That once used tool.....

[Ken Fitzgerald]

A number of years ago I bought a tool that after I completed the project I was working on, it had to be somewhere between another 7-10 years before I found another use for it today. It wasn't cheap and I hope it doesn't break because I suspect I can't get parts for the PC Profile sander. It's one of those tools that you buy it, use it, it saves you and then 2 months later you regret buying it because it's not that useful.

Today I used it for the 2nd time and once again, for the 2nd time, it saved my bacon,on this end table I'm building!

[Ryan Lloyd]

Hi Ken,

For me, the tool you describe is the Stanley No. 113 compass plane.

Having fiddled around with the 113 for several hours to achieve marginal results, I have come to prefer the careful application of a spokeshave.

Regards,
Ryan

[Larry Anderson]

You got good use from yours. I acquired a free one many years ago and have never used it.

[Mike Cutler]

Some tools are just that way.
I have the Rigid version of the Fein Multi tool. I've probably used it 3,maybe 4, times since I bought it. I've been using it a lot this past week removing barn board and batten siding, repairing fascia boards, and cutting out rough cut material from the ceiling of our porch.
My new favorite tool for removing nails is a die grinder, which I also don't use very often, with a Freud diamond cut off wheel. Gently pry the boards apart with a wrecking bar and cut the nails in between. Lot less rework and damage.

[Pete Staehling]

I may eventually use it more but so far my Oscillating Multi-Tool is in the used once category. It was bought for a specific job and was great for that. Since then it hasn't been out of the box.

[Frederick Skelly]

Some tools are just that way.
I have the Rigid version of the Fein Multi tool. I've probably used it 3,maybe 4, times since I bought it.

+1. I have the same tool and used just about as much.
But man, when I need it I'm glad I bought it! :)

[Jim Becker]

I think we all have "at least" one tool in our arsenal that was purchased for a specific project/task and has seen little or no use since. And it's a conundrum as to whether to hold on to something in hope it will come in handy in the future or to sell it off, which will absolutely result in a need for it much sooner. It's a natural law or something. :) :D

For me...tile saw...some kinds of hand tools like spokeshaves and draw-knives...multi-saw... Only the latter will likely ever get actual repeat use.

[Matt Day]

Hi Ken,

For me, the tool you describe is the Stanley No. 113 compass plane.

Having fiddled around with the 113 for several hours to achieve marginal results, I have come to prefer the careful application of a spokeshave.

Regards,
Ryan

I think Ken’s point is that the tool was useful, though rarely used. Sounds like your 113 was never useful.

[John K Jordan]

... It's one of those tools that you buy it, use it, it saves you and then 2 months later you regret buying it because it's not that useful.


I too have tools I didn't use for a decade but were at hand when needed.

I can't remember ever having tool buyer's remorse. My regrets are not building a bigger shop. :rolleyes: (My dinky little shop is only 24x62...)


JKJ

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I too have tools I didn't use for a decade but were at hand when needed.

I can't remember ever having tool buyer's remorse. My regrets are not building a bigger shop. :rolleyes: (My dinky little shop is only 24x62...)


JKJ

You have no idea what dinky is until you work in my 24x30 shop unless of course you are the guy with one even smaller!:rolleyes:

[Brad Patch]

Once had a Kunz curved bed spokeshave. What a piece of, well you know, the only satisfaction I ever got with it was when I threw it into the creek in my backyard.

[ChrisA Edwards]

But the sad thing is when you have a one use tool that sits idle for ten years and then you find a need for it again, but time has passed and you forget you already have it so you buy it again.

You realize this mistake when you go to your excellent origination skills and go to store the new tool in the same place as the old one.

[Tom M King]

Once had a Kunz curved bed spokeshave. What a piece of, well you know, the only satisfaction I ever got with it was when I threw it into the creek in my backyard.

I figured out a long time ago that some things are only good for seeing how far you can throw them. Some of those things, that I have forgotten about, are under 45 feet of water.

[Stan Calow]

I'm still waiting to get around to using that scroll saw I got about ten year ago. Its survived through 4 garage sales with no takers, so I think its cursed.

[Phil Mueller]

Or you know you have one and it would be perfect for the task at hand but just can’t find where you put it.

[John K Jordan]

You have no idea what dinky is until you work in my 24x30 shop unless of course you are the guy with one even smaller!:rolleyes:

For almost 10 years I worked, er, played in less than 1/2 of a 2-car garage, with two lathes, two bandsaws, dozens of tubs of wood, tools and sharpening. It was so tight when a friend came to turn one of us had to go outside so the other could get to the bigger lathe. I sympathize deeply with those working in such spaces now!

Of course my dinky 24x62 building also houses, in addition to turning and big flat wood tools, an office with library, weld shop, machining, electronics bench, wood and metal storage, equipment maintenance tools, photography, animal care and medical supplies, varmint control stuff, and incubators and brooders for hatching poultry. A little sympathy, please - I don't even have room for a kitchen and bathroom! :eek:

[Ken Fitzgerald]

For almost 10 years I worked, er, played in less than 1/2 of a 2-car garage, with two lathes, two bandsaws, dozens of tubs of wood, tools and sharpening. It was so tight when a friend came to turn one of us had to go outside so the other could get to the bigger lathe. I sympathize deeply with those working in such spaces now!

Of course my dinky 24x62 building also houses, in addition to turning and big flat wood tools, an office with library, weld shop, machining, electronics bench, wood and metal storage, equipment maintenance tools, photography, animal care and medical supplies, varmint control stuff, and incubators and brooders for hatching poultry. A little sympathy, please - I don't even have room for a kitchen and bathroom! :eek:

I joined the Creek when I was thinking about building a shop. My previous "shop" was an attached shed to our 2 car carport. The shed is about 8x20 with a 3' wide insulated food storage room that a previous family had built inside it. It had a 32" door going into it off our carport.

So, I built my first piece of furniture using a New Yankee Workshop plan and the wife was so impressed, she took me to our new HD and insisted I buy a Ridgid TS-3650 table saw. Now this saw had been very highly reviewed by some of the top ww magazines as far as hybrid table saws go. So I bought it, put it in boxes in the back of the F-350 I owned then and as I assembled it, I took 1 box at a time into the shed. It came with a mobile base. The first time I went to use it, the thing wouldn't go through the 32" door.:eek::o

A local lumber yard sold me a much larger door and the problem was resolved. LOL!

Then the wife suggested I build a shop.

[Doug Dawson]

A number of years ago I bought a tool that after I completed the project I was working on, it had to be somewhere between another 7-10 years before I found another use for it today. It wasn't cheap and I hope it doesn't break because I suspect I can't get parts for the PC Profile sander. It's one of those tools that you buy it, use it, it saves you and then 2 months later you regret buying it because it's not that useful.

Today I used it for the 2nd time and once again, for the 2nd time, it saved my bacon,on this end table I'm building!

I have a large number of mechanics' tools that I bought because I needed them for the last job. It's been said that mechanics are like generals, always fighting the last war. However, as time went on, I had this problem less and less.

The same could be said of woodworkers.

[Mike Cutler]

I'm still waiting to get around to using that scroll saw I got about ten year ago. Its survived through 4 garage sales with no takers, so I think its cursed.

Ohhh,,, I got one of those too! I bought it in 1993, used it once and never used it again.
I forgot all about that scroll saw.

[Ryan Lloyd]

I think Ken’s point is that the tool was useful, though rarely used. Sounds like your 113 was never useful.

Hi Matt,

I was not clear about my experience with the Stanley No. 113 compass plane. I purchased it to finish chair rails that featured significant inside curves.

While I was able to achieve my desired result, I found that my workflow with the compass plane was frustratingly inefficient. For me, it it was finicky to set up and awkward to use. I do not produce many inside curves in hardwood, but when I do I usually now reach for a round-bottomed spokeshave.

If I ever take up boat building, the significant reference surface offered by the compass plane may make up for the downsides. Until then, it has been collecting dust.

Regards,
Ryan

[Charles Lent]

Ken,

I have one of those PC multi-tool stroke sanders. I also only used it a couple of times. It's a fairly complete kit. If I can find it in my shop, it is your's, if you will pay the shipping. Let me know if you want it by PM and I'll find it for you, then send pictures of what I have. I know worked the last time that I used it.

Charley

[Rege Sullivan]

In the FWIW category I to bought a PC profile sander many years ago for a project finishing 8 chairs with intricate turned legs, a worth while time an finger saver at the time. I put it away out of site and didn't touch until recently when cleaning out the nooks n' crannies looking for more storage space. It sat on the bench opened just waiting for trash day. It so happened I was finishing a little project for my grandson. I saw just the right profile block in the case and finished up the sanding quickly. So... I thought... maybe if I leave it in plain site like other often used tools maybe I would find it useful. In plain site it turns out to be a pretty useful tool but I do need to make more compact storage for it. The molded plastic case is easily 4-5 times bigger than it needs to be.

[Cary Falk]

Mine is the Festool Domino. Bought it on CL so I got my money back out of it when I sold it.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Ken,

I have one of those PC multi-tool stroke sanders. I also only used it a couple of times. It's a fairly complete kit. If I can find it in my shop, it is your's, if you will pay the shipping. Let me know if you want it by PM and I'll find it for you, then send pictures of what I have. I know worked the last time that I used it.

Charley

Thanks for the offer Charley but no thanks! If it took me 7-10 years to find a 2nd use, I really don't need any for parts. Thanks again for your generous offer!

[Frederick Skelly]

I'm still waiting to get around to using that scroll saw I got about ten year ago. Its survived through 4 garage sales with no takers, so I think its cursed.

Dang. I forgot about that downright awful $90 BORG Delta scroll saw I have up on the shelf. Used on one project and put away. Awful tool.

[Carl Beckett]

I have a hinge bore/gang drill machine stashed. All pneumatic. Picked it up from a shop that just wanted it gone for low $, and thought I am always building bookcases that need shelf pin holes and this will make short work of it. A sweet little machine and not too big. But I end up using the Kreg guide since I dont want to pull the machine out (dont have the space to leave it setup).

Then I have a Wirth machine. Used it on a couple projects then decided I like other methods better and it sets on a shelf as well.

Then I have a Lie Nielsen 112 scraping plane. A few years ago I shipped it around to members here that wanted to try it out, and after several weeks it came back. And went right back into the drawer (I prefer a card scraper or traditional holder it seems). (and btw I might be agreeable to sending it another round if members are interested in trying it out)

Then I have some chisels that are little used. (always have duplicates and reach for my favorite...)

And a belt/disc sander combo. I put it in the kids craft area thinking they might use it but they dont either.

Oh, and a biscuit cutter that I cannot remember the last time I used.

And another thing I have a lot of that isnt getting used - WOOD! Two or three piles of some really nice material that I am saving for 'someday'.

Hmmm.... turns out I might be a hoarder....

(ps: Yes I have one of those PC profile sanders. I bet I could find it even, because I put it in a cabinet years ago and have never pulled it out since)

[John K Jordan]

Ohhh,,, I got one of those too! I bought it in 1993, used it once and never used it again.
I forgot all about that scroll saw.

Get the scroll saw out! I bought an old junky horribly vibrating Craftsman for $25 and used it a lot. Made some of these when the craze hit, some with more elaborate profiles, cut out on the scroll saw and turned on the lathe:

410440

Some friends and kids liked to use it too so I bought an Excalibur - what a difference! No regrets - I sold the Craftsman for $25. :)

Like almost everything in woodworking (or working with metal, cloth, stone, dirt, food, music) what we find useful depends on the kinds of things we do.

JKJ

[Mike Cutler]

John
It's actually not a bad scroll saw. It's not in the Excaliber class by any means ,it's just a Ryobi from the early '90s, but it definitely worked, except for this plastic pump thingy that was supposed to clear debris.
I was cutting Art Nouveau style shelf brackets out of mahogany for a project that never finished. I still have the brackets too. They're very pretty.

[Curt Harms]

<snip>
A little sympathy, please - I don't even have room for a kitchen and bathroom! :eek:

So you have to be nice to spousal unit then? :D

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I'll make this a formal announcement!

ATTENTION:

The 21" Excalibur scroll saw my wife insisted I buy and for which we took a Woodcraft 4 hour class, driving a total of 4 hours and 30 minutes to attend? A few months ago, I was invited to join a local woodworking class. One of the guys there challenged me to use that scroll saw and I did. It only took me 4 attempts to accomplish his challenge.

Then early last week, while working on the end table I am currently building, I used that scroll saw in the process of making a curved hardboard template for my router!

My first completed practical use of my $800-$900 Excalibur!

There is hope guys. Don't give up! :rolleyes::D

[Jim Becker]

I was not clear about my experience with the Stanley No. 113 compass plane. I purchased it to finish chair rails that featured significant inside curves.

While I was able to achieve my desired result, I found that my workflow with the compass plane was frustratingly inefficient.For me, it it was finicky to set up and awkward to use. I do not produce many inside curves in hardwood, but when I do I usually now reach for a round-bottomed spokeshave.

If I ever take up boat building, the significant reference surface offered by the compass plane may make up for the downsides.Until then, it has been collecting dust.


Based on a recent use of the #113 (or similar) by a YouTube personality I follow in the guitar making world, the compass plane is one of those tools that's really good at what it does, but requires two things: the skill/understanding on how to adjust it precisely for the use of the moment and the skill/understanding of when to set it aside and continue with a "flat" plane. This is particularly true when the curve(s) are compound or variable in radius. That fellow doesn't even keep one in his shop in his normal working collection; it lives at another business of his that specializes in antique tools. That's how infrequently he uses it!

----

Ken, ya got me beat...I only have 22 x 30 with a chunk out of it for the stairway to the upper level and my cyclone/compressor closet. LOL (But I'm about to leverage one end of the upstairs as working space and probably will move the lathe up there along with the miter saw since my lumber storage is all upstairs at this point other than "shorts")

[John K Jordan]

...A little sympathy, please - I don't even have room for a kitchen and bathroom! :eek:


So you have to be nice to spousal unit then? :D

We have been married just 49 years so I'm still figuring it out. She has nearly completed a house remodeling "project", actually 11 major remodeling projects inside and out, for the first time all hired out and without me having to do anything except design, wire, ride herd and assist with an extra hand, decisions, tools, materials, backhoe/forklift and such.

Now she says it looks like this saved enough to add a wing on the shop so I am told to get to designing. I must force myself to smile and nod and say "yes dear." I have such a hard life. ;)

[Jerome Stanek]

I was at an auction and saw some drywall tools that I bid on and there was a set of stilts I really didn't need them or want them but I ended up with them. 2 years later I was doing some bathroom remodels in an office building and I ha to keep going up and down a ladder when it hit me that I could use the stilts. They cut my time in more then half and I wasn't as tired at the end of the day.

[Rick Potter]

I was a non user of my PC profile sander for years. Then while making oak kitchen cabinet doors, I discovered that it was just the tool to give the edge profiles that extra sanding the end grain of the stiles needed, so they wouldn't absorb too much stain.

Gotta admit, it was great for that.

[Charles P. Wright]

So, I built my first piece of furniture using a New Yankee Workshop plan and the wife was so impressed, she took me to our new HD and insisted I buy a Ridgid TS-3650 table saw. Now this saw had been very highly reviewed by some of the top ww magazines as far as hybrid table saws go. So I bought it, put it in boxes in the back of the F-350 I owned then and as I assembled it, I took 1 box at a time into the shed. It came with a mobile base. The first time I went to use it, the thing wouldn't go through the 32" door.:eek::o
The TS-3650 was my first "real" WW tool. I ended up getting it for about $400 on sale + the 10% HD credit card discount. It is a great machine for the price, and I built a bunch of stuff with it. I've since upgraded to a Sawstop, which has more power, longer rails, and the safety feature, but almost everything I can do with the Sawstop I could do with that saw. My BIL still has it for very occasional home improvement type stuff.

Also, I think aside from the Sawstop ICS base, the integrated Herculift is the best mobile base that I've ever seen on any tool.

[Rob Luter]

Mine was a top of the line (at the time) Bosch sliding compound miter saw. I was doing a remodel with tons of baseboard and trim. It saved me a boatload of cash versus hiring a finish guy to do it. It then sat dormant until I sold it several years later.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

The TS-3650 was my first "real" WW tool. I ended up getting it for about $400 on sale + the 10% HD credit card discount. It is a great machine for the price, and I built a bunch of stuff with it. I've since upgraded to a Sawstop, which has more power, longer rails, and the safety feature, but almost everything I can do with the Sawstop I could do with that saw. My BIL still has it for very occasional home improvement type stuff.

Also, I think aside from the Sawstop ICS base, the integrated Herculift is the best mobile base that I've ever seen on any tool.

Charles, I still use that TS-3650 in the shop I built years ago. I agree on the Hercu-lift. In fact I bought the first model Ridgid planer and have a Hercu-lift on it. I have thought about upgrading to a SS but haven't done it so far.

[Jon Grider]

For almost 10 years I worked, er, played in less than 1/2 of a 2-car garage, with two lathes, two bandsaws, dozens of tubs of wood, tools and sharpening. It was so tight when a friend came to turn one of us had to go outside so the other could get to the bigger lathe. I sympathize deeply with those working in such spaces now!

Of course my dinky 24x62 building also houses, in addition to turning and big flat wood tools, an office with library, weld shop, machining, electronics bench, wood and metal storage, equipment maintenance tools, photography, animal care and medical supplies, varmint control stuff, and incubators and brooders for hatching poultry. A little sympathy, please - I don't even have room for a kitchen and bathroom! :eek:
What? No hot tub or home theater? Poor guy must be hard to be slumming it.

[Terry Wawro]

Mine is a fiber cement siding shear cutter. For years I've ruined many a saw blade and endured cutting with a dust mask until our last remodel. I figured $150 was OK for a new tool since I seemed to be having to cut siding all the time. Use it once two years ago and now it's collecting dust.

[Ron Citerone]

Craig's list tools top my list. Old massive worm drive saw and 90 degree drill. Only used oth of them 1 time.

[Mike Kees]

I bought a decent Delta scroll saw probably 20 years ago.I do not think I ever used it,my wife used it for 3-4 years and then my Dad 'borrowed ' it and sadly returned it.

[Günter VögelBerg]

I few years ago I was moving and combining households and I sold a lot of tools, but many of them I have purchased again, making them doubly expensive. These include:

dovetail jig (learned to do by hand, but not proficiently enough to do my entire kitchen)
handheld power planer
quarter-sheet sander
powder-actuated nailer (ok, not a woodworking tool)
mortiser
biscuit joiner

Many of these are things I sold because I wanted to focus on hand tools, but I have needed to wo household projects where my focus is not on building skills but on getting things done.

[Frank Pratt]

I bought a Fein multi tool when they still held the patent & were the only game in town, so it was $$$$. It got a few hours of use & then sat on the shelf for the next several years. It's been used only a couple of times since. But sometimes it is the only tool that will do the job in any kind of reasonable time. I haven't ever used any of the various sanding accessories that came with it.

[John K Jordan]

I bought a Fein multi tool when they still held the patent & were the only game in town, so it was $$$$. It got a few hours of use & then sat on the shelf for the next several years. It's been used only a couple of times since. But sometimes it is the only tool that will do the job in any kind of reasonable time. I haven't ever used any of the various sanding accessories that came with it.

I also bought a Fein and yes, it was high. But good quality. This is one tool I'd hate to be without although I suppose any brand would work. I use mine quite offen, usually in construction: flush trims and such. Was useful for cutting PVC when I installed my dust collection too. It used to be uncommon to have a multitool but now every guy I know who does construction and remodeling has one of some brand. One nice thing about the Fein that I haven't seen on others is the 12' cord.

A tool I have I use but rarely but when I need it nothing else will do: an inspection camera. Look inside walls when snaking wires, helped when I fed new brake lines inside the frame to the back of my diesel truck, look inside cylinders and find dropped screws and things when working on engines, retrieving things that have somehow gotten into small places. I bought mine (Bosch, I think) at a time when if you wanted one you spent around $300 dollars.

JKJ

[Roger Feeley]

My cousin's daughter lives with her husband in a small NY condo. I've been told that he does some amazing woodworking. They have a generous balcony and he has managed to fold up his shop into some rolling thing that goes into a closet. In good weather, he rolls it out and unfolds it like some complicated origami. I really need to go visit them and see for myself.

[Frank Pratt]

I also bought a Fein and yes, it was high. But good quality. KJ

Yes, the quality is very good & the thing is a pleasure to use.

[Bruce Page]

Ken, mine is the Veritas Mk.II power sharpening system. I Bought it with most of the bells & whistles 10-15 years ago. It sits in a cabinet; I have used it maybe 3-4 times.

[Mike Kees]

Ken can I twist the original intent of this thread just slightly ? I have a tool that for sure I bought and have never used. It is a mortising attachment for my drill press,I tried to set it up once and realized that I did not have chisels,that was about 20 years ago.:D

[John K Jordan]

Ken can I twist the original intent of this thread just slightly ? I have a tool that for sure I bought and have never used. It is a mortising attachment for my drill press,I tried to set it up once and realized that I did not have chisels,that was about 20 years ago.:D

I had one of those, but even though it came with a set of chisels I decided after a decade or so in the box I was more interested in woodturning than making furniture and gave it away.

[Mike Cutler]

Ken, mine is the Veritas Mk.II power sharpening system. I Bought it with most of the bells & whistles 10-15 years ago. It sits in a cabinet; I have used it maybe 3-4 times.

Bruce
Is there a reason you don't use it? I also have the Veritas MKII, and have basically used it to the point it is now worn out.
You can put a wicked nasty edge on a chisel, or plane iron, with one.

[Bruce Page]

Bruce
Is there a reason you don't use it? I also have the Veritas MKII, and have basically used it to the point it is now worn out.
You can put a wicked nasty edge on a chisel, or plane iron, with one.
Yes, the MkII is very nice - typical LV high quality. When I bought it I was trying to force myself to become more Neander. It turns out that I'm 95% a machine tool guy. I tried to sell it once here, but didn't see much response.