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.
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.
refrigerator
my Baleigh mortiser
Stand for something, or you'll fall for anything.
Got two
In the shop: domino
Around the house: multitool
No domino yet, multi-tool yes. Thanks!
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.
My forklifts.
Track saw.
Mirka Deros with Festool dust collector
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.
Time Saver... I vote for the pocket hole jig. No more waiting for glue and clamps.
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For me I would say the best time saver would be a stroke sander. Kind of too big for the home shop. For assembly I would say a pneumatic corrugated fastener gun is very helpful. Does the job of a pockethole without having to drill holes.