Itching to buy a new tool? What tools have you wasted money on?

[Steve Mathews]

One of those sitting at the computer in the morning with a cup of coffee itching to buy a new tool ... So I come across this Veritas Scraper Burnisher for Turners and looked at a few videos reviews of it and thought why not. After reading a few reviews posted on this forum I later realized it was a mistake, something that will just sit in a drawer and never be used. I have a good amount of those. What are your misguided purchases that never get used?

[Ron Selzer]

Powermatic Shaper 26, had it 35 yrs more less. have put less than a hour run time on it Was using an AMT 1/2" spindle in a wooden table with 1 hp motor. Most of the time running a 3/4" lock miter cutter, had to mount a bearing for the top end of the spindle to cut down on spindle deflection when cutting lock miters. Have not cut a lock miter with the shaper since I bought it used in the late 80's early 90's.
Kew Concepts Couping Saw Used it, don't like it, sits in a drawer.
Band Saws, Buy them and rarely use them. Have a 19", 15" 12" currently
Uniplane, always wanted one, got a great deal a few years ago, it is hooked up to dust collector been turned on once, never used yet. Edge sander and stroke sander, same way.
ShopSmith Mark V, have bought 3 or 4, one downstairs was shipped to Virgina Beach for complete check and rehab, at least ten years ago, never been plugged in since.
Wood planes buy them and never use them, won't sell them either. Wife has the real nice ones on display in front room.
When I was young built with really cheap tools, now have nice tools and rarely build. Sure is nice to have the good tools when I do want to build and I am physically able.
Be a nice tool auction when the time comes
Ron

[Cameron Wood]

I thought I should add pockets screws to the joinery options a number of years a go, and requested a kit for a gift.

Haven't used it once.

[Andrew Hughes]

My wasted buy was one of those jigs to drill dowels or mortises. I won’t mention the company because they are out of business still feel bad for them. I was going to mention cheap chisels but they do have a place to open paint cans.
Good Luck

[Bernie Kopfer]

Scroll saw. Discovered that fine detail scroll work was too much like what I did for a living,wanted a change not more detail work.

[Patrick C Daugherty]

Dowel Plates. I have had four, I make wonky dowels with all of them. Had to have one, tried it out with bad results. Sold it. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat, have not sold last one cause I don't need to start looking for a new one.

[Mel Fulks]

Patrick, most of the dowel plates are just too thin. Get a piece of scrap steel that is at least an inch thick, drill holes , champher.

[Ron Citerone]

Biscuit Joiner. Glad I bought it used on CL for half price.

[Richard Coers]

All I have to do is use on tool a couple of times to make it worth the purchase. I've sold tools or machines over the years, and regret that way more than buying them.

[Mike Henderson]

DeWalt Biscuit Joiner. Hardly never used it and now that I have a Domino I never use it.

Mike

[Richard Coers]

DeWalt Biscuit Joiner. Hardly never used it and now that I have a Domino I never use it.

Mike

I made tens of thousands of dollars with my ELU biscuit joiner before anyone ever thought or dreamt of a Domino. I loved it so much I bought a new one when they stopped making the ELU. So I still have on brand new one in the box.

[stephen thomas]

When neander tools where still in live fleamarkets (rather than online) i bought way too many duplicates and like others, have a hard time making the effort required to sell.

When we were both a lot younger and i met my later bride to be, i bought a pressure pot sandblaster to blast equipment for re-painting. Before i met her, she painted rocks (She was/is actually an executive, this was relaxation, not "specialness"). Anyway, the first couple years i owned the sandblaster , she segued into sandblasting rocks and used it more than i did. Like the monument guys (tombstones, e.g.) A friend of mine had a monument business and did some work on the Vietnam Vets memorial on the Mall, so he fixed her up with info and supplies. Fast forward a half dozen years, we moved, combined households, and i bought her a rather large sandblast cabinet. I think she used it once in the past 25 years. I used it a couple times for equipment. Mostly it just sets in the cellar, and is often too clogged (from humidity) to just walk up and use without a lot of extra effort. It's big enough for an entire motorcycle frame, but most equipment is easier to blast in the great outdoors with the original pressure pot.

The machine i sunk the most into, purchase and rebuilding, for myself, is a Diehl 660 lumber jointer. I used to make a lot of custom flooring for specialty jobs, and it seemed to make sense at the time. There were also other reasons for me to prefer a lumber jointer over a straight-line ripsaw, and no space to fit both. The lumber jointer is one of the most fun machines to run with 2 people if you have a great pile of long lumber to straighten an edge before ripping, or as ripping progresses. It seems that not long after the acquisition, large flooring jobs dried up, and a decade and a half later i aged out of doing large work, for the most part.
It is even really handy for one man, trying to do the same task as opposed to operating a regular hand fed jointer, especially as i got older. It would really be fun and useful if you could feed faced and planed lumber through it, or panels for raising. Unfortunately, despite some Diehl literature to that effect, it is not practical because the feed chain inherently puts light, random dimples in the face of finished work. There needs to be a heavy sanding allowance on the face side. If there were more room in the shop, it would stay until my estate sale. But i've finally come to realize the space would be more useful than a rather large machine that sometimes does a small load of lumber once every few years, now.

DSC_0077.jpgDSC_0080.jpg

http://www.vintagemachinery.org/pubs/253/4694.pdf

Err... since it is for sale, let me swap hats and convey just how useful and labor saving it can be. If you have the work to run through it.

[John C Cox]

Lol... I suppose "Wasted" is relative. Probably the winner there is my own chisel test/quest. I've been through a whole lot of stuff that's out there, and the vast majority falls into what I classify as the "Average to poor" bin. After a lot of tests, I understand why Paul Sellers claimed the Aldi chisels were adequate/as good as a lot of what's out there... Yes, that is true... The trouble is that they're not objectively "Good," but rather are no worse than the brand names which raced headlong to the bottom. After way too many tests, too much time, and money spent, I've got some very definite preferences that really do run better than the vast majority. Some, like the Narex Richter are no surprise. Others might be a surprise. More disappointing, to me, were the losers like Two Cherries, Ashley Iles, and current production Marples.

It's sort of like the vast myriad of screwdriver bits that round off after driving 20-50 screw... Yes, that's where most of the market shakes out, but that doesn't mean it's good.... When I spend my money, I'd like to be the one deciding where in the price/quality spectrum my decision shakes out... but modern manufacturers and marketing seem to be spending most of their time and money on gaming the system rather than allowing the customer to choose what they are paying for.

[Ralph Okonieski]

I bought a turntable with painters pyramids on for all the great project finishes to be done. Never used it once.

There are a number of hand planes bought with the best of intentions but hardly touched wood. I hesitate to call it wasted money though as I like to look at them and dream.

[Jimmy Harris]

Brace and bits and a wooden smoothing plane. A hand drill is so much more convenient and a drill press is so much more accurate. And the wooden smoothing plane is just too hard to set up compared to a Stanley Bailey. They're fun to use, but not enough fun to justify their use.