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Best Tool You Ever Bought?

hmm, my best tool... I really like my little lowly GI contractor saw with its 50 inch rails. someday it will be replaced, but I will probably keep it for dado work. It is a great machine because it is easier to set up, and most importantly very accurate.

I have a MM16 and a MM FS30 and they are very nice, but I still like my TS.

Funny thing happened Sun, I needed to dimension some small strips of Oak. I had two choices the fs30 or my Delta 22-580. I chose the Delta because it was really convenient to set up and run. Maybe with time I will feel as comfortable with the FS 30 as I do with the Delta.

Barring big tools, my Pfeil chisels are a joy to use.
 
My 6 inch Delta Joiner...the older expensive one, not the benchtop abomination...every time I bring boards together or need accuracy...the joiner is the tool...followed by Lamello bisquit machine or one of my several routers...the D Handles are my favorites...then there is the Miller wire feed Mig Welder..that I use for making reiforcing frames for shelving...love it too..did I mention my 5 hp Ingersol Rand 60gal compressor...wish it was 80gal and a dual stage...but sure better than pancakes....
 
Robert Schaubhut said:
I am naked :eek: and out of sorts without my pencil, a Pentel SHARPLET-2 and my Lufkin X46 red end stick rule. :dunno:
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Oh no! I think that is too much information! Let's all send Shaz some pencils so he doesn't get arrested on a job site

I guess my favorite tool is my Festool Rotex and Vac. Sanding has never been easier or cleaner

Jay
 
Well I'd be lost without this... (eh, Stu?)
red-robertson.jpg

I also think that one of the best "tools" is the fence on my GI contractor's saw. I think for most tablesaws, the fence makes the tool.
 
Art Mulder said:
Well I'd be lost without this... (eh, Stu?)
View attachment 12733
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Now I've learned something, it is called "Red robertson":rolleyes: an american man I met gave me one of those in 1990 together with an assortment of different lengths screws with different heads that I thought they were fantastic, I've been using them sparingly in pieces that I knew they wouldn't be dissasembled or in ones that I will be the only one to dissasemble them.

My grieve is that they are not sold here, so now I'm left with the screw driver, the drill bit and maybe a dozen of different screws. I'll have to make trip to USA to buy hardware, but if I do I bet I'll have a really heavy suitcase to haul back home:)
 
I've been thinking about this one, and I couldn't come up with just one answer. So I have to put my choices in a few categories.

1. Over all most uses favorite tool
-This would be my DeWalt 18v XRP DC988 drill/driver/hammer drill

2. Favorite tool that has seen the hardest use, and is still kicking
-This would be my DW421 random orbit sander
The thing that gives this and additional plus was that it was free with my DW705 compound miter saw:thumb:

3. Favorite Woodworking Power Tool
-This would be my router, DW618 plunge & fixed bases and edge guide

4. Favorite Woodworking Tool, non-powered
-Kreg Rocket pocket hole jig and accompaning face clamps & right angle clamp
 

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Allen Grimes said:
I learned that the hard way. Having snapped my only #2 phillips bit then proceeding to strip a bunch of screws with a #1 before finally giving up and going out to buy a new bit. :doh:

Now I have at least 2 of each bit.
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Stripping? What is this "stripping" that you speak of? ;)

I've used the same robertson bit in my drill for the past two years. No stripping. No sign of wearing out. (I confess, that is probably like two months for Tod, so no argument with his method...) That is, after all, part of the point of a Robertson.

Well, that, and the fact that I can climb a ladder, stick a robertson screw on the end of my screwdriver, and stick it out horizontally and trust that it won't fall off.

Toni Ciuraneta said:
My grieve is that they are not sold here, so now I'm left with the screw driver, the drill bit and maybe a dozen of different screws. I'll have to make trip to USA to buy hardware, but if I do I bet I'll have a really heavy suitcase to haul back home:)
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The handles are colour-coded by size. In descending order: black, red, green, yellow. So you reach into your toolbox and grab a red robertson and you always know what size it is.

Robertson was invented in Canada. Any hardware store in Canada will have as many of these screws or screwdrivers as you could want. In the US they are marketed as "Square drive" and I do not think that they are quite as readily available. A number of large mail order places (ie: McFeely's) sell them.

Help me out here, my US neighbours... can you walk into any Lowes or Ace Hardware and find square drive screws yet?
 
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