MY world is primarily metallic, Want a giant over arm router - its called a knee mill ( bridgeport being a brand name) I can make cuts a couple inches deep by putting slitter blades on the horizontal mill. Between my tool and cutter grinders and mills I can make most any joint, just not in a timely manner. Due to rehabbing a home I am back to doing wood working so slowly acquiring quality wood working machines , old school heavy iron style at reasonable prices ( takes a lot of patience for the right price on some of this). Planner, jointer, shapers are another area where mass is good along with long or the ability to add in and out feed tables to minimize snipe. Yep, skitterd a few boards across the mills to get down to thickness needed. Takes a long time though. My 24" bandsaw is an old 2 range variable speed Du-All unit early 40's vintage Low speed about 16 sfm to a top end about 1600 sfm which is still slow compared to the 17" top end. One thing I do try to stay away from on old iron is Babbitt bearings. Their replacement has become a lost art now days. If I come across an old 16" radial arm piece of iron at the right price it will likely follow me home.
While you are generally correct that most consumers should avoid babbit bearings in their used tool choices, repairing them is far from a lost art, though it may seem so on a regional basis.