Get a Sawstop. They are expensive but a thumb is more.

I have nicked each thumb the last 15 years. I am not ****ing around anymore. If you really need a decent table saw that stores small get a dewalt 745. Christmas sales at Home Depot usually prices them from 225-275. That's a steal.

I am with you on that. That is why I was looking at new table saw.

Found this. I am not a Contractor but value a decent table saw and quality. This scored well.

Best Budget Table Saw Under $300
SKIL 3410-02 120-VOLT 10-INCH TABLE SAW WITH FOLDING STAND

Looks like a Christmas present. It should not be a problem with the family. No more ER visits with a thumb almost lopped off.

BTW, my radial arm saw is my favorite. My Dad had one and the versatility is amazing. I bought it at the White Cloud,KS flea market for $35, 20 years ago.

Q. Are radial arm saws obsolete, especially when you take into account the latest compound miter saws out there on the market? And are they safe?

A. (Rob Johnstone) "Radial arm saws are great and a very useful power tool. With the increasing popularity of power miter boxes and their slide-arm cousins, I can understand how the question could be asked, but my answer is they are in no way obsolete. The main reason they remain a great option for woodworkers is their versatility.
R.J. DeCristoforo used the radial arm saw for so many operations it would simply amaze you. He routed, sanded and did horizontal boring in addition to actually cutting wood with it. In fact he used it so often, I wonder if he could do woodworking at all without one. Paul Eckhoff of Ridgid Tools made the versatility point quite strongly when I posed the question to him. Ridgid introduced a brand new radial arm saw this year and I asked him point blank why they did it. Paul offered the opinion that radial arm saws offer a woodworker more options than a table saw. So if you think of radial arm saws as a power miter box on steroids, you might feel that their days have passed. But if you understand their remarkable versatility, you just might wonder what you are doing without one".

This is my "go to" saw. Lots of questions...space, contractor, heavy duty, jobs needed, ease. Quick cut, throw on the board, flip a switch...cross cut done.

The is a bazillion tools a "shop" should have. I my mind, this is one of them.

Liablility would be a whore, and people destroy rentals like it's a sport.

Radial arms are legit, but a good sliding compound miter will do the same job, and it has more flexibility for plunging cuts.

So let's continue. When I looked at the radial arm saw vs table saw I was thinking about ripping. I see some of them now have sliding guides to make them more versatile. Guess you can rip on that.

Which one to get $300 or so?

How the hell have I missed this thread...im in.

I have a small woodshop...ive never really built anything for fun...just drawers and cabinet doors etc for some rentals.

I've always dreamed of building something cool...just never done it.

That is a good idea but liability insurance would kill ya.

Understand, thumbs and all. But 1.5k for a hobbyist? Just don't be in a hurry. That dewalt 745 looks nice. I don't need to roll the saw around at a job site. I have some space to mount it on a table.

So the big question is what to do with the relic, built like a tank 1923 old table saw? E-bay?

Home Dept will usually rip to dims free or slight charge after so many cuts. That panel saw is pretty slick.

Other than that I would rather rip with a table saw just build a rip bench. Radial arm saws unless you buy a very good one have adjustment troubles at the head swivel. If you can find a old powermatic 70s era Montgomery Wards they were made by Rockwell when they were good. My dad had one now owned by my brother and that thing is legit.

Can you turn the miter saw sideways to act like a table saw and rip long boards? True, a radial arm saw can't rip a 8x4 plywood board in half. But it can rip ~ 20" boards 16' long (with bracing). It can also rip that same board at a 45 degree angle. Can do a cross cut 43/19/24 degree angles. Dado?

Dunno. As for utilitarian/jack of all trades/flop a board/flip a switch thingie? (I speak VERY contractie speak). Bang for the buck?

Out, gotta go home a watch a football game.

(now a football thread:) )

BTW, I wish I had found this thread earlier. Now need to read all the posts.

Thanks

All truth. I just sent the head of my craftsman radial arm saw into the manufacturer for $100 recall buyback, used the base for my planer. I don't have he cash to drop on a good RAS, just use my other saws.

Can we build a wooden cornerback? Would be better than Gaines or Acker.

I rip wood, dato, etc. with a table saw, and yes my 12" compound sliding miter can cut up to 60 degrees angles.

I have a nice radial arm and it might get used once every two years. Maybe.


I am also a guy that owns every wood tool known, and 2-3 each to keep multiple job sites running. I am a tool whore.

My dad's got a nice collection of tools and does mostly hobby work. He's done a few commissioned pieces like baby cribs and stuff. He helped me get into woodworking by introducing me to turning pens, and it's a hobby I had for about seven years before some unknown jackass stole about $1000 worth of supplies from me. Really turned me off from woodworking at all. Need to get back out in the shop..

The only non-pen piece I ever finished and was proud of enough to keep:


A few pens:

DARN...NICE. Beyond me. Cool.

When you said "pens", I first thought Hog Pens (ref Hog Farmer), or some special pin thingie.

I love WRITING pens. I am trying to re-learn cursive writing. Side note, my son of 18 couldn't read my Mom's B-Day cards and many other old farts cursive writing. I am into the old style "fountain" pens. In the old days, a way to judge a persons character was in the way they wrote. Now with the internet, type out and print what you want to say, no need (as my son told me)...except when you have to write a thank you note, hand written or printed:( Lost art.

Cool ass bowl. I have not gotten into lathe work. Yet!

You have MUCH more knowledge then I do. But for a basic hobbyist, you can't rip wood with a miter saw. Yes, nice angles, but not rip.

If space is an issue and not portability, I think the 2 main saws should be a radial arm saw and a table saw. I could very well be wrong. What can you do with a miter saw that can't be done with a non-portable RAS?

If I, as a hobbyist, with limited space and budget...me thinks those two. JMO.

Nice discussions though.

Thanks for the kind words! I agree that penmanship is a lost art, and I am certainly not the one who will bring it back. My teachers joked that I'd make a great doctor just based on the way I write. ROFL

I just finished one side of the star. Looks cool. I can't seem to remember how to download it from my phone to my computer.

Anyway, the daughter tonight said I should have at least looked online. She found one for $25. Of course I have. Nothing like this exists (what do teenage daughters know, except EVERYTHING).

It is a pain making the first one...many errors. I did get a new table saw, a Bosch portable worksite saw. It was rated the top saw for $499. Love it. Not gonna lose anymore thumbs!

As too having someone manufacture them for me, there is an Amish village close by. I say this as last night finishing up just one side and cussing up a blue storm, somebody more qualified has to be out there. So I will go there or "try" to call them.

Someone stated about my "work", I found a pic of the stairs I made in our bedroom to go up into the loft rather then a ladder. Sorry side wise pic. You get the idea.

Opps, not a finished pic. Dang computers:(

Stairs look great!


My neighbor has the same Bosch table saw, most likely. It is impressive, much fancier and more precise than my Craftsman. :thumb:


I spent two days this week planing, cutting and jointing the last 20 white oak boards I bought last year.
They were pretty fresh when I got them and have shrunk a lot.

They were 8 1/4 wide x 1 1/4 thick by 8ft long. Wow that stuff is hard and heavy. Had to cut most of the them to 4ft lengths by 3 7/8 to get them flat.

Never found the need for a radial arm saw except for making wide cross-cuts that you'd find in a cabinet shop or making cutting boards. In a cab shop, you're probably investing in panel saws anyhow.

Having one in the home garage seems stupid to me. They are dangerous saws because of kickback and the blade exposure when using it to rip and the fact that they pull through wood in either cut. Remember, you're essentially turning a radial arm into a straight line rip less the anti-kickback fingers and guards. You're asking to lose your digits...

I think it's smarter to get a table saw and compound sliding miter unless you really know wtf you are doing with a radial arm. I think you'd spend your money more wisely investing in a jointer and a planer to expand capabilities, than waste money on a radial arm.

Whatever floats your boats.

I wanted a radial arm saw for finish cross cuts on the 16" and 20" glued together cedar panels, but the ones I could afford are junk. The good ones with enough travel for what I wanted to accomplish are expensive so I just use my Makita circular saw with a nice blade.

With a jig to keep the cut square, it's probably all you'd ever need. We had a big DeWalt in the shop and I bet we didn't use it more than 100 hours a year. Otherwise it sat collecting dust.

Hemi, thought I'd add something... popped into my brain...

Have you thought about making a crosscut sled for a table saw? Might save you alot of time and headache with the circular.

Great idea, I have no idea on how to do it though. Maybe I will google it. :D

Should be alot out there on it.

Give you an idea of the world I lived in...

Here's a Weinig Dimter OptiCut S700 in action for wide panel cutting:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AfouTUlrhsI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Here's a Weinig Dimter OptiCut 350 in action for normal width cutting:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/y40GwcqHYzU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

We also had alot of other Weinig machines... a BKS resaw, ProfiMat and UniMat moulders and such. We had Mereen Johnson 431 Gang Rip Saws, Doucet End Matcher/Even Ender, and then a Newman Rough Planer... If you ever want to get really into it and see the astronomical costs associated with a full millwork shop, just google some of that shit. :D

Hell of a deal at Home Depot for the DW745 table saw and stand for 300.

Shit, their 10" miter saw is only 150

Very interesting. It is similar technology to what we had in the electronic manufacturing industry and a lot of our customers had in the metal industry.

We had pick and place machines that would place up to 70,000 components per hour on a smd circuit board. Millions of dollars on the production line.

What do they do with those good sections of wood, glue them back together?

I think that is about what the Mrs. gave for my miter saw there a few years ago. Came with a POS blade, once I put a good one on, it does a great job.

The 12" Dewalt miter I got 13 years ago when I started doing wood floors is still 100% accurate true with full power as the primary go-to. The ridged isn't bad, but it's heavier and a few little things annoy me.

A small 10" would be very handy. Is it time to add a 5th miter? :hmmm:

I can see it in your business! Do you still have the guards on yours?

One of the best things I did was buy the Ryobi stand for mine, it was about $100. It sure makes working with long stuff easy, unlike before.

Mine is 10 inch, don't mean to be boasting here. :D

This. I get that budgets are an issue, b/c as a country, our priorities are ****ed. I really think they could do a lot of good by offering a class where they mix math, physics and shop classes together. A more practical application of math/physics that could make shop class a lot more valuable.

You make a great point. IIRC, my shop classes are mostly what triggered my interest in math way back in the day.

Your point just may be instrumental in helping the young men in the future get a more basic knowledge of math that will serve them well beyond shop related activities.

To be honest, I wasn't aware the lack of shop classes was primarily due to budgets. I just assumed it was the big private learning institutions such as DeVry lobbying and applying pressure for their financial gain.

A quick connect stand is a must.

10" is merely average on CP.

A local school (not ours) couldn't find a shop teacher so they had an auction and sold all the tools.

That's insanity.

Looks very doable, thanks kccrow! http://www.finewoodworking.com/2011/...-crosscut-sled



ROFL

Sounds like a downward spiral. Quit teaching it, you have less of a teacher pool. :(

This is in a rural area, too. I can't believe they couldn't find somebody to come in for a couple hours a day.

We ran all kinds of things... Dimension stiles and rails for the cabinet industry, S4S boards for big box, dimension components for furniture industry, flooring etc.

At the gang rip, you have an arbor, say 31", with multiple blades set to cut a variety of widths at the same time. You try to rip such that more defects go into narrower pieces to increase yield. You might be ripping a 1x6 for box store and a 1-5/8 rail blank for a cabinet at the same time. They just get processed at different automated crosscuts down the chain line and kick out to conveyors going to different molders.

Combined ripping, of course, depended on species though. We ran alot of hard maple for cabinets, which we didn't run for S4S. We ran alot of birch for furniture that was 6/4 and 8/4 instead of 4/4, so not much overlap there either. When it came to running red oak and cherry we had alot of overlap there. We'd usually split the hard maple out to flooring and dimension cabinet. Soft maple would be box store boards, cutting boards, and trim.

Wide panels get glued (16" and 20" mainly). We could glue some for the wider S4S boards too (1x8+).

Eventually you end up with an overabundance of shorts and those get finger jointed to make longer sticks for paint grade trims.

You're welcome. Just build it to fit your dimensions. I did a quick google and a saw a couple that were pretty good. I think there was one from Kreg where he builds a 20" sled.

That is sad. They want the young people to all become "computer programmers."

Thanks for the kind compliment. The pic is just the frame. I will say the finished product exceed my expectations. I am my own worst critic. Thus when I think they turned out nice...prolly is.

I will try and find the finished pics.

Keep your blade sharp/clean (clean is usually the biggest culprit) and use a splitter/riving knife and you'll be in similar shape.

The biggest problem with a table saw is kickback. If you have a well dialed in splitter, kickback should be damn near impossible, especially if you build a cross cut sled. Keep your table top waxed so you don't have to muscle anything through, don't forget to set your featherboards and it couldn't hurt to put some board buddies on your fence. If you do all that, you've gotta be pretty damn reckless to catch a digit on a table saw. And for all that stuff you'll be out about $100.00. So with the money you save there, you can get yourself a cabinet grade 3 HP, 220 table saw with more cutting power than most of what you can get from Saw Stop for a reasonable price.

As for the Radial Arm Saw; the only thing I've done on one of those that I don't do on my compound miter saw is dado cuts, but with my table saw I don't need to worry about that. Ultimately there are times you're going to want a table saw for long rip cuts either way and if you're doing anything remotely serious, you'll need both a table saw and a slider of some sort.

I prefer the ease of use of the compound miter saw so with that and a table saw, a radial arm is just completely redundant.

This is unbelievably good advice.

You'll never realize how difficult you were making things for yourself until you start doing proper milling with a jointer/planer. Its simple; run a board over a jointer until you get a nice flat 'wide' side (some people say run it with the smile up, others say smile down. Personally I tend to go with the 'frown' shape because it avoids rocking, you just need to be smart and not put too much pressure on it to end up working a curve into it.

Then you put your newly flat side against the fence and run it through to joint an edge. Then with a flat edge and flat surface, run it through a planer to get the wide surface. Finally you run it through the table saw to true up the other edge.

To have every one of your boards the exact same thickness and perfectly square with true corners makes everything you make a million times easier. Your corners come together right, you have to do far less sanding. It's just amazing.

First time I did it I realized I'd never go back to trusting a lumber-yard again. It's a miracle worker.

Really good stuff here on the table saw.

The riving knife will keep the exiting pieces from hitting the back of the saw blade and creating shrapnel.

I think the other half the equation is more about proper blade and rake of the blade for material cut and setting blade height properly.

If you have to push hard to get the board through, then you probably have the blade set too low and you're at major risk for kickback (straight into your guts or nuts). If it's super easy with a bunch of tear out on the bottom face, then you probably have the blade set too high. You should never have a blade on a table saw sticking up way above the top face. Not only is it going to tear the shit out of the bottom face, you have a huge safety risk.

A popular rule of thumb (ironic I know hahaha) is to set the blade so that the gullets clear the top face, then make adjustments from there on test strips. I've found that it isn't necessarily the gullets that you want to be sure clear. If you set a tooth at its highest point (top dead center) and ensure that the carbide clears, then that's usually enough. If the gullets clear then you end up with sawdust all over the place. Tablesaws are built to have material exit on the downstroke.

All great advice.

I was fortunate enough to inherit the 6" cast iron jointer my Dad bought new back in 63 and bought a new DeWalt 12 1/2 inch planer.

Had to flip the blades on the planer last week, wow what a difference. New set ordered to have on hand.

All this joining and planing talk is making me jealous. Someday...

I'm getting ready to do a fun little project for wifey... turning a small library file card catalog cabinet (three drawers high, six drawers wide) into a console table for her.

Need to build a new frame (current one is ugly, and she wants a nice pretty wood top). Since she wants it stained, I'm going to be using 1x birch and joining two pieces together (the width needs to be 16", which annoying means I can't use 1x8s for it).

I'll end up with a nice pretty end grain and think I've decided I'm going to dowel, glue, and Keegan join the top.

I'm pretty excited about it despite the challenges of pulling it off without a full-fledged wood shop.

What I'd give for a biscuit joiner...


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I have now glued up 46 cedar chest panels using this fairly cheap system. Seems to work fine.

https://www.grainger.com/product/3KKV2?cm_mmc=PPC:+Google+PLA&s_kwcid=AL!2966!3!166588663882!!!g!82166337117!&ef_id=Wfs2WQAAAGBwdFbn: 20171128142303:s&kwid=productads-adid^166588663882-device^c-plaid^82166337117-sku^3KKV2-adType^PLA

Kreg's pocket hole jig can be pretty damn handy and a versatile substitute for a biscuit joiner. Granted, it won't help for panels but really, just using good bar clamps placed correctly (and being patient; don't try to put too many pieces together at once) will make a good panel.

Yeah, that's what I meant. Autocorrect didn't like "Kreg."

I only need to do one, two piece join for the top. Shouldn't be too bad.

I do all of those things. I literally make hundreds if not thousands of cuts a day. The law of averages will almost always catch up since I am not a weekend warrior making a napkin holder for my wife.

The dowel jig I linked will do both Duncan and it is inexpensive.

You would shit if you saw my dad's wood shop. I'm talking professional grade everything. He built the cabinets for our kitchen a few years ago. He is always out there fiddling around. And he is a perfectionist in everything he does.

What kind of wood did he use for your cabinets?

My Dad built his in two different houses out of Mahogany and Mahogany plywood. They looked as good or better than what you could buy.

Do you have any of the woodworking interest like your Dad?

Yeah, just a matter of deciding which is easier for my space. I don't have a great workspace set up in my garage yet.

With the dowel jog, it gives you a few tools to make the doweling process more precise than simply measuring a line across the boards? Or at least that's my take on it.

My dad is a believer in old-fashioned solutions, but he also has the benefit of a 4,000 sq foot shop. So he's never had to take these steps, lol.


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Oak. They look amazing.

I do, but haven't messed around with any of it since I was in school and living at home. His shop then took up their 2 car garage.

Now they live out in the country and he has his shop in an outbuilding. Everything is immaculate in there.

I still have the cutting board and walnut bowl I made in high school.

My father is top notch when it comes to woodworking. He usually builds out of oak. He's built me a coffee table, TV stand, changing table, crib, DVD stand. You name it and he's probably built it. His woodworking skills are incredible.

The TV stand weighs a ton. It's solid oak with nice glass for the cabinet faces. The crib could be used for several generations of our family.

Fair 'nuff.

For a professional, the investment is worthwhile. But for most of the folks 'round these parts, it seems unlikely.

Here are a couple of projects that my dad has done the past few years. Oh, he built the grandfather clock in the background many years ago.

Attachment 115520Attachment 115521

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Yes, I draw a line across the boards to center the jig pointer. It works great on the cedar since it is relatively soft, but there is absolutely no margin for error on the white oak I am working with since it is so hard.

On a five board panel (4 inch boards) you end up drilling 24 holes for the dowels if you use sets of 3 like I have been doing.

Wow, that IS some beautiful work of your Dads.

I am envious that he keeps his shop immaculate as mine is always a mess with sawdust everywhere. I open the big door an blow it out a lot, but it still gets everywhere.

He has a full vacuum system in there so there is minimal sawdust to deal with.

When we were kids living at home, he had a similar system. It was called the "me and my brother clean the garage" system. I especially hated cleaning that damn thing after he'd been running the thickness planer. That thing spit out sawdust EVERYWHERE.

A full vacuum system would be the shit!

My planer is one of the few things I have a big shop vac hooked to and it needs emptied often, but there is still spilliage.

Have a small shop vac hooked to the router table, but my saws all make a lot of dust, and the jointer makes chips that go everywhere.

kccrows input in this thread about blade depth on the table saw is going to help some I think. I tried that this morning and it was a big improvement.

Did your Dad only do this as a hobby, or was he doing it professionally as well?

What your Dad did with that oak is not easy and it looks professional.

I am building a book case out of oak right now and it is much more difficult to work with than the cedar.

It's always just been a hobby. Mostly just doing stuff for family and friends for the cost of materials on the big stuff.

I'll try to remember to get some pics of his shop next time I'm out there.

Ever look into the ol' Harbor Freight 2 stage conversion?

You'll be about $500 into it when all is said and done, but with the 2 horse HF collector, a dust deputy cyclone (the full sized one), a Winn Environmental Cartridge filter and some sewer pipe, you'll have all the parts you need to engineer a rig that will run with the $1,500 JET models. We tested the static pressure and draw through several ports and it was comparable.

Get a couple of hanging air filters with the HEPA filters for about $300 total if you're willing to go with a WEN instead of a JET (mine are fine) and for $800-$900 and a weekend worth of labor, you'll notice a massive difference.

You'll still need to do some sweeping here and there and may need to redesign the shop layout to prioritize draw over workflow, but it's light years better.

That's for the advice on the blade height. I use the old 'rule of thumb' there and generally don't see much spray but I'll have to lower it a bit and give it a shot. That makes perfect sense.

Sadly, my basement flooded so everything that was down there is sitting in my shop at the moment. Gotta wait until next week when the new floor goes in and I can get all that shit back out of there. It'll be nice to have the shop back after being out of commission for a couple months...

Hmmm, that is interesting information, and food for thought, thanks. Last year I stopped at a church sale that had this HUGE industrial shop vacuum dust collection system for $100 and I just thought it was too big for the space I have allocated for my woodwork shop.

Probably a bad decision.

No prob, nothing ever hurts to try as long as its safe. :D

To piggyback off of DJ's suggestion for the guys with the dust issue and want to consider a small dust collector. It's a world better than a shop vac and small ones aren't "bank busters."

Something like one of these will do and both are under $500:

http://cdn2.grizzly.com/pics/jpeg500...b90e514d12.jpg

http://cdn2.grizzly.com/pics/jpeg500...3699d5bcb0.jpg

That Grizzly that KC has above is a perfect jumping off point; a simple 1-stage unit. The problem is that rig puts the big pieces in the same bag as the little stuff and the 'sock' on top clogs quickly. So if air can't get out, air can't go in and the suction drops in a hurry. There's a little bit of a separation in there but really not that much. It's better than nothing but a 2 stage is a MASSIVE improvement, especially with hard plumbing and a proper filter cartridge.

You can take that same motor and plum it into a Cyclone chip separator. It will pull the material into that separator, spin it for a second and the heavy stuff will fall out the bottom. I ran a static free tube into a sump sleeve with a hole cut into the top of the lid since the top would be air-tight and keep the pressure up.

The light stuff then gets sucked out the top of the separator, through another tube and blasted through a corrugated filter cartridge. The cartridge, as opposed to the sock, has FAR greater surface area. Now since it only has the small stuff in it, it gets very little work and with the significant surface area improvement, air has a lot of room to escape. It also has finer filtration so it captures a lot more; it has something like .5 micron filtration vs. the 5 micron on your average filter sock. It's just better at everything.

So your vacuum pressure stays at peak capacity. I think I have some photos of my rig in here somewhere.

I used the HF model to keep the cost down since all I really cared about was the motor and the impeller looked plenty strong. Some people suggest replacing or even reversing the impeller but I've never done it and mine will suck large shavings from about an inch away all around the plate on my table saw.

It will be a miracle worker if you plum your jointer into it. A clogged jointer pretty much won't do a damn thing. By having a constant source of suction on the bottom for those massive shavings that come off, you'll fly through mill-work.

It's a headache and it seems like money wasted because it's not a tool or any work product, but it makes all your tools run better.

Here's a pick of a small 2 stage from Grizzly ($900 or so):
http://cdn2.grizzly.com/pics/jpeg500...9f964a691f.jpg

They make some little units that fit on a trash can for super cheap if you can't afford a separator right away. A shop air filtration unit should be installed as well at some point.

Fine dust from kiln dried or even air dried woods is highly combustible, so getting as much of it out of the air and off the floor as possible is a good thing. Also be sure to keep the vaccuum tubes clean. If a line gets plugged up, you're basically ramrodding gunpowder into a tube and hoping a spark or static doesn't ignite it.

here's a vid of a kid doing the trash can mod...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBWjA7_ytic

I do recommend giving Harbor Freight a look for entry level stuff.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...6f93e74fcf.jpg

Finished product. Pretty pleased with it. Kreg joined was amazing for crafting the new top.

Before pic/closeup.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...b080ab64b9.jpg

Nice

Thanks, I am going to be doing something like this soon.
Looks great! I bet the Mrs. is happy with it also

kccrow, thanks, I finally got around to making that cross cut sled for my craftsman table saw yesterday. Thank you!

The challenge was my table saw had tabs sticking out over the slide slot. I found a you tube that addressed that very issue. Lots of hand work making the the slides out of oak, but it works nice!

Holy crap, I now understand all of the hate directed at Harbor Freight!

I just bought a couple major items from them and each had problems. The issues weren't apparent until the major assembly was complete and their answer was to send it back instead of sending me the replacement parts/items that were defective and missing.

I was under the impression you had a store near you. I never order from them, always missing parts. A boss of mine one time ordered a retractable trailer cover and it arrived in a box open at both ends missing more than 50% of the installation parts. Walk into the store, verify the contents of the box, walk out knowing I have everything. Don't do too much business with them except for simple stuff during big sales.

Happy to hear that this worked out. Would like to know what you think several months later.

I think there is a store in Springfield (50 miles), probably could have bought the items for less also.

Live and learn, I always seem to have to learn everything the hard way.

Anyone in here into making canes? Specifically crook-necked canes?

While I dabble (the wife and I are finishing up restoring an old Hoosier cabinet), you all might like what my Dad does as his retirement gig.
http://harrisoncreekcreations.com/

Nice.. I like the raw look.

I'm building in a small garage currently, but I am finishing sanding and I am about to stain a table for my printer.

http://oldbellamy.farm/content/AA/00...1/IMG_1640.jpg

It's the first time I used a router to cut into table legs like this.. made a template and then it was fairly easy.

http://oldbellamy.farm/content/AA/00...1/IMG_1636.jpg

http://oldbellamy.farm/content/AA/00...1/IMG_1638.jpg

Building a new garage/workshop on my farm property this year though.. which will have 25' x 30' dedicated workship and have enough other storage that my workshop shouldn't be too crowded.

Looking forward to doing more woodworking there.