Your best (and worst) / most surprising woodworking related purchase this year

[Richard_C]

A good buy.

I have a modest diy workshop/half garage: mitre saw, pillar drill, grinder, inexpensive lathe. I got myself an Axminster 1950 bandsaw specifically to cut 'blanks from planks'. With the addition of a couple more blades its become one of the most used tools I have, good for so many other things.

 

[Lefley]

Pete,
regarding ur bent shafts.......
I bought a huge Wadkin, year plonk P/T....it had the most awful and damaged ribbed infeed roller imaginable.....
I took to a works that did the rubber /eurathene recovering for printing rollers....
they machined off the ribs, prob 1/2 in dia and recovered it bringing it back to original diam....
so perhaps u could do the same for ur bent ones......
my cost was £250 Brit pounds around 15-18 years ago.....good luck......
I like the wood and the truck, couldn't afford the fuel this side of the pond.....
Just love a smallish Dodge, only becouase it has a Cummins in it....hahaha....
is it snowing there yet....?
also have the bears gone to sleep yet.....
just foolin......

Bears have gone to sleep and yes it’s friggin snowing. In bc, Canada.
bear pic last month, snow pic today! Minus 12 c this morning.

 

[Inspector]

Pete,
regarding ur bent shafts.......
I bought a huge Wadkin, year plonk P/T....it had the most awful and damaged ribbed infeed roller imaginable.....
I took to a works that did the rubber /eurathene recovering for printing rollers....
they machined off the ribs, prob 1/2 in dia and recovered it bringing it back to original diam....
so perhaps u could do the same for ur bent ones......
my cost was £250 Brit pounds around 15-18 years ago.....good luck......
I like the wood and the truck, couldn't afford the fuel this side of the pond.....
Just love a smallish Dodge, only becouase it has a Cummins in it....hahaha....
is it snowing there yet....?
also have the bears gone to sleep yet.....
just foolin......

We're talking about rollers the are only an inch and a half or so in diameter with the steel being smaller and with them being bent they follow an egg shaped circle. Not enough to machine off. If RBI doesn't have them in the next couple months I'll get some shafting and turn new ones on the metal lathe. I just can't get the ground finish on the ends that fit in the bushings with it. There are a few places in Western Canada that recover rollers and would be roughly $125Can +/- each.
Truck is a 2015 Nissan Frontier and gets somewhere in the 12 to 15 litres per hundred kilometres depending on the type of driving and load in it. I wouldn't be upset if it got better milage but being retired I'm not putting on a lot.
Yup to the snow but not too much so far. Maybe 10cm total so far and temperatures are still warmer than usual. It only got down in the -20ºC range a couple days ago and it is coming back up to almost 0ºC for a while.This time last year it was -15ºC during the day and -30ºC at night.
Bears are a couple hundred K further north in the Boreal forests. What they are up to is none of my business. The snowshoe hares are bouncing around and a fox marked my compost box on top with a poop pointing up to the sky. Canada Geese are still around because it is warm.
Pete

 

[Inspector]

Hi Pete, just looked up the exchange rate 60p for one of your Canadian dollars so you got all that for £180, very nicely done!
..... Ian

I don't feel guilty at all. I figure they got their value out of them even time the collection plate went by over the last 40 or so years.

Pete

 

[Sideways]

All my major buys in the last year + have been metalwork related. Being retired, I'm of the mind to buy the good stuff now and get value / enjoyment from it before I'm too crocked to reach the shed.
So with that in mind, I'm pleased that this kit has all lived up to expectations and I have no buyers remorse.
Fronius make a superb TIG welder. Far and away the most exotic tool I own. Their customer support is to be commended.
Optrel make d*mn good welding helmets.
Sundstrom make a great lightweight air fed visor for grinding, paint spraying and re insulating the house. This has had plenty of use and makes a miserable job far more bearable.
Both a Metabo corded and a Bosch brushless angle grinder have been good buys. The cordless for relative low noise and variable speed that complements use of flap discs, Norton blaze and others.

 

[danst96]

We're talking about rollers the are only an inch and a half or so in diameter with the steel being smaller and with them being bent they follow an egg shaped circle. Not enough to machine off. If RBI doesn't have them in the next couple months I'll get some shafting and turn new ones on the metal lathe. I just can't get the ground finish on the ends that fit in the bushings with it. There are a few places in Western Canada that recover rollers and would be roughly $125Can +/- each.
Truck is a 2015 Nissan Frontier and gets somewhere in the 12 to 15 litres per hundred kilometres depending on the type of driving and load in it. I wouldn't be upset if it got better milage but being retired I'm not putting on a lot.
Yup to the snow but not too much so far. Maybe 10cm total so far and temperatures are still warmer than usual. It only got down in the -20ºC range a couple days ago and it is coming back up to almost 0ºC for a while.This time last year it was -15ºC during the day and -30ºC at night.
Bears are a couple hundred K further north in the Boreal forests. What they are up to is none of my business. The snowshoe hares are bouncing around and a fox marked my compost box on top with a poop pointing up to the sky. Canada Geese are still around because it is warm.
Pete

Did Saskatoon miss out on the blizzard we had in Regina a couple weeks ago? Been pretty cold here, was -29 on Monday during the day although warming up this weekend. All a bit different for me, my first winter in Canada, climate somewhat different to Leeds UK. Am in Edmonton this week and they have had some crazy freezing rain, saw a massive semi completely destroyed on highway 2 down to red deer. And a dead moose, didn't see what hit it though but it must have been wrecked.

 

[mikej460]

Most useful and most used - my old dewalt mitre saw on a SIP stand. It's 15 years old now and still accurate, and my MFT bench which I use almost daily

Most cosseted - my LN Block and Skew Planes and my No5 Clifton.. oh and my Boxford Union Drill Press - what a machine.

Most grateful for - my Woodpeckers Drill Press Fence gifted to me by @MikeK

Most surprising - how powerful, accurate and useful my Lumberjack BS305 Bandsaw is after a bit of fettling and a Tuffsaws blade

Most gratifying - my shop built circular bench sander, drill press table and sanding organiser

Most depressing - having to work in a cold, damp 1970s garage that is also too hot to use in summer, also the sight of my Kity 619 stored away in bits until the new shop is built

 

[Inspector]

Did Saskatoon miss out on the blizzard we had in Regina a couple weeks ago? Been pretty cold here, was -29 on Monday during the day although warming up this weekend. All a bit different for me, my first winter in Canada, climate somewhat different to Leeds UK. Am in Edmonton this week and they have had some crazy freezing rain, saw a massive semi completely destroyed on highway 2 down to red deer. And a dead moose, didn't see what hit it though but it must have been wrecked.

Takes a bit of getting used to eh? Only got 3 to 5 CM that time and 6 or so yesterday. As the winter gets worse you see more dead moose and deer as they look for shelter in the trees in lower locations at dawn or dusk. They panic when the cars get close at night and bolt across the road getting hit. Doesn't do the cars any good and sometimes injures the occupants. Moose because they are taller come over the hood and into the car. On the 12K stretch of highway between here and S'toon there were half a dozen or more deer hit last year. Feeds the Ravens and Magpies for a few days until picked clean. Drive slow and if you see a deer in the headlights hit the horn to get them moving sooner. The headlights to them are like stars and they don't see them a danger until you get closer.
So much for the cold and gore report. Back to regularly scheduled programming.

Pete

 

[Lazurus]

difficult to know - it has been a year of fitting out a workshop - so everything is exciting. I do tend to over-research, so there is not much that comes through the door that I then regret...
- most used item is the shop vac (given to me free!)
- most exciting item is the Coronet Herald lathe which was my 50th birthday present - and which I love!
- most scary, the router table
- most beautiful - probably the hand files from workshop heaven (dangerous website!)
- most likely to be upgraded - the c. £80 draper bandsaw (but it was given to me by our chippy who got it from another client boxed and shrink wrapped - so it has actually been excellent value for money!)
- most likely to be commented on by others - the laser engraver
- most functional - sander or mitre saw - just do what they do and do it well...

Ok more details on the laser engraver, pictures and review please?

 

[akirk]

Ok more details on the laser engraver, pictures and review please?

Not sure how much I can do / say... but
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08BZV2TTQ/NEJE Master2s 20W Laser Engraving Machine, Laser Engraver Cutter 5.5W Output Optical Power

You hook it up to a PC / Mac - I have it on a Mac - it has its own software, but it is not hugely impressive. I use Lightburn which has I think a free option, but otherwise is c. £40 and a bargain! It has similarities to Illustrator and is a simple vector program - you can also import vectors from eps or graphics...

Then it is as simple as pressing play! There is an option to show the overall space to be engraved - it travels around so that you can see that you haven't gone over any boundaries, but otherwise play = engrave! There is a bit of learning around power % / time or speed / number of times it traces the artwork all of which combine to affect the result - the wood also affects the result so I use a scrap piece first to test...

my one has an area of 170mm x 170mm but you can get much larger ones
cost was £320.95 - I bought from a UK supplier for the option to return / support - but you can buy directly from NEJE in China - they seem very reliable and there is good support through online forums and facebook - there are other similar makes...

I have it sitting on a board on which I engraved a grid 170mm x 170mm in 10mm squares - brilliant for aligning the wood...

an example of work done...

and final result:

 

[D_W]

I don't feel guilty at all. I figure they got their value out of them even time the collection plate went by over the last 40 or so years.

Pete

If you're feeling too guilty, you can ask them if they'll throw in a communion for you to wipe the slate clean!

 

[Peri]

My most surprisingly good purchase was a Stanley #80 ebay special.

Having never used a scraper before, I was stunned at how quickly it removed paint and varnish, and beautifully finished off a plank of rosewood I've been having tear-out issues with.

 

[Lazurus]

Not sure how much I can do / say... but
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08BZV2TTQ/NEJE Master2s 20W Laser Engraving Machine, Laser Engraver Cutter 5.5W Output Optical Power

You hook it up to a PC / Mac - I have it on a Mac - it has its own software, but it is not hugely impressive. I use Lightburn which has I think a free option, but otherwise is c. £40 and a bargain! It has similarities to Illustrator and is a simple vector program - you can also import vectors from eps or graphics...

Then it is as simple as pressing play! There is an option to show the overall space to be engraved - it travels around so that you can see that you haven't gone over any boundaries, but otherwise play = engrave! There is a bit of learning around power % / time or speed / number of times it traces the artwork all of which combine to affect the result - the wood also affects the result so I use a scrap piece first to test...

my one has an area of 170mm x 170mm but you can get much larger ones
cost was £320.95 - I bought from a UK supplier for the option to return / support - but you can buy directly from NEJE in China - they seem very reliable and there is good support through online forums and facebook - there are other similar makes...

View attachment 123770

I have it sitting on a board on which I engraved a grid 170mm x 170mm in 10mm squares - brilliant for aligning the wood...

an example of work done...

View attachment 123771

and final result:

View attachment 123772

Cool

 

[robgul]

Possibly the same thing I was thinking when I bought one a few years ago. Horrible thing, and being my only experience of pull saws it has put me off them to the extent that I have not tried any others.

I have a couple of Japanese saws from Axminster and they're brilliant (both have replaceable blades)

 

[Molynoox]

My best is probably a Festool 150-3 sander which I picked up for £50. I tried it yesterday for first time and its about 100 times nicer and more effective than my Makita 18v random orbital.
My worst... hmmm, well I just accidentally bought a corded track saw when I need cordless so that is pretty annoying, and I also bought a stud finder from amazon that appears to have the same stud finding prowess as a banana, so that's not ideal either.
Martin

 

[TRITON]

I dont really have bad/good/worst purchases, I usually buy for whatever job is needed at the time.

That said, I found the makita rto700 to be a bit of a pain, in that soon as you buy it you realize you need a different base and you have to recenter it each time you change over. And in the end you pretty much stick with the plunge base and realize you'd have probably been better buying a dedicated 1/4" like the rpo900 or bosch or such and saved yourself a bit of money to boot.

2 items that were a good buy was the axminster mitre trimmer and the LN router plane. Both enable ease of operation, are good at what they do and dont involve clouds of harmful dust and noise.
On the subject of LN, their socket chisels, while sharp as hell, do have the annoying habit of the handle coming out the socket and falling on the floor. I'm tempted to epoxy those in.

The shinto rasp i had since about 2001 and it is an excellent tool till i donated it to a woody charity and a year later wished i had kept it

 

[Fitzroy]

Best. Sedgwick morticer, what a great tool. Worst. Pair of dividers from Axminster, only £15 so acceptable for the money but roughly made and just not that pleasant to use, too many rough edges.
Most surprising. A 100m reel of 4mm paracord from eBay for about £10 delivered. Great quality and used for so many projects over the year.

Hmm, lovely.

 

[Sheptonphil]

The Shinto Rasp thingy after watching Paul Sellers' router plane videos. That thing is awesome. So easy to use, doesn't clog up and works really well whilst being very reasonably priced.

And another tool on the list, the list of tools I didn’t know about, so was happy in my ignorance, but now on the ‘ought to get one and see what the fuss is about’ list. Oh well…

 

[Phil Pascoe]

My DeWalt drill had an intermittent fault and a knackered chuck, and I'm not over enamoured with DeWalt, so I had a change of direction. A bit extravant along with the multitool, but I'll never buy them again. Quite wonderful.

https://www.sgs-engineering.com/m18...MbqKaclR7DspGpcikbt-W4BD9xGkWaIxoC_EUQAvD_BwE

https://www.sgs-engineering.com/mil...CA-Uf4Coz9aUMaqHQ01kifVLEz49kL1hoCSvwQAvD_BwE

 

[mikej460]

My DeWalt drill had an intermittent fault and a knackered chuck, and I'm not over enamoured with DeWalt, so I had a change of direction. A bit extravant along with the multitool, but I'll never buy them again. Quite wonderful.

https://www.sgs-engineering.com/m18...MbqKaclR7DspGpcikbt-W4BD9xGkWaIxoC_EUQAvD_BwE

https://www.sgs-engineering.com/mil...CA-Uf4Coz9aUMaqHQ01kifVLEz49kL1hoCSvwQAvD_BwE

I'd be very tempted if and when my dewalt gear gasps its last. I have a set of Milwaukee mole grips and they are just superb quality tools. I also have their excellent disk lock nut for my dewalt cordless disk grinder Milwaukee 4932352473 Fixtec Nut, Multi : Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools