Questions About Tools

[GeeTwo]

Not knowing what tools you already have, it's hard to make sure that you have the right stuff on our list. Leaving out the electric drills/screwdrivers and the Dremel, In our small shop, the most-used power tools are:

• Miter/Bevel saw (though a horizontal band saw would be an improvement)
• Drill Press
• Bench Grinder
• Vacuum Cleaner

Fairly Regularly used:

• Portable Band Saw
• Circular Saw (about 5", battery powered)
• Reciprocating Saw

Given the saws that we have, the only time we would use a table saw most years is in building field elements or pit decorations. Between the safety issues and how occasionally we use these, we usually farm this work out to a mentor's garage, or bring in the table saw for a few days.

On the non-powered side, that's a great start (though I had too look up Sortimos; never heard of that brand until now), but I would probably also add some shelving units. We use a combination of heavy duty 24"x48" metal shelves and some medium duty rolling wire shelves about 36" x 16" deep, but let your specific needs and room size drive this.

Another organizational thing we did which has helped greatly was to build in a "pipe rack" along one wall. It consists of three rows by four columns of steel uni-strut (we had it; angle would have sufficed) angled up away from the wall at about 45 degrees above horizontal. We can store all sorts of stock there - right now, bottom shelf is steel, middle is aluminum, and top is wood. (and we have stored a rolled-up carpet below it at times). We also have a wire shelf above this where we store relatively light-weight, rarely accessed items.