my ideas from books including the one you list, "Router Magic" and some others. I just bolt the router to the underside, in a recess so no mounting plate is used. It has served me well since I started off about 15 years ago. if you want I can take some photos and maybe blog about it.

 

[david123]

Hi Mseries

That would be wonderful if you could I haven't a clue where to start, but I am practical

Thank you

 

[mseries]

Hi Mseries

That would be wonderful if you could I haven't a clue where to start, but I am practical

Thank you

Will do, it'll be the weekend now before I get a chance to get out there and take some pictures. For me, using my router to build my table was a great way of getting to know it.

 

[david123]

Thanks mate
I look forward to that. If I build my own then I cuold prabaly buy a small bandsaw with the mony I save.

 

[tomlt]

If you can add another £29 to your saw budget, you can get a Makita spk600 plunge saw with 2 rails and accesories, great saw, not quite the festool, but not far off. My ones great for convert ing sheet goods or any straight work, between this and a half decent jigsaw, you co do without a tablesaw or bandsaw.

http://www.dm-tools.co.uk/product.php/s ... P6000K1KIT

 

[Dangermouse]

Hi Mseries

That would be wonderful if you could I haven't a clue where to start, but I am practical

Thank you

Hi david
Have a search through Youtube, there are lots of videos there that will help you with making a router table and many many other bits of kit and jigs for the router and lots of machinery reviews.

 

[Fromey]

I'm not sure if this video from fine woodworking magazine is freely viewable or not. Give it a go. If not, give me a PM and I can send you a pdf of the article.

http://www.finewoodworking.com/woodwork ... table.aspx

 

[david123]

Hi tomit

I have just had a look at the saw in the link you sent me. It looks brilliant. I will have a think about it over the weekend. Well worth the extra £29.00.
Thank you.

Thanks dangermouse

I did have a look on youtube,yesterday ,but there are so many on there and not having really used a router before wanted a bit of advice on what was good and what was bad. Guess I didn't want to make something and have to start all over again.

Fromey Thank you

Great link it is probably the sort of thing I could use with the limited space I have. I will PM you.

Just one other thing, the after market router insert? Are they available for all models?
I have a Elu OF 97 E 1100W (with no manual). Seems to have lots of adjustments on it to learn, and am looking forward to it.

I have just ordered the Walko 3 work bench and it is supposed to arrive here on Tuesday. I also got them to throw in a couple of surface clamps to start me off.

Thanks for all your kindness.

 

[mseries]

.....

Just one other thing, the after market router insert? Are they available for all models?
I have a Elu OF 97 E 1100W (with no manual). ....

I think you'll find a plate to fit that router. The Trend site gives some useful info about most popular machines and their compatibility with Trend products. There is probably a DeWalt equivalent of your model with identical dimensions and suitable accessories.

 

[marcros]

or buy a generic one and drill it to fit

http://www.wealdentool.eu/rf_tips/rf_tips_23.html

 

[david123]

Thanks marcrs

Just what I needed

Thank you.

 

[Fromey]

Wow, that Walco work bench looks neat. Definitely good for power tools (although you'd really want to be extra careful about your blade clearance on the underside). Wouldn't want to hand plane on it though.

I have an oldish Trend T5 router (850W and not the one with the improved features, i.e., V1 not V2) I want to get rid of. When sold on it will be third hand and it's missing a couple of depth-stop screw (I think I must have accidentally vacuumed them up some time ago and not noticed :? ), the compass point and the default steel guide (although that might be lying around somewhere in my shed): £50 plus postage. Add another £10 and you can have a Nutools 12 piece router bit set (probably need a bit of sharpening) and a T-Tech 18 mm straight bit.

 

[david123]

Hi again Fromey
Thanks for the pdf's I have Elu OF 97 E 1100W router that I need to learn how to use so those plans will probably start me of on my learning curve.
Looking forward to getting the Walko I am not to worried about sawing on it as it has sacrificial strips on yje undersides as yu can see on the demo video

http://www.walkoshop.com/index1.html

Dave

 

[nicguthrie]

I can't post links, because I'm new, but I recently saw a very good guide to making your own routerlift out of nothing more expensive than scrap hardwood and a few lengths of threaded steel rod with bolts to match. (it was american, so his cheap hardwood was maple - that much stuck in my memory)

If I can find it in my history, I'll post the title to make searching more easy, but it's definitely in there and looked utterly brilliant once it was done.

All the best with starting out. I'm new to the trade/craft myself too, and it's already been a very fulfilling journey. If you're starting out on making furniture, for my tuppence worth, I'd suggest you try out a cheap set of japanese pull handsaws. Once you've gotten the hang of them, you'll be using them in preference to electrical tools for small cuts, they are beautiful, cut fast, and leave as smooth a finish as a good chopsaw. Makes cutting small sections of hardwood about as difficult as cutting crusty bread with a good knife.

Nic

 

[david123]

Thanks nicguthrie
I am new on here to, but managed to insert a link (this is my 7th post I think. Thanks for your advice and I would love to have a look at plans if you can find them. I will look up the saws that you recommend. Looking at YouTube and searching through the posts on here has been fun, and I look forward to my journey.

Just ordered the Makita spk600 plunge saw with 2 rails and accesories, Thanks tomit. Also have ordered todat the
Axminster AWHBS250N Bandsaw , should all arive early next week. Wallet is now empty.

Regards

Dave

 

[nicguthrie]

Found it! Just after writing my last post here, I noticed that the link posting ban thing (Technical Term) had been lifted on my account, so a quick surf through my You Tube history, and a filter out of all the weird stuff I seem to find myself surfing when it's late and I'm too tired to know any better... And TaDa! Aliens Built the Pyramids... no, wait, wrong filters... Home made router lift! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfjeS5jolBs

I plan on making one of these myself, the guidelines and walkthru from this guy seems first class, and the price of a premade routerlift is just downright silly. If you get to it first, let me know how you get on, cos I'm still waiting for my workshop to be built, wired in and stocked with the basic machinery before I get anywhere with any other stuff.

As for the Japanese saws, I hear varied results with them from folks. Sometimes it almost seems that if you've had a lifetime of using a vertical grip western handsaw and are a veteran woodworker, you can have more trouble getting the best out of the straight handled Japanese design. For myself and a few of the beginner woodworkers I've been able to spend time with, we're all pretty amazed at how easy they are to use. I think I said before I have health trouble and the pull cutting and smooth action of these was a lot easier for me to master than that of even a fine tooth tenon saw.

A top class experienced joiner let me use his for a few cuts when I was starting out in woodwork as a sort of working therapy thing, and I was utterly hooked and bought a set at rutlands inside of a month. Well worth the £60 in the sale as a treat to yourself for a set of three. Otherwise try a Kataba extra hard for cutting your hardwoods, MDF and Ply or a Dozuki fine for those extra careful fine cuts (you'll find yourself using it for a lot of stuff, blade is 0.3mm thick, it slides thru virtually any timber) I have the 3 set, just ordered a pair of flush cut saws, and have my eye on 2 more japanese saws to complete the set

 

[david123]

Thanks for that, a very interesting video. I also found almost next to it, this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr7tApgPr1k

The handsaws seem pretty good, I will try and have a look over the weekend, I must admit I have never heard of them. Wonder if anybody else uses them?

Have a good weekend

Regards

Dave