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Thread: Do we all 'HAVE' to have the ideal latest/greatest tool?

  1. #61
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Location
    Flower mound, Tx
    Posts
    514
    The reality is...... MONEY! Generally, the more money a person has for discretionary spending, the more they will spend.
    The more money a business makes, the nicer(more expensive) equipment they invest in.
    Drive down a wealthy neighborhood and notice the cars you will see parked in the garages or porticos. People who own million dollar homes, drive expensive cars and have expensive toys. Recently I noticed A Mercedes Sprinter van painted in Amazon Prime livery. You don’t see many Sprinter vans used for delivery vans in the U.S. But if your company is Amazon, you can buy the “best”.
    Human Nature! If you can afford the best, you want the best, you will buy the best!

  2. #62
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Dickinson, Texas
    Posts
    7,655
    Blog Entries
    1
    Back in the day . . . we had hand saws and then a "skill" saw. Then we made a 12" x 96" track that had a 1x2 stop to ride against.
    That was our track. Then someone came out with an aluminum track for the "skill" saw.
    Last edited by lowell holmes; 01-10-2019 at 7:21 PM.

  3. #63
    My Sear Craftsman table saw was $12.50 at a local farm auction. I checked it out before hand and knew it was tight in all the important places. So many guys did not bid on it because it was 220. 15 minutes or rewiring changed it to 110. I started turning in my father's workshop. When I decided to get back into turning, I paid $10 for a 100 year old lathe. It still does almost everything a spindle turner could want. Now it was a little more advanced than the average hobby lathe of the period. It has morse tapers in both head stock and tail stock. My scroll saw is a $20.00 wonder from a yard sale. (A variable speed skil 16 inch) It comes in handy for a lot of things, but I do not do much fret work. Back in the late 1970's, I lived in Arlington VA. All the Willy and Joes, who came back from the big one and had home work shops were retiring or going up yonder. For fifteen years or so, I made a part time business out of buying up workshop machinery and hauling it to central PA to sell usually for about three times what I paid. If Sears or Delta sold it, dozens of it went through my hands. I had swapped and traded and accumulated a pretty good shop, just from used equipment. Then in 2015, my shop burned to the ground. A few tools were out in the barn and were spared. So start over again. My Craftsman table saw is a heavy duty for a home owner, and light for a pro. as I said $12.50 at an auction. My Craftsman 12 inch bandsaw is a relic from the 1970's, but still works well for my purposes. I have not replaced the metal lathes, I did pick up a solid chinese made floor model drill press from the 1980's for $60.00. My FIL gave me a few of his old tools and I have acquired others at yard sales and even new. My main lathe is an old Delta/Rockwell school shop behemoth. I also have my first lathe that was out in the barn, and two identical Harbor freight 12 x 34 lathes. (I like to hop from lathe to lathe rather than change tools over for every operation.) My Skil worm drive saw was like new in the box, for $25.00 at an auction. My old Millers Falls 1/2 hp drill motor was $10 at a yard sale. New cord cost me more, but having a big portable drill has come in handy for some post and beam work. When i pull that giant out, folks eyes sure widen.

  4. #64
    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    Location
    Left Coast
    Posts
    78
    I have a mix of good quality tools and some I got at garage sales and some such many years ago. My first major tool purchase was a used Rockwell/Beaver table saw 30 years ago. If I can stay away from Lee Valley long enough to save the money, my next 'tool' is going to be investing in some woodworking courses.

  5. #65
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    St. Francis, Kansas
    Posts
    148
    I concur with Mr. Keith. My wood workin' hobby wasn't even my idea 25+ years ago, it was my Bride's, of all folks!

    I started with a circular saw, a Craftsman Radial Arm saw, a used drill & a few bits, a router and few burnt up bits that came with the router, an ol' handsaw, a single speed scroll saw, and a tape measure. And the thing I knew for certain how to use was the tape measure.

    Bein' an OTR truck driver all my life, I'd never been around any of these tools of sort before. I spent a lot of time researchin' & readin' about how ya use these tools proper. It took me along time to even decide if I wanted to tie into the hobby or not, but, our family Sawbones at the time highly recommended I learn to quit eattin, sleepin, thinkin' & drinkin' trucks, or the consequences weren't going to be in my favor.

    So, long story short, I kept truckin', but at a slower pace. And took up the hobby of wood working. I tinkered around and made a few projects, nothin' showy. And I didn't have any new shiny tools yet. I just learned to use what I had, and kept movin' forward. Goin' to the library and checkin' out books, takin' them on the road with me to read. Turn them in when I come in.

    The deeper I got into this hobby, the call for better tools came about. And out here on the plains of NW Kansas, wood workin' tools are about as scarce as the trees are in this country. So, I had to resort to the internet to look into these "better" tools. I got myself an account here on SMC, and a couple other sites lookin' and merely askin' for advice, nothin' else. I encountered pretty much just exactly what the Op discussed in his original post. ADVICE???? Suggestin' to a feller just startin' out that ya need this and ya this brand name, ya gotta have these chisels, and these blades. Horse hockey! I agree with buyin' the best you can afford at the time, but, most times, there's lot's of folks out here gettin' into this wood hobby that their "wood tool store" is Harbor Freight, Gentlemen. And that's for certain. I'll never be able to afford a $8500 lathe, or a $4000 table saw, or a $1800 bandsaw.

    My shop is rented, and across the street from our house. I have been over there 3 years now. By the graciousness of our neighbors, the gentleman cleaned it out for us so we could move our tools out of the basement and into his retired beauty shop. I couldn't make the steps to the basement any longer, I didn't have a choice. I have 400 sq. ft. of work space in my shop. It's heated & a/c'd. And I promise ya, there's enough toys in that 400 sq. ft. to do anything I want to do with wood.

    Ya see, this similar subject just came up on a another site I regular. Imo, it ain't about how many fancy, shiny, high dollar tools ya got in your shop, or what breed they are. It's a matter of affordability and personal choice. What is useable and workable. I started out with one single speed scroll saw for instance, now I own 5, with my newest being a Hawk.

    A newbie starts in on me about gettin' into this hobby, one of the first things I mention to them is to avoid wood sites and high dollar tools. If they ask why, well, I reckon that question has been answered more than once.
    Sawdust703

  6. #66
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Upland CA
    Posts
    5,540
    Like my rich buddy says, It's not the arrow, it's the Indian.

    I confess to being a tool junkie, but I have seen lots of nice projects around made by inexpensive tools, by hobbyists.
    Rick Potter

    DIY journeyman,
    FWW wannabe.
    AKA Village Idiot.

  7. #67
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Toronto Ontario
    Posts
    11,236
    Quote Originally Posted by Van Huskey View Post
    Ha, that depends on how twisted you are. One of the first things that comes to my mind when someone mentions Maloof is him standing in front of an Agazzani bandsaw roughing out chair parts...
    My FIL is a retired cabinetmaker who served his apprenticeship in England.

    While we dismiss the requirement for high quality tools to perform good work, it actually was a requirement of his apprenticeship . A minimum base of tools were specified by the company, and you paid for them through pay deductions. John often spoke of the fact that that a large portion of his wages went to hand tool purchases while he was an apprentice.

    I had a friend who apprenticed with RR industrial and he stated the same thing. Bill also described sitting in the kitchen of the boarding house cutting out shadow box liners for his tool cabinet with a coping saw, and then lining the cutouts with RR blue felt. His tool cabinet was inspected on a routine basis by his supervisor as his apprenticeship progressed. The required tools had to be there, neat and clean.

    We now have excellent planes that cost less than a days wages, John paid for hand planes, squares, saws etc that cost more than a days wage.

    At work I often hire contractors, you can tell a lot about a worker by his tools, and his attitude towards them. If they come in carrying all their rusty tools in a jumble in a 20 litre pail, that's often a good indication of the quality of work I'll receive from them. The guys that show up with organized tools, well cared for, usually have higher work output than the guy who can't find what he's looking for.

    Now as hobbyists we can sit around and make furniture with an old rusty spoon if we wish, however I have this overly romantic attachment to nice tools, and enjoy using them much more than HF stuff. Do I need a sliding saw/shaper at home? Nope, however the capacity and capability make my shop time more enjoyable, productive and safer than struggling with other items.

    I've always bought expensive enough tools that I don't have to replace them often, for work or at home. I don't have enough disposable income to buy cheap tools.

    That said, I've started a handful of neighbourhood kids over the years on the woodworking journey making a bench hook with a hand plane and backsaw, exactly the way I started 50 odd years ago. They get to keep the bench hook, and if they're really keen I buy them a backsaw..........A few have continued to use the shop and learn, and I've learned a lot from them.

    It's a journey that's more pleasurable with nice tools............Rod.
    Last edited by Rod Sheridan; 01-22-2019 at 1:00 PM.

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