Solid advice Dai! My Rikon belt sander is a 1" x 30" with a disc on the side. I don't have the space for a larger one, but that is ok. It is great for small parts. I have an orbital battery powered sander instead for the larger pieces. My shop is too far away to have power run to it so I have a Dewalt 7000 generator for my scroll saw, 8" drill press, the belt sander, blade runner, and oscillating drum sander. Everything else is battery powered. My shop is only 12 ft. X 16 ft. and it also has to store our Polaris Ranger side x side and plow. Four of my bench tools are on locking casters. I back the Ranger out and then roll the bench tools out on the floor. I do have 2 work benches. One for woodworking and the other one has the drill press and 2 metal vices. If one only has a small work area, plan ahead by drawing out where you want to put everything to make it handy. I replaced all almost all my corded hand power tools with Worx battery share tools. They have quality and are tough! Some of my corded and bench tools a Wen. Another tough bunch with quality! They are just as good as the Makita, Dewalt, and other big name brands I have owned. And the prices are fair. I buy directly from the 2 companies here in NYS. Neither brand has ever failed me. Like some of the more pricey ones have! Enjoyed, take care my friend!
Great stuff Michael, hope all is well with you. Really fascinating reading the comments of different set ups that everyone has. Amazing to learn about the different solutions that we all find depending upon space, budget, what we are making etc. I think the comments might prove really helpful to anyone who has to overcome similar circumstances. Thanks for sharing your own set up and supporting our RU-vid channel. Take care, all the very best from us all. 👍
Great tips. I Went without a scrollsaw for over a decade and now I see it as a vital addition. Belt sanders…. You don’t realize how much yours does until it breaks down on you in the middle of making holiday orders lol😂
Spare a thought for dad, he ran the workshop from 1975 to around 1995 without a scroll saw too. That's a lot of hours with a coping saw. I feel your pain with the belt sander, it's like breaking the band saw blade and realising you've forgotten to order another one. Not that we've ever done that!🤣 Hope all is well with you all, catch up soon. All the best from us all. 👍
Great advice I have 50 plus years of tools I collected over the years flea markets yard sales before eBay I have got some really great deals some not so good quality tools is not always the most expensive Another great video
Hi Jerry, hope all is well with you. I'm in the process of getting new old tools to allow me to continue making when we are with Yoly's family in Spain. It's amazing how much can be saved by seeking out the right kit. Bought an old Hegner multicut 1 for a third of the price new. Needs a few additions to make it better for pierce work but it will be a great addition. On to try and get hold of a few gouges too. Thanks as always for sharing your thoughts and supporting our RU-vid channel. All the very best from us all. 👍
I am a hobbiest, and pretty much only make gifts. But I am producing 2 or 3 things week. Plus usually have one Intarsia project in the works. My wood working tools I have been building up over the last 2 years. I had sold off all my old ones when I was moving from New York to Virginia 15 years ago. I do have a ton of hand tools, that I have collected over the last 40+ years. For those of us in the USA, since I was just getting back into scrolling and carving I went more on a budget. I have a 21 inch Excalibur scroll saw. (I like the tilting head, rather than the tilting table.) I got it for a steal at $400 brand new with free shipping. One day I will upgrade to a Pegas 30 inch ($1200+). If you want to start out on a budget, I found that the WEN 4x 36 inch belt/disc sander is robust enough to handle any job. I got it for about $100. I have had real good luck with WEN so all my other tabletop tools are WEN. I also have the WEN, 1 in. x 30 in. Belt Sander with 5 in. Sanding Disc ($80). I keep a 120 grit on the disc and alternate between a leather strop and sanding belts on the 1x30. This way I have flexibility on keeping my knives and chisels sharp, and doing finer sanding before go to final hand sanding. I have the WEN 6-Inch Variable Speed Bench Grinder ($130). But I took off the left disc and put on a 7 inch Flex Drum Sander ($40 with 2 sanding sleeves). This way I can quickly shape my intarsia and Welsh Love spoons. Although not used as much since I buy wood already prepped in advance, I have a Rockwell BladeRunner Tabletop Saw $100). Think of a table sabre saw. Of course I have my shop vac and piping to handle my dust, as well as a WEN Air filtration system on my ceiling ($130). I went with Schaaf Carving Chisels (set of 12 ) for $120, they seem to be doing the job and are holding up even though they are manufactured in China. But it was a good/inexpensive starter kit. Like you, I have 6 that seem to be my main go-to chisels. I plan on buying some better chisels in the future as I build my collection. Searching on ebay.
Great to hear from you as always and thanks for sharing your own set up. Sounds like the basis of a great video for anyone interested in getting set up to make gift items. It certainly sounds like you have a great set up to make a wide variety of items. Thanks again for taking the time to share what has worked well for you. Would love to see a video tour of your workshop. All the very best from us all. 👍
Another great video, very inspiring, thank you. I would say that I use the same tools you mentioned in the video. The scroll saw and bandsaw are a must for cutting all of the shapes and stock. The belt sander minimizes the manual sanding( even though there is still a fair amount of that going on 😂). The other power tool I utilize a lot is a small drum sander. I like to use it to round and shape the corners of some of my projects. I am still working on the increasing my gouges. I tend to use a straight knife on most of my projects. I would like to utilize the gouges more soon. Have a good one......
Hi Joe, Hope all is well with you. Glad you enjoyed the video. Sounds like you have some similar kit to ourselves. I used to use a straight chisel for a lot of the carving but it was gradually replaced for many jobs as I managed to get other vintage gouged. Always trying to get hold of more vintage gouges as I prefer the steel. Thanks as always for supporting our RU-vid and sharing what tools you use too. All the very best from us all. 👍
Very true Mark. How many times have I bought a new gouge and realised it makes the entire process so much easier. It's the same with things like the Tormek. I thought dad was mad with the price he paid for it. Then I used the gouges after he sharpened them using it and wondered why we hadn't bought it sooner!🤣 Hope all is well with you. Thanks as always for your support. All the very best from us all. 👍
Nice work, I've been building up my tools and my next purchase will be a sander. I tried one of the axminster craft ones which had so much vibration I sent it back. The affordable local second hand ones are old with rubbish or no extraction. Another issue is that since brexit and covid the price of new woodworking machinery has doubled but my income has not. Have you found you are able to charge twice as much for a similar item over this time?
Thank you. It's certainly been a challenging time over the last few years bit we have found ways to survive as we always do. Our prices have gone up slightly, but, no where near double. The main methods that have helped include stack cutting, introducing a wider range of budget friendly items and catering for bespoke requests as much as possible. This has allowed us to use our time as efficiently as possible and be more productive. I have to admit if it continues in the same direction as the last few years it's going to be a huge challenge for us but we'll keep on trying to fly the flag for making gift items in wood by hand. Thanks for supporting our RU-vid channel, all the very best from us all. 👍
