Woodworking gadgets that waste your money
#11
Name some high cost gadgets that you have found to be almost useless. I'll start with a couple I have wasted money on....

1. High end Dovetail Jigs (I can actually cut them more efficiently by hand).
2. ridiculously over priced chisels.
Now where is that chisel
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#12
Boy! You hit the nail on the head...dove tail jig.  The "biggest", "badest"  dove tail jig Porter Cable ever made...I had to have it!!!!  After it arrived, I gawked, tinkered and put it away.  A short time later I learned the joy of hand cut DTs, the jig has never seen the light of day since.

I could not disagree more when it comes to chisels.  My LN chisels are worth every penny, yes I could get along without them; but why would I want too.

Ok, re-read your statement..."ridiculously priced" chisels. IMHO, LN chisels are high price, not "ridiculously priced".  I have no ridiculously priced tools.
"I tried being reasonable..........I didn't like it." Clint Eastwood
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#13
I love my Porter Cable dovetail jig. I set it up once and it’s ready for any time I need it, like making 18 drawers for my van.
Carolyn

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#14
Love my Leigh dovetail jig but I use it more with the Isoloc templates to provide unique joints that wouldn't be viable any other way.

High end chisels? I have beaters and the newish Stanley SH 750 chisels. Both have their place in my shop although the beaters probably get used more.

I have or had other high end gadgets that probably would qualify as wasting your money but when that happens I usually just flip them on Ebay or whatever.
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#15
(10-12-2019, 08:57 AM)Smashedfinger Wrote: Name some high cost gadgets that you have found to be almost useless. I'll start with a couple I have wasted money on....
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2. ridiculously over priced chisels.

Just curious, like which ones? My Koyamaichi chisels were around $70 or so each. I can -- and do -- bash them into hard woods, like hard maple and bubinga, and they hold a keen edge beyond all reason. Worth every penny to me. I wouldn't pay for the hand-forged chisels that sell for hundreds. I also have no idea if the performance goes up with the price, or if the price just reflects the labor involved. So I can't say they are "overpriced" though they are for me personally. Also I have a hard time calling a chisel a "gadget."

What is your cutoff, and why?
Best,
Aram, always learning

"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery


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#16
Commercial winding sticks are at the top of the list
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#17
The costs can add up, but garbage is ridiculous at any price. I cringe when my life and feet depend on "made in china".

! Cheap Harbor Flake Junk.

! Those stupid do-dad thingies lined up to entice bored customers at the checkout waiting for Joe Blow to get his discount card punched. (Discount cards are worse than Cash-back credit cards. I asked my banker about those, and she said, "you aren't that stupid...")

! I think most any "jig" at Rocky's Horror is both overpriced and junk. I have a T-track kit that requires about 4 more things to be purchased from them in order to work. Twenty bucks back then was a lot of money. I haven't been in since the 'straight-as' flakey curly maple sale.

! I can now unsubscribe to Wood Craft's junk mail posts ... after 3 years. What was the discount for signing up? Ten percent on one item?

Let's see how long this thread stays out of the Sewer.
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#18
Those imported cheapo aluminum clamps; luckily someone more "cheap" than me was willing to buy them from me. as with those clamps, I sold my overrated Leigh jig for a loss, but felt happier. No more eye sores in my shop.

Simon
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#19
I'm not sure this meets your definition of "high" priced, but I bought a Dado Wiz many years ago at one of the woodworking shows. I see Infinity sells what looks to be an identical copy (they may have improved some things), but I tried using it several times and just couldn't get it to be consistent. On a wide workpiece, getting the dados perfectly at a 90 was a huge challenge, as was getting the dados on opposite workpieces like the side of a bookcase) to line up. It's been sitting a drawer for at least 15 years.
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
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#20
Bug 
(10-12-2019, 01:28 PM)fredhargis Wrote: On a wide workpiece, getting the dados perfectly at a 90 was a huge challenge, as was getting the dados on opposite workpieces like the side of a bookcase) to line up. It's been sitting a drawer for at least 15 years.

I have had no experience with this product, but the 90-degree problem had nothing to do with the jig itself. The problem lied with the clamp being not square to the reference edge of the workpiece.

This same kind of problem is experienced by many tracksaw users cutting sheet goods. Finally, TSO came up with a user-friendly square guide that solved the problem.

Simon
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