What tool/piece(s) of Machinery changed your woodworking?

[Benchwayze]

I just wondered what Forumites might have bought over the years, to change the way they work, or was a 'eureka' moment in what could be accomplished, or lightened the load enough to open doors to more ambitious projects.

This was prompted by my buying a Festool MFT3. Since using it, I keep finding more and more uses for it. With Peter Parfitt's 'Parf-dogs' it's a cutting table, a routing platform. I can use it as a clamp-down glue up table (Just laminated two pieces of ply, and left it in the Festool clamps with a 'gurt' heavy weight in the middle.) It's the ideal platform for biscuit-jointing, planing (despite the slight shake) and of course the things for which it was designed; using Festool's own machinery; I know these things can be accomplished in other ways, but the table makes these jobs easier, and everything is all in one place. For me another advantage was I didn't have to step outside the shop, as I once had to, for some tasks.

That got me thinking, and I thought of a couple of other things I'd bought in the past, that were a revelation to me. So over to you folks. Have fun!

 

[Spindle]

Hi

My 'eureka' moment came with my first woodturning lathe, it opened up so many opportunities - there was a second one when I bought the Tormek woodturning package which took the accidental variation out of tool sharpening.

Regards Mick

 

[petermillard]

+1 for the MFT, and I'll also nominate the (obvious) Domino jointer; the first real game-changer for me though, was the TS55 and extractor. I'd been able to make clean cuts in sheet materials before with a home-made rail + decent blade for my circular saw, but the TS55 + rail made this so fast & repeatable, and the extractor made it all so clean.

The first cut I made with the TS55 for a job was a long tapering cut in a 4x2 to make in infill for a rotten rafter in a conservatory - basically a 4' long wedge - that I cut onsite. Even in a workshop on a table saw (something I haven't owned until very recently) I don't know show I would have made this cut, and I'd never have attempted it without the TS55.

So, a game changer - for me anyway.

Cheers, Pete

 

[nathandavies]

Biesse forecon 51 multibore. makes more holes than you can shake a stick at in a couple of seconds

Nathan

 

[RogerS]

My drum sander.

Closely followed by my linisher.

 

[Woodmonkey]

+1 domino joiner

 

[ColeyS1]

Sketch up - does take the surprise away knowing what its going to look like :lol:

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

 

[custard]

An interesting question.

If you'd have asked it thirty or forty years ago I bet the overwhelming answer would have been a router. And still today a router is a game changer in that it's difficult to see how most commercial workshops would be viable without one.

If you'd asked the same question twenty or thirty years ago I'd guess the answer might have been a biscuit jointer, which revolutionised sheet goods joinery and pretty much enabled the fitted kitchen business to take off.

Ten or twenty years ago and I suspect it would have been a vacuum press, which allows smaller workshops to compete with the big boys on veneering, and, in conjunction with drum sanders for lamination work, made curvilinear furniture forms practical.

Today I don't see anything quite so revolutionary. But wind the clock forward a few years and I'm pretty sure that CNC machines will be in the majority of even small professional workshops and begin to trickle down into the hobbyist arena too.

 

[JJ1]

Metabo 450 Turbo Tec random orbit sander.
Festool TS55
Festool MFT top.

 

[Mar_mite]

Just for "wow I like this" factor, it has to be an impact driver.

 

[SteveF]

fillister (wooden)

impact driver...why would i want one of them....how did i live without it

a sharp chisel ...instead of what i thought was sharp because it was new

Steve

 

[Baldhead]

Trend T10
12" disc sander (yes size does matter)
Tuffsaws 1/2 bandsaw blade
Narex Chisels
Steve Maskerys videos (not exactly a tool but they have changed my woodworking)

Baldhead

 

[Billy Flitch]

Mafell

 

[n0legs]

Router in 1998, started to take the woodworking serious again.

Damn good question =D>

 

[Sheptonphil]

Been hobby wood working and general DIY for 40 years and only in the last six months bought a 12" Delta bandsaw. I really don't know how I did much of my cutting, straight or shaped all that time.

It's now my go to saw for all materials with the correct Tuff saw blade.

Good question.

Phil

 

[Stu_2]

Apart from the Domino, which is awesome, I also bought one of these Kreg Multi-Mark tools. Cheap and simple, and a great time saver.

 

[Benchwayze]

That's a pretty comprehensive answer Custard! I think you've summed it up from the point of view of the craft itself and I'd agree too.
From a personal standpoint, my first 'game-changer' as you put it, was the bandsaw. That got me resawing, allowing me to use thick veneers, that can be finished with a sharp smoothing plane and which also help get more out of a given quantity of timber. My router was also a fantastic purchase, yet I don't use it in a table. I don't have all that many 'jigs' for it, as I tend to knock up throwaway jugs as I go. I thought my 12" planer would be a changer too, and it is where purchasing timber is concerned. But I doubt that I save much money in its running, or time, because it isn't a five minute job milling everything. So maybe my planer is just 'nice to have'! Right now it's the MFTs (and a Festool Track saw.) That saw just glides through stuff; but it hasn't improved my memory. Yesterday I forgot to connect the Midi! :mrgreen:

Over to you again folks.

 

[Rhossydd]

+1 on the bandsaw.

It just opened up more possibilities than anything else really.

 

[John15]

I would say the bandsaw also. I find myself using it much more than I expected.
John

 

[Tim_H]

TS200 table saw just because it started me on the slippery slope of turning garage into workshop (WIP) and making more things in wood.

I would agree with Steve's earlier comment, why didn't I get an impact driver years ago and sharp chisel and plane blades are worth the work.