Ever complete your shop & don't need more?

[Kev Godwin]

Most of my life I have been a tool junkie. I've obtained many tools and my larger designated machines serve any need I could ever encounter. Getting to this point has taken many years and I sure remember back in the days when I really struggled to buy a tool for a particular task.

I'm still a tool junkie and love to look at the newest and greatest in the market. However, I now find myself sitting on the buying sidelines since what I have can do whatever I need.

Please don't take this the wrong way as someone who has the means to pay for the ultimate dream shop and is bragging. I don't own the highest end of any machine or tool in my shop. My BS is a Grizzly G0555, my TS is a C-Man 22124, my 12" disc sander is a Harbor Freight, etc. I'm just saying I think I have reached the point where my tool needs for my hobby have been fulfilled without the need to upgrade (at this point).

I feel a real state of content since I can do whatever I want and have all of the tools to do it. Would I like to have the newest SawStop TS? YES! Do I really need it? Well, no, not really.

I know that there are those of us that the "hobby" is the tools and the upgrades. Are there any other Creekers like me that feel they have reached the peak on the shop and your focus is now mostly what you just want to work on? (Perhaps I'm the odd man out.)
Kev

[Joe Shinall]

Blasphemy!!!!

Will never happen!!!

Too...many...new...tools!!!!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Kev,

As far as tools go, I just reached that same situation with the purchase of my G0490X jointer.

I need to build more storage in my shop but as far as tools I am quite satisfied right now.

Eventually I'd like to get real planer instead of a lunch box but the lunch box is still working well.

[eugene thomas]

every time i tell the wife i dont need anything else (after the latest purchase). come on here and see something else just have to get. but least today finally used that vacume system just had to have for veenering.

[Van Huskey]

Let me first say I am the first guy to admit that tools do NOT make the product it is the craftsman behind the tools.


I am the opposite kind of guy, I will always see room for better tools and I will always strive to upgrade and outfit my shop better. I am a hobby woodworker but if I had the wallet I would have a shop full of Felder/Format 4/Martin etc even though I would never be CLOSE to producing enough furniture to cover their costs in 5 lifetimes, I could commision the best craftsmen to fill my home with the finest furniture made today for what I would spend on a shop but for me it is the journey and the machines and tools are a large part of that for me.


My smiles often come from unusual places, my wife and I were watching Rough Cut a few days ago and T-Mac went over and fired up "his" bandsaw and my wife said "your bandsaw could eat his bandsaw". This brought a big testosterone smile to my lips. Having been a fan of T-Macs furniture for a long time (despite the fact our aesthetics are very different) I am confident I will never have NEAR his skill level but for one fleeting moment I had "won"... But, alas even with my "superior" bandsaw I am afraid my wife would not give me the better looking title...

I know it may seem odd but I just love great machines and tools honestly probably as much as I love what I can make with them. This may not be the best trait in a person but it is certainly not MY worst trait, so I own it.

[Harlan Coverdale]

I'm in a similar boat. I don't have the latest or greatest, but I have what I need to make what I like to make. I still enjoy reading them, but I find that tool catalogs don't quite excite me the way they used to.

[Tom Rick]

Yep- with my recent shop upgrade I have a very good selection of machinery and can accomplish most anything that comes across my desk with the tools on hand.
What I find though is a continuation of a lift long process on adding interests. A process that more often than not requires some additional machinery and tooling.

My recent purchase- a WWII vintage Gorton pantograph. I have wandered off into engraving land and having "needed" some way to make trophies for my wife's dog show hobby, I am getting tooled up. I work on boats so see some builders plaques and engraved lines drawings down the road.

Next on my horizon? I am getting ready to buy a metal lathe and small mill. A whole new world of capabilities and required tooling for my modest shop.

[Rich Engelhardt]

It never really ends.

The jobs just become more complex and/or demanding & your skils eventually outpace your tools.

That's the way a hobby is...

And, as a FWIW - it doesn't always mean "stepping up" to a more expensive tool. Matter of fact, as it should be, it often means stepping down in price.

An expensive 12" jointer would be nice to have - but - personally, I'd much rather "progress" to the point that a nice old Stanley would work it's magic in my hands.....

[Roger Bullock]

I have friends that comment on the amount of money I've spent over the years on my shop and just don't understand what pleasure I get out of woodworking. Sometimes I have to put the money I've spent on tools into a perspective they can understand with comments like "I'm still using that bandsaw I bought back in 1996, haven't you traded bass boats about 3 or 4 times since then?" The way I look at it my shop tools have cost me less than the cost of most of my friends toys (bass boats, Harleys, hot rods, 4 wheelers) all of which seem to get traded every few years.

[Stephen Tashiro]

By a Herculean effort (mental and financial), it is possible to outfit a shop with enough tools to pursue any particular craft However, such a shop will be lacking in sufficient tools to fix the tools.

[Will Overton]

I'm almost in the same boat as the OP. I don't need anything, but will add or upgrade a tool if I see something I want. Like the OP I had a 22124. I never expected to get rid of that saw because it did everything I needed and wanted. Then SawStop came out with a saw that is really a 22124 with an added safety feature so I got one. I just figure that the older I get the bigger the chance that I have a "senior moment", so why not protect myself.

I also add things that might make what I'm doing now a little easier, and maybe safer. I will need to cut a lot of narrow strips in the near future so there will be a couple of Grrr rippers heading to the shop. I am looking at miter gauges since I will also be dealing with a lot more angled cuts. That's something I'll drop hints hoping to make Santa's job a little easier this year.

The tools I have were accumulated/upgraded over a 40+ year period. At some point I figured I would have to get it close to perfect [for me], and I've pretty much reached that point.

[Rod Sheridan]

I think I'm done with machine purchases.

Hand tools are another matter, in fact last night on my way home from work I dropped into Lee Valley and purchased the set of 5 Narex mortice chisels they have on special for $49.95.

The chisels have a nice wood handle, nice steel, well ground, and they're shorter than my massive Robert Sorby mortice chisels which are a bit awkward for my small hands.

Even Rob Lee commented he was going to get a set, prior to the launch of the LV mortice chisels next year.

There's always room in the drawer for another chisel

regards, Rod.

[Brian Kincaid]

Congratulations!!!! You win!!!!
Stay off Craigslist and Ebay.
Don't go demo or use other people's machines.
Keep your SMC subscription but stay off the internet.
Tell Grizzly,etc to stop sending you their catalogs.

DAMHIK.
-Brian

[Brian Kincaid]

... and my wife said "your bandsaw could eat his bandsaw"...

Almost spit coffee on my monitor. Thanks Van!!!
-Brian

[Cary Falk]

I had all the tools I "needed" about 5 years ago. I keep saying "X is the last tool I need". I have a love of tools. I think I will always buy tools. That is part of what makes this hobby fun for me. Hopfully I have made it to the point that I won't have to upgrade anything else that I currently have. Craig's list and these types of forums have convinced me I needed more than I really do. The big problem is that there are so many tools. I can't honestly say I am done buying tools till I have sampled everything(not that I ever will).