Three Powerful Woodworking Tools for Small Workshops

Ok, I'll admit it. I secretly wish I were Norm Abram from New Yankee Workshop. That guy has every woodworking tool imaginable--AND all the space he wants to organize them!

But I'm not Norm, and I do my woodworking in my shed. Maybe you're in your basement. Or your garage. Or maybe you're in a backroom somewhere and your wife is constantly yelling at you to stop tracking sawdust through the house.

Whatever your situation, I know some tips to accomplish 90% of what the big guys can do, in 20% of the space. I'm going to share 3 of the woodworking tool tips with you today.

The problem with hand drills

Hand drills have two major problems:

1. Without a proper stop and gauge, holes cannot be drilled to the same depth repeatedly.
2. Without a way to ensure the hand drill is perpendicular with the wood, holes cannot be drilled at the same angle repeatedly.
   

If you do woodworking for any extended period of time, you are going to run across these issues.

The good news is that a drill press is the solution.

The even better news is that a benchtop drill press packs the power of a larger workhorse into a smaller body.

A benchtop drill press is fastened to a workbench or secured to a stand. The woodworker pulls a handle to guide the drill bit into the target wood. Repetition is consistent, fast and safe.

What to look for in a benchtop drill press:

• Horsepower (HP) - More horsepower means you can drill through harder woods with less strain (if you've ever burnt out a hand drill,  you know what I mean). You can also drill wider holes for the same reason.
  
• Variable Speed - Having variable speed options is a nice way to make the drill press bend to the needs of different materials and bits instead of vice versa.
• Tilting Table - If you ever want to be able to drill at a certain angle, instead of just 90 degrees, then you need a tilting table.
• Quill Travel - Higher quill travel allows you to drill deeper holes without resetting the drill press base.
• Depth-stops - Depth-stops are important for creating holes of uniform depth repeatedly. You can set the depth you want and then the drill will stop at that point.

You're in Home Depot, you're sorting through the wood you need, and the very last board is warped.

Do you...

(a) drive to a different store to try to find all of the "perfect" lumber that you need?

(b) buy the warped board and rub the high spot until your elbows squeak?

(c) buy the board, whip out your hand planer and start shaving?

(d) get the board home, switch on your benchtop planer, and level out the high spots in one swoop?

I don't know about you, but I choose D!

Benchtop planers are great money-savers and time-savers. They allow you to purchase warped wood (which may even be at a discount) instead of driving all over town looking for who has the exact boards you need at the lowest price. In addition, they permit you to skim off the high spots to an even thickness without the mind-numbing boredom of repeated sanding or pass after pass of a hand planer.

These two things can be disastrous...

Benchtop planers (or any power planer, for that matter) can cause two characteristics that ruin your woodworking project: scallops and snipe.

Scallops are the circular shavings caused by the rotary blades of the planer slicing into the wood. By having more cuts per inch, the scallops will be close together and barely noticeable.

Snipe is the extra bite taken out of the end of the wood as it passes through the planer. A small snipe can be sanded out. If you get a large snipe, you may need to chop the whole section off.

Other factors to look for in benchtop planers:

• Gauges and stops - You need to be able to change the amount of wood to be planed off.
• Dust collection - Planers create a lot of wood chips. A good dust collection mechanism makes cleanup easier and keeps your compact workspace safe.
  

Just like the differences between hand planers and power planers, benchtop band saws allow you to bring the wood to the saw instead of taking the saw to the wood. Benchtop band saws allow you to saw straight lines, angles, and curves.

What to look for in a benchtop band saw:

• Cut Depth - Cut depth places a limit on the thickness of the wood to be cut.
  
• Throat - The band saw throat determines how thick the cut can be.
• Tilting Table - As with a benchtop drill press, a tiltable table lets you make cuts at whatever angle you need.