If I’m going to be building something big out of wood, I’ll need to tool up for it. Right now I have some basic tools that will work, but what I have in the garage is more geared toward building an RV (and even a lot of those tools are now gone).
My bandsaw is a very inexpensive, small Harbor Freight model. I have tuned it up a little and adjusted it so that it works much better than it did out of the box, but it’s a very light duty saw. It’s also WAY too fast for cutting 4130 steel. I’ll need to at least get some good quality wood cutting blades for it, since it’s mostly been used for aluminum. I was looking for a better bandsaw, like a 14″ Delta or Rockwell, but I may hold off on that. This one might work, if I can come up with a solution for any steel parts that need to be cut.
The table saw I have is a fairly decent Ryobi. Not as solid or as precise as I’d like, but if I can figure out how to get the rip fence parallel to the blade it should be serviceable. But, for most things the radial arm should work anyway.
Belt sanders — I have two. One is a small bench-top Harbor Freight unit that is fine for very small jobs. The other is a 1950s vintage Craftsman that weighs well over 100# with its cast iron base and stand. I need to get it moved back home, cleaned, lubed and a new drive V-belt installed.
Drill press — The one I have is a complete piece of crap, and I don’t think there is a way to make it any better. I’m watching for a better one, preferably old and solid.
Chop saw — I have a De Walt 12″ compound miter saw. It works fine, but takes up a lot of space. In a shop environment I’d rather use a radial arm saw.
Radial arm saw — This could possibly be the secret weapon. I need to retrieve it from my sister’s place, but there is a Magna Sawsmith radial arm saw. My Dad used this to make a lot of furniture and other stuff, and it will do just about anything. My brother in law (ex, actually, but still a pretty damn good guy) told me the motor had burned out — I’m hoping it’s something more like a bad motor start capacitor, since those are easy to replace and the original motors are long out of production and nearly impossible (and expensive) to find. We’ll see how this one shakes out. Honestly, I can see myself taking on a lot more non-airplane woodworking projects if this saw can be returned to service.
Dust collection — I have none, other than a shop vacuum. The table saw, small belt sander and band saw all have dust collection fittings on them; the old (large) belt sander doesn’t. Not sure about the Sawsmith. I want to rig up something to suck up as much dust as possible, and I’ll for sure want to build a dust separator to keep from clogging up the shop vac.
Jointer/planer — I have none. I may need to fix that. This is an entirely new area for me, I’ve never used either tool and don’t know much about them. But, I may need to plane down wood for cap strips. We’ll see what the BOM that comes with the plans will reveal.