What tool saves you the most time?

[Matthew Carver]

As a father of four I have limited time in my shop. I was curious what the community's finds to be the biggest time saver on projects.

[Bradley Gray]

refrigerator

[Matthew Carver]

Got two

[Bill Carey]

my Baleigh mortiser

[Tim M Tuttle]

In the shop: domino
Around the house: multitool

[Matthew Carver]

No domino yet, multi-tool yes. Thanks!

[Tim M Tuttle]

No domino yet, multi-tool yes. Thanks!

I got lucky on a used Domino Havent used it a ton but what little I have made it clear how fast it is.

[Darcy Warner]

My forklifts.

[Patrick Kane]

Hard to argue with the domino. It takes what could potentially be 20ish mins of finessing a joint into a 30-40 second process. After that, a good 6" sander is a nice upgrade/timesaver. An inch doesnt sound like a lot, but is 30% larger, which means you should finish large surfaces 30% faster. Another timesaver is spraying water-bourne finishes. Applying oil finishes by hand is a lot more time consuming, AND the cure times are considerably different. I can easily spray 3 coats of finish in a day and be done with the project. With oil finishes, that process was closer to 4 days. Those are probably my big ones where the investment isnt too extreme and the difference is incredible. Not that ill ever get there, but im imagining a moulder would blow my mind when it comes to milling lumber. Doing all that work at the jointer/planer/table saw is very time consuming. I track all of my commissions religiously, and id say i spend about 2/3rds of my time milling, sanding, and finishing.

[Matthew Carver]

Thanks Patrick, good insight.

[Prashun Patel]

By far: HVLP spraying water-based finishes. After setting up, it eliminates ALL the headache of finishing. In fact, now that I have the 3m PPS system, it's even faster, because clean up is almost eliminated.

I have a Domino, but it's not appropriate on every project. Spraying applies to far more projects.

[John K Jordan]

As a father of four I have limited time in my shop. I was curious what the community's finds to be the biggest time saver on projects.

Depends on the project. My 20-ton hydraulic press runs a close second to the plasma cutter. The milling machine sure beats filing by hand.

Oh, maybe you mean wood projects. Depends on the project.

JKJ

[Matthew Carver]

Fair enough. My father-in-law has the metal shop in front of my wood shop. Milling machine upgrades are kinda where my mind is at.

[Mo Ghotbi]

Track saw.

[Matt Lau]

Mirka Deros with Festool dust collector