I want to put some gifts under the tree for myself, hehe. I need some ideas.
I also thought it would be interesting to know what everyone’s top tools they couldn’t live without.
Maybe some good gift ideas for a woodworking friend, too.
Big or small, expensive or cheap.
I suck with traditional hand tools so mine reflect that but i’ll start with some of my favorites:
The top of my list is the Festool Domino. The world seems to love it or hate it, but I love it.
Since I got it, I have made far fewer mistakes, and it speeds up everything so much. Working is less stressful, smoother, and just more enjoyable.
Honestly, I dread the thought of not having this machine in my shop, and despite the cost, I’d replace it immediately if it died.
I don’t have the skill or XP most of you do, and it lets me bring what’s in my head to life and enjoy it along the way.
Next up are these little Paolini pocket rules. These are by far the most used rules I have. I will buy another set or even two because I want to save more critical measurements throughout a build.
https://www.woodpeck.com/ppr-2019.html
My Dewalt planer’s helical cutter head upgrade.
This also changed the game for me—more enjoyment, 200% quieter and smoother, with a fantastic surface after. I’ll never go back to straight blades.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0973MQR4X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1&tag=a7b2c4d8e96-20
Dewalt biscuit joiner. Nice tool. I upgraded from a no-name Amazon brand (it worked fine for a long time), but since I got this guy, I feel much better about biscuits, which I use often.
Back on the cheap end is these battery adapters. I have a 1/3,1/3,1/3 mix of Makita, Milwaukee, and Dewalt tools and batteries. Sometimes I have batteries/tools in the truck, shed, or job site and don’t have the brand I need at home. These things make that issue irrelevant. I ALWAYS have a charged battery anywhere I am since I’ve stocked everywhere with a set of these.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08C2PS5VK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&tag=a7b2c4d8e96-20&th=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09L8JBZLH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&psc=1&tag=a7b2c4d8e96-20
Strap clamps. I am a bit embarrassed to admit I have too many expensive tools that don’t work pertaining to clamping odd shapes and even just normal boxes, but these strap clamps have proven to be the MVP in my shop every time. I don’t know how i’d get by without them.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006JSPX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1&tag=a7b2c4d8e96-20
Last is my Laguna MBAND18BX2203 18″ bandsaw. This thing has saved me so much money. I’m also embarrassed to admit I used to turn so much great wood into wood chips, which always hurt…. I’m mad that I waited as long as I did for this purchase, but it’s my favorite big machine at this point, and I love it more every day.
https://beavertools.com/mband18bx2203-laguna-tools-18-bx-3hp-220v-18-bandsaw.html
Replies
Im asking for a handmade in Berea shop broom
A LN 102 is one of the best gifts Ive ever received. I do love my DF500 though
Router lift with a 3hp router and a downdraft cabinet in the wing of my table saw: I do as much routing as possible on the router table. This setup has many of the benefits of a shaper without the cost or extra footprint of the machine. Especially when you spring for a shaper spindle.
My porter cable speedbloc 330 with a sheet of 3M synthetic steel wool. If I could find a new sander with the heft and balance of this machine I would retire it. Since I can't I've purchase several replacement parts to hopefully keep it running for another 25 years. With the optional soft base this is also a fantastic profile sander.
Byrd Shelix cutterhead for my 6" jointer. It's a base level machine from Grizzly that turned into a beast with that cutterhead.
Lastly the workbench. Double seperate end vices have proved invaluable.
thank you for sharing this kind of informatio.
Starrett Combination Squares - because there is nothing more rewarding than to know you can trust what the tool is showing you - it is what it is;
Veritas PMV11 chisels
A well tuned block plane, and
a comfortable sanding block that conforms perfectly to your hand
Merry Christmas
If cost is no difficulty .....
A European-style tablesaw, inclusive of the built-in precision (to 0.1mm) and a sliding table for cross cuts and large panels. You'll be amazed then addicted, after struggling with that awful unisaw thang for years. :-)
Whilst you're at it, why not get a proper European-style planer/thicknesser machine? A 12" version will square, flatten, straighten and otherwise make perfect planks with one powerful machine - planks of any size you're likely to use. (Yes, you can get them with helical heads of screw-on rotatable multi-edge cutters).
Drill/driver: the small 12V items from the likes of Bosch or even Festool, with various additional heads for getting at anything, are fine wee things to use. Get one paired with a small impulse driver and never cam-out & mangle a brass slotted screw again.
How about a drill press made for woodworking rather than metal working? Consider the likes of the Nova beast, with 6" of downward travel rather than the usual 3.5", not to mention many truly useful controls such as immediate speed change, fine depth control, auto stop/start and much more.
A two day or one week course on use and maintenance of hand tools. Why "suck" if you can learn to be skilled? All it takes is a small effort to learn and, of course, the will to do so. Their use vastly expands the creative abilities of a machinist.
Small things:
A small portable worklight with various means to mount it (magnetic, dangle hook, multi-angle stand, etc.). A strong light directed aright at a workpiece can reveal or enable very fine detail work.
A pair of high quality small backsaws (crosscut & rip) and/or a set of three high quality Japanese saws. Mind, you have to learn not to "suck" with them. :-)
Another big thing ....
A workbench. Many think their Sjoberg or similar is good. The wobble of YouTube vid demonstrators who use such things reveal that they aren't stable enough. And the vises are often primitive, to say the least. Build your own behemoth with large section dense hardwoods and mount two Veritas twin screw vises on it. You can mount specialist sub-vises in the jaws of one of the twin-screws. A proper bench makes a vast difference to even machine woodworking.
FYI, the 18” Delta drill press has 6” quill travel and is designed for woodworkers. FWW some years back rated this as their top pick.
"A small portable worklight with various means to mount it (magnetic, dangle hook, multi-angle stand, etc.). A strong light directed aright at a workpiece can reveal or enable very fine detail work."
David, I can recommend a item here, and it is pretty inexpensive - should make a great Christmas present. The "NIGHTHAWK 3-In-1 Multi LED Work Light" fits the bill. It has a magnetic attachment, which is great for machines. It will set up nicely on a bench using a card scraper to rest on.
Note that I am in Oz: https://nighthawkco.com.au/products/nighthawk-3-in-1-multi-led-work-light
Regards from Perth
Derek
In the same vein, I just ordered this to put under the Christmas bandsaw for myself.
I'm going to slap a magnet on the bottom.
I like the temp and brightness adjustment knob and larger reach area. I couldn't find anything else that would fit what i wanted in my head.
https://www.woodcraft.com/products/laguna-led-lathe-lamp
To Derek & Bent,
Nice lights, those. I do like the notion of a light that can also be adjusted for colour temperature. That would be very useful in me windowless shed-garage-workshop, in which the light is several bright LEDs but all at daylight temperature. It would be good to have a light that showed the wood colours at other light temperatures, such as those found in various kinds of house rooms.
The portable work light I use at present is one of these:
https://www.bosch-professional.com/gb/en/products/gli-12v-330-06014A0000
used mostly on the drill press but handy there to pluck off for use on the adjacent workbench.
Yes the adjustments are big to me. also the reach. being able to swing it around without moving the base.
And i like that its corded.
Thats a neat light you got. its cool it works with the bosche battery so when it dies you can rotate batts instead of having to wait for recharge. im not in the cordless bosche ecosystem at all. Ive got those lights as rechargable type-Cs in the form of Klien, Olight, and Milwaukee.
My LN 102 block plane. I use it on every project.
presently my new veritas dovetail jig. What i'm really missing is my stanley type 15 smoother that was lost due to a wildfire.
something old and something new:
10" Witherby Drawknife (made pre-Civil War MA)
No. 4 Lie-Nielsen Smoothing Plane (bronze)
Although the Euro table saw mentioned above would be a helluva nice gift!
I find that my favorite tools often end up being the ones that I happen to use the most. In some cases, it was a matter of finance and that was all I could afford initially. For example, my making knife is under $10 or $20 and was nothing special. I've used it so much that when I've tried other ones that have cost close to $100, I've gone back to my inexpensive one. It's an old friend as are some of my other hand tools. It's kind of like my greeting them at the begining of the day is me saying "hello old friend."
Yeah.....I want everything here. Perhaps this was a bad idea lol.
I'm about to call my bank and lock myself out....
If buying a tool twice is indicative of utility and quality, the Triton TRA001B router. I just bought a second one, having decided to commit to one permanently in a table. I use a Makita battery trim router for really light stuff and the triton for everything else.
The TRA is a gentle giant, and although it is intimidating in dimensions and raw power (2400W - 3.2HP) it is easy to handle, has great micro-adjust and the ability to change bits above the table. In hand-held use, it is well-balanced and for a massive router, surprisingly quiet. Also, it's orange, which makes it easier to find than bosch green...
Bosch blue is easier to find than Bosch green, too. ;D
My favorite woodworking tool right now is a vintage 1" Stanley Everlasting chisel.
My favorite tool is a shovel.
My favorite tool depends on what I am doing but right now my Bosch 6 inch RO sander on turbo mode and 3M 80 gris cubitron sandpaper are saving my life.
For stationary power tools: Laguna 18BX band saw and SuperMax 25-50 drum sander. For hand held power tools: Domino XL (with the Seneca cutter adapter) and Makita track saw. For non-powered hand tools: Bridge City try square and Narex Premium chisels. Band saw: great resawing quality. Drum sander: saves a lot of time and can do table tops as well as cabinet doors. Domino XL: I’ve built a lot of furniture with floating tenons using a router and jigs, the Domino is much faster and very accurate. Track saw: One of those “how did I ever live without one?” tools, accurate and cheaper than Festool. Try square: high quality, accurate, and nice to look at (and adjustable!). Chisels: As an old-school Marples fan it’s hard to find decent quality chisels that don’t cost a fortune. Even used Marples with boxwood handles are extremely expensive, if you can find them online, outside of the UK. Narex are good quality at a good price.
Hard to say, but I can eliminate all tools with a power cord from consideration.
What about those rascals with a battery?
**************
But if one finds hand tools to be enjoyable, as I do, may I recommend taking up the whittling of treen, including spoons & the like, bowls, cups and a host of other useful things generally bought as plastic dumpster-filler items these days?
I took up the spoon-makin' last January and I'm on target to have made 52 spoons/spats/butter-spreaders/ladles/scoops/etc. by next January, as well as a number of wooden bowls, cups and shrink pots. A daughter has me attempting Welsh love spoons, although I'm not personally enamoured of such flimflam
This has really been an excuse to buy all sorts of knives and gouges, not to mention axes, adze, drawknives and strangely-shaped scrapers. My spokeshaves have never worked so hard either. I even have a stock knife! And, of course, a lataxe (froe).
Also mallets, also home make-able.
I wield these sharp and dangerous tools with an ever-increasing skill. So far, no wounds other than the odd prick from a knife point when putting it away.
I wrap them all in leather stuff made by the ladywife. Lately I've bought bare blades and made personal handles for them (more woodwork). Perhaps a forge and some blade making will happen (although this might burn down the workshop, so perhaps not).
I'll mention two, but honestly my favorite tool tends to change regularly. The first is my number 4 Lei Nielsen bronze smoother. This is the bigger plane I go to 90% of the time. With a sharp blade, it's a real delight.
The other I'll mention is my Powermatic 8" helical head jointer. I wrestled with a straight-knife 6" jointer f0r 20 years and finally upgraded a while back.
These two make the list today as they just got a bunch of use on the current project. Ask me in a day or two and it very well could be two different tools. I would add good tools are a pleasure to work with, whatever they are. And the ones you'll dislike tend to be the cheaper ones. Something to consider.
Favourite Tools ... perhaps to dream, perhaps to aspire?
I have acquired some wonderful tools over some decades, upgrades as they could be afforded and appreciated. Built many, some of which have been published in the FWW mag, sold some, enjoy what I've kept. I find pleasure in building complex furniture with traditional joinery. This is all the more pleasurable with favourite tools, and even more when I have made them as well.
Below is a small bevel up infill smoother (size of a block plane), my favourite chisels (slicks and oire nomi) made by Kiyohisa (I rehandled all the oire nomi, which were acquired one-by-one, into a set), and the best tool of all, my work bench (built of European Oak and Jarrah).
Regards from Perth
Derek
Beautiful bench! What is the undercarriage wood?
The undercarraige wood is Jarrah. This is a (very) hard wood which grows extremely slowly and only in Western Australia. Extremely durable, it has been used for a couple of centuries to build bridges, roads and piers. I salvaged this from roof trusses. Below is an example of fiddleback Jarrah used in an entrance hall table I built.
Regards from Perth, Derek
Favourite tools, because I just love using them:
My Record plough plane is my favourite to use. I have a chisel mortiser that I get giddy like a schoolgirl whenever it magically drills a square hole and now I have it I couldn't ever go back to a router. HNT Gordon palm smoother is always a joy. As is the shoulder plane. And smoother. And the world's best chisels by Trent from Harold and Saxon. Pig sticker chisel - for when I'm having a bad day and need to vent by trying to split the handle with a 1kg lump hammer.
'Favourite' tools, because they're so darn essential:
The one tool that gets used more than anything else is a $70 Makita task light. Planer thicknesser I for sure could never do without. The UJK hole drilling jig thingy - the "mft" top I made with it has been far, far more useful than I ever thought. Shooting board and shooting plane, they come out on all projects. Flannel nappies that have been washed 8000 times are the best finish applicators and free if you steal them from the nursery. Festool sander. This list could go on for a while...
“[Deleted]”
Maybe not a fancy plane or hand tool but a lifesaver for me never the less. I have been doing a large project for a customer (19 pieces total). Each one has 10 holes in hard maple ranging from 1 to 4 inches diameter....plus 3 large semi-teardrop holes and all the parts are long and large. That's a lot (247 holes) of hand sanding with fingers and sandpaper and sanding sponges. I did 4 by hand and then discovered a hand held variable-speed oscillating spindle sander. Fantastic machine and has saved a LOT of time.
https://www.rockler.com/triton-portable-handheld-oscillating-spindle-sander-bdl
That's a cool one. I didn’t know they made such a thing.
When thinking about this question while working, one obvious answer is my workbench: 3'x7' maple with a 2.5" thick top, 8 drawers, 4 vises (two quick-action tail vises, one quick-action face vise, one Emmert's Patternmaker's vise as the other face vise.) Very efficient, very solid, etc.
The less typical answers:
Hammond Glider Trim-O-Saw. This does 99% of my cross-cutting. Sliding table, nice end-stop, quick-action clamp. We replaced the 6.5" blade with an 8" blade to get greater cutting depth. It will cut to about 1.9" thick, and will trim (as much as the thickness of the blade) to about 4" thick. This is a great addition to a "normal" table saw if you have the space.
Stanley #81 Cabinet Scraper: I've worked with a large amount of figured wood, esp. curly cherry, curly maple, and mahogany crotch. This tool properly sharpened takes the worry out of smoothing figured wood. It is sharpened like the #80 cabinet scraper, but has a rosewood sole for less friction. The only drawback is that the iron needs to be tempered a bit softer than a plane iron, so it needs sharpening a bit more often. I've almost used up the original blade after using it for 45 years.
I have to admit I'm also partial to my 24"Wx72"L jointer, and my 26"Wx8"T thickness planer. I was just flattening and planing 14" wide poplar boards for raised panels today. I've also made a cherry sugar chest with 20" wide cherry boards, and table tops glued up, then flattened and thickness planed. Can't say I expect something like either of these to end up under someone's Christmas tree!
A few years ago I bought a Worksharp WS3000 tool sharpener. I haven't developed the chisel or plane iron sharpening skill to do it freehand or even the roller type as good as this does in allowing me to get the mirror finish on the back and then onto the angle. It is a true pleasure to work with such sharp tools that this tool allows me to obtain. I haven't bought the system yet, but am leaning towards a Festool sander and vacuum to reduce vibration and sound from the current tools. Any thoughts on this? I love the forum to ask such a great question!
Ha - sharpening and its 1001 gubbins, is a hobby all by itself. Wood is needed only to demonstrate the latest degree o' sharpness imposed upon the various blades. :-)
Lately I are been mostly doing the carving of greenwood things, employing tools new to me - the various knives, axes, adze and so forth. As I only had 385 sharpening methods in the shed to choose from I naturally went looking for another one, especially for knives.
However, my long-dormant sense of economy seemed to get invoked, so I made do with the 74 different grits of sanding & honing papers on float glass + a variety of home made wheels of MDF, leather, wood and the compressed hair of faeries, in various profiles, mounted in a drill, coated with 98 varieties of grit & honing paste.
***********
The Festool sander. I have one (150mm diameter) now approaching 25 years old (its labelled "Festo") that's been Festool-serviced only once to keep it going. It must have sanded away whole planks by now. However, although I have a Festool sanding sucker of similar vintage (bought at the same time) I have to tell you that it's no better than many other sanding suckers at half the price. Also, the sanding bags cost far too much.
Mind, that sucker still works as well after all these years.
You may also discover, if you try them, that hand planes and scrapers can do away with 95% of your sanding needs. And planing/scraping is a lot faster than sanding.