Hello

[bonethg899]

Just thought I would introduce myself.

My name is Trevor I am really new to wood working but falling in love with it. I have had a couple projects but nothing I am extremely proud of. I have created a fish tank stand, a hood for an aquarium and then completely botched another fish tank stand.

All I really have to work with is a circular saw I have been hinting to my wife pretty hard that o would love a table saw for Christmas. I have also recently picked up a pocket hole kit for my next project which is a dining room table


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[poolhound]

Welcome Trevor, glad to hear you are falling in love with woodworking. As many of us here can attest with your starting point on the tool spectrum you are on the road to addiction - Tool Addiction!

There is nothing as fine as a shiny new tool - ooh I can hear amazon calling and I have a 20% off Rockler coupon thats burning a hole in my pocket and expires today!!

If your wife will spring for a new table saw then I would keep hinting hard and we will have no end of suggestions for you. Is there a budget?

[vaking]

Just thought I would introduce myself.

My name is Trevor I am really new to wood working but falling in love with it. I have had a couple projects but nothing I am extremely proud of. I have created a fish tank stand, a hood for an aquarium and then completely botched another fish tank stand.

All I really have to work with is a circular saw I have been hinting to my wife pretty hard that o would love a table saw for Christmas. I have also recently picked up a pocket hole kit for my next project which is a dining room table
k

Welcome to the club.
Having lots of expensive tools will make you a tool collector but not necessarily a good woodworker. A circular saw with a straight edge can go quite far depending what type of work you do. Generally what tools to buy depend a lot on what you do, what space and budget you have. In US table saw is usually considered the center of a workshop, in UK it is not the table saw but a band saw. In general - table saw is a Swiss army knife type tool. It can substitute in a pinch for a lot of tools but it excels at nothing - for every job it can do there is a tool that does it better.
My first project was a coffee table made of construction lumber with the scroll saw. Cutting table legs out of 2x10 on a scroll saw was a pain. The wood was not dry enough, after a while legs warped. I was dissatisfied and wanted to toss that table but my mother-in-law asked me to give it to her for her summer house in Catskills. It is still standing there and does not look terribly bad. Come to think of it - in that house everything is warped, so that table there is right at home.
You said that you are planning on making dining room table next. What kind of tasks do you see there for a table saw? What is the design? If at this moment the only tool you have is a circular saw - the next tool I would make a router kit or a hand plane or a spoke shave or some chisels before table saw.

[bonethg899]

Thanks guys. My budget would probably be around 300. I really don't have a lot of space in the garage and I have been looking at routers they seem to do a lot of cool task. I have thought about chisels I have never used them and not sure where to even start with them. I don't really have anyone locally to teach me anything.

The table saw I see as assisting me with straight cuts. The table is going to be 6ft long 31" tall and about 32" wide. Legs will be 4x4s with 2x4s joining them planned on using pocket holes to join them. Then I was going to plank the top with 1x8s my wife wants a farm table look. Then I was going to stain the table. The only think I'm unsure of is how I'm going to join the planks to the top of the table. I thought about just using a nail gun add to the farm table look


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cwsmith]

Hi Trevor,

Welcome to the forum. Hopefully you will learn a lot of things here, as there is a great deal of experience to be shared from the many woodworking members.

Where are you located?

I too started with just a few basic tools, mostly carpentry stuff like a level, screwdrivers, hammer, handsaw, pliers, a rasp, a set of three cheap chisels and even a small block plane. A year or so later I added a 7" circular saw, a 3/8-inch variable speed drill, and a sander. With those tools I built a workbench, a tool box, a couple of saw horses, and even the book shelves and cabinet for our first small library. The big tool I added the following year was a 10" radial arm saw (RAS) (It was 1973). That same year, I got a belt sander from my Dad for Christmas, and a small router from my Father-in-Law. You'll want everybody in your family to know that tools or gift certificates make for really nice Christmas and birthday presents!

Key thing to know (I think) is to do a lot of reading... you can start with your local library, as it will take some experience to know just what the right books are before you buy. And, don't hesitate to ask a lot of questions everywhere you find a woodworker. Just remember though, that everyone has ideas on what tools are best and sometimes, those suggestion will be far more money than you have a budget for.... so, be patient and learn and make your purchases as you go, buying only what you figure you need for a particular project. (Buying on just a "I'd like to have that" can get pretty expensive, so buy only what you need and you'll be surprised at how fast your tool shop will grow.)

Take a look at what some of the experienced woodworkers have in their shops, I'm sure everyone will offer their priorities. What tools you have will be pretty much dictated by the things you want to build. For example, most of my early builds were more utilitarian, so a router didn't come along for a few years.

One thing you'll probably want with the building of your table is a decent Random Orbit Sander or at least a good vibrating sander. They don't have to be expensive, and I remember many of the suggestions I got was to buy the very best. I didn't, and bought a Ryobi for less than half the price of the suggested models, because that was all that I could afford. Later I bought better, but I still have that cheap one and it still works very well.

So, welcome to the forum. I hope you enjoy it here as much as I have.

CWS

[vaking]

Look at some books to learn about using hand tools and types of joinery, for instance look up book "Tage Frid teaches woodworking". Joints that use mechanical fasteners (screws, nails, brads) are not very strong. Pocket hole screws are often used to make cabinet face frames but this does not need a lot of strength. I would be afraid to use it for table frame. I would trust more some glue up joinery, like mortise and tenon or a half lap joint. You mention joining top planks to the top of the table - do you plan to glue up the top surface first or just separate boards, like a picnic table? Surface glue up will require clamps. It will also need plane unless you have access to jointer.

[bonethg899]

I am in Titusville Florida I forgot to mention I have a circular sander, but I do have clamps.

I looked up half lap and mortise and tenon joint they look like they would be good but I don't know if I would be able pull it off. By glue up joinery do you mean actual wood glue.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[twistsol]

Welcome!

It sounds like you have a good start on some basic tools already. Really, a tablesaw is a luxury for most hobbyists which is probably blasphemy around here. As said before there is nothing a tablesaw can do that can't be done with other tools. A circular saw and a good straight edge guide will do 90% of what a table saw can do. Hand planes, chisels and a back saw or dovetail saw can take you a long way.

Don't be intimidated by joinery; you likely won't get it right the first time but practice on some scrap wood and you'll find that none of these common joints are all that difficult. Expensive power tools and jigs won't make your work better, only faster.

Read everything you can find, ask any questions you have here, and always think of safety first.

[capncarl]

I agree with twistsol's statement that expensive power tools won't make your work better, only faster and would like to add that power tools make your mistakes happen faster..... I've cut this board off 3 times and it's still too short.
There are a great number of good plans available for building farmhouse tables by novices. I suggest exploring that avenue, use their plans and work descriptions and not immediately jump into designing and solving the build problems on your first projects. Everything will come together and you can decide on your required tools. You can build a table with a lot less tools that you would dream possible! Remember that our forefathers built wonderful tables with a hand saw, plane, chisel and a mallet.
capncarl

[bonethg899]

Very true I will look into some of those designs


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Carpenter96]

Hi and welcome. I once built an entire set of kitchen cabinets with a circular saw, a straight edge and some hand tools (They came out fantastic). I even was able to make some raised panel doors by clamping my circular saw under some 1/2" ply wood, made a fence and a splitter. Now I also appreciate a good table saw but I know that it could be done without. Waited quite a while until I purchased more advanced tools (Until I had the money to buy good ones). Look out for the addiction part, I own 14 routers that I actually use, not one of them just sits on the shelf. When I do a production run of cabinet doors I set three router tables so that I can leave them set-up in case I have to come back. It has been thirty years since I built those kitchen cabinets and they are still in use in that house. Have fun, ask lots of questions and have fun. We all work with what we have, be it tools or the type of wood.

Regards Bob

[leehljp]

Welcome from NW Mississippi!

Everything points to trying things out with what you have and that is the way to go. It builds from there.

I started out with circular saw and router, added a sander somewhere in there and later was given a Sears Radial Arm Saw. I managed to build two tables and a bunch of other things with that saw. Today, I don't even consider the Radial Arm. I kinda get scared of it. People learn to use what they have and find ways to make the simplest tools work very well.

That said, a TableSaw is my primary workhorse, but as I added other stationary tools, the TS was used less, but still my main work horse.

One item to watch for: Generally the lower priced TS are for construction and not for what most woodworkers use for furniture. IN construction, 1/8" differences in cuts is good enough. In cabinets, furniture, frames etc, 1/8 inch make for might un-square. A bench top TS can be made to work, but the user has to work at it. There are quite a few $300 and less TableSaws to be had, either used or new, but accuracy is dependent on the skill of the user most of the time. The BT3000/3100 does not stand up to rough usage well but is a good accuracy TS.

On Woodworking for the beginner, one thing to keep in mind: Wood Moves! Fluctuations of humidity changes causes wood to move. Different woods move at different rates. The joint used and type of wood should be considered. My first two tables were made very precisely with some several year old air dried woods. Imagine my surprise when gaps of 1/16 to 3/32 opened in low humidity seasons (and air conditioned houses) and closed up in high humidity times, every year! The type of joint and support attachments are important.

Below is an example of just how much some wood (pine) can move. This is not your normal humidity change but is an example of what moisture and wood are capable of doing. And it varies from region to region and wood to wood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEATei2wewY

[capncarl]

Spend a little bit more time exploring the lumber aisles at the large box stores. While expensive, they carry wood more suited for your needs than 2x4's. My local Lowes has a section of nice oak, poplar and pine with sizes that would be fine for legs without having to glue up or nail them together. I've used their pine and red oak stair treads for a number of table tops. I think this wood its 1" thick and is a good grade. Your store may even sell the legs already made up. Somewhere in this store I've even seen the hardware to attach the legs to the aprons, and the nice felt pieces to put on the bottom of the legs to keep from ruining the floor. Not trying to talk you out of making your own out of planks, just pointing out what's available. When your first project turns out nice and the wife is happy then more tools could be under the Christmas tree!
capncarl

[cwsmith]

Thanks guys. My budget would probably be around 300. I really don't have a lot of space in the garage and I have been looking at routers they seem to do a lot of cool task. I have thought about chisels I have never used them and not sure where to even start with them. I don't really have anyone locally to teach me anything.

The table saw I see as assisting me with straight cuts. The table is going to be 6ft long 31" tall and about 32" wide. Legs will be 4x4s with 2x4s joining them planned on using pocket holes to join them. Then I was going to plank the top with 1x8s my wife wants a farm table look. Then I was going to stain the table. The only think I'm unsure of is how I'm going to join the planks to the top of the table. I thought about just using a nail gun add to the farm table look


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just an opinion, but I've never used nails for anything considered to be furniture. Just me perhaps, but I consider nails to be for framing, not for furnishing. Screws, are something else though, but you really need to take a serious look at "joinery" overall. Screws, by themselves, aren't much for holding something together all by themselves. It takes a good joint design to mate the adjoining wood pieces in a manner that is structurally sound. The screws may be used to hold that joint together to some extent; but by themselves, it will be the style and integrity of the joint design that will take the stress of any movement, whether it is humidity changes or physically moving the table around the room.

It the joint is such that the fasteners really are going to be the integrity of the joint, then you need to consider bolts, not screws. Then your table becomes more of a heavy work bench of sorts. Nothing wrong with that, as it can still look good, and sort of country-farm like.

Do you have a plan or are you still looking for a way to do this? I've found it best to sort of plan everything out and then pass it around if you're looking for ideas or opinions on how everything will work for the end result.

CWS

[bonethg899]

I will spend more time exploring lowes for hat stuff I have a lowes and Home Depot across the street from each other so I will look at both


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk