re: Prioritizing power tools for a home woodworking shop

As far as particulars of what to buy. The best table saw you can afford. It doesn't have to be the flashiest to do good work, but going too cheap will cause headaches.

For a planer, the Dewalt DW735 wins most comparisons for a reason. I've ran mine for going on 15 years now. I run carbide blades. You can buy the Helix head to swap out the cutter heads if you want, but it is fine "out of the box".

The Dewalt 10" compound miter saw is what I went with. The "fancier" 10" one. I added the outfeed supports to it. It has been a good one.

I have an import Delta knockoff bandsaw that I bought used. It has a riser block added. I can re-saw just about anything I need. Like I said, 95% of bandsaw issues can be solved in the tuning and setup.

I have both a 4" and 6" jointer. Both are old, antique Craftsman belt driven machines, all iron. They work for what I do.

I have a 3.25HP Triton router in my table. For bits, just buy a decent combo set of bits, and spend good money on the specialty bits you may need in the future. I'm not ashamed to say that I still use several bits from a Harbor Freight "Lifetime Carbide" set I bought 12+ years ago. A palm router is handy, and I also have a small 1.5hp plunge router. I hate using a router by hand, so I avoid it whenever possible.

A good dado blade set is handy. A good one. Cheap, or limited sets, can be a pain. I use a full stack Freud set that came with spacers, shims, and three chipping blades.

For dust collection I upgraded a basic bagged collector to a canister......and it is some of the best money I spent.