Popular Woodworking 2000-11 № 118, страница 2
Woodworking ® TOOL BUYING GUIDE 200 1 What You Must Know About Motors 14 18 26 32 34 42 48 54 58 64 70 74 82 86 90 Where to Buy Your Tools Air Tools Compressors Brad nailers Band Saws Biscuit Joiners Cordless Drills Drill Presses Benchtop Floor Radial Dust Collectors Single stage Air cleaners Jigsaws Jointers Lathes Benchtop Floor Mini-lathes Miter Saws Straight Compound Sliding Compound Routers Trimmers Fixed base Plunge Random Orbit Sanders Scroll Saws Table Saws Benchtop Contractor Cabinet 98 Thickness Planers It's a Tool World This issue can save you hundreds of dollars and headaches. CW chances are you wouldn't be a woodworker if not for the amazing proliferation of machines and power hand tools available today. Before power tools, the emphasis in woodwork was work. Sawing out lumber by hand, flattening it with planes then gluing it up with foul smelling hide glue is definitely not the kind of activity many would choose for fun and relaxation, or even a job for that matter. But our good fortune in having so many tools also presents a problem. All this affordable equipment can make your choices staggering. It's against this backdrop that we've undertaken this, our first Tool Buying Guide.We've set out to make it a lot more than a reference filled with page after page of charts. Our goal was to make you an informed tool buyer who can, in the absence of a knowledgeable salesman or trusted friend, make the right decision when plunking down your cash for a new tool. We've taken several steps to make you a savvy tool buyer. In each of the 15 tool categories, we walk you through the key features. And just as important, we tell you what features to, in a word, ignore. Some tool features have more to do with marketing hype than performance. Next, we give you solid recommendations of tools to buy. Importantly, our recommendations are given for three categories of woodworker — the occasional woodworker/hobbyist; the serious home woodworker; and the advanced woodworker or professional. It seemed logical that each group would make different demands on their tools and have different price expectations as well. We often make more than one recommendation. We concluded that within a category, a consumer could often expect more than one tool to provide good value relative to performance and price. We also give you real, everyday street prices. The prices shown are an amalgam of prices taken from catalogs, internet retailing sites and retail stores, when they were available. In addition to the 15 tool categories, we've included three other important articles. Because the motor is the heart of all power tools and a key component to evaluate, we give you the straight dope so you can make the call in our "What You Must Know About Motors" article. It's a must read for any power tool user. We also give you the dos and don'ts about shopping via catalogs or with on-line tool selling sites. After reading "Where to Buy Your Tools," you'll be much better equipped to shop long distance where real savings can be found. The last thing you should know about our Tool Buying Guide is just who's behind it. With two exceptions where we felt our depth of knowledge was not sufficient, (scroll saws and lathes) this entire issue was researched by the editorial staff of Popular Woodworking. So who are we? Most of the staff members of this magazine have been professional woodworkers far longer than they've been magazine editors. Three of us have a combined total of over 50 years professional experience. All of us build projects for the magazine in the 2,000-square-foot shop adjacent to our offices using many of the tools and machines we've recommended in this issue. Since joining the magazine we have logged thousands of miles (including journeys to Asia and Europe) to visit dozens of tool and machine manufacturing plants. It's our sincere hope that you can benefit from our experience in not only making wise woodworking tool investments as a result of this special issue, but from the accumulated practical knowledge of our staff and highly respected contributors in our regular issues as well. PW 14 Popular Woodworking November 2000 |
