No contest! The Dremel with a burr bit. It's like sketching on a 3D drawing pad.
I love them all. I got rid of the ones that gave me problems or scared the beejeebers out of me, like the small shaper I had with no power feeder. I have to say, I have a love/hate relationship with my lathe. I'm fascinated with it when I ride the bevel to shape bowls. So satisfying to see such a clean, smooth cut. I hate it when I hose up and the edge catches and ruins the rim of one. It's clearly operator error, but still.
My CNC stands out as the machine that's most fascinating and most rewarding in what it can create. It's completely devoid of any tactile feedback like you get with actually pushing wood over a machine, same as a power feed shaper, but what it can do is mostly limited only by your imagination. It has gotten me into areas of woodworking I likely never would have ventured into w/o it. I've become obsessed, to a fault according to my wife, with the design and construction of wood gear clocks because of it.
If we include tools, then most any hand plane would do it, especially a large, well-tuned one sliding on one of my shooting boards for bringing an edge to the perfect angle and trueness.
John
Like many, I’m torn between the bandsaw and the shaper.
The bandsaw mostly does breakdown of rough timber, book matching, re-saving, veneer making and sometimes curve cutting.
The shaper does so much, cutting tenons, rebates, moulding, pattern copying and sanding. I’d be lost without it.
Regards, Rod
While they are not what I would call one of my favorite tools, my jigsaw and bandsaw rank near the top of the list of enjoyable tools to use. I can't really describe why but I just get a kick out of using both.
Sure Patty. Thanks for the interest.
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In a shop full of really cool machines (several Martins) the coolest is my hydraulic lift assembly table. It brings a smile to my face every time I step on the pedal to bring whatever I am building to the most comfortable working height.
does my pallet jack count? brings out the kid in me
JonathanJungDesign.com
I like drilling holes.
So I'll go with my drill press.
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Second place is the lathe.
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Phil
Last edited by Philip Glover; 11-21-2023 at 2:01 PM.
Jointer for sure. I bought it thinking it was just a key step in turning rough sawn lumber into s4s exactly the way I wanted it. I wasn't expecting how satisfying it is to look at a really rough board go through and become slightly more cleaned up with each pass, or cleaning up bandsaw cut tapered legs and seeing the appearance completely change from rough cut to ready for finish sanding in one or two passes.
Bench. All other things are secondary.
~mike
happy in my mud hut
Coffee machine.
Lathe, bandsaw, whatever
If I'm woodworking, I'm pretty happy
I yell at my shapers the least, so they win by default.