Douglas, I am going to side with many here but aint gonna quote any. I would like to share my story, most here have heard it and its peacemealed over the forum in different posts so here goes.
I started out without being a member of any forum. Not even looking at one. Yup i was independent and led by the nose of the magazines and buyers guides. Hey i am not ignorant of the web, just stubbornly independent.
So i set out to do things and having tired in life of always not having the right tool to do the job, yet having a schooling and father beat me into useing the right tool for the job, i had this darn built in programming that said i have to have all these tools before i can do woodworking. HOW WRONG I WAS AND WAS PROGRAMMED.
Yup you need a few basic things. I will grant that to anyone.
The first is a place where you will do it. That too became an issue with me and i spent big dollars on building my dream shop.
But I think you have the first most important tool that i have come across. Membership to a forum and its free.
Access to others who have the same interest and are willing to share their experiences and its free. And while I love our forum and family I aint suggesting its the only one but the guys here are pretty sensible, practical and decent so i find no need to stray to other sites.
That said,
Had i had the humility and intelect to do as you have done i would have spared myself much wasted dollars or at least used those dollars in other more valuable areas of my hobby. Now i aint stupid, i just had not stopped and given this serious thought until the guys here brought it up and to my attention.
Before i go further, i have to clarify the space thing. I started out in my basement but in the back of my head i had already bought 2 books on building your own shop. Had i seen what some guys here do, and they produce 100 times more than me in projects, I would probably thought twice about my dreamshop. They proved to me that you can do a immense amount without all the "must have items" that we get hooked on having to have through excellent marketing and magazine tests.
So lets tackle some questions you might want to be asking yourself before you get into buying anything. These questions too are free.
What do you want to do in your hobby?
Dabble or build some furniture or redo your kitchen and fix your house or become an artist and design build and create great peaces one at a time like an artist would paint a picture.
There are skills and knowledge here that I find beyond words to describe. Years and years of being active woodworkers as either hobbiests or professionals.
So after listening to these guys through the posts here, what have these guys told me and others since i joined this forum over the time is the following.
1) Buy what you need to do the job. Just as you would in a business, dont buy a thing you have no need for to do what you want to do.
2) If you aint sure what you gonna do, do some basic courses first and deploy some of your money there and get the learning first hand from a pro teacher. There are too many names (i was going to list a few) of guys that have attended one or other workshop held by a pro and they have come away so enlightened and even more determined and enthusiastic about their hobby.
3) Learn some basic very important skills which are hard to get away from having to learn if you want to really enjoy this hobby.
a)One of these is the ability to sharpen tools.
Why i say this is years, literally years after having bought all my tools built my shop and got going, i came across a very valid point. Most tools and machines we use in woodworking have a cutting edge. Understanding it and understanding that regardless of whether a motor drives that cutting edge or your muscle power that edge needs to be sharp and presented correctly in order to its job will make an enormous difference to your enjoyment of this hobby.
b) By some good quality new or second hand, hand tools and play with them.
I doubt that there is a woodworker on this forum that don't have hand tools and by that i mean more than a hammer or nail. I refer here to chisels, a plane, a tennon saw or marking knife, etc. Even the spinny guys have lathe chisels and have learnt to sharpen them. Consider if you will initially getting familiar with these tools. Make the odd working project and dabble to get a feel for where you would like to go with the hobby. Learn to sharpen them and understand their use. How they are applied in a joint and how to make a joint using them. At the end of the day the power tools will really only do this faster and more efficiently in some cases, provided you understand how to use them as well.
Had i followed this thought process, I would have spent my money on some good quality hand tools. I would have bought some decent clamps. I would have built my workbench long long long ago and while still in the basement of my house learnt to use these tools and learnt the art or skill of sharpening along with the delight that goes with useing a sharp tool.
Then i would have known which part of woodworking i like determined that i would get satisfaction from it such that i would apply more of my hard earned dollars in that direction and would have sought the advice that has been given above.
Coming to the machines, i think there has been great advice given in each thread above. Certainly i would have bought a great deal more old tools. I aint snobbish I was just stupid. I paid more than i should have and in so many cases got cheap on certain things to my own detriment just come visit and see my clamps, lathe and other bits of what i would rather not be seen with or aggravated by. Having said that I did buy good machines for the most part. I try to buy with a view to buying once. I aint prepared for a hobby to be going out and upgrading just because its got a new gadget or feature unless i get to the valid stage where i have personally outgrown the machine. By that i mean i am at the woodworking ability to get the most out of that machine.
So before you spend your hard earned dollars take heed from the advice that you are given here and ask a million questions. Narrow it down and do like so many that have been wise in my opinion and ask about a specific machine and type and only when you are certain part with your dollars.
Draft a set of your criteria. Not mine. As an example some have chosen to develop a relationship with a local tool supplier. Others have said they have the ability to refurbish a machine and therefore buying second hand to them is no problem if the price is right. You have decide these things for yourself.
I am comfortable fixing my own so yeah if a warranty is used as an idication of reliability then for me it has some meaning. But i dont buy based on that alone.
One other big debate is power. If you have a space to do you work and it has 220V ability you will find it opens up choice in machinery as well.
Best of luck with the quest.
