Tools

SawStop 3HP Professional Table Saw

This is one of my favorite upgrades I made in the shop. My fingers are very important to me, and they are a lot safer with this in the shop. I opted for the hydraulic mobile base and the sliding crosscut table accessories. The mobile base is amazing and makes moving a 425+ lb saw almost effortless. With the sliding crosscut table, I can crosscut full 4 x 8 sheets of plywood much easier. The overarm dust collection is also fantastic, especially when I have the blade cover on and not just the riving knife. Note this is requires 220V power, which not everyone has in their shop. They do have 110V models as well, but I don’t have any experience with them but I am sure the build quality is up to par, it will just be less powerful.

Festool Kapex Miter Saw

Is this expensive? Yes. Do I think its worth it for me? Yes. Is it worth it for you? That’s up to you. I have mine in a miter station and for me, it was important to have a saw that can be close to the wall and slide forward. The angles are very accurate out of the box (at least mine was), which I could not say for my previous saw. Another callout for this saw is that for a miter saw it has decent dust collection. Granted it is still a miter saw and no miter saw will have perfect dust collection but they thought this through fairly well. I just have an “orange” branded vacuum hooked up to it and it might work better if I had a Festool Dust Extractor. Given the price, do I regret this purchase - absolutely not, I love it.

Laguna 14BX Bandsaw

This bandsaw is a beast, and I love it. I recently upgraded from my Rikon one and haven’t looked back. I went with the 220V option but they do have a 110V model. The fence is sturdy and accurate, and I love having the blade de-tensioner to keep the stress of the blade when it isn’t in use. It’s not cheap, which made me hesitant at first but it is worth every penny!

I upgraded the blade to a Laguna Resaw King blade with carbide tipped teeth. Another one of those expensive purchases I was hesitant about but don’t look back because it is awesome. Super smooth and consistent cuts.

Festool OF2200 Router

This is the router I upgraded to after years of use with my Bosch router. This thing is a beast and fairly heavy but I love it (if I didn’t, it wouldn’t be on this list). Note that it only comes with a 1/2” collet, and you would need to get a 1/4” collet separately. I also highly recommend the accessory kit for it, though it does not have the 1/4” collet — I used the Whiteside adapter and it works just fine. I had sticker shock on it but it was well worth it. It took me a long time before I got my first Festool, but I have come around to the thinking of buy once cry once.

Bosch Plunge Router

This router works well for me, I haven’t had any issues with the tool at all and the edge guide comes in handy a lot. I mounted the fixed base upside down on my table saw wing so I have a makeshift router table that doesn’t take up any extra room as well.

DeWalt Bench Top Planer

I use this a lot, and its absolutely necessary (I think) when making cutting boards and butcher blocks. On one occasion I put a board through with a trim nail still in it and nicked the blades. It only took me about 10 minutes though to pop the cover off, and flip the double sided blades around and get back to work. The blades don’t require any fidgeting to get in the correct spot, they can only go in the correct way (I didn’t try to find an incorrect way). This tool will be in my shop for a long time.

Lie-Nielsen Hand Planes

I have a few of these and love every single one of them. Definitely in the buy once, cry once group of tools.

• No. 60 1/2 Adjustable Mouth Block Plane — this is my most utilized hand plane by far.

• No. 62 Low Angle Jack Plane — A versatile plane (hence the Jack in the name as in Jack of All Trades).

• No. 4 1/2 Smooth Plane — This leaves a glass smooth finish and is a joy to use.

Freud Diablo Blade

Versatile, inexpensive, and very effective. I used this blade for 3 years before hanging it on my wall. I can probably take it off the wall, clean it with orange blast and a brass brush and be back in business in no time. I really like these Freud Diablo blades.

Porter Cable – Forstner Set

This set of Forstner Bits replaced a set I had from a not-so-cheap set from a woodworking store. It is nice having a wide array of sizes and at this price, I couldn’t say no. Especially since the bigger ones tend to be fairly expensive on their own.

Yonico – Plywood Dado Router Bits

I always found it frustrating trying to cut dado’s in plywood with standard 1/4″, 1/2″, and 3/4″ bits. It always left too much wiggle room for the plywood that was going into the dado. These are slightly undersized so you end up with a perfect fit, not too tight, and not sloppy. One of my favorite sets of router bits (and I have more and a handful).

Incra – Miter 1000 HD

Perfect angles, every time. This is the most useful and accurate miter gauge I have ever used (granted I can count how many I’ve used on one hand). I find the flip down stop to be very useful when I am cutting multiple items that I need to be the same length without having to stop and measure each one. Yes it’s a little steep on price but you definitely get what you pay for.

Butcher Block Conditioner

I finish all of my butcher blocks with this stuff, Howard’s Butcher Block Conditioner. Great food safe finish. If you have a butcher block from me, I highly recommend getting this and giving it a quick coat every once in a while for proper maintenance.

Arm-R-Seal : Satin

This is my go-to finish when I want something tougher than an oil finish, but don’t want to worry about the extra work that can come with the gloss finish. Wipes on like an oil, and leaves a nice tough urethane style finish. I use this on a lot of the boxes I make.

Gas Burners for Forges…

Before this book I was a little on the lost side on (safely) building my forge burners. This book by Michael Porter is a great resource for that and I feel like I can credit it for my burners turning out so well on the first try. It’s amazing what you can build with common parts from the plumbing aisle.

This book goes on and off of Amazon. Just have to keep an eye out for it.

Pocket Ref

This little book is like a pocket google. Probably unnecessary these days with phones, but it has a lot of random, obscure, and useful information in it. If nothing else, its fun to flip through it randomly.

Amazon said it best: “The concise all-purpose pocket-sized reference book featuring abundant information on many subjects, hundreds of tables, maps, formulas, constants and conversions. If you need to know it, it is in this book!”

Books by Matt Kenney

• Build Better Boxes

• 52 Boxes in 52 Weeks

• The Art of Kumiko

Matt was a contributor to Fine Woodworking magazine for a number of years. His writing and photography of his work are on point. I really enjoyed his book The Art of Kumiko and I find it to be a relaxing and rewarding activity.

DMT Duo Sharp : Fine / Extra Fine Diamond Stone

This is what I have used for the last few years to get my chisels and plane irons sharp. After seeing the price on Amazon, I am kicking myself since I paid $99 for the exact same set with the stand. Either way, it was still worth it. I indulged and got the Veritas Honing Guide for it later on.