The Cost of Woodworking, Tools, Etc.

[Andrew Joiner]

For the tools and machines that I own now I paid about $4,000. Worth about $2,000 if I had to sell them. Replacement cost for comparable equipment $8,000.
Replacement cost for benches, jigs and fixtures $2,000.
Replacement cost for my lumber collection $ 3,000.
Vises cost $300.
Paid a lot for vices in the past, but haven't done that for years.

[John A langley]

Good one Andrew

[Martin Wasner]

I'm pushing $200k in replacement value. I'm not sure what I've actually got into it. The bulk of my equipment I bought new, but when the sky was falling around 2008 I bought a lot of equipment for 10% of new.

[Larry Edgerton]

$143.76 last time I added it up.

[Chris Merriam]

I've got a full basement shop with all the usual power tools and a small collection of hand tools. My big purchases are an Oneida DC, Sawstop, MM16, MM FS30, and a medium-size Festool collection. I'm probably at $20-25k. Wow, I've never added it up before, that's kind of depressing!

[Lornie McCullough]

Whenever I have a little money, I buy tools. If there is any left, I buy food or clothes.

I am misquoting Erasmus, of course, but I could properly say the same thing about books.

I have a small fortune in tools, but it would take a large fortune to replace them.

Lornie

[Cary Falk]

If all the high rollers here are not in the business then I have some serious catching up to do. I'm ok with that.

[Pat Barry]

I have no idea. A 24 x14 attached garage addition plumbed for a heated slab, the usual suspects for equipment new / some used. Hand tools though, thats a whole other and countless story. I did try to lay everything out years ago and take pictures for insurance purposes and gave up. Maybe someday I'll do that again, this time with a video camera. I'm just guessing its $15 to 25K total.

[Kent A Bathurst]

I can tell you this much:

Big machines - Uni, 8" PM jointer, 15" Delta planer, BS, Old-arn PM DP, CMS, DC, PM 719 HCM. Add up the original costs.

Whatever that total is, it is definitely less than the total of these:

handplanes [too many]
sharpening tools and supplies [too many]
hand saws
TS blades [one big darn lot of these] and ZCI for different dado widths
TS tenon jig & miter gauge
Jpn & western bench chisels, mortise chisels, chisel hammers & mallets
rasps [some Aurious in the rack] and floats
clamps [the list goes on forever]
shop vac & compressor
hand-held power tools [ROS, router x 3, jigsaw, circ saw, 3 x batt drills/impact, belt sander]
ROS disc inventory
twist drill bits, brad point x 2, forstner x 2, countersink bits x 2, plug cutters, etc.
marking & layout [Starrett has a big presence]
finishing supplies & brushes
reference library
lumber [single biggest # out of this list - by far ]
Lord only knows what else is in the drawers if I were to open them and look

So - when the routine threads are started about guys wanting to tool up a shop, or outlining their budgets for machines, etc., I kinda chuckle, and think "Dude. You don't know the half of it. Literally - not half of it."

And sit back and watch another innocent disappear down our rabbit hole.

[Peter Quinn]

I sat down and figured this out once....stopped counting around $40k. Soup to nuts, major equipment to bits and extension chords...it's more than I care to consider and I don't even have shiny new stuff. On a lifetime basis it's pretty cheap per year though, right around one year at a good friends country club. Glad I don't play golf.

[Earl McLain]

I'm a hobbyist. As was mentioned by someone else, i've spent less on tools than i did on golf when i played, and well under what i have in guitars. That said, i've probably spent more on tools than i should have, yet since most were used but of good quality--replacement cost would probably be 2 to 2.5 times what i paid if i had to buy them new. I've begun to sell a few "spares" and some trade-up items--none for less than what i paid in the past few years (not any real big gains--but near break even).

Compared to the satisfaction (often found in overcoming mistakes!), the cost has been minimal. And SWMBO (she who must be obeyed) pretty much always knows where to find me!!

earl

[Jeffrey Martel]

I'd have to say that I'm easily under $4000, all in. I'd need to sit down and determine everything to be sure, but I can't see it being more than that. Plus, I've sold some things on the side enough to cover all of my tools, and sometimes covers wood and veneer for personal projects. So, it's been a fairly money-neutral hobby for me. Course, I'm also not doing this as a living, so your mileage may vary.

[Will Boulware]

I have more $$$$ hanging from the water pipes in the basement, in the form of bicycles, than I've spent on woodworking machines.

Glad I'm not the only one.

Couple of used machines, couple of new ones, box full of hand tools, big stack of lumber... I'm probably hovering around $5000 if I'm honest with myself. Take off a zero if certain people are asking...

[John Sanford]

$20K-$30K, maybe more, especially if we're looking at buying the same today. The tools of my trade - electrician - cost me a fraction of that, even when you figure in the tools I've fried, worn out, lost or had stolen.

It seems to me that, on the individual level, after drywalling, electrician is probably the least expensive of the trades to equip, unless you want to count carpet installation. Mind you, it's not not INEXPENSIVE, just less expensive than carpenter, possibly roofer and mason. I'm thinking trim carpenter and plumber, in this day and age, are likely the most expensive. Of course, any of them can be expensive, especially when one is an independent tradesman who supplies ALL their own tools. The mechanical guys though, they can get deep into the dollars quick.

[John Sanford]

hmmmm.... rough costs based on memory.

Delta Contractor's Saw - $400 new.
Near total Pimping Upgrades to CS (Incra Fence, Uniguard, Easy-Off, Router table, Mobile base, PALS, powerlink belt and machined pulleys. ) - $900+ new
Powermatic Jointer - $400 used
Jet DP - $350 new
Delta 14" Bandsaw w/ Kreg fence upgrade - $250 new
Jet Mini-Lathe - Free, friend bought it.
Griggio 24" Bandsaw, Vega Lathe & RPC - $1,800 - used
MiniMax FS30 J/P - $1,200 - used
Delta Lunchbox Planer - $300 - new
Rigid Belt/Spindle Sander - $300 - new
Rigid Shopvac - $80 - new
Delta Dust collector - $250 - new
Jet Air Filtration Unit - $250 - new

All told, that's about $6,500 for "stationary" machines and "permanent" accessories. I've probably got another $3,500 in corded power tools, air tools, and machine/safety accessories.

Then comes the neander tools, most of which have been purchased new. Between the hand planes, chisels, handsaws, measuring tools, marking tools, sharpening stuff, whackers, and assorted shiny gewgaws, I'd venture that I likely have between $4k and $5k.

Add another $1k - $1.5k for consumable accessories to the power tools (blades, bits, sandpaper, etc), and it looks like I'm probably in about $16k. Plus the cost of wood and project bits currently in inventory.

I will shortly be pushing the total to $20k as a new saw is on the purchase list come March or April.

None of this counts the consumables that have already been consumed, nor the tools no longer in my possession due to theft, sale, loss, failure, wearing out, or disposal.

The equivalent monetary value of what has come out of my shop thus far is probably about 1/2 what I've spent. Hopefully that will change soon as I the output to input ratio shifts to favor output. The serious wishlist for the shop is fairly short now, with the big ticket items being a new saw and an Oneida cyclone.