Welcome to you and your son - great site full of great posters always willing to help. One thing you need to be aware of is that we can all accomplish the same task using our own particular methods and preferred tools and you need to chose what will work best for you. I encourage your son to do the same and you may develop along different paths aiming at the same goal. For instance - a tool for dado cuts can be the table saw stacked set as mentioned by rrbrown or others may suggest a good router bit.
One thing for sure, your 3 - 5K budget is a good start, but you can burn that up quickly. May I suggest you and your son sit in the empty workspace and think and talk about the workflow. Then start by building a good workbench. It doesn't have to be all woodworker's dream bench like the European benches - just build a solid flat surface and grow with it. Building shop fixtures and workstations is a good way to learn woodworking and equip your shop at the same time. You can practice different joinery and work methods as you build your shop.
As for tools - hang on to your money and only buy good quality tools as you need them. Many posters will tell you how they use their chop saws all the time and couldn't live without one. I've had my shop for 12 years and still don't have a chop saw. I don't need one. My ts is great and does what I need. That's not to say don't buy a chop saw - just buy what you need as needs arise.
One thing for sure, your 3 - 5K budget is a good start, but you can burn that up quickly. May I suggest you and your son sit in the empty workspace and think and talk about the workflow. Then start by building a good workbench. It doesn't have to be all woodworker's dream bench like the European benches - just build a solid flat surface and grow with it. Building shop fixtures and workstations is a good way to learn woodworking and equip your shop at the same time. You can practice different joinery and work methods as you build your shop.
As for tools - hang on to your money and only buy good quality tools as you need them. Many posters will tell you how they use their chop saws all the time and couldn't live without one. I've had my shop for 12 years and still don't have a chop saw. I don't need one. My ts is great and does what I need. That's not to say don't buy a chop saw - just buy what you need as needs arise.
