# to ship or not to ship



## Kiniyeow (Oct 11, 2010)

We might be moving to Thailand in a year or so and I was wondering if it is feasable to ship woodworking tools to Thailand? These would be a woodturning lathe, bandsaw, drill press, chop saw, etc. These of course would all be 110v items that would require a transformer for each, so I guess my question is, is it worth it to bring them over or just better to buy all new? 

I would be on a limited retirement budget of $1000 of month so I know $$ would be tight, but i sure can't retire here in the states on that.

Kini


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## Dave O'Dottu (Jul 15, 2009)

Kiniyeow said:


> We might be moving to Thailand in a year or so and I was wondering if it is feasable to ship woodworking tools to Thailand? These would be a woodturning lathe, bandsaw, drill press, chop saw, etc. These of course would all be 110v items that would require a transformer for each, so I guess my question is, is it worth it to bring them over or just better to buy all new?
> 
> I would be on a limited retirement budget of $1000 of month ...
> Kini


there is a very active woodworking industry in thailand, so I think the basic tools including lathe, and basic electric saws would be here either for purchase or rental. 
although I do not do this sort of work, my guess is that shipping basic tools would be needless expense.

If you need help in locating this equipment in chiang mai, you can pm me. there is an easily accessible street with many such shops where I have had small wood jobs done for me. I have made a consumer wood product prototype, so we might compare notes if you are up that way.


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## bandit 18 (Jan 20, 2010)

Kiniyeow said:


> We might be moving to Thailand in a year or so and I was wondering if it is feasable to ship woodworking tools to Thailand? These would be a woodturning lathe, bandsaw, drill press, chop saw, etc. These of course would all be 110v items that would require a transformer for each, so I guess my question is, is it worth it to bring them over or just better to buy all new?
> 
> I would be on a limited retirement budget of $1000 of month so I know $$ would be tight, but i sure can't retire here in the states on that.
> 
> Kini


when i came to thailand i had much the same idea as you but opted for leaving most of my workshop tools with my son in the uk and buying all new in thailand .big big mistake .although i can now find most tools here the quality is fairly poor ,i have yet to find a decent bandsaw or pullover chop saw .i have just started my search for a lathe with no luck so far, i found a half decent shop vac but it was extremely expensive so i am about to start building a cyclone extractor.i did find a reasonably good table saw which i am fairly happy with but the things i cannot find are woodworkers vices or the hardware to build them so ended up building a leg vise and tail vise from scratch which both turned out to be very good to use and very enjoyable to build.the other tools that are not available over here are jointer planes like you will be used to ,only the cheap wooden ones here . most other tools are available but the quality is questionable at the very least,so my advise is to bring your hand tools at the very least and maybe the hardware to build vises,most good imported tools in thailand have a whopping import duty on them which makes them very expensive and probably accounts for their scarcity .hope you have fun and luck with your tool searches in thai


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## bandit 18 (Jan 20, 2010)

something else i wish i had bought with me is pipe clamp sets .not the pipe as that is readily available here


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