Walter Meier Manufacturing has been producing tools under the Jet brand for several decades. Like many other quality brands, Jet has a loyal following among both amateur and professional woodworkers. The various models cover the broad range from inexpensive machines for the home shop all the way up to behemoths for industrial production tasks. Here we'll discuss various tools suitable for the home shop, with an eye to those just getting started in woodworking.
A bandsaw is one of the most flexible workhorses in the wood shop. It's called a bandsaw because the saw blade is a continuous metal band held between two large "pulleys." They're almost always driven by a motor at the bottom. In addition to straight cuts they can also saw curves with a radius limited by the blade's width. Jet bandsaws are especially well liked and available in both bench-top and floor-mount versions. Suitable models range from a few hundred dollars (10") to over a thousand dollars (16").
Saw Band
A drill press is often common in the home workshop. Unlike hand drills, presses rigidly mount the chuck on a vertically moving mount for exact angles and use adjustable stops for exact depths. Again, Jet offers both bench-top and floor-mount models suitable for the home shop. Typical prices range from below 0 (12") to just below ,000 (20").
Table saws are perhaps the most common power tool in the home wood shop. They make accurate straight cuts at various angles using a circular saw blade. They're also useful for other wood-cutting operations such as notches. All the Jet table saw models I've seen use 10" diameter blades. But the various models have widely varying prices, ranging from about 0 to almost ,000, depending on the features, motor horse power, and mounting.
As a special note, the Jet JBTS-10BT table saw is the one Jet Woodworking tool I would not recommend. Despite being somewhat expensive, it's guide "fence" is inaccurate and the cause of many problems.
If you expect to be doing cabinetry or furniture making you'll need a jointer/planer. These are used to make accurate flat surfaces and edges, such as reducing the thickness of a plank. Once again Jet offers a variety of floor-mount and bench-mount models. The various models range from under 0 (8") to around ,000 (15"). Planers are precision tools requiring lots of horsepower, and tend to be more expensive.
A lathe is used to "turn" cylinder-like objects such as table legs, candle holders, and even bowls. The stock to be turned is mounted horizontally between two "centers," one of which is motor driven. Various cutting tools are moved by hand across a tool rest to carve the various shapes. Like most lathes the various Jet models are bench-mount and range in cost from around 0 to almost ,000 depending on size, horsepower, and other features.
You may have noticed a pattern. Most quality woodworking power tools for the home shop cost from a bit below 0 to a bit above ,000, depending on size, power, and features. So you can easily spend a few thousand dollars to as much as ten thousand dollars setting up a full home woodworking shop. Fortunately you don't have to buy everything at once. You may want to make a list of projects you expect to be working on and get the tools necessary for them first. Yep, setting up your shop can be a life-long hobby in itself, and a great one at that.