What’s your one must-have piece of power equipment?
- Tablesaw
- Bandsaw
- Benchtop planer
- Jointer
- Router
- Other (post in Knots)
You will not be able to change your vote.
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Replies
I have all of the tools mentioned. But I think the table saw is a must have. It is the heart of the woodshop.
Number 1 piece of "Must Have" power equipment!!!!
I suggest a light bulb. Can't use a table saw unless you can see.
Second would be an outlet, which would accept electrical equipment.
Hope that helps.
Mel
Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
Your quite a smarta....I mean funny guy Mel. :-)
Rob,
Glad you enjoyed my response.
I am not a big fan of these survey questions.
They seem to gloss the surface by focussing on answers without context. So I try to come back with responses which provoke thought. There was a previous one of these that asked your favorite type of furniture. I said "IKEA". Then I gave some reasons. Obviously IKEA is not my favorite type of furniture, but there are some things that IKEA does extremely well, and that "fine woodworkers" could take a hint from. On this question of which piece of power equipment should come first, there has been some very thought provoking stuff written. I won't go into it, but some say that a band saw should come before a table saw, and they give a good, thought provoking rationale.But survey questions, by their nature, usually miss "context". For example, my woodworking journey spent years messing with power tools but has moved toward hand tools. I am having a great time learning what I can do without making noise or dust. So asking a Neanderthal what piece of power equipment they need first is a lot different than asking the same question to Norm. If I were to design the questionnaire, I would ask each responder to give info about their general approach to woodworking. Obviously the Normites and the Neanderthals are going to come at the question differently. By the way, my current project is making a bowl out of a piece of green wood using an adze. I am doing it in my workshop. I don't need a tablesaw or a bandsaw. I need an electric light because I generally do this at night. So my response to this survey question is not as much of a wisecrack as it originally sounded.There is an excellent thread going on now about which types of block planes are best. IT IS WONDERFUL. It turns out, which type is best depends on what you need to do, and even then, there are alternatives to a block plane. I would rate the thread on block planes as a 10. It really gets down to "context". It doesn't just gloss over things, and take averages. In woodworking, there seems to be no statement which is correct all the time. Thus, it is good to find out the situation (context) in which a statement is true. I believe that survey questions usually cause misunderstandings because they ignore context. They don't have to, but they seem to do that most of the time. So I really wasn't trying to be a smarta**. I was merely trying to "add context" to the discussion. Hope that helps explain what seemed to be a wisecrack. By the way, did you hear that scientists are now beginning to believe that splitting the atom was not such a wise crack? Yuk, yuk.Have fun.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel, the trouble with any form of survey is the scope. On your side in serious discussion you have two choices, Democrat or Republican. A bit limited and you cannot avoid the effect of either. Or perhaps tell the difference once you have paid the piper.
Here we have multiple choice, even allowing for badge engineering, and the standards are meaningless. Do we mean a big saw, 240 volt, basic or fully loaded and so on?
I see Taunton are going down the "one picture saves a thousand words" or something like that road. Does this make sense except to the illiterate? The old books of instruction had carefully constructed text and drawings where needed. If a block plane was required you bought the best you could afford, you studied the instruction and made sure you understood but the commercial axe went nowhere near the grinder.
Now we open the magazine and see the photos. Ah, Homer is using the Bodgcraft fartyplane, it must be good. His chisels are those made from surplus heat shields ejected by space probes, where can I get them? The attention to the important bits is just diverted by the associated dross.
I of course am rarely wrong but I thought I would share these thoughts. Well my wife stops listening to me this close to Christmas.
Mufti,
Good to hear from you. We have not traded messages in a while.
My first response to this thread was an attempt at absurdity. I suggested a "light bulb". In my second response, I indicated that I really don't like this recent spate of survey questions which barely scratch the surfact and don't allow for much context. I don't get heavily involved in such negative conversations, because there is so much positive stuff to get into. I keep trying new things and I am always looking for others who may have tried the tangents that I am now on. In the past year, I got into chip carving, into making large knives for outdoor chipcarving on the facades of buildings, and finally onto hand-hewing bowls from green logs with an adze. I got a lot of advice on all of these endeavors, and I have turned out a number of pieces. So its been a good year.As far as surveys go, they are not for me.
Hope all is well with you.
Hope your wife starts listening to you again.
Whisper something soft and sexy in her ear and see what happens.Enjoy,
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel... You are something!
Hypothetical poppycock.
Did you sit on a bug today?
Not that I noticed.
It’s a dim question, insects notwithstanding.
Didn't mean to offend. Sorry.
Todd
I would have to say that the table saw is number one. Number two would be my thinking chair. Sometimes I cut wood before sitting in the thinking chair and that is not good.
Bandsaw. Its the only stationary tool I have. I can rip boards safely and cut curves, even crosscut. Does Tenons well, re-sawing is no issue. The rest I manage with hand tools. I would like a table saw but I need the bandsaw.
Cheers
Jim
Ruth,
Why does Taunton persist with these meaningless questions?
By "meaningless" I mean the following:
* The lists from which an option may be chosen only allows one choice when most people want to indicate more.
* The lists often assume (as with this one) that there is some sort of hierarchy of worth, need, importance, etc.. There isn't; this assumption is false.
* For the subject in question, the list is always incomplete.
Anyone who votes is therefore giving you meaningless or even false information, as the voting process forces them to do so. Any "intelligence" gleaned from the "survey" is entirely misleading - meaningless in fact.
If it's to do with marketing, I suggest Taunton gets a market analyst who knows how to ask questions related to reality and who understands how to analyse the results. These surveys are making Tauton look very amateurish indeed.
Lataxe
Lataxe,
You must have been listening into a phone call I had with one of Taunton's people a few years ago. I have some graduate work background in human behavior research. As you may know, knowing how to ask questions in a survey is both science and art. In this sort of a survey, Taunton could say at the end something like, XX% of all woodworkers say the (whichever tool) is the most critical power tool in the shop. That would be a false statement. They could more truthfully say something more like XX% of the woodworkers who responded to our survey said that of these five tools (1, 2, 3, etc.) the (whatever tool) was their first choice.
However, to your point, even if they don't make such a statement, but rather make decisions about the articles or books they publish, then they may well be making huge financial decisions based on absolutely wrong data. And, it is not a matter of "Well, maybe the percentage points would vary" but that the answer is completely wrong -- had the question been worded and formed properly.
I do "love" the products that I purchase from Fine Woodworking, but some of these surveys scare me if they are making decisions based on them.
In a survey they had done "in-house" (I was told) they talked with woodworkers in some relatively short radius (50? 75? miles) of their offices, they made a significant decision that they had to change later. When I was told that, I suggested that they were talking to some of the wealthiest (on average) woodworkers in the United States. They got very skewed data which was far from representative of the typical woodworker.
To Taunton's credit, they acted correctly once they knew they had a problem. I truly admire them for that. Too many people, companies, and organizations aren't capable of admitting a mistake and correcting it. Taunton has shown they can. Maybe that is one reason they stay successful.
Alan - planesaw
I tend to agree with you, Lataxe. This particular question takes the cake. forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
I don't know about that Lataxe. But I haven't been here very long either.I will say that the power tool that ha been my best friend is the circular saw. I didn't even own a table saw until recently. The circular saw has saved my arms SO MUCH work!
Not to mention that my right arm would be twice as big as my left if I had hand cut everything!
thesedays the only electrickery I need is a lightbulb... just the one mind... a whole 23 watt job, right over the bench... everything else is done with handraulics...
Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
What's your one must-have piece of power equipment?
Geee. They never put a 'eletric' hand drill in there!
In reality I woud agree my tablesaw is probably the most important one of the items listed, but I still voted "other". The one power tool that I would have no need to go to the shop most days without would be my wood lathe. I enjoy doing most flat work but my stress reliever, companion, trusted budy, etc. is certainly my lathe. Nothing is more exciting than peeling off layer after layer of wood to find the what He has hidden in it for me to discover. Every piece I turn is like Christmas!
My Shopsmith, then I don't have to decide.
"Shopsmith"
Shopsmith! That's not fair. The Shopsmith is a combination of several machines. If you are going to pick the Shopsmith, then I'm going to pick my table saw, jointer, lathe, drill press and my disk sander. In all truth, I did consider the Shopsmith but not having anyone to discuss my purchases, I just happened to go with the separate machines. Even now I don't know much about the Shopsmith except what you guys have just said.
That is why I said list "combo machine" as a choice, you don't need to list Shopsmith by name.Shopsmith has an active forum http://www.shopsmith.net, with education and a lots of users it is a shame major magazines never cover this class of machine.The only issue with having all the separate machine is the space they occupy, I barely have room for the Shopsmith.
Edited 11/7/2007 10:41 pm ET by PaulMCohen1
It is a shame that you were no introduced to the Shopsmith earlier so that you could have considered this option rather than stand alone tools. If you have a large shop space and can permanently place your tools then you probably can get along just fine. I understand that Norm recommends at least a 24'x32' floor.
I have almost all of Taunton Press's books on small woodworking shops. None of them feature even one shop using the Shopsmith. This puzzles me. Does it have anything to do with advertising? Many of the workshop examples shown in these books do emphasize the extensive use of castors under the machines. This is an imperfect solution. Many types of swivel castors will permit the machine to move even when locked. Also, many stand alone tools weigh several hundred pounds and are top heavy as well. I have no desire to push around a 500 pound table saw. As I see it, for a small shop, the advantage of stand alone tools is highly overstated."Heaven is North of the Bridge"
I actually saw a demo of the Shopsmith some 25 - 30 years ago. It was pretty impressive but I didn't see others talking about it favorably much until this thread. I was considering a 24 by 24 shop built like a barn until I saw a friends shop with that size and decided mine needed to be bigger. He also has stand alone tools. I finally settled on 40 by 42 on the ground floor. The building also has a basement and a loft. Looks like a farmers barn from the outside. The shop only occupies a room 23 by 42 but could be expanded to occupy the whole floor. I am almost finished and am still in a quandary as to how to arrange to tools.
Tinkerer:
I built my new shop this summer in the Upper Peninsula. In the past I've used my Shopsmith in my garage. One of the disadvantages of the Shopsmith is that you get too dog-goned comfortable working in a small space. However, in the U.P. our garage became so overwhelmed with stuff that I couldn't work. Since I had enough land I built a 24'x28' shop with a gambreled roof that gave me a 12' wide upper floor for wood storage. I had about 1500 board feet of white pine drying outside under tarps. It is now inside.
Budgets of course are always with us. While it would be nice to have a bigger shop, with the Shopsmith, 24'x28 is plenty. In fact, I have just purchased a second Shopsmith on eBay and it will also go in my workshop as I often have a brother and a brother-in-law who bring in projects.
I have a Shopsmith power station which is a variable speed stand that can also accommodate the bandsaw, jointer, belt sander, and scroll saw. This will enable me to leave the main Shopsmith machine in saw mode and use the other tools on the power stand, essentially giving me most of the advantages of stand alone tools - in a much smaller space. My planer is already on it's own stand. Actually, all my tools, even the storage station , are on castors.
Your shop is so large. I can understand your quandary in layout of tools. Most of the books I've read place the table saw in the middle of the room because it weighs so much that it is virtually immobile. Then of course you need to have enough space all around it to accommodate the longest boards that will be ripped and cross-cut, commonly eight feet. Next is the placement of the bandsaw, jointer, and planer. Often they are put on mobile bases but this is not the best solution in the world. You have enough space to set them permanently.
Perhaps one of the criteria that should be considered in laying out a large shop is to minimize the number of steps you will have to take between machines, carrying your wood and other small accessories with you as you perform work on your project. Another problem in a large space is dust collection. As distances become longer, the horsepower and size of the dust collector must increase. You will almost be locked into a metal or plastic duct work system with blast gates at each machine. Running excessively long 4 inch flexible hose on the floor will not give satisfactory performance.
We give a lot of thought to our tools and layout and often neglect some other very important details, such as lighting and electrical capacity. I cannot overemphasize the importance of good lighting. My shop has six standard incandescent fixtures spaced evenly on the ceiling along with nine fluorescent fixtures, each having two 4' 32 watt T-8 bulbs. I chose the new type fluorescent fixtures with electronic ballasts that operate at 21,000 cycles per second - thus no hum or flicker - nor any strobe effect. It may sound strange to say, but a lighting project begins with paint. The best color is white. Paint both the walls and ceiling.
I put a 200 amp breaker box on the wall. All of my wall receptacles are 20 amp and are 42 inches high so they will be above the bench top level. That way they won't get buried behind something. I placed them about every 5 to 6 feet along the wall. They are on two different circuit breakers. The code in my area requires that they first feed through a GFI receptacle. I also have two 240V receptacles, each with separate circuit breakers. The lighting of course only needs 15 amp circuits.
It would have been nice to have installed a wood floor, but that was not in the budget. Fortunately the concrete is smooth and level. I put three coats of liquid wax on the floor which is a great sealer. I purchased eight 2'x5' rubber mats from Woodcraft which are placed in the areas where I do most of my work.
Finally, I will have an 8' work bench along the long wall and a Sjoberg bench close by for gluing and assembly.
Taunton has some excellent books on small workshops - I highly recommend them."Heaven is North of the Bridge"
Hi,
We have just moved and had a detached garage/studio apt/workshop built. My retirement gift to myself is the workshop (16 X 22) and we just had it all drywalled within the last couple months. My concern was the conrete floor so I just put down a wood floor.
I've used 1 1/8" t&g ply. I moved about two sheets a day due to recovery from quad by-pass surgery recently. That stuff is heavy but soooo nice on the feet, legs & back.
My Shopsmith, and other tools (all wheeled) move easily. If I drop something with an edge it doesn't get dinged. It is warmer. $50.00/sheet where I live but I figured for all the time I hopefully will spend there that I owed it to myself. Just think of all the other $ one spends on tools, etc. Why not be good to your body?
We are insulated to R31 above and R19 in the walls. Plugs also at 42" every 6', 6 overhead 4' flourescents with 4 recessed cans and all painted white. The floor will be painted deck/porch gray.
I have a tough time picking a favorite tool but the most frequently used combo I guess would be my circular saw and edge guide system. Got to get the big stuff to manageable sizes first....The unspoken word is capital. We can invest it or we can squander it. -Mark Twain...
Be kind to your children....they will choose your nursing home.
...aim low boys, they're ridin' shetland ponies !!
Boy! You must be a former Olympic weight lifter. A 3/4" thick 4'x8' sheet is about all I can handle.
For my new shop, I wanted to paint the floor with Rust-o-leum's two part epoxy. I've used it on a garage floor with excellent results. However, before I realized it, my concrete mason sprayed a Meadows acrylic polymer sealer on the floor. I then discovered that the floor would have to be ground before I could apply any type of paint or epoxy. Since the floor was an almost even light gray and very smooth, I put down three coats of Ace Hardware liquid wax. This really makes the floor shine and dust & chips sweep up like a dream.
A tip on fluorescent lighting - if you are stuck with the old magnetic ballast type, a great improvement would be to select bulbs with a 5000 degree Kelvin rating. This will most approach natural light and have better color rendering than the old "cool white" bulbs that we have suffered with in the past. If you are in the need to replace any old fixtures - go with the new electronic ballast type.
I use my hand circular saw to cross-cut rough boards to length. However, I don't use a ripping guide much anymore. I find that I can follow a straight line on a board with surprising accuracy on my Shopsmith bandsaw using a 5/8 wide blade. I can then make the edge perfect with a couple of passes through the jointer."Heaven is North of the Bridge"
Sorry to get back to you so late but we were out of power for a couple days with our last Pacific windstorm. I have the new apt. on generator power but no tv,phone,or computer out there. (Planned it that way, nice change, just good music and reading)
Thanks for the tips on lighting. Think I might go that route. I like the look of the floor you have but after many years pounding concrete factory floors and at my gas station I had to have something softer with some resilience.
Yeah, those ply sheets are heavy but once down and a few "nitro" pills or some spray and I'm good to go. I was too impatient to order and wait for one of those sheet goods dollys (panel carriers with wheels) I may get one yet because I'll be getting lots more ply in cabinet grade version very soon. I don't need another heart attack to ruin the fun now that I have new toys and the new play room.
regards,Jim...The unspoken word is capital. We can invest it or we can squander it. -Mark Twain...
Be kind to your children....they will choose your nursing home.
...aim low boys, they're ridin' shetland ponies !!
Upper Peninsula huh? Isn't that where you get a heavy frost in the winter? I didn't realize heaven was so cool. West Virginia has a slogan "Almost Heaven" but I can't remember it being next to the UP. Actually my sister (Baptist preacher's wife) lived in Norway a couple years. Many years later we toured through there on the way to the Twin Cities.
Thanks for the big long post with explanations. That being said, I am just finishing my shop after a three year struggle. I have the ceiling to drywall and a dust collector system to install. I don't want to install the dust collector until I have a reasonable layout of the tools. Most of my tools are already on castors or at least wheels, but I have wondered if I really would need castors if there was room enough. The only thing so far that I really can't move without bringing in the tractor and loader is the jointer - about seven hundred pounds. The planer is actually a little heavier, eight hundred plus, but it has little nylon rollers under it so I can slide it around corners.
I found myself walking diagonally across the shop from my drill bit storage to my drill press. So when I moved that storage cabinet nearer, I found other problems. I have seven of the Basic Eight tools and probably too many benches. I go on the theory that it is easier to discard what you don't need rather than find more in your search for the ideal shop. You mentioned some Taunton books - Can you elaborate? which ones and how to get them. I have tried ordering from there ads but can never seem to get through.
I do seem to have sufficient lighting with eight fixtures of four four foot fluorescent fifty two watt T5 tubes. The electrician suggested two fixtures but I convinced him I wanted more. They put them all on a fifteen amp circuit even after I told them that wasn't enough. And sure enough they left us in the dark one night. A twenty amp would have been close so I wound up putting them on two fifteen amp circuits. There is a string of three incandescent lights that I can throw on just to find something in the shop.
I second Paul's comment. If I could only have one power tool in my shop, it would be a Shopsmith.
I forgot about my shopsmith, wonder why? It's tucked back in the corner and dusty.Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
"I forgot about my shopsmith, wonder why? It's tucked back in the corner and dusty."Put it up on eBay you will find lot's of willing buyers.
If I could have ONLY one power tool it would have to be a Shopsmith. Having a Shopsmith is like having an entire set of tools.
This is a simple question to answer. I would have to have a Shopsmith as my single power tool. That way I can have several all in one. I can even cheat a little and add a couple attachments like a bandsaw, a disk sander, a jointer, a surface planer, a jig saw, a belt sander... and the list goes on.
One motor, therefore one power tool and a complete woodworking shop. Only takes up a few square feet in the shop too.
It's a quality machine that will last a long time with just a little normal maintenance. My is twenty+ years old and running great. I've done a couple upgrades to enlarge the table and beef up the fence and added a router table but that is all.
If you are in the market for woodworking equipment, and especially if you have limited space for a shop, look at the Shopsmith with an open but critical mind. There is a good chance you'll own one two.
If you ever need customer support, you'll get the best you could ask for from the folks at Shopsmith. I know. I have been dealing with them for many, many years.
Making Sawdust Safely, dusty
If I could only have one power tool in my shop..I would have a 220 30 Amp outlet that I could split if needed for my 120 Vols stuff!
I checked other as well... 'cause my Shopsmith is my must have tool! Alec
My fingers are my most important tool and I take very god care of them
My shopsmith - don't have the space for all the others
Table saw!!! definitely, its the dooitall work horse of my shop!
Make your own mistakes not someone elses, this is a good way to be original !
Yup, got to have a table saw - that's why I need my Shopsmith.
As I only had a little over 1/2 of a two car garage to work in I purchased a Shopsmith model 500 in 1983. I also purchased the jointer and bandsaw which mounted conveniently out of the way on the wall over my workbench.
With only a 10' x 18' space to work in I none-the-less could cross cut or rip boards and panels up to eight feet long by turning my Shopsmith 90 degrees. Through the years I have used this machine for mundane home improvement tasks, utility and library shelving, and some really nice projects such as a hooded cradle for my first grandson. The Shopsmith is a high precision woodworking tool. My 500 has been upgraded through the years and is now comparable to the 520 Pro Fence model. This company really supports it's product and customers.
Now that I have built a new 24'x28' workshop am I going to purchase a large table saw to plop in the middle? No! I have in fact bought a second Shopsmith so that my brother and my brother-in-law can bring in their projects and join the fun.
i have to agree with dusty and 8iowa. my shopsmith is my friend. i would be lost without it. it easily handles every option the list. got it when space was limited and even now with my 20x30 shop it is indeed the "heartbeat" of america. 100% american made. bob
With my small shop, I couldn't get anything done without my Shopsmith Mark V. I do have other standalone tools, but with the Shopsmith, I have a table saw, jointer, lathe, drill press, horizontal boring machine, and 12" sanding disk. I'd have to expand into my family room and spare bedroom to have each of those separately. ;)
Coffee.
John
Ruth,
It seems I'm always the oddball when these polls are taken; my favorite furniture style wasn't on the one poll, I dislike oil finishes, yet that came out top in another poll, and now the table saw has garnered the top spot and my pick, the planer is dead last.
I can see why many people rate the table saw so highly, but I find very little use for it. The bandsaw fills my needs perfectly.
No other tool in my shop, does more, with less input from me than the planer, and that is why it is on the short lists of must have. If I had the space and the electrical service, I'd buy the biggest planer I could find, but I have no desire to upgrade my $139.00 bench top table saw.
Rob Millard
I couldn't live without the tablesaw. My tablesaw is the outfeed support for my planer. When I run the jointer, I stack the wood on the tablesaw. The tablesaw left wing is a cast iron router table. For the bandsaw, I align the outfeed roller stand right up against the tablesaw leg. Occasionally, I power the tablesaw on to test the circuit breaker. Oh yeah, my tablesaw also stores my 10" saw blade.
;-)
Edited 11/8/2007 3:05 pm ET by tkb
The famed and yet hard to find electric board stretcher. I can't tell you how many times I 've cut a piece just a hair too short on the table saw or what have you, and almost like magic, I'll fire up the board stretcher and the problem is fixed. I was lucky enough to inherit this tool from my father, as I have never been able to find another...
Peter
www.jpswoodworking.com
Matter can neither be created nor destroyed. Whenever I try to save on length by using the board stretcher I find that it either shrinks the width or the thickness and the board still doesn't fit. Unless I can overcome that problem I have one for sale. How do you cope with that problem?
Edited 11/8/2007 9:07 pm ET by tinkerer2
Diet Coke.
I also have all of your "must haves" but I wonder about a question of "should haves"
Because of the variety of things I do and the size of my shop I just purchased a Delta dust system with a 1 Micron filter bag. It's very quiet and I can't believe how I "made do" without a decent machine before.
It's very portable and with the many types of accessories and attachments I've picked up to go along it just may be the most important tool. It will accomodate any and all of my portable or staionary tools.
...The unspoken word is capital. We can invest it or we can squander it. -Mark Twain...
Be kind to your children....they will choose your nursing home.
...aim low boys, they're ridin' shetland ponies !!
O.B.B.,
The only reason you need a dust system is that you are using all those machines. If you buy a complete set of hand tools (one each of everything that Lie Nielsen and Lee Valley sell) you won't generate any dust, and you can save the money that you would have spent on a dust control system. Electricity cost goes down. You don't need a mask. There is far less noise. AND BEST OF ALL - Neanderthal woodworking is a great weight loss program (maybe not for you, but for me, :-)Enjoy,
Mel
PS this message is not to be taken too seriously (nor is anything else in lifeMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel,
You are so right and I cannot, in good conscience argue with any point you made. I do have many, many hand tools. As soon as I win a lotto I will call Lee Valley, etc and have one of everything sent to me.
I have picked up this interest/hobby/love in pieces over the years with no training or anyone who might share their knowledge and techniques in a hands-on fashion. (Mostly due to where I lived and the mixed bag of hours I worked). No doubt I do not do many things correctly and I can be inpatient. Kind of like "Tim Taylor & Binford", more power! argh! argh! argh!
Some people golf, hunt, or fish, some gamble,some play sports or collect things. Me, I just like to buy tools as I can and need them. Someday my relatives will inherit a room FULL of well cared for tools of all kinds.
I love fondling my tools :0)Jim
edit to add: It's a sickness. That's what hte DW says, anyway. But it beats the tube or hanging out in bars. Been there, done that. No good comes of it.
...The unspoken word is capital. We can invest it or we can squander it. -Mark Twain...
Be kind to your children....they will choose your nursing home.
...aim low boys, they're ridin' shetland ponies !!
Edited 11/9/2007 1:55 pm by oldbeachbum
Jim,
I recognize your problem, and mine.
I have joined Woodworkers Anonomous, a 12 step program to help me with my addiction. When I was inducted, I said:
"Hi, my name is Mel,
and I am a woodworker."The response was. "Luv ya, Mel. We're here to help."Heck, my chapter of WA has a special interest group which is just aimed at people who have problems with Festool addiction, and another which is just aimed at people with problems with LN and LV.So there is help.
Have faith.
Enjoy.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Do you use only hand tools?
Tink,
You asked if I only use handtools. No, I have been using only power tools all my life. Two years ago I started working with hand tools. I have a long journey yet to go. I will continue to use both, but I am focusing on learning more hand tool skills now.MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
When you say that it is not all serious talk, I think well there must be something serious even in the joke. I have noted over time that you carve some. If I were to try carving, I would excel in making shavings but nothing else.
Tink,
You suggested that I stick to carving. Tom Chippendale knew how to do it - He united carving and joinery. When I think of modern furniture, I see pieces that were "carved" with a spokeshave and other tools. To me, all furniture making is carving. Some of the carving is done in straight lines with a table saw, some in curved lines with a band saw, some with a router and bits, some with a sander, some with chisels and some with gouges. It is all just shaping and joining wood. Using gouges to put some hand-done touches on a piece really make it your own. We all approach design in different ways. That is what makes Knots so interesting. I enjoy seeing how creatively different people do it. FWW is a storehouse of intriguing designs, including many that include carving. Carved furniture may not be "mainline" but it is exciting to try.I have experienced kickback on the table saw but didn't get hurt. I am MUCH more careful now, and I look for different ways of doing things. I used to use the belt sander and a random orbit sander all the time. Dust was everywhere. Now I use hand planes. No dust. Nicer finish. For whatever it is worth, that is the direction I am headed, and am enjoying it immensely. What type of woodwork do you enjoy most?
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Forgive me for suggesting what you should do. I have thought of carving as something done free hand. If that were the case, my talent is pretty much zero. I did surprise myself when my daughter was a little girl. I tried to draw a pig. Surprisingly, it looked like a pig and she recognized it. My usual drawings of an animal are undiscernible and could not be distinguished between a pig, a snake or giraffe. I enjoy looking at freehand work, but personally just do better pushing a workpiece or tool against a fence.
I would like to build some clock cases. I built a GF clock some thirty six years ago and the day I was to take it home I wound up taking the wife to the hospital resulting in a darling little daughter joining the family. I would also like to build other furniture. Going on seventy five, I don't expect to have too much time to build things. So far, so good.
Paul
Paul,
You said you are 74. My dad is almost 93. I am 64.
It is all relative. It's how you feel. Keep building furniture, and you'll do well. Do another Grandfather clock! You can do it. What style are you going to use?Since I have a part time job at Woodcraft, I get asked a lot of questions about carving. I think I have figured out the Big Categories of carving:
- whittling (with a knife)
- chip carving (ala Wayne Barton)
- relief carving (decoration on wood which is not very deep
- carving in the round (3-D)
- Lettering (signs)Nothing magical about this set of words. But using these categories I can figure out what a customer is looking for. I do all of them except whittling. The trouble with doing a lot of things is tha it is more difficult to get good at any one of them. But I enjoy the variety. I know about the GF clock. What other types of things are in your queue? MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
"Keep building furniture"
Actually, what I want to do is "start" building furniture. The shop is all but done and I should have some time to woodwork. Since I gave the first GF clock away, I would like to build one for ourselves. And then maybe some kind of clock for Bro and Sis and inlaws -- and friends. You talked about specialization. Figure if I repeat that I should improve some.
Then there is house furniture and a lot to do here. I have always enjoyed doing woodwork - just too busy making a living to get much of a chance.
I sort of envy you being in that store. I bet you get all kinds of info from rubbing shoulders from other employees and the customers. All the products around. Sounds like fun. The nearest woodworking store (Woodcraft) we have is somewhere around Pittsburgh. Am just finding out about the store and would like to visit it some day.
I am the youngest of three and I have already exceeded the age of both parents. It just makes one realize that his days are numbered - and that is alright too. Always enjoy your posts.
Paul
Paul,
Specializing in clocks, you could become the next Simon Willard. I have not build any clocks, but back in the early 1970's I had a little business in antique clocks. I learned to take them apart, fix the movements and clean up the cases. After a few years, I got more interested in just trading clocks with other collectors who knew what they were doing rather than customers who didn't. It was fun while it lasted, then we had three kids. I had gotten into making furniture about the time I got interested in clock. When the kids came, I stuck with making furniture, toys, etc for the family. Working at Woodcraft is a blessing and a curse. You learn a lot about tools, and you spend a lot of time with good woodworkers, but you are in a candy store, and the tendency to want and buy more tools is overwhelming. Luckily I have a table saw, band saw, jointer, planer, router, etc. I have been buying a few handtools - planes, gouges, an adze, a very good dovetail saw, a great set of chisels, etc. It has been fun. Actually the most fun at Woodcraft is helping customers solve their problems. I am looking forward to hearing that your shop is finished and the clocks are underway. Please keep me posted.How far do you live from Pittsburgh? My wife is from York. Her sister is near Easton. I met my wife at Penn State. My oldest got three degrees at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. I feel a special kinship to the great state of Pennsylvania. Have fun.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
"---looking forward to hearing your shop is finished and the clocks are underway."
I'm sure that if I tried real hard, that the shop could be reasonable finished - the ceiling drywall up but not taped and painted etc by this weekend. The ugly fact is that things just don't get done that way around here. Today I went and picked up a lawnmower for a family friend and delivered it to her acres out in the country. Then I noticed a box containing a hose reel sitting in the LR so I took it out to the shop and started mounting it on the pressure washer, then noticed the boiler was not operating properly so fooled with it in the dark. Oh, oh. The shop is as it was yesterday except a little more messy. The hose reel job and the boiler jobs are unfinished. You know those days. Tomorrow I get to help a friend mount his new Beis on his Uni! I would like to build a base for the work bench and there are a host of jobs to do in the house besides building a new kitchen. The wife is very patient. I would like to post the results of the new workshop and my first GF clock. What I built was a Mason and Sullivan, by the way.
"How far do you live from Pittsburgh?"
I live almost straight South of Pittsburgh about seventy miles. I moved my house off the interchange of I 68 and I 79 when they built those highways, if you care to find it on the map. About the only time we venture up that way is when we go to the airport.
Edited 11/12/2007 9:30 pm ET by tinkerer2
Edited 11/12/2007 11:01 pm ET by tinkerer2
Paul,
All in good time.
Woodworking is a journey, not destinattion.
Other things have to be done.
Your wife is the most important thing you have.
So when things are right, the shop will be done.
No hurry.
As someone smart once said:
"Life is what happens when plans are interrupted."I believe that the closest I have gotten to where you live is back in 1966, I visited a town called Washington, PA. Have fun.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Neanderthal woodworking is a great weight loss ..OK, SO I'm skinny to begin with! I love Electricity!
Here in North Texas, I'd have to say I'd like to get a small saw mill.... The prices of lumber seem to be going out of sight, and the grain-figure quality is plain to boring.
If I could get an "easy on the muscles" mill for $1,000, I'd say it would be a worthwhile investment by adding much more dimension to the pieces worth the time to make.
Bill
I must say that every simgle piece is important! I can't imagine making a living out of woodworking without any of my tools. Just to add a little, my CNC router is also very a must have when it comes to cabinets!
Marc
My first choice major power tool is the radial arm saw. Probably because it was my first and remains my primary saw, capable of excellent crosscutting. I can split a pencil mark on a piece to be cut, or with repeated cross cuts with the blade higher, make tenons that work nicely. Ripping is better on a table saw, but in my little shop I had to size down and have no room for a table saw. I did a lot of shaping with it before the days of powerful routers. Scary sometimes, but it will do a lot of things with some imagination and innovation.
Scary sometimes..YOU BET! Sort of like showing up for dinner late and the wife sitting there and you get that look!I do not have one now but I loved my old 1960 or so Craftsman RAS!
Ruth,
I'm going to have to vote Other - Dust Collector.
That is if I'm to remain a power tool user. Protecting my lungs has become more and more important to me over the years. You can have all the best power tools in the world but I feel without proper dust collection you're fighting a losing battle.
Besides, after all the investment in power tools, I want to be around to enjoy them for a long time.
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
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