Setting up a decent hobby woodworking shop.

[BigDawgDavao]

Hey all, long time member, but been away for quite some time. Currently building a new shop that will be both auto/bike restoration and wood working as I want to get back doing a little wood stuff. I'm pretty much kitted out for the mechanical side, but basically have no wood working stuff other than a few hand tools, circular saw, jigsaw and a drill or 2.

So I'm not looking for really high end stuff, but it does have to be decent quality as I live in the Philippines and plan to be working with some pretty hard woods. One is called iron wood (mangkuno) so the name kinda speaks for itself.

As I am overseas it would be best to get from the same store to facilitate shipping and all that. I've looked at Grizzly, Rockler, and a few others. I would like any input as to other woodworking "box" store type of things that I could get a fairly big order from that offer quality gear, good service and spares as needed. I'm older, well off and looking to spend some retirement money on hobbies. Told the missus either a woodworking shop or a sailboat. She prefers the woodworking shop so I'm freeing up about 30-50k to kit it out right. I got 240V/3 phase power already set up so can go big.

Any and all advice appreciated.

BDD

 

[tyyost]

If your going to source everything from one place for shipping purposes it would be difficult to ignore Grizzly. Conversely, you may want to find a mainland equipment supplier/reseller or a Woodcraft who can ship to you?

Many new machines are in a similar class, but for your purposes a 10” table saw, jointer, planer, or jointer planer combo, a nice bandsaw, and the joint making tools of your choice should get you in. (Festool domino, Kreg jig, mortiser, etc) With the tropical hardwoods you have handy helical cutters in the jointer and planer are a good buy. Don‘t forget dust collection as well, as several tropical hardwoods are also tough on the respiratory systems too.

Have you looked at Hammer by Felder? As an international company they may be able to simplify shipping too. Jointer/planer - Bandsaw - Tablesaw, all of these are considered best in class, they also have a really neat combo machine but it’s not my cup of tea.

 

[Max]

Congrats on joining us woodworkers in our piles of sawdust.

I agree with tyyost for equipment. I would not suggest a combo machine as resetting things for different things gets to be a pain very quickly. Grizzly is hard to avoid if you want to buy a lot of tools from one place. They are open about which tool comes from where if you look at the detailed specs. My personal bias is that I much prefer Taiwan sourced tools to China but you may feel different.

I have a grizzly G1029Z2P dust collector that has worked very well for me. I also have a new G0640X band saw that I really like but I haven’t had a chance to use it much yet.

If you are working much with plywood I’d add a tracksaw as well. Moving 4x8 sheets on a table saw is awkward unless you have a sliding table.

 

[Dumber than lumber]

So I'm not looking for really high end stuff, ...
.... I'm freeing up about 30-50k to kit it out right. I got 240V/3 phase power already set up so can go big.

Any and all advice appreciated.

This is quite confusing. Buy once, cry once.
That comment on Felder/Hammer makes sense.
How big is the woodworking side of this new shop going to be?

 

[Packard V8]

Since all the Grizzly/Jet, et al, comes from China and or Taiwan, why order it from the US? There should be a local source which wouldn't have the overhead of shipping it twice across the Pacific.

jack vines

 

[ZRX61]

I think I might be hard pressed to spend even $30k, let alone $50k to kit out a woodwork shop given Grizzly prices.

But I'd give it my best shot

 

[BigDawgDavao]

Have you looked at Hammer by Felder? As an international company they may be able to simplify shipping too. Jointer/planer - Bandsaw - Tablesaw, all of these are considered best in class, they also have a really neat combo machine but it’s not my cup of tea.

I had not seen those before. Interesting concept. Will check into some reviews.

If you are working much with plywood I’d add a tracksaw as well. Moving 4x8 sheets on a table saw is awkward unless you have a sliding table.

Yup, one of those definitely will be on the list, though I don't plan on doing much with plywood here cause the quality here is unbelievably poor. I do plan to do a few epoxy/slab tables and see the utility in that.

This is quite confusing. Buy once, cry once.
That comment on Felder/Hammer makes sense.
How big is the woodworking side of this new shop going to be?

To clarify about that, bigger on power not so much on size. I don't think I would use a 20" planer, but I'd like to have a 13" or so with a bit of grunt.

The whole shop is around 168 square meters or 1800 square feet. I already have a 4 post lift (moveable) and plan to have a dedicated "dirty side/paint booth/wash bay/hose down-able bay" of about 32 square meters. I do a fair amount of painting so overspray and dust/bug free is always a pain doing it outside

Since all the Grizzly/Jet, et al, comes from China and or Taiwan, why order it from the US? There should be a local source which wouldn't have the overhead of shipping it twice across the Pacific.

jack vines

Yes, you'd think it would be, but it's crazy how much mark up local suppliers put on things here. If it's not Chinese junk tools that would barely reach Harbour Freight quality and are essentially 1-2 job disposable, the higher quality stuff sells for much much more than in the US

Thanks for the comments. Gives me a little more to consider.

 

[BukitCase]

With the harder woods you have, choosing both jointer and planer with spiral carbide insert helical heads would be a no brainer to me - in fact, I have their 15" helical planer AND 12" helical jointer. A couple examples

Grizzly G1021X2 - 15" 3 HP Extreme Series Planer w/ Helical Cutterhead - Grizzly Industrial, Inc.

<h1>G1021X2 15" 3 HP Extreme Series Planer with Helical Cutterhead</h1> <h2>Maximize the quality of finish straight from the planer. </h2> <p>Using the G1021X2 3 HP Planer will save time and effort by quickly flattening and smoothing rough lumber. <p>The G1021X2 features a 15", 4-row helical...

www.grizzly.com

Grizzly G0856 - 8" x 72" Jointer w/ Helical Cutterhead & Mobile Base - Grizzly Industrial, Inc.

<h1>G0856 8" x 72" Jointer w/ Helical Cutterhead & Mobile Base</h1> <h2>Ready to step up from your bench top model?</h2> <p>Step up from any 6" model you might be considering to this larger capacity helical cutterhead 8" jointer. The G0856 comes equipped with a 4-row helical cutterhead with 36...

www.grizzly.com

Grizzly G0834 - 12" x 84" Jointer w/ Helical Cutterhead - Grizzly Industrial, Inc.

<h1>G0834 12" x 84" 5 HP Parallelogram Jointer</h1> <h2>Maximize your woodworking potential with helical cutterhead jointing.</h2> <p>With 84" of precision-ground cast-iron tables and a solid cast-iron stand, the G0834 12" Parallelogram Jointer weighs in at over half a ton! All that mass...

www.grizzly.com

Also, with the more exotic woods I'd pay close attention to dust collection - I bought a cannister type originally, and converted it to cyclone with a kit from Oneida. Haven't had to clean a filter in years... Steve