Yeah, I'd never heard of a track saw, but I can see spending the extra money for a guaranteed straight cut every time.

I remember seeing that. It looks great. I bet you are more excited for the remodel or woodwork then actual buying the house:D

Its a lot of fun creating these pieces. I was hooked at an early age and still think its a lot fun only without having to deal with the business end of it all. Sadly, I hardly build anything in the shop amymore for myself.

Track saws are great, as are radial arm saws. None replace a tablesaw, because they can rip narrow stock and nothing else can do that safely.

I love coming up with an idea and then the satisfaction when it's done. It can be a little nerve wracking when I'm getting ready to start and thinking "OK, I know what I want it to look like, how the fark do I make that happen?" That's when I think it would have been nice to have been taught by a family member or something. I took wood shop in the 10th grade, but then moved schools part way through the year so only made a couple of simple pieces.
I'm fairly certain I'll end up with a table saw, mitre saw and track saw. I'm going to get a better table saw than the last one that I had.

A track saw is nice to have but IMO, not always necessary. I used a home made cutting guide for years even though I have a panel saw. For smaller jobs if I was doing all the work myself, I still have to hump the plywood into the shop from the truck.

I am a HUGE fan of not having to carry heavy stuff oin and off the truck. I have two saw horses on a wooden rack made with 1x material doweled together on edge to prevent my circular saw from hitting any nails or screws tied to saw horses that act like a table that sits in the back of my truck. Slide the ply wood onto that. Make one mark, put crosscut jig on mark, clampboth side, and crosscut with Skillsaw into smaller pieces. Much lighter and easier to carry into the shop. Set up table saw and cut away to exactly size. I can cut all the sides to a pretty large kitchen in about 30 min to an hour without having to life the entire piece of plywood off the truck once. I haven't done it in a very long time. If the guys are there, they can hump the sheet goods onto the panel saw, ones set up, we can cut very accurate panels within minutes with no chips or blow outs. Now, we don't even use that anymore. We order the panels cut on a CNC into actual size and start assembly immediately. Saves loading and unloading, cut time too.

Good to know, thanks.

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Why the rounded corners? To eliminate the possibility of a lip/edge?

Wow, he sharpens his planes 4 or 5 times per day! Granted, his probably get a lot more use than mine, and mine have probably mostly (but not completely) been used on pine. There's probably been some oak and other stuff as well. Clearly, I need to up my ante.

Holy carp! Tip #10 is crazy. I'm guessing this guy has forgotten more about woodworking than I'll ever know.

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He's a WIZARD!! Tip 1, it took me a sec to understand WTF was going on. For that period of time before I got it, I was certain this guy was a wizard.

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Here's a guy that has some very good instructions on jigs and such for table saw use.
William Ng - https://www.youtube.com/user/wnwoodworks/featured

He gives great instructions for fabrication of a crosscut slide and how to Zero it in to provide perfect 90° cuts.

Any recommendations on building a good workbench that would be good/useful for wood working? The workbench in the initial post is interesting, and looks relatively sturdy and simple and inexpensive, but I suspect there's more out there. Any recommendations for plans or even if no plans, then maybe dimensions or items/features to incorporate into the bench?

For instance, when I think of a vise for a workbench, this is what I picture (Dad and Grandpa both had vises like this).

http://molotilo.com/wp-content/uploa...bench-vise.jpg

But most of the workbenches that I've seen in the videos that I've been watching recently that are centered around wood working have been more like this.

http://www.woodbin.com/wp-content/up...-installed.jpg

I've come to realize that the tools are great, but in a lot of cases, the real usefulness of the tools come from jigs that help you do something specific in a good repeatable manner.

Thanks, I'll be checking that out.

I take the vice in the second pic, for woodworking only. My old bench is hardwood top, Beech on 2x4 supports and 4x4 legs with two heavy duty locking casters only. Its slightly lower (3/16") then my table saw and was used as an outfeed table. Its 4x6' long with holds drilled for bench dogs. A camping system with woodworking vice. At the edge, I rabbeted enough to have a bent alum strip to avoid pieces getting caught from coming out of the saw. That wast the set up I had when I worked out of my parent's home during my early years of college.

I chose to use a hardwood 8/4 for its durability. Keep that oiled and wax will last a life time. In my shop now, we have these lower assembly tables (24" tall)but they all have Formica tops (plastic lam) on them to ease of maintenance. Dried glue, no problem. Knock them off with a scraper. Wipe to clean and pieces slide off it without a scratch. Personally, I still like a nice wood top.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1605297271.jpg

Right, I've seen that type of vise in use in some videos and thought, "why haven't I had one of those this whole time?" I have one of the others that was my dad's and will keep it, but it only rarely gets used. Thanks for the feature ideas.

Holy Carp!! Clearly, I've been doing it very wrong.

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I have never in my life sharpened a saw, and this guy sharpens them when they are brand new, and it made a huge difference in how it cut. Crap.

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Woodworking vice is quick release. Turn the handle to the left, you can literally pull it straight out 14" in half second. Insert piect, push back up against work piece in half second, 1/4 turn of the handle to tighten is all you will need. The other type of vice requires you to stand there, turn it all day to get it to open and tighten. Woodworking vice allow you to lay the piece flat on the table to drill, sand, whatever. I have a few old ones hanging around that needs cleaning. They are the old fashion, heavy duty commercial vice. They are worth a couple hundred bucks but if you are willing to get your hands dirty with a can of oil and a steel wool pad, its my house warming gift to you. Its heavy but you will have to pay for shippping. Its A LOT better then most on the market today.

like this one https://www.ebay.com/itm/WILTON-4-Deep-x-7-Wide-Vintage-Woodworkers-Bench-Vise-1-Diam-Screw/254751456527?hash=item3b505ebd0f:g:kU0AAOSwKVtcrRr j

Buy yourself a Japanese pull saw. I find they are superior, easier to control, and they can make finer cuts then the old Dovetail saws. I learn using those old dovetail saws. funny thing is, I/we rarely use any hand cutting tools anymore but a chisel or a block plane. The one younger guy on our crew was complaining about the lack of a table saw (bone head forgot to take it from shop) so I had to show the dumb ass now to cut a miter piece with a hand saw to finish the toe kick. He was shocked that there are people that can still cut straight with a hand saw. We will see how he works out for us. Hes new, been with us for two months.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1605300406.jpg


My Furniture fab bench
Note the square hole tabs for the steel insert shown
Rectangular openings in outside vise jaw hold corresponding type pieces to allow square clamp up of large furniture pieces.