I Wish I Never Bought These 5 Woodworking Tools 

The one way you can guarantee needing one of the tools you never use is by selling it.

that ridged sander is actually one of my most loved and used tools in the shop. funny how one mans garbage is another man gold. I use mine all the time for sanding curved pieces , yes a longer sander would be way better but I work out of a 18 x 18 garage and do not have space for a dedicated floor standing edge sander like that. the ridged one can be tucked away until I need it. the tracking on it is absolutely a pain, just a constant task to keep the sanding belt from going too high or too low but yeah , personally I think it is a great tool and recommend it for newbies because it can do a lot of things that nothing else can.

I have the sander just like that but Rigid. Works great for me but I also have 3 other sanders for specific tasks. No problems with dust collection. I literally just plug the vacuum right into the back. To each their own though as there are definitely better options out there. It just fit the bill for me for what I use it for.

Number 5 is a good sander if you’re making bandsaw projects like boxes, reindeer’s, cars ….

First time viewer. Agree with everything you said except for the spindle sander. That is the top rated bench top oscillating spindle sander on the market. It is quite easy to change from belt to spindle. Yes the table should just be flat but if you just leave it up it works fine. And no a 6-inch belt sander is not meant to do long boards like an edge sander. But an edge sander can not do curves or profiles. As for dust collection if you hook that up to a simple wet/dry vacuum it is quite good especially when using the spindles.

I personally use the belt sander for my projects all the time and have maybe 100 hours on it. The table tilting helps me put quick champfers on parts before assembly much quicker than a router.

I love my belt sander. I use it all the time.

The belt sander is more appropriate for making templates. All you're doing is sanding to the line, and using the spindle sander to get into the complex curves of your homemade templates. It's not made to true up a 6 ft board.

As a stereotypical weekend warrior, I just do what I can with the space arround the cars in my garage. So I look to reviews like yours to decide which tools deserve what little space I have to give. Congrats on all your success and your dream shop. That being said, is the oscilating belt & spindle sander all that bad for a small shop? I just got one last Christmas because it seemed like a swiss army knife solution to my sanding needs.

Love the ridged sander. Use it all the time on my CnC projects.

One tool I regret buying is a Rockler Dovetail Jig. I've had this item for about 8 years. Never did actually make any drawer or anything like that. This past winter I did played around with it to see what I could do. I keep thinking I might actually make something...ha,ha,ha.

Could take the filter off and use it as a 500doller desk fan😂

The hollow chisel mortiser is good for making slot holes like doors, window sashes for old house restoration

Totally disagree with your comment on the belt sander with a single exception. It can depend on the projects you build. Obviously you're not going to sand a table top on that sander but how often do you fabricate a table top?

I bought one of those belt/spindle sanders from Harbor Freight, and I found it to be a good machine. Even buying a lot of extra belts / spindles with it, I spent less than $250 or so. And it saved me HOURS of sanding work with the first project I used it on......

As I've fine tuned the types of products I build, these once drooled over tools are not necessary. Luckily, I have never spent the money on any of them and I can honestly say that I have very, very few tools that I don't use every day. That said, I love the honesty and thorough explanation of each of the tools you mentioned and you did it without saying what fools we would be if we bought them ourselves.

Your video is not only informative but also entertaining! It's like a cautionary tale for woodworkers, reminding us to research before buying. Keep up the great content!

I own at least 2 of your regrets... I bought a biscuit joiner that I was never able to find the right size biscuits for.. I used it once, when I bought it.. about 10 years ago. And I have a Sears, floor model wood Jointer.. I never really got really good straight edges with it. I may have used a handful of times. It also sits, collecting dust for over 5 years. I will be shopping for a hollow chisel (mortiser) that I need for a project or two. We had a tool rental place that sadly went out of business about 10 years ago. I would have preferred renting some tools for a few days instead of buying just for a couple of projects.

We have all made those mistake purchases. Don't ask me how I know that. 🤔🤔 Excellent video! 👍👍

Looking forward to more build videos. Thanks for sharing with us.

Tiny garage shop here. At the price I paid ($120 used, but in perfect condition), the Ridgid spindle/belt sander has already been worth the money. But for my use, I wouldn't have wanted to pay $300.

Congrats on 1 million Johnny 🎉🎉

We build cabinets, cabinet doors, entryway doors, and interior passageway doors. Hollow chisel mortiser is a must have for building big doors. Saves a ton of time. Can't say anything on the domino, don't have one. We don't have the Powermatic air filters, just the ones that use generic hvac filters, we like to set them on our tables when we do our finish sanding after stuff goes through the big sander. We have our random orbit sanders hooked up to vacuums, and the air filters 2 feet away get the rest. For a jointer, we have one, but we rarely use it, it gets pulled out maybe 10 times a year, and we go through about 150 to 200 board feet of material a week. Definitely don't need a jointer unless you are going to work with rough or low quality lumber. Only time we really use ours is if a board warps after sitting for a week or two, but its really uncommon. We have the same little rigid spindle sander, the belt part mostly gets used on bolts, as the wheel grinder is on the opposite side of the shop with the big lathe. The spindles come in handy every now and then for strange items, like the inside curve of an arched cabinet door. But it only gets used maybe once or twice a month. We probably will be upgrading to an oscillating edge sander and dedicated oscillating spindle sander at some point. A couple tools we have purchased and hardly use. We have a small floor standing bandsaw, it's an old craftsman that I picked up for $75. It isn't capable of resawing, so it doesn't get used very often, pretty much for making push sticks. It does also get used on arched doors and pullout shelve handles. Rough cut the template on the bandsaw, bring it to final size on the spindle sander. Rough cut the actual part on the bandsaw, bring it to final size with the flush trim cutter on the shaper or flush trim bit on a router. Tools that we use every single day without fail, planer, table saws, routers, 36 inch doubled head sander, nail guns, miter saw, random orbit sanders. We don't do a lot of projects like guitars or smaller projects. We pretty much just do cabinets and cabinet doors, interior doors, exterior doors. We also do countertops, which we use biscuits to help with alignment (cut with a router, not a biscuit jointer) so we can just run the countertops through the sander instead of having to hand plane them down. We also do a lot of entertainment centers, and the occasional dresser or nightstand.

Great video. I agree with pretty much everything although I do use my Ridgid bench top sander but I also have a floor standing oscillating spindle sander that I love and use. The tool I currently regret buying is my Leigh dove tail jig. It was expensive and hasn’t been used in years, it’s basically new so it’ll be going on Craigslist.

Yeah I never used my hollow chisel mortiser apart from the one time shortly after I purchased it. That’s a good tip 👍🏻

Bought a hollow chisel mortiser probably 10 years ago, used it once and its been collecting dust since by sitting on the floor in the workshop. Also bought 2 of the same belt sanders before giving up. The first sander got returned within a few days because I plugged it in and the motor was dead right out of the box. The replacement lasted a few years before it decided to cause the belt to press against the back right corner when being used and caused the belt to eat through the metal and eventually was cutting the belt so the bottom frayed. Tried just about everything to fix it including rebuilding that corner with some JB weld and some metal only to have it quickly wear through again. Eventually tossed the thing and bought a dedicated spindle sander and a small belt sander from harbor freight I can pick up and put on the bench top. Other tools I really regret buying was a biscuit jointer and a tenoning jig. Found the biscuit jointer useless for ensuring that panel glue ups didn't radically shift. I'll eventually get a regular domino but that's way farther into the future if I start building furniture again. The Grizzly tenoning jig was just a useless piece of junk that had some really poor QC coming out of the factory (I'm guessing in China). The base plate things were supposed to attach to had the holes not drilled close to parallel so nothing would line up correctly and everything had horrible run out that you could measure with a ruler. Asked a machinist neighbor if it was worth trying to get it fixed and he said it was better to scrap it than try and fix that mess. And this was after contacting the company and they sent me a second lemon of a base plate which was marginally better than the first one.

Biscuit joiner. My dad was a small shop cabinet maker (he had a mortising attachment for his drill press,) and when I began DIY work on my own after his passing I sneered at pocket screw joints as being "cheap". However, for most of my projects which fall in the DIY category they're *perfect*. I think I might have used the biscuit joiner 4 or 5 times.overall .

My tool purchase regret was a battery powered ROS. I very quickly found out what a battery hog sander is and sold it.

I'm disappointed in the belt sander for very different reasons than you. Dust collection doesn't matter much to me because I use a Trend Air Pro almost all the time I'm working. I've found the machine quick and easy to switch between belt and spindle sanding modes, and I've had zero issues adjusting the belt tracking. My issue with the belt sander is it leaves ripple marks: I'd run the board over the sander, but there would be these ripples. Thinking I just hadn't sanded enough, I'd keep running it through...until I noticed that my 18" board had a serious 3/16" dip in the middle. Then I discovered that the ripples were being introduced by the belt sander. There doesn't seem to be any predictable pattern as far as where on the board or where on the belt the ripples occur, but it's a safe bet they're caused by the EXCESSIVE vibration of this machine. So I just stopped using the belt sander for straight edges; I still use it for large radius outside curves. Spindle sander works well. If you're looking to sand edges, I highly recommend your buddy Mike Farrington's Double Taper Sanding Disc that fits on your table saw. It produces PERFECTLY straight edges with ultra crisp corners and ZERO machining marks, perfect for gluing panels. It comes with two different grits, and with the fine grit you can go straight to paint or stain and clear without any hand sanding at all. At only $170, it'll produce far superior results than any edge or belt sander ever could because your table saw's fence provides rock-solid, consistent pressure against the disk AND it is impervious to varying feed rates; you can even stop in the middle of a pass and there will be no dip...something NO belt or edge sander can possibly do. Don't waste several hundred dollars on a dedicated edge sander.

As a hobbyist the cheapest and most effective air filter is one you wear rather than a floor model or ceiling type. One should be worn regardless because unless you are using an industrial model your lungs will still take a beating. If I were younger I would build a shop that had lots of windows or sliding doors. It could be blown out with a leaf blower and also I would also wear a mask. Effective dust control is difficult and extremely expensive.

I bought the same Porter Cable bench top jointer. Found out both the infeed and outfeed tables were warped beyond usable. Took it back the same week.

A small belt sander is fine for a small project, but generally a long one is better. :) That's why I don't have this combination (mostly noisy with carbon brushes). For a specific use I have simple quiet single-function spindle oscillating sander with an brushless async drive.

I sold that Ridgid sander. 12” disc sander works way better for me. I mostly use it for rounding off corners and getting small parts down to final size. The Ridgid would violently rip small parts out my hand. And I never once used the spindles. Harbor freight sells a drill powered spindle sander kit for like 10 bucks which works perfectly fine on the rare occasions I need one. And the tool I need to sell (used at most half a dozen times) is a biscuit joiner.

Make your own filter with store bought filters. Simply remove the outer screen and throw away the disposable filter. Turn the fan on and the suction from the fan should pull the store boughts against the body of the fan. You could secure the filters with tape or zip ties if necessary.

Can’t you just blow that air filter out with compressed air? You should be able to do that a number of times, before it deteriorates to much.

I have and often use an oscillating belt sander and the powermatic mortiser. A conventional mortise and tenon joint is structurally so far superior to any floating solution ( dowel, wood block, etc) that I only use cut tenons, and that makes my mortiser valuable. Ill take the stand though ;)

Use the Powermatic Air Filter fan as the fan in your DIY air filter.

Thanks for buying all that stuff so I didn't have to. The sander; yeah, I've been tempted in the past but just didn't think I'd use it too much. Thanks for confirming what I suspected.

Thanks for all the tips, Johnny! 😊 Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

Agreed with the jointer, and nothing less then 8"...tracksaw is a must for beginner, and well everyone lol...

The reason I bought the Ridgid sander is because I have a 5 by 24 portable belt sander and figured I could get more use for the sandpaper that I bought when I needed it.

I have that Ridged belt sander, it's been a work horse in my shop.....

I paid 99 dollars for my porter cable bench top jointer. Sure it's all the weak things ;) you said about it, but you'd be hard pressed to find a usable used bigger one for that. Keep up the good content, I subbed today.

Hollow mortise chisel - definitely. Much faster and accurate to cut by hand (but you don't like to sharpen tools). Powermatic air filter - definitely (1 minute research would have exposed the filter costs). I don't need, nor want, a Domino of any size. Been a woodworker for 50 years and it's amusing how RU-vidrs make the Domino seem like a necessity. It is not. I use my bench jointer to clean up cut edges from the bandsaw. The big jointer basically sits there until I need to mill rough lumber and, as you indicated, there are alternative methods. I use the oscillating belt/spindle everyday. I appreciate your newbie perspective. Thanks.

Currently considering selling my small jointer as it's taking up too much room - my planer with a sled + my tablesaw w/ a glueline blade does the job I need fast enough for the speed of a hobby shop.

my RIGID oscillating belt / spindle sander doesn't have any of the issues you seem to have. It's a ginormous time-saver in my shop.

I have a ROSS (Rigid Orbital Spindle Sander) and it does alright for guitar making, and it is fairly popular (at least in the solid body bass builder community). However, as you pointed out, the dust collection is awful and it is fairly flimsy. So, less than the sum of its features. I'll eventually get individual tools that perform much better despite taking up a little bit more room.

I would love to have a mortiser, but I don't really need one. I have a biscuit joiner and I have used it once or twice. I have an air cleaner, but the electronics failed. I fixed the electronics, and it got out of balance. I am thinking of a change of location. I have all sorts of electric saws and some really inexpensive tracks to run them against. I would not buy a $1500 track when a $25 used skill saw and my table saw work just fine. I had a planer, it was my grandfathers (I am 68). It was very hard to tune up. I worked in a boat shop and they had a 13 inch 8 foot long 3 phase 220 v planer that worked fine. I also have a small collection of hand planes and I am trying to get better at using them as well as my chisels. I use my RIGID sander at least once a week. If you need a tool, buy it. If you don't need a tool but just really want it, don't buy it. Don't buy the cheapest tool, don't buy the most expensive tool. You should probably buy an oscillating saw. The first time I was introduced to one was when an orthopedic surgeon fixed my hip. Don't try to fix your own hip. I would buy a good vacuum cleaner. I have a Sears whole house vacuum (from the 70's) that hooks up to my router table, my RIGID sander, and my drill press. I have a RIGID vacuum with an automatic on outlet, love it for my table saw and my surface planner and vacuuming the floor. I don't have a vacuum for my bandsaw because they don't suck. But what would I know, I am 68.

Bought the Powermatic dust collector. It just stopped working in less than 8 months of light use. Boat anchor now.

I was backwards with the domino. Had the regular domino and then bought the XL. Didn’t really use the XL that much until I bought the base for it. Now I use it a lot more

You can use a drill press for hollow chisel mortising with a simple attachment and the bits.

the Alton Brown reference made this video lol interesting perspective on the air filter. From Powermatic: "Filter Cleaning Alert: System reminds you to clean the filter every 1,000 hours. Filter is designed for up to 3,000 hours of life." idk how much shop time you get but if you worked 10 hours a day with it running, it would last you 300 days. Maybe you're missing something?

The review of the sander is pretty funny... the plastic is to make it portable and not weigh a hundred pounds. It weighs 40lbs. The drop down table is for angles...it's not weird...it provides options. If you want just a straight table, just leave it up. Oh..., and if you put the table all the way down, it would have kept all the accessories in their place when you flip the table, rather than you having to store them somewhere else. The dust collection does suck (or is it doesn't suck?) but if you're using it for something it was designed to do, it doesn't get dust "all over the place". And, lastly...it isn't even remotely a pain to get the belt tracking properly or to swap the spindle for the belt.

If you need a quick and dirty DIY air filter, you can slap a furnace filter onto a box fan. I made some 3D printable clips to do it for mine, but even duct tape will work in a pinch.

Oh wow! You guys are right down the road from my house. Awesome channel. I liked and I'll subscribe!

I don't have the Powermatic air cleaner, but I have significant experience with the standard air filters you buy at the big box stores, as I use that type design in my dust collector. There is a big difference in the way they are made, the standard, off the shelf filters typically don't have the pleated edges glued to the cardboard on the sides, some dust will make it by regardless of the micron "rating". It's more of a "compression fit" as they just put a little more paper in and hope the metal mesh screen holds it in place, against the cardboard sides. I have looked at the Powermatic filter and they are glued. So, whatever they are rated to filter out is much more trustworthy. So, does it matter? Well, as the filter fills up, the suction on it increases and can eventually reach the point where the 1" thick filters bend. Then it matters. The 2" thick filters do much better as they are sturdier. Just something to consider when building your own system and expecting the same results.

How much you want for the hollow chisels mortiser ???? I’d love to have that thing.

I have that belt/spindle sander. But I got mine as a refurb for cheap. So though it gets used not that often, it is compact enough to be out of the way. I too never remove the belt mechanism. And my hollow chisel mortised is going up for sale!

So many videos pretend that you can joint a board with a table saw or hand plane, which is fine IF you just want to joint the edge. If you buy lumber from a mill you probably need to joint the face and that requires a real jointer, preferably at least an 8" one.

Your powermatic fan is a great start for a DIY filter system.. video incoming?

Man, I live in Johnson City and won't be back for three months. Otherwise, I'd LOVE to buy the sander!

Lowe’s locally messed up and marked the Craftsman version of that jointer for $62.99 on the shelf (and honored it). At that price, I don’t mind if I hardly ever touch it 😂

You will never prove to me that a domino/dowels etc is anywhere near as strong construction as a mortice and tenon.

Awesome, I do have some construction criticism, Framers.

Easy fix for your air filter issue, just buy a standard square ac filter and put it in front of the unit, easy peasy!

Hollow chisel mortiser…. Who said you can’t drill square holes? 🤣😂🤣….

Congrats on 1M Subs!!!

Hah, last two are tools I've already got (bench top jointer) or planning on getting (spindle sander) as I am one of those that has limited space. Just a single car garage, definitely no room to get a free standing jointer or anything like that unfortunately.

I wish I saw this before I routed the 100 mortises and tenons for the spindles on my daughters crib using the Leigh FMT pro. I would have paid for time on your mortiser and made the tenons on my table saw. Fellow Asheville woodworker.

I avoided buying a mortiser for years, I ran though some really cheap good ones… and then I had a project that involved 50+ mortises…: find me driving 2 hours to get one for a half ass decent price in decent shape…

I had a hollow chisel too and also never used it. I bought it because it was a good price and I made a few dollars a couple years later.

edge sanders rule. Those teeny sanders dont. The small ones are expensive pencil sharpeners, while a big edge sander can be used for so much more. a bevel here, a rounded corner there, quickly cleaning up a non critical piece or even making filler pieces for weird repair jobs.

How much would you part with that combo kit as you suggested at the end?

A friend borrow my mortiser for a big project recently. He’s definitely used it more than me at this point lol

I got lucky and my son’s mother found me a craftsman 6” jointer for $125 that was like new. My friends father had one that I was going to buy but he wasn’t going to sell it soon enough for me and when he saw what I had and how much I spent he was dumb founded. He said it was either a real steal or really stolen lol

Totally agree!

3:13 worst sales pitch ever 😂

The domino xl is excellent and has an adapter for downsizing to the smaller size.

How much you wanting to sale the mortiser for? I’m in SC

Small jointer is bad idea and useless. Better solution is thickener/planner with long jig... two in one ... :)

You must have a lot of "extra" $ because the first 4 tools you showed are really out of line. That said, I use my rigid belt/spindle sander quite a bit, and I paid 150 a long time ago. So it has proven to be quite durable too.

I've made so many regrettable tool purchases that I've started a support group for my wallet. It's in therapy now.

That oscillating sander is junk. I had one exactly like it at one time, except it had the popular brand name "Ridgid" name on it. Ridgid normally makes some pretty high quality stuff, but not in this case. It broke in no time.

You just saved me $200, I took the oscillating belt sander out of my cart. Great video!

Just use a aircompriser to clean the filter

Use that fan to make your own diy shop filtration like that one you shown in the video

My problem with the benchtop mortisers is that they can’t accept the premium chisels and the ones they come with are trash!

The correct answer is Option D!! no doubt about it!!

Every time I see a hollow chisel mortiser, I thank the heavens above that I never purchased one, saved my money and bought a domino instead.

Alton Brown is the OG. I owe my love of cooking to Good Eats and Alton Brown

I want to get an exhaust to the outside. I can just flip a switch and have a high-powered fan pull all the dust outside.

I have nothing to say really, but I appreciate your content, and wish to help with the yt-algorithms.

IMO, some confusion in video about "Upgrade vs Regret" Seems like you bought pro type tools when you needed starter type tools, and now want to "upgrade" tools (sander & jointer) that are not necessarily Regret tools, you just outgrew those.

I think you do not understand a full capable of that filter. You don’t change and throw out the filter element you vacuum blow or clean off and place it back in the fan housing so actually it saves money because the filter should last a lifetime. Versus buying one every time it gets sturdy. That’s why I bought that filter. Please reconsider and look at it and that light.

The kreg track for circular saws… that thing just annoyed me

The absolute worst purchase i have made is the JET 10 inch jointer/planer combo, it is cheap and poorly made.

The oscillating belt sander, yes the machine is kinda a POS. I only use mine as a spindle sander. I used it yesterday and there really was no other way to get the job done. I don’t use it often enough to upgrade but when you need it you need it.

I would put an edge sander on the list of items I wouldn't buy again..lol.

Alton Brown for President !!