Professional Cuts From Inexpensive Tools? - Question of the Week
This week’s question comes from Ben who writes:
I am using craftsman shop tools - Table saw, scroll saws, drill press, planer, ect and I’m finding my cuts are not as perfect as I’d like. How can I get professional cuts w/ unprofessional tools ($ is always an issue) - should I be buying $90 blades or are my 20 dollar ones ok?
And here was my response:
Hey Ben. You certainly can get acceptable results with inexpensive tools. I know some amazing artists and woodworkers that produce mind-blowing quality, without the help of higher end tooling. It comes down to sharp blades, properly tuned tools, and solid techniques. The great part about this is that those three things DO NOT have to put a strain on the budget. Doing your homework, reading, and practicing will cover you in the technique area. A decent square and a ruler that measures down to 1/64″ should cover most of your tuning needs. And a small set of waterstones will keep most of your tools sharp.
Now the table saw blade is an excellent question. That’s one place where I truly believe a few extra bucks will give you much better quality cuts, and save you money in the long run. A high quality blade (Forrest, Tenryu or Freud Fusion for example) will run you between $85 and $100, depending on the vendor and any sales. An average big box store blade will run you $15-$35. Now the cheaper blade will give you decent results initially, but I have found that they tend to dull faster than the higher quality blades. And when it does dull, depending on the blade, you might not even be able to have it sharpened. The high quality blades are made with big carbide teeth that can handle years worth of sharpening. And with sharpening running about $20, you can see how the math will work out in your favor over the years.
I find the same thing goes for other blades and bits. You don’t necessarily need to go for the top of the line, but you will usually save money in the long run if you stay away from the brands and product offerings that are considered more or less “disposable”, and your cut quality will improve as well.
———–
I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. What tricks and tips have you learned for getting the most out of your more budget-friendly tools?
Related Posts
Comments
18 Responses to “Professional Cuts From Inexpensive Tools? - Question of the Week”Speak Your Mind
Tell us what you're thinking...and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
-
Just Starting?
-
Keep Up With TWW!
-
Support the Show
-
David Marks' New DVD
This may be heresy, but I’ve stopped looking at power tools as precision equipment. Instead, I use my power tools as a first step, and clean up the machine cut surface with hand planes. SInce I don’t have to worry about ultimate precision, you can get away with cheaper power equipment if you have decent hand tools.
For example, many will mill boards for a panel glueup, and use a tablesaw to rip the boards to width as the final step in milling. Rather than gluing up the panel at that point, I use a hand plane on the cut edges to clean them up. You’d be surprised at the improvement in the glue line, even after using a top rung tablesaw blade.
There are many other examples. After running a board through a planer or a jointer, I use a hand plane to get rid of the machine marks. Instead of worrying about the precision of a tablesaw setup to make tenons and spending time making test cuts, I fit the mortise and tenon joint with a shoulder plane and chisels. And so on. Miters are easy using a shooting board and a plane, instead of tweaking your miter fence and tablesaw blade. And so on.
I have a craftsman contractors saw and it worked fine for many years, but it ended up working great after i installed an aftermarket fence and built a simple crosscutting sled. i also put on a segmented belt to reduce vibration and noise and really have no need for any more modifications.
here is a link to the fence install:
http://briansworkshop.blogspot.....fence.html
and after installing a homemade router table:
http://briansworkshop.blogspot.....ction.html
i use freud blades (80 tooth for crosscuts, thin kerf rip for ripping, combination for general use) that cost $35-50 and they are very good. a blade cleaning kit, used when pitch builds up, makes them cut almost like new.
the bottom line is the tool, once it achieves a basic level of quality, is not that relevant. its the way the tool is used that makes for good cuts. starting with a sharp blade is 49% of the secret. moving the wood past the blade precisely is another 49%. Make sure your fence is aligned properly and build a crosscut sled and you are 98% of the way there.
if you want that last 2% performance, then you can step up to a cabinet saw or whatever tool you need. However, that last 2% shows up in your cuts only after using good blades, fixtures & jigs.
what, specifically, are the issues with your cuts? burning? tearout? lack of square? lack of precision? lack of accuracy?
One big problem I find is many times the choice is the really expensive tool or the cheap junk made in China. Is there no middle ground? Take clamps for example. Seems like they are either $10 junk or $50 expensive ones with nothing in between. Sure would be good to see Marc recommend, in a video, some middle priced tools.
I am just about 100% in agreement with Brian M. I am still learning myself and am far from dropping $2k on a cabinet saw. The more I practice and the more I learn about proper setup the better my results are becoming. While people outside of the hobby (like spouses) may not understand hours and days setting up tools instead of working wood it is something that most woodworkers have to come to grips with. The ones that don’t may be able to frame a house, install doors and cabinets, but are unlikely to get into fine furniture since the precision just won’t be there.
I gotta say that a reliable fence and miter gauge are the right at the top of my list for things that have made my life easier.
You bring up a good point on blades. I am at the breaking point, on the wall, about to jump over to the dark side. All blades are not created equal. My $20-30 blades have tearout, runout, and probably a couple of other out issues that I hear these higher quality blades avoid. There have been many articles. Some good freebie info and tests can be found on Stu’s shed
http://stusshed.wordpress.com/
He has been testing a bunch of blades. Although not truly scientific about it he still brings some good info to the table. Also he is an amusing Aussie to watch.
Fine Woodworking also has a couple of more scientific articles. Some of the blades are dated, but others like the Woodwooker II are still valid contenders (art# 011120038, 011155032). If you haven’t signed up for FWW I highly recommend it. $15 for a year of access to all of their online articles and videos.
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/
From the reading it looks like some good cuts are coming from several blades in the $60-90 range.
Wilbur, also right on the money. Hand tools are much easier to control for the fine accuracy cuts and adjustments. Of course I only own one block plane and it is broke down. I do envy those who have a cupboard full of specialty planes. I still find myself reaching for my handsaw and chisels more and more as I learn to use them(and sharpen in the case of chisels).
$.02 for free
As new to woodworking, I have found using the correct blade helped me dramaticaly. A ripping blade is different from cross cutting one, plywood one, etc.
I am going to refrain from my classic Crapsman bashing for a moment and extend it out to all crap tools, but I’ll limit it to table saws. It is all about tolerances. Let me break it down and give some perspective:
First, you have the blade: a sheet of steel with 40-100+ teeth on it spinning in the neighborhood of 3700 RPM (about the speed most car engines run at while they are cruising down the freeway). The teeth on this spinning guillotine are sharper than the knives that you cut your steak with. Because they are traveling at 3700 RPM that means these little daggers that we are asking to cut our wood are traveling at about 110MPH (a bit faster than a human could throw one).
Second, the motor: the blade is held in place by the motor and its abhor. The spin of the blade is drastically affected by the tolerances of the motor and the abhor. Runout, or shaft deflection, can greatly affect the safety and trueness of any cut. A tiny wiggle on the shaft can mean many fractions of an inch on the edge of a blade in both directions. This also holds true for loose or poorly fitting trunnions and the two shafts that hold the motor in place.
Third, the fence: the fence should be able to hold and keep parallel to the blade no matter where you set it. If it can’t, and if it can’t be fixed to do so, throw it out and replace it. If you are pushing against the fence and it can’t hold fast you are looking for kick back or worse, not to mention a board that will never see a straight cut.
Fourth, and the one that all saws are guilty of, the miter gauge: I have yet to see a stock miter gauge that was worth fine furniture making. They are usable, don’t get me wrong, but the time that you have to get the stock gauges even close to accurate is beyond wasteful. I have found many a time that just tightening down the gauge would throw it off, not to mention the slop in the groove.
Blade choice is key, but it is just one link in the chain that serves your purpose and keeps you save. Most table saw performance can be greatly improved by a fence and miter gauge upgrade. Blade upgrade will dramatically help the finished edge of the cut but will not help the accuracy or reliability of the cut or its repeatability.
LQQK
In addition to all the good advice above, I’m with Wilbur on this one. My woodworking life changed completely once I learned to sharpen and use a block plane well. That was the only plane I had for a couple of years, and I used it for almost everything. Sharp chisels are equally important.
Another way around the inaccuracy of your tools is to compensate for it in your designs. If you’re trying to build a six sided cube with mitered edges, your parts will need to be incredibly accurate and uniform. But if you build with more forgiving methods of joinery (butt joints, rabbets/dadoes, using reveals, back bevels, etc…) your projects will look good even if they’re not made to the highest tolerances. I think if you study traditional joinery techniques you’ll find that many of them evolved to solve these kinds of problems, and to account for the the nature of the materials (like wood movement).
I feel you were pretty much on with the emphasis on blades, I would like to add to that that learning the capabilities of your tool is also key. I am referring to feed rates for the type of wood you are working. Too fast or too slow can be a real problem. Too fast and you bog the saw down, the blade heats up and you burn your wood, too slow the blade heats up and you burn your wood; both of these situations is really bad for the blade, no matter how much you paid for it. I suggest using thin kerf blades on contractor saws along with a Forrest Blade Stabilizer.
I’ve been anxiously waiting until I got home to read Lord’s comments.
Great comments Lord. I still love my Crapsman radial arm drill press. I works just fine. True if I could’ve afford a higher end unit when I bought this, I would’ve. Even the miter fence on my Excalibur is fussy.
I can get it gnats %ss perfect, but if I use the hold down clamp, it is no longer square to the blade. So, I just use the hold down when I’m rough cutting big panels. All the smaller stuff I just hold down with my hands.
I hope it’s not a problem saying this on TWW web site, but I have found Grizzly tools to be a very good compromise between Craftsman and, say, Powermatic. (Of course, if you want to get into European machines, that’s a unique world at a unique price point.)
Grizzly machines are well made with good precision, requiring minimal setup, at a reasonable price. I have an 8″ jointer, 21″ bandsaw and pneumatic nailers all with the Grizzly logo. They have served me well and continue to do so.
When it comes to cabinet saws you can actually find good, used examples for sale consistently. A nice, used Unisaw typically goes for at or just below $1,000 depending on accessories. That’s a whole lotta saw for a reasonable price.
Unfortunately, I have found it nearly impossible to find good, used jointers over 6″ and bandsaws over 14″. And, in my opinion, going just a little larger than a 6″ jointer and a 14″ bandsaw buys a whole lot more bang for only a few bucks more.
Hey Germain. You know me better than that. Powermatic is a sponsor, not an owner, lol. You can say whatever you want about any tool company, as long it truly is your opinion. And I happen to completely agree with your assessment about Grizzly machines. In many cases, they give you the big tools without the big price tags.
So this is Irony - My question shows up on TWW the day after my Craftsman Table saw actually caught on fire from running my new Freud dado blade (Apparently your not suppose to run them on a direct drive motor). Yep Flames and melting plastic while I was mid way through my cut! I’ll give it this much - it was $250 bucks and about 6 years old and had about 1000 BF of oak pushed through it in the last year. It just so happens that tomorrow is my birthday, so I got to return the DeWalt combo router kit my wife gave me for the 36-979 Delta Table saw w/ a Besymer fence. Here is my initial thoughts - the combination between my newly tuned tablesaw (Great timing Marc) and the recommened Freud Fusion blade for $90 bucks made for a great weekend in the shop. The Tablesaw and Fence (- 15% discount) ran me $599 - and after my last two projects bombed from cheap blades (Don’t use a wobble dado blade - EVER) and a fence that moved while was ripping - I’ll make up the money very quickly with better quality furniture. Thanks for the replys to the question & if anyone needs a craftsman scroll saw, router, or sander they will be in the next garage sale marked CHEAP! BEN
I think Carbide blades/teeth are a must whether for saw blades or router bits. If your not using blades with carbide teeth please change and you will notice an amazing difference.
I have a somewhat limited budget, and VERY limited space in my shop, so such tools as the table saw are totally out of the question as there is NO room to maneuver my stock around a table saw. I’ve had very good luck with using my 10 year old Craftsman Radial Arm Saw, with the help of the book by the DeWalt instructor(Mr Sawdust), and good blades with getting tight joints, some very unique cutting abilities that a Table saw will never be able to safely do, due to design, and with having it well tuned.
I realize that I’m not by any means a professional, but I’ve had very good luck with my stable of Craftsman, Rikon, Delta, and porter Cable tools, with a few planes, push knives and such. I would have to say that good blades and good tuning (both slightly time consuming but worth it in the end) have done well for me, both in cost and end product. Now if I only had more time to focus on it.
I agree with Marc and wilbur. I think your quality can go up with ‘nicer’ equipment but I believe the big win with this equipment is ease of use, convenience, bells-n-whistles, etc. I have a Powermatic PM2000 tablesaw that I absolutely love. I came from a very cheap Ridgid (TS2400) that was serviceable. When I went to the PM2000 everything changed (but the overall quality of cut). The blade change was what did it for me. It is MUCH, MUCH easier to use. It is safer. Is is more powerful and thus less likely to bind and kick back.
In terms of wilbur’s statements I couldn’t agree more. I’ve added hand tools as part of my work flow and the quality has changed dramatically. Here is where I wouldn’t skimp on tool quality. Buy the best plans, chisels, etc. you can afford. I’ve tried to use lesser quality tools and they are just frustrating.
Adding to everyone’s thoughts, I have a lot of the “mid-grade” tools myself, simply because I cannot justify spending the dollars for the “high-grade” tools. If I were building furniture for a living I’d have what I thought was the best out there.
Personally, like many others here seem to think, quality work coming from only or mostly higher quality tools is definitely not the case. Just like in racing’s “It’s not the car, it’s the driver” saying, “It’s not the tools, it’s the craftsman”. Give David Marks the cheapest tools around and me the best out there, and he is going to blow me out of the water every time :)
Not to slap a great saying around but if you put me in a professional stock car and Richard Petty in my old 3-banger Geo Metro, I’m going to kick his ass. :-)
LQQK
lol. You definitely have a point Lord!