Workshop essentials but no table saw :-(

[damo8604]

I can't hold on any longer.......

I've been hankering after Steve M's woodworking essentials DVD's ever since stumbling upon this forum.

Now I don't yet have a table or band saw (or indeed even a workshop yet) but I do have a router!

I love the idea of making jigs and want to purchase the first 2 volumes of Workshop essentials, does anyone know if these have projects that don't require the use of band saws or table saws?

You know what it's like.... as soon as I see something, I want to replicate it

 

[Lons]

Suggest you pm Steve and he'll give you detailed answers

 

[heimlaga]

My grandfather built a very fine 19 foot square sterned clinker built motor boat and numerous flat bottomed skiffs with neither a band saw nor a table saw.
Actually I have seen remnants of a fairly well built 16 foot clinker built double ender whose builder did not have any kind of saw at all and did all crosscutting with an axe after using the same axe to split the logs and hew them into planks.

You can make a lot with simple tools but that requires quite a bit of skill. The best way of learning is getting started with a simple project and learning by doing while getting some tips and advice from others who are more skilled. A couple of good hand saws and back saws can do any sawing you might ever need once you have learned to use them.
I think making jigs is the wrong way of starting. That only leads into a bottomless morass of gadgetry. Gadgets cannot substitute skill. Instead you should get some basic tools and start making simple products and then aim for more complicated stuff and better quality as your skills grow. Learn from your misstakes and remember that the woodstove is a woodworker's best friend.

Once you have a workshop machines do not have to be expensive. I recently paid 300 euros for a top quality 24" band saw needing a good bit of fixing. If will be ready to run for less than 1000 euros in total. This is a big industrial machine intended to work for profit 8 hours a day for 150 years. A hobby machine should cost a good deal less.

 

[Wizard9999]

As another newcomer I am busying myself with some projects all based around fitting out my workshop. That is proving to be a great way to start the journey and to realise just how little I know and just how hard it is to get things right. Yes, I still want to make myself an exact width dado jig, but what I want much, much more is twenty years of experience. I guess the problem for all of us beginners is that the former is easier to get hold of than he later.

Terry.

 

[mseries]

But surely you make the jigs because you need them to help you do a particular task for part of a project ? Within a bandsaw, a jig for one will be pretty useless. I like designing and making jigs and sometimes wait a while before I use the jig for the intended task but always make a jig with a project in mind.

 

[damo8604]

Exactly! I don't need a DVD full of really useful jigs for a bandsaw if I don't own a bandsaw....

Anyway, I bought the first 2 dvd's and I'm very impressed (and entertained), surely discovery shed could broadcast these instead of hours of fishing programmes (no offence to fishermen, it's just not my thing)

One of the most useful tools and something I'll be making (probably today) is a tracksaw setting up tool. I'll also have to make a track as I only have a skillsaw but the combination of the two will come in really useful for ripping 8x4 sheets of OSB

 

[Eric The Viking]

One of the most useful tools and something I'll be making (probably today) is a tracksaw setting up tool.

Isn't that just a piece of 80g paper?

Seriously, there's a good set of instructions for the TS55 Festool on the web somewhere, made by Festool's US distributor, I think. That mentions setting the 'toe-in' to be something close to the thickness of a piece of paper, so the back of the blade doesn't scuff the wanted edge of the cut (the bit under the rail).

I've never dared mess with my Makita, although it doesn't cut as cleanly as it used to, even with a new blade. Perhaps I ought to change the rubber splinter strip...

 

[Steve Maskery]

Hey Damian
I really glad you are pleased with your purchase. I don't like to say "I told you so", but.... well, I do, actually
Enjoy

BTW, if you PM me your email address, I'll send you a PDF for making another track-setting gauge for when you want to rip off a piece that is narrower than the track itself. It works in the same way as the one on the film, but I didn't design it until after the film was made.

 

[mrdfowens]

I completely understand; it is highly rewarding working with hand tools, but also quite laborious!