Better to wait or do what you can with inferior tools.

[Brian Sommers]

As a new woodworker and being on a tight budget I struggle with the following balance:

Would you wait until you can afford good tools even if it means not woodworking for a while?
Or would you find a way to do the task at hand with say cheaper tools or other means even if they are more tedious/difficult?

It's not like I have to hurry or anything, I hate wasting time. Time is something no one can get back, once it's gone, it's gone.

Sometimes I get so frustrated not having the correct tool because well I can't afford it right now.

If I have down time away from the shop, I'm usually reading about woodworking and/or watching vids etc on woodworking.

Any advice?

[Pat Barry]

I would make do with what I had and make stuff. Sooner or later your work requirements will show you that you need a new or better tool and then get what you need for that task. For example, a circular saw can do about any cutting task you need to do but at some point you will want a miter saw or a table saw due to repetitive work, accuracy, or the effort required for jigs etc to make the circular saw do a job and then it will highlight to you what type of tool you need. If you do things the other way around you will have all the tools but no experience.

[James Baker SD]

Do what you can. 90% of the nice things I have had in my lifetime were made with the crummy tools I started with. Now that I am retired and have nice tools to work with, I find the energy and time missing. I may never top the quality of the best pieces I made with those "crummy" tools.

[Prashun Patel]

You'll never have enough money to buy the tool you want. Today's $50 reconditioned Bosch ROS is tomorrow's $350 Lie Nielsen #4 smooth plane.

You will recognize years down the road that being forced to work on a budget is a blessing not a curse. Buy the best you can - and that best may be HD/Harborfreight or used tools right now, and get to work.

What I would NOT do, is buy a giant set of a million tools. That's a recipe for disappointment and dust-collecting. Buy one, specific tool at a time, and do the best you can with it.

You'll come across plenty of deals, gifts, jobs, later to fund this habit.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Depends on what you want to build....

If you can make a chisel sharp, you can still use a cheap chisel.... you probably just sharpen more often; for eample

If it incurs some kind of unreasonable danger; for example, my Father-in-laws "table saw" scares the crap out of me and I won't use it. No safety devices of any type and the table top seems to not be secured.

[Ben Rivel]

With every hobby I get into I usually dont come to getting involved in it haphazardly. I end up there because I always knew it was something I wanted to get into and something I would want to keep around to fill my time with when desired. Also since its a hobby I am in no real hurry. That said I strongly believe in waiting until I can buy the proper tool for the job and the nicest/highest end one I can afford. I like the buy once, cry once approach. Over the years I have been frustrated and disappointed too many time by trying to "save a buck" on these types of things. I told myself long ago "wait till you can buy the tool/toy you want or dont buy anything at all". Now I know that approach doesnt work for everyone (I think because most arent patient enough or dont want/care about nice tools/toys) but for me its the only way I can truly be satisfied with what I have invested my money in. That and the "oh man should I have waited and gone with that higher end version/upgraded model/other better tool or toy" keeping me up at night kills me. I hate it. So I dont let it happen and wait till I can get the best for me.

[Sam Murdoch]

Work with what you have - learn from what you do - be amazed in years to come with what you have accomplished.


My experience in any case. Enjoy!

[Jerry Olexa]

Good advice above....Do with what you have....Temporarily make do with a cheaper tool..Stay in the shop..Keep building..As your taste, skill expands, get the better tools a few at a time as your budget permits...Above all, enjoy this journey...

[johnny means]

Most of the finest woodwork ever done was done before Festool, Martin, Felder, Powermatic, Bosch, yada, yada, yada ever existed. Get to work.

[glenn bradley]

I too would do something now. It would be wise to choose something that is within the capability of the tools you have. It will only frustrate you to try to mill logs for a banquet table if you only have a tablesaw. Review your tool arsenal and choose something that can be made and go at it. Its a win-win since you get to woodwork and you get to learn more about what is imprtant and what is not when the time comes to choose what tools to acquire.

[Lee Schierer]

I made my first piece of furniture, a sewing cabinet, with a sabre saw and a router. I covered the plywood with laminate. My wife still has it and uses it and refuses to let me make her a new one. I accumulated better tools over time. LOML wanted a pair of cabinet type end tables. The cost for the pair was more than the cost of the table saw I wanted. I used $350 to buy a Craftsman table saw, about $100 for materials, made the two end tables and the saw was paid for on the first project.

[Andrew Joiner]

I've used a lot of tools in my life. I think any tool whether labeled inferior or superior, can be used to make beautiful things. I can't tell if a tool is inferior or superior until I test it by using it. A tool that's labeled bad by some one else may work perfectly for me.

[Paul Kinneberg]

Pic a project and determine the min requirements from a tool perspective and go. Don't forget CL and forums like this for used tools.

[Frederick Skelly]

Tons of good advice here. I agree - get to work with the best you can afford now. Don't buy more than you must, so you'll have less to upgrade later.

Do not think that you need a big Powermatic drill press right away - you can live with a black and decker corded drill for a long time. Nor do you need an expensive cabinet saw - build a saw guide and make due with a circular saw. Etc.

The important thing is to get out there and BUILD something you like. And to let us know if we can help.
Best wishes,
Fred

[Wes Ramsey]

I was in the same boat as James about 6-7 years ago. I had a DeWalt drill, 10" Delta miter saw, lightweight Craftsman contractor saw, circular saw, ancient Craftsman router and junk table and a 6" Delta benchtop jointer, some big box bench chisels and a borrowed, no-name hand plane about the size of a Stanley #4/5. That was IT. I managed to build a rolling workbench where I could store my bigger tools underneath and bolt them to the top when I needed them or have a nice, flat bench for workspace. I had to move my wife's car to have room to work. With that setup, a Rockler floating mortise jig, and a stack of rough-sawn cherry planed down to size by a friend, I built a beautiful book case for my wife over the course of 2 years, most of which was finishing. After that I sold my bench and tools to prepare for a move and haven't built anything substantial since.

With those low-end tools my setup had to be absolutely perfect to get decent results. I spent probably more time tweaking tools and triple-checking setups as as I did actually using the tools. I knew everything about those tools and got pretty good at getting good results.

Over the last year I've been re-equipping my new shop with much nicer tools, some of which I have little experience with. Sometimes it is overwhelming just learning how to set everything up to get good results. This is partly due to inexperience and partly because I expect my quality tools to deliver better results. I don't know my new tools like I did my old ones and when I don't double-check my setups I make more mistakes. Granted, I do enjoy using them more, but there's a learning curve, plus the level of familiarity you get with tools you use often can't be discounted.

For me anyway, learning all new tools all at the same time is overwhelming. Maybe it would be less so if I'd picked up one or two at a time, but I did it this way because I didn't have ANY tools but a drill and a circular saw and big aspirations for building some quality pieces.

I don't know that I can help much, but what I would suggest is that whatever you do spend time with one or two tools at a time and get really familiar with them. Getting your blade perfectly lined up and table top flat within a few thousandths isn't just about getting perfect results, it probably has just as much to do with gaining that intimate knowledge of and level of comfort with your tools.