Tool you thought you really needed, but never actually use?

[CessnaPilotBarry]

We've all got at least one...

The tool you HAD to buy at the time, but over time, it's turned out to get the most use as a door stop. This is not a reflection on the quality of the tool, only how it fits with your particular working habits.

Mine is my DeWalt 4x24 hand held belt sander. I simply have so many other ways to do what this tool does, I've never worn out a single belt. I honestly can't remember the last time I took it out. It's a very nice sander, but a total bench warmer in my shop.

What's yours?

[Trip]

==> Mine is my DeWalt 4x24

+1 -- Norm get with with that one... For years, NYW featured a belt sander on every project... Just gave mine away...

[areynoldsre]

Doveltail jig. It's a great thing. Lots of $$$. Set it up, figured out how to use it and then never did.

[notquitea90]

My belt sander sees about same amount of action. I bought it for a decking project and its been collecting dust ever since. Anouther one would be my reciprocating saw. I needed one to demo part of a wall and it's been in it's carrying case ever since *(on the shelf right beside the belt sander) .

[Alan Bienlein]

My lathe! I bought it so I could turn 4 columns on a job I had and haven't used it since. That's almost 3 years ago. I think I'm gonna make a disc sander attachment for it so I get some use out of it.

[Boatworks Today]

biscuit jointer for me Granted it was almost 10 yrs ago when I bought it and at the time had a VERY limited shop, but other than the initial curiosity to see what it could do I don't think I've used it in the last 7 yrs...

[Eric.]

Yeah, the belt sander. I have some C clamps that just take up space. Laminate router. I find my Magswitch featherboard all but useless (slides around). Lots of other odds and ends that I bought for a specific purpose on a particular project and never needed again...but can't throw away! And quite a few tools that are more for construction than woodworking, but they have their use when it's home improvement time.

[rodger.]

haha - this is a good thread. I have 2 tools I rarely use:

1 - ridgid belt sandeer. used it twice in 10 years

2 - porter cable biscuit cutter - awesome machine, but just don't use it.

[JeffBranch]

Mine is a lathe also. I got one with a duplicator and everything. Made one project and then it sat in the corner of my shop for about a year. I then sold it and bought a jointer.

[Andrew Pritchard]

I use my belt sander quite a bit, but that's almost never for doing wood work per se. Certainly not for furniture building. Mine's a cheap Mastercraft belt sander, and I use it on my home renovations.

[STL Woodguy]

I would 'almost' say a Dremel as I feel they are somewhat overrated tools (and there is usually another tool that can do the job much better), except I do get occasional use out of them. They're great at cutting down screws / bolts and do small work on my fencing blades. Probably the tool I regret buying is actually a Kreg router fence. At the time when buying it, I badly needed a router fence and my first attempt didn't turn out real great (I only owned a jigsaw to cut with), so it was easier to buy the Kreg and it's bells and whistles seems neat.

But I eventually dismantled my router table and built it into the table saw wing. While I did build a table saw fence attachment to hook the Kreg fence onto, I lost some of the features this way (such as the microadjustments) so it ended up being kind of a waste of money. If I did it again with all the tools I have now, I would have built a combination extension fence / router fence myself.

The runner up tool I regret purchasing is a DeWalt lunchbox planer. To explain this, it's a fine machine and perfect for most people, but it's waaaaaayyyyy too loud for my basement, clocked it at a max of 102db when testing it. And it's so heavy it nearly requires it's own stand (unless you tuck it away somewhere clever), so that takes points away on any space advantage versus a stationary.

So I didn't use it as much as I had hoped. I found a stationary Jet 13" planer which maxes at 89db, except when the dust collection is attached but I still need to work on that issue. Either way, makes less noise for neighbors and I'm pleased with it.

I'm currently trying to sell the DeWalt on Craigslist, but no one is biting as summer is a terrible time to sell tools. I'll put it back up when the fall comes around and people get back into their garages / workshops.

[pagel]

Not sure if this even counts, but mine would be the INCRA 6" Precision Protractor. Why I ever thought I really needed that thing is the real mystery.

[adambaum]

I'd have to say either my biscuit jointer or my dovetail jig. I do dovetails, but my jig is not so good so I usually borrow a friends nice one.

Adam

[Howtoworkwood]

Embarrassingly mine would be a marking knife! I worked in a shop where we did almost entirely pencil layout and power tool joinery. Very rarely did I actually get involved in actually marking out the products so, for me, it was a pointless purchase.

However I would say if you plan on doing much high quality hand tool work then this would be a must.

[man of wood]

I don't use biscuit jointer or my dovetail jig the lest. As for the belt sander, I have a 6X48 Delta and I use it almost on every project.

[Jerry_in_SD]

I would say a tenoning jig for the table saw. I bought it thinking that is what you need to do tenons but never got used. Use dado blades in table saw or more recently, do loose tenon joinery. Waiting for a swap meet to sell it.

Almost never use belt sander for fine woodworking but do use it on occasion for other projects.

Bought a "precision table saw fence adjuster" from Rocker. Seemed like a good idea but again never used.

Also have a Drill Doctor that was a gift. Take it out maybe once every two years. I try to use brad point bits anyway. Does sharpen a limited range of twist bits.

[jHop]

right now, it's my card scraper set. I need to clean some rust off them as I haven't used them in about a year. A year ago, it was my angle grinder. (Going to be using it a lot this fall, cleaning rust and rust protectant off my tools....long story.)

Ironically, the one thing I've purchased that never got used is my cyclone adaptor for the trash can.... I ended up using the can for stock storage, and never put dust into it...

[lawrence]

random orbit sander- since discovering hand planes and how they can get me a finishable surface in a much quicker time than by sanding (and it is a nicer surface) I rarely use the sander

Lawrence

[PaulMarcel]

I got a rubber chicken for my shop after so many people told me about the über strong chicken-foot joint. Thing is, I can't find any instructionals on how to do the joint, I just keep hearing philosophical questions about which came first, pins or tails. I'm starting to wonder if the joint even exists. I think I'll go look on the other side of the road in case there's more information there.

[Texfire]

I went through a flush of tools that I knew that I "needed" right after starting, some of which I've yet to use. My biscuit joiner is one of those that I've yet to use but plan on using eventually. In retrospect I probably would have saved for a domino instead.

[joelav]

Lock miter router bit. I thought these looked awesome, until I used it. It's really annoying to set up; even with set up blocks, and the joint is either too tight or too loose. I bought it because I don't really like the look of box joints/dovetails in boxes (I know many people do, just a personal preference) and didn't want to go through the hassle of splines. I made a spline cutting jig and just spline all my boxes now.

[jab73180]

Lock miter router bit. I thought these looked awesome, until I used it. It's really annoying to set up; even with set up blocks, and the joint is either too tight or too loose. I bought it because I don't really like the look of box joints/dovetails in boxes (I know many people do, just a personal preference) and didn't want to go through the hassle of splines. I made a spline cutting jig and just spline all my boxes now.

How did the bit work on end grain?

[slowdog]

Yeah it was my biscut joiner used it once and yes the belt sander was a pain in the you know what.

[JimB1]

I'd say bench grinder. I got a craftsman bench grinder like 10 years ago figuring I'd need it for sharpening duty and honing tools but I don't think I've ever used it for that. In fact I don't think I've turned it on in years, it's just wasting space in the shop...

-Jim

[rodger.]

I'd say bench grinder. I got a craftsman bench grinder like 10 years ago figuring I'd need it for sharpening duty and honing tools but I don't think I've ever used it for that. In fact I don't think I've turned it on in years, it's just wasting space in the shop...

-Jim

good for sharpenong your lawn mower blades