This month we are going to take a break from interviews and keep it light and fun in a different way. 

Although I have been the Young Wood Pro host for several years now, first and foremost, I am a professional woodworker. I share some of the same passionate feelings that all woodworkers have. I love picking through boards to find ones I think are special, the smell of walnut coming off of the saw, the feeling of seeing good joinery come to fruition in glue up, and I love tools and machinery (especially getting new ones!). I have no doubt I could name more but I think you get the point. 

This month I want to selfishly talk about some of my favorite tools in the shop that wouldn’t fit into the commonly named favorite tools. I’m a woodworker and passionate about tools, so I know I could write an entire book about this. To keep this article from being too lengthy, I will break it down into one hand tool, one power tool, and one machine. 

What my favorite tools are is typically relative to what I’m working on and what I’m working with. My favorite tools have changed over the years since I’ve grown, tried new ones, or revisited old ones for new tasks. The less common tools that I seem to have a deeper affection for usually present themselves in small ways over time. 

These are tools that I will reach for often without realizing it till later, or while using them, the thought will cross my mind about how much I like this tool or how useful it is. That is my best way of trying to define how I came to these conclusions.

Favorite hand tool
The hand tool that most notably comes to mind are Japanese-style bench chisels or also referred to as oire nomi or bench chisels. A couple years ago I was curious if I would prefer this type of chisel over your standard western ones so I bought a less expensive one to test out. 

What I discovered was that even the more affordable mass manufactured Japanese chisel outpaced and stayed sharper longer than all of my higher-end western chisels. As soon as I came to that realization, I ordered several more higher-end Japanese chisels, and have not regretted it for a single moment. 

I experience a quick feeling of joy almost every time I use one of those chisels because of their precision and how they are always sharp. 

I don’t think I need to go into length about how we all know that dependable and precise tools lead to good results, leading to better profit. All of my western chisels have been gathering dust ever since. I cannot work without these tools, and I love using them. 

I highly recommend you try them out or read some articles to understand why they are different, regarding the construction and materials that make them superior in my experience. I cannot do the level of work that I do without them. 
The lower cost ones are available at most large chain woodworking retailers and are still worth using. If you want to go for the higher end ones that are absolutely worth it, look for ones that have the stamped on the chisel the signature (in Japanese script) of the blacksmith who forged it. I still use both options daily.

 

Favorite portable power tool
My favorite power tool the last few years that I reach for more often than any other is the Festool 1010 plunge router. 

The reason I feel like this is a commonly overlooked tool is because of its unique size. It is a little bit bigger and better powered than your typical palm router, but not as big or powerful as your typical 2-1/4 HP router. This size kind of floats in between categories and leaves it less noticed in my opinion. 

When I first got it, my immediate thoughts were it’s a router that doesn’t know what kind of router it is. It’s too heavy to be a palm router and too light to do any significant work. Over time, I have learned I was wrong. I reach for it before anything else to fix most problems or do most tasks. The fact that it can plunge makes it more versatile too. 

Don’t let it odd size fool you. It can handle some decent amount of work. I have even used it instead of the heavier duty router, knowing I’ll have to make a few more passes because I love how accurate and light weight it is. 

As I have mentioned in articles before our bodies are our most important tool. I find the lightweight, mid-range size of this router gives me less arm fatigue. As a professional, many days I’m picking this router up countless times. Picking up a heavier router with one arm does add up overtime. 

I use it for template work, shallow mortises, for larger roundover bits in ¼-inch collets, trammel jigs, and light duty ¼-inch collet up-spiral plunge work. This tool has become my jack-of-all-trades daily router for ¼-inch collet work, and it’s well worth the high price. 

 

Favorite stationary machine
When it comes to machinery, it’s hard to really say what qualifies as an overlooked one. The most commonly praised machines are table saws, planers, joiners, band saws, and wide belt sanders. Fortunately, for you readers, I recently purchased a 9 x 138-1/2-inch oscillating edge sander from Grizzly (G9984). This is hands-down, my favorite overlooked machine. 

For years, I have looked at these and always told myself eventually it would be useful but not a need. A couple of years ago I almost bought one but passed it up, still thinking I didn’t really need it that much. Weekly, since passing on that one, I have had a situation in the shop where I had the thought of how it would’ve been useful or expedited work. Finally, I got sick of the repeat realization and drove up to the Missouri showroom and got one. 

Always trust your intuition. 

Not only am I beyond pleased with purchasing one, but I’m laughing at myself for going this long without having it. When you build furniture, small parts are inevitable, and when you build a lot of furniture, a lot of small parts are inevitable. I have been getting my small parts sanded pre-glue up in a quarter of the time with 90 percent less of the arm fatigue that comes from using hand sanders. 

And since using it for the last while, I’ve thought of even more applications in which it can be used. I think one of the main reasons this machine is overlooked is the simple fact that sanding isn’t sexy, but saving time and eliminating physical fatigue are pretty sexy to this business owner. 

This was an easy choice for my favorite machine that can go overlooked. It is almost relaxing when I’m sanding a batch of small parts due to the ease of use. It is good for straightening the edge on veneers and cleaning up pieces too small to safely put on the jointer.

I hope that this detour from our usual topics and conversations was still helpful for you Young Wood Pros. Please keep in mind that these choices are based on my own experiences and they might work for you or they might not. 

I encourage you to follow your intuition and find your own tools that you love that might be overlooked or give my selections a shot. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you come back from my article next month. 

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