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View Full Version : Buy versus build?



Jamie Buxton
03-29-2013, 10:41 AM
Because we're builders, we can make stuff for our shops. We also have manufacturers which are happy to sell us similar stuff. For instance, you can make your own sawhorses, or you can buy them. You can make a workbench, or you can buy one. You can make your own jigs (for instance a shelf-pin jig, or a hinge mortising jig), or you can buy them. You can make your own router table, or buy one. You can make most of a dust collector, or you can buy one.

So what's your choice, and why?

Stuart Gardner
03-29-2013, 10:54 AM
I have a real mix of both. When things require fairly high precision or real complexity, I usually buy, because I just don't have the patience for that. I do make benches, outfeed tables, and I put a router table in my outfeed table. But when I build something and generate sawdust, I would rather make something that will be used in the house by my family or be used by someone else rather than a new shop fixture. Wood Magazine just had plans for a self built dust collector. I admire people who do that sort of thing, but it's realy unlikely that I will ever build something like that. I'll buy the premade ones every time.

Norm Roy
03-29-2013, 12:04 PM
Jamie, I make straight and tapered legs, but buy turned table legs. I have found that my skill level for duplicating long detailed turnings can't compare to the machine rendered versions.

Pat Barry
03-29-2013, 1:21 PM
router table - build
table saw sled - build
1/2 blind router dovetail jig - buy
band saw extension table - build
table saw 45 deg sled - build
pocket screw drilling template - buy
hand saw sharpening clamp - build
workbench - build
just examples - being a hobbyist I would rather build than buy

Eduard Nemirovsky
03-29-2013, 1:47 PM
I would rather buy a jig and spent time with it to build some piece of furniture or something for my home. And I am a hobbiest.
Ed.

Kevin Bourque
03-29-2013, 2:50 PM
It usually happens this way: I'll visit a friends shop and see some expensive jig he bought and say to myself, " I could make that same jig for practically nuthin:". Then I'll borrow his jig and make a copy for myself. :)

David Weaver
03-29-2013, 3:03 PM
I build anything that costs a lot and has no residual value. I buy anything that's cheaper than I can get the components (e.g., I can find vintage stanley bench planes and vintage panel saws around $15 if I'm patient. In both cases, they are masterpieces of design where each supposed shortcoming is just something the user needs to find out).

I really don't want to build a bench, but when mine poops out, I probably will.

Otherwise, I sort of (like most of us here) do whatever I feel like doing.

Jim Koepke
03-29-2013, 7:54 PM
Do both, but for many things it is preferable to build my own.

Especially saw horses, the ones in the big box stores are pieces of junk.

At Home Depot there is a bin of lumber culls. Many a saw horse around my place that cost less than a couple of bucks in materials.

They are made to last:

258483

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?146777-Saw-Table-Project

jtk

Andrew Joiner
03-29-2013, 8:14 PM
I love to invent. I'm cheap. It's very satisfying for me to make things and learn from the experience. That's why I got into woodworking as a kid. Now I'm retired and have lots of time and money,but I still NEED to build.

I love the panel saw I built. It's ugly, but it only cost about $120 in materials. I love it because it cuts as accurately as the Safety Speed model I had in my commercial shop. It's a very simple design, and a joy to use. You can't beat that feeling.

I don't think I've ever bought a jig. I have so much fun making them,I'd probably never buy one.


Great topic Jamie, thanks.

Lornie McCullough
03-29-2013, 8:26 PM
If I look at "it" and say to myself... "I couldn't/wouldn't build it for that...." then I buy it..... but most of the time I just build it.

258484

Just a couple homemade sawgiraffes put out to pasture.

Lornie

Paul Saffold
03-29-2013, 9:35 PM
Mostly build it myself. Not just because I'm a tightwad. I like making things and jigs are just as much fun to make as furniture. Plus the extra satisfaction of using jigs tailor made to my purpose and not an approximation that a store boughten one would be.
Paul

Gordon Eyre
03-30-2013, 12:45 PM
258522

This sort of says it all.

Brian Ashton
03-31-2013, 6:11 AM
I made a copy of the Lee Valley Carvers Bench many years ago out of a bunch of scrap metal and recycled fir I had kicking around the barn... Dragged it all the way to Australia and have been very happy I did as it's been my only bench for the past 9 years. For the last few days I've been re-carving the ball and claw feet on a desk and chair I made about 20 years ago and I have to say it's ability to tilt and swivel has been indispensable. Australia is a lot like England in that having decent work space is something you only dream of so the compact size has been a bonus.

I also find the grinder set up I made a few years back has been absolutely brilliant. There's a VFD off to the side powering the 3ph motor. Can grind anything from 1RPM on up to many thousands of RPMs... 1/8 chisels to 24" planer blades, complex shapes... no muff too tough for this rig. And because I grind at about 200 to 300 RPMs bluing a tool is unheard of.

I've probably built about half of what I have including the tools. There is great satisfaction in building it yourself and the journey you go through in the process. Monetarily it's probably a money loser. I think I paid at least double to make my own router plane than it cost to buy one but what I've gained in knowledge and the satisfaction of saying it's truly mine is priceless.

Matt Meiser
03-31-2013, 9:54 AM
Depends...

I built my workbench (or rather have built/rebuilt it a couple times) because I could make exactly what I wanted. But I bought the start of the top. Sawhorses I bought some of the Hide-A-Horse sawhorses because they are really well thought out. Some of my tool storage I made to fit specific places, other places I've bought commercial tool chests which tend to be more efficient. I'm made most of my jigs but there are a couple I've bought.

Shawn Pixley
03-31-2013, 12:39 PM
Some people have time. Some have money. A few have both. I don't have time. I get little satisfaction out of building jigs, etc., preferring to spend my time on furniture. I bought my router table for instance. I make a judgement call when I need something, "how does this fit into my goals for the year?" It it supports the goals, I build. Otherwise I buy or re purpose. My shop cabinets and storage looks very poor compared to many. But I built 4 tables, a guitar dsiplay cabinet, several boxes / trays for gifts and guitar in the last year.

That said, I spent ~2 hours building a cove cutting jig yesterday. Today I will work on one of my projects and while the glue is drying, I will start my bench on bench.

Jim Matthews
03-31-2013, 7:55 PM
I fall squarely in the "buy when possible" camp.

I'll never get more time.
I'll gladly exchange money for time.

Ken Fitzgerald
03-31-2013, 8:20 PM
I do both......

I am currently building "Norm's Deluxe Router Station".....I built my assembly bench, and all of my shop cabinets. As I have found out recently, there is no such thing as having too many clamps. So, my next project will probably be a clamp cart.

And yet.....I bought several cheap metal stands for tools when I bought the tools as wanted to use the tools and wanted them stand alone. One of the stands, I modified and built a box for tool storage for my GI mortiser and then mounted my mortiser to the box.

I do both.

Mike Cutler
03-31-2013, 8:50 PM
I like to build whenever possible, not out of economic reason, but to keep my skills sharp. Better to mess up on a jig, than the real project.
Last "jig" I bought was a Kreg shelf pin. It's kinda hard to beat the simplicity of that jig and the long term durability. I finally broke down and bought a PC dovetail jig after trying numerous attempts to make one. They were all close, but not quite close enough.
Benches I build. I cannot buy a bench as rugged, square, flat, and durable as I can build for the same $$$$. My benches are ugly, but they are rugged, and flat.

If you can build a "true" saw horse, that's a lot of compound joinery which equates to a lot of practice, not much is going to throw you.

Ed Aumiller
03-31-2013, 9:19 PM
Do both...
Router table (includes horiz on one end and normal on other)... built
Dovetails... bought Leigh jig
Torsion table .... built
Lathe duplicator... attempted to build, ended up buying.. could not use either made or bought, guess I'm just no good on using a lathe to copy.
Router lifts... built
Cabinets, many, all look the same outside, no two have the same type of joints inside, excellent way to learn joints and no one can see, but you know....

Depending what it is, determines what I do...

Alan Bienlein
04-01-2013, 9:42 AM
At one time I would have bought. What changed that was getting laid off 3 years ago in the middle of my kitchen renovation.

I built my cyclone and all of the wyes and blast gates for my dust collection system.
I built my own kreg beaded face frame jig. This is what started me on this path as they wanted a ridiculous amount of money for this jig and still do even though they have lowered the price.
I built my own domino.
All of my mobile bases for my stationary tools I built as no commercial one could fit my needs and I had the steel and casters just sitting here to be used any way.
I built my own drill press table.
When I got my lathe I built my own wolverine sharpening jig.

Brian Kent
04-01-2013, 10:41 AM
Rather than buying or building, I like writing about it and looking at pictures on Sawmill Creek. Less splinters.

paul cottingham
04-01-2013, 11:11 AM
Rather than buying or building, I like writing about it and looking at pictures on Sawmill Creek. Less splinters.
LOL! And thrifty!

Chris Padilla
04-01-2013, 5:51 PM
I'd rather build projects and buy the support I need to make them. I just don't have time for both. Weekends and one or two evenings a week just doesn't provide one much time to whittle down the Honey-Do list. Perhaps when I retire (20 years?), I'll have time to make more things. I do enjoy building just about anything but the priority right now is on the projects for the house or for making my infinitely-shrinking garage space more amenable.

For example, I just finished another cabinet for the maple entertainment center. Now I am spending some time organizing the garage and cleaning up, finding things I lost, creating better storage, getting rid of stuff I don't use, and the latest one is a bit of metal work in creating a mobile base for my gargantuan 16" jointer/planer to make it even more mobile than Minimax thought to...because it'll help me better organize my garage.

Edward Mitton
05-21-2013, 3:16 PM
Definitely build.....

All of the shop furniture I have is shop-built. In fact, my main 2'x12' utility cabinet/bench along one wall is built entirely out of dimensional lumber I scavenged from homebuilding work site dumpsters. It is equipped with under-bench drawers, shelves, and roll-out storage bins - all built of dumpster-dove or Home Depot cull bin material. The only things I had to buy were the various pieces of hardware to put it all together. My woodworking bench is also made out of scavenged dimensional lumber. The top is an old solid core door that came out of an elementary school from the 1950s. Got that for free, too, since I worked for that particular school district at the time. One note: My woodworking vise and 4'" machinist's vise came out of one of the district's high schools when they discontinued and dismantled their wood and metal shops back in the early 90s. These were also obtained as freebies along with an assortment of well-used and abused tools.
Even as I write, my current project is a shop-built lathe stand. This will be followed by a hanging wall tool cabinet, and next will likely be a Schwartz-esque saw bench. Down the road, I may knock together proper stands for my tailed beasties: chop saw, scroll saw, drill press, bench grinder, and lunch box planer. Right now all of these tools reside on mounts that clamp into a Workmate. Completion of these latter projects all depend on how much higher I ascend into Neanderthalism!
Shop built tools? I've got scads of them, and use them very frequently. These are mostly things like fancy handled sanding blocks, push sticks, feather boards, depth guages, etc. Then there are all the tool handles either sawn out or turned that adorn many of the tools scattered about the shop.
It's my opinion that, as a hobbyist, building a lot of the stuff I use to make other stuff is just as fulfilling and enjoyable as making that stuff!

Prashun Patel
05-21-2013, 3:21 PM
I respect the question, but honestly, is there ANYONE out there that falls purely into one camp or the other? Who doesn't make the choice on a per-project basis depending on their available time, resources, and abilities?

glenn bradley
05-21-2013, 4:56 PM
I'm with Lonnie; if I can buy one just as good as I might make for less than I would charge for it, I buy it. If I can make it better / cheaper, need it specialized enough or just want to make it enough, I build it.

Larry Browning
05-21-2013, 5:20 PM
I personally like to build if I can. I have a couple of reasons. With every project I make I at least "think" I become a better woodworker. So building provides a nice learning experience. There is a satisfaction that comes with building that can never be achieved with buying. And then every time I use a nicely built jig or router table there is a since of satisfaction I get knowing that I built the tool I am using. It adds to my enjoyment of my hobby. I don't make all my tools, but I do make the ones that seem doable, mainly for the enjoyment I get from making and using them. It is not a money or a time thing for me at all.

BTW Jamie: Why are you asking?

Darius Ferlas
05-21-2013, 9:46 PM
So... to nobody in particular... if we buy stuff to save time why not buy the furniture we want and save even more time?

Jamie Buxton
05-21-2013, 10:04 PM
..BTW Jamie: Why are you asking?

I was watching a thread on this forum about what brand of sawhorse to buy. Until I read the thread, it never would have occurred to me to buy a sawhorse. On the other hand, I use a store-bought shelf-pin jig, where other Creekers make their own. I don't have an explicit sets of rules about whether to buy or build, and most of the time I don't even think about which to do. I just do what seems obvious to me at the time. Yet some value judgement is going on there, and I was curious about what other Creekers think about this issue.

Jamie Buxton
05-21-2013, 10:05 PM
So... to nobody in particular... if we buy stuff to save time why not buy the furniture we want and save even more time?

Oh, you know the answer to that. They're not building the furniture I want.

Darius Ferlas
05-21-2013, 10:16 PM
Oh, you know the answer to that. They're not building the furniture I want.
They'll build the furniture you want. Any kind, shape, form and color.
Heck, they'll build the furniture you didn't even know you wanted.

Jamie Buxton
05-21-2013, 10:31 PM
..They'll build the furniture you want..

No, actually production lines don't work that way. Production lines build lots of identical widgets. If that doesn't happen to be what you want, they can't help you.

Darius Ferlas
05-21-2013, 10:49 PM
No, actually production lines don't work that way. Production lines build lots of identical widgets. If that doesn't happen to be what you want, they can't help you.
Who says you that all furniture you can buy must come from a production line?
Haven't you ever heard about custom made furniture?

Jamie Buxton
05-22-2013, 12:06 AM
Who says you that all furniture you can buy must come from a production line?
Haven't you ever heard about custom made furniture?

Exactly. Custom furniture maker = me.

Larry Whitlow
05-22-2013, 2:16 AM
So... to nobody in particular... if we buy stuff to save time why not buy the furniture we want and save even more time?

If you buy the furniture, it will give you more time to build jigs for the shop. :)

Darius Ferlas
05-22-2013, 6:27 AM
Exactly. Custom furniture maker = me.
But now you know you don't have to be, and you can enjoy all the free time :)

Jim Matthews
05-22-2013, 7:48 PM
+1 on exchanging money for time.

Time is the only commodity you can't replace.

That said, I try to work with fewer jigs and more in the way of handling my tools.

It sort of ties into the same idea; if I'm only going to make a single rocking chair - making a jig to route joint will take longer than using a backsaw, chisel and rasp.
Were I to make hundreds, a jig would save me time.

I think making a bench is a colossal waste of time when second hand benches of very high quality are commonly available on Craigslist.

I make furniture for family and other people to use.
I do know skilled craftsmen that are delighted to make shop tools, cabinets and fixtures.

I don't understand that approach in the least.

Larry Browning
05-22-2013, 10:25 PM
+1 on exchanging money for time.

Time is the only commodity you can't replace.

That said, I try to work with fewer jigs and more in the way of handling my tools.

It sort of ties into the same idea; if I'm only going to make a single rocking chair - making a jig to route joint will take longer than using a backsaw, chisel and rasp.
Were I to make hundreds, a jig would save me time.

I think making a bench is a colossal waste of time when second hand benches of very high quality are commonly available on Craigslist.

I make furniture for family and other people to use.
I do know skilled craftsmen that are delighted to make shop tools, cabinets and fixtures.

I don't understand that approach in the least.

I guess I don't get this whole idea of saving time by spending money. For me any time I spend in the shop is not wasted. Tell me again why it is I need to save time spent in the shop. I want to spend as much time in the shop as I can. I work very slow and try to stretch out my projects as long as I can. That saves me money. Material is what costs money, not time, so the longer I can stretch out working with that material the less it costs me to enjoy my hobby. I would have the opposite opinion if this were my business.

Chris Padilla
05-23-2013, 12:58 PM
Different strokes for different folks! Wouldn't it be boring if we were all the same? :)

Funny, it always comes down to a time versus money ideology and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. :D

Jim Becker
05-23-2013, 4:57 PM
It all comes down to time and what one's personal priority is...I do make things for the shop sometimes, but my biggest priority for the very, very limited shop time I get is...projects.