Woodworking Tools...Oh boy are there a lot of them! In my opinion there is a good, bad and ugly side
to woodworking tools.
The good side of tools is that there is generally a
specific tool that can help you easily and accurately complete a woodworking
task. For example, if you are building a
drawer and want to join the front to the sides, you can get a dovetail saw to
cut a dovetail joint or you can use a self centering dowel jig to help you
properly place dowels for joints.
But having
so many tool options for individual tasks is what leads to the bad side of
tools, with all these tools it is very easy to run up your expenses. Do you really need a dovetail saw? Recently, John Heisz from
IbuildIt.ca showed
us we could cut a perfect dovetail with a hacksaw. Now there is nothing wrong with having a
dovetail saw; it's just as a newbie woodworker figuring out 'what to have' versus a real 'need to have' can be a challenge.
Lastly is the ugly side of tools...how much should I spend on tools? New versus used? Cheap versus expensive and everything in
between? On one side you have
woodworkers who love Harbor Freight or finding good deals on Craigslist for
used tools. These are individuals who
can get tools for a fraction of the cost and don't mind dealing with a potential lack
in quality or short life span of a tool.
On the other side are the Festool and SawStop owners who only buy the most
expense of everything, and then there are the rest of us who are just trying to
do the best we can with the budget we got at Sears, Home Depot and Lowe's.
So when starting out, how do you deal with the good, bad and ugly? The best advice I can give is to
simply buy the best tool you can afford for the current project. It is very easy to go crazy getting different
tools. So when starting out, think about
the types of projects you want to do. A
lot of tools are very versatile, like a router for example. Besides being able to create different types of
profile edges, it also can cut dados; or when combined with a router table, it can do double
duty as a jointer. The key is research,
research and more research. There are
great online woodworking forums like
LumberJocks.com and
WoodworkingTalk.com where
you can get a lot of good advice from experienced woodworkers.
You also really need to cater to your personality. Some people have the "I love
finding a good deal" or "I can fix it up" mentality that is great for used
tools. Others prefer to spend the extra
money on newer, higher quality tools so they don't have to worry as much about them. David Picciuto from
DrunkenWoodworker.com said
this: "I like having nice tools.
This is my hobby. I want to enjoy it as much as I can and sometimes that
means having a nice, well crafted tool." To be honest, I have learned the hard way that I am of that same mentality.
I have a new router, router table, sliding
miter saw and scroll saw. I did a ton of
research and they are not high-end tools, but they all worked great right out the
box and I love working with them. On the
flipside, I also bought a used 1970's belt driven, contractor's table
saw. I only paid $125 and it came with a
Vega fence system and rebuilt motor, but the wire for the outlet needed
replacing and the blade guard assembly was missing. The first time I ran it, the
pulley attached to the arbor was worn away and flew off inside the saw! Let me tell you I easily lost a year off the
end of my life when that thing flew off and started banging around. So I found the blade guard and pulley on eBay
for around $70 in total. It's working well now but I put a lot of work into it and will probably upgrade to
something new at some point.
I also
bought a used 14 inch band saw for $100, but I had to replace the cool blocks (not
a big deal) and what I thought was simple rust on the table is not rust. I honestly don't know what it is, but it's not
coming out no matter what I use and the black is rubbing off on my wood. So I initially started looking for a
replacement table and the prices were around $50...ugh.
Then I found this great idea from
American Woodworker.
So here you can see my bandsaw table with the mystery black spots.
So I took a piece from scrap 1/2 inch plywood and cut through
the middle of it until it reached a spot on the table I was comfortable with.
Then I marked off underneath the plywood table where I
could secure it to the original table.
Using a piece of scrap plywood, I lined up the location to
the wood table and secured the scrap with glue and screws. To make sure I didn't drill
through the top of the table I used a piece of scrap and a spacer. It worked perfectly!
Finally, I notched out a small wedge so it would be easy to
slide in, and BAM...New table costing me nothing more than some screws and scrap
wood.
It honestly came out much better than I had expected. So good in fact I plan to upgrade it to a
piece of 3/4 inch melamine and add a fence for resawing.
Ultimately, tools are as much a part of woodworking as the
wood. No single approach to them is
right or wrong. New, used, expensive,
cheap or a combination doesn't matter as long as you are enjoying and completing your
projects to your satisfaction. If using
a tool is becoming a drag then maybe it's time for an upgrade. Good luck, be safe and I am going to start
saving up for that SawStop contractor saw. :-)
Adam Roman
NY Woodworker
