If you had 2K and no tools...

[bornofmud]

What would you buy? I'm planning on getting a bandsaw (grizzly g0555), belt and disc sander, oscillating spindle sander, and a router and router table, as well as some files for finer shaping.  I also plan on using these tools to build acoustic guitars a little on down the road, so I'm trying to only get tools that are important for both bow making and guitar making haha (at least when it comes to large power tools).

This sound like a good starting point?  Any recommendations on what brands/models I should look for? What would you get if you found yourself in my position?   Thanks!

Also, I plan on building glass lam bows, as I'm sure you'd want different tools for building selfbows.

[stringstretcher]

If you are going to do panels for guitars, I would think you would want a thickness sander as well for use in making laminations.?

[MoeM]

My first thought too...
I dont know if it`s available in the U.S. but the Scheppach oss 58/100 is quite a cheap spindle sander, similar to the triton for example (grizzly got same chassis in prog. I think)
By the way a oss can be used as vertical thicknesser too!

[jsweka]

Sounds like someone has an income tax return buring a hole in their pocket    

I'd say that's a good proposal for a bunch of tools.  The thickness sander would be good too, but might eat up a bunch of your funds for other tools.  I ususally buy my lams from kennym on here, so I usually don't need the thickness sander.

[MoeM]

Guess that depends on how many bows you are going to build- but anyway I love the opportunity to get the lams I want whenever I want instantly (assumed I got wood/boo in stock..) even at 3:00AM- and I heard it was a usefull tool for guitarbuilding.
(But for few bows I`d agree with John and order lams at Kenny`s he shows such awesome stuff on his HP!)

[Bowjunkie]

I'm set up to grind my own lams and Im glad I spent the money on the thickness sander. I also use it for bamboo backed bows and tri lams and such. Really opened up options for me. That said, it wasn't bought with the first 2 or even 3 grand I spent on shop tools.

I'd get a bandsaw, a drill press (which quickly and easily converts into a spindle sander), a table saw and even a jointer before the thickness sander. But I luuuuuuv my thickness sander  

[Dmaxshawn]

Bandsaw
Edge sander
Drum sander
Dust collector

Hand tools (files & sandpaper)

Done

[bornofmud]

I would go for a thickness sander except to get one big enough to use for guitar making would pretty much eat up all of my money haha. Quite the overpriced tool in my opinion, probably better to make my own when I need one for guitars.  I figured I could just use a belt sander and a jig if I get in to doing my own laminations and go from there. Would be nice, but just too darn pricey for how much I would use it!  And yes, I keep forgetting about a drill press, that would be quite useful, and potentially could replace the spindle sander.

anyone have any recommendations for specific models of these tools that are good quality and fit into my budget?  I'm pretty set on the grizzly for a bandsaw, but don't have any ideas on the rest of them.  

Also, how much router do I need? Would 2 1/4 hp work for most tasks?

[wood carver 2]

Grizzly for the drum sander. I bought a 10/20 last year and I like it. It sells for around $400 or so.
The dust collector is a must in my opinion. Sawdust can mess you up, especially dust from tropical woods and you'll need one if you use a drum sander. I use mine for all my power tools and I also use it to vacuum the shop.
Dave.

[wood carver 2]

If you're buying a router for use in a table, go for horsepower. I'm guessing you will be making moldings and furniture parts with it? (I can't see it being very useful for bow building).
You can get a good combo for a decent price these days. Keep the fixed base in the table and the plunge base for hand held work.
I have a big Porter Cable, a Rigid and a Ryobi and I like them all. I've run literally miles of wood past all of them with no problems. The Porter Cable is getting a bit worn out from over 25 years of work, but it's still running.
You can save a few bucks if you build your own router table. Just buy the appropriate insert that will work with your router and use good quality plywood with a smooth top like formica.
Dave

[bornofmud]

Nice, thanks.  For bow building, I will mostly just be using the router for building forms, but it has quite a few uses in guitar building, and a couple other miscellaneous projects I want to do.

Now I'm thinking about just getting a really small thickness sander that will fit lams and worry about thicknessing guitar tops when I get there haha. Limits its usefulness to pretty much only that task though.

[MoeM]

Have I mentioned (or som1 else maybe) that the web is full of DIY thicknesssanders?!

[Bowjunkie]

BTW, I too am interested in building acoustic guitars. Got the books but that's all the farther I've gotten.

[bornofmud]

I believe I was the one that recommended to myself to build a DIY thickness sander! haha! I suppose I could also just make a small one for doing laminations, though then I might as well just use a drill press/spindle sander/belt sander with a jig, more cost effective.

And nice Bowjunkie!  I have actually built one, but I had access to somebody else's shop.  It is a lot of fun!  Definitely an addictive hobby as well, though the amount of jigs one needs to make it all line up right in the the end is quite intimidating! If you have any questions about that, let me know!

[Dan Bonner]

This is my choices in order of importance
Table saw
Drill press
Bandsaw
Belt sander
Thickness sander

Bonner

[LC]

This is my choices in order of impotance

BANSAW
drillpress
belt sander
dremel tool or better yet a flex shaft foredum or rotozip.

LOTS OF SANDPAPER

[LC]

Forgot to add drum or thickeness sander but you could do with out it but it would be tuff.

[bornofmud]

Thanks for the replies guys, think I've got enough to go off of now.  One thing though, a couple people recommended a table saw, but what use would a table saw be in bow making? Especially if you have a bandsaw.  I guess if you were only making flat limbed bows?