Tools- That "Ah HA" moment.

[BigguyZ]

I was working at one of my brother's rental properties, and I was installing some cement board as a substrate for a tiled countertop. While securing it to the plywood beneath with those special self-sinking screws, I was really really happy that I have my Ryobi corldess impact driver.

Every time I use this tool, I think about what a difference it is versus using the cordless drill. I think the biggest "light-bulb-going-on" moment I've had is the first time I used that tool.

Anyways, it got me thinking if there have been other times I've had such a positive resposne to getting a tool that excels in a specific task. I couldn't think of anything- and was wondering is anyone else had one they could share.

[MikeMcCoy]

A wll tuned smoothing plane was one of those moments for me. Between them and scrapers, my sand paper consumption has dwindled to almost nothing.

[bfrikken]

Just about any tool I bought for its intended purpose. Too many tiems I do things the hard way not wanting to spend money. Latest example is my cheapo brad nailer/stapler from HF. It was a lifesaver when I did some panelling and some light brad work to hold a glue up together.

[Knottscott]

Kreg pocket hole jig and Wixey angle gauge come to mind...

[germdoc]

I made a "butcher-block" table top for a patio table to replace the glass top that was shattered during a windstorm. I had the brilliant idea of doing the entire glue-up at once, then smoothing it and cutting the circle. Fist point, gluing up 30 1 1/2" strips is not as easy as it sounds, especially if they're of different lengths. Next, how the heck do I smooth it? Especially since I was pretty sloppy with lining up the pieces...

I started with my belt sander then realized I didn't have 3 days to do this. I then went to my vintage #7 Stanley plane--that was the ticket! It took a little fettling to get the mouth and blade set just right, so it wouldn't hog off too much or tear out but would speed up the process. This was in the middle of summer, when it was really humid outside (I have only the vaguest memory of that right now....), and for exercise I can highly recommend this as a workout. Nevertheless, it worked like a charm. I then went over it with my #5 plane before switching to the belt sander for the final smoothing (I'm not a total Neanderthal) before finish sanding. BTW, the table looks marvelous.

My most recent Aha purchase is a Bosch 10.8 V lithium impact driver. It is so nice and handy I can imagine I may never have to go back to my cordless drill, except for really heavy duty drill work.

[MilDoc]

Impact drivers! I second (or third) that one!

[gsmittle]

Kreg pocket hole jig and Wixey angle gauge come to mind...

Kreg for me, too. It's saved me a TON of time, materials, and energy...

g.

[leehljp]

1. Cordless Impact Driver
2. BT3x00
3. Starrett 24 inch combination square!
4. Fein MultiMaster
5. Kreg

Basically in that order - for me.

I had to add in the Starrett. I forgot about that but it sure does what prior cheaper ones never did!

[LCHIEN]

Eureka moments

Impact driver definately was an AHA moment.
Also the first cut with my BT3000... before all I had was one of those portable table saws, yuck - it vibrated and shook, made a straight but nasty-looking cut.... then with the BT I understood, oh, wow, this is the way its supposed to be!
Drill press fence... suddenly i understood you could actually make a series of holes in a line without its wandering all over.

[Tom Slick]

you really don't know what you are missing until you try an impact driver for the first time. then you look at it fondly and think WOW.

[leehljp]

Loring,

You are right about that drill press fence! It is almost equal in value to having a good fence on a TS.

[LarryG]

I'll nominate two, from opposite ends of the price spectrum.

In the Low-Price-But-Big-Satisfaction corner, the Veritas saddle square. The price has gone up a little from the $11 (or was it $12?) that I paid a few years ago, but it's still a bargain that will be appreciated every time you're doing layout work. It makes a deceptively fussy little job as easy as it seems like it ought to be.

And in the Yes-It-Was-Big-Bucks-But-My-Oh-My-corner, a drum sander (JET 16-32 shown, but available in a variety of sizes, at various price points). Even as I placed the order for mine, a Performax (now JET) 22-44, I regarded it as an indulgence and wondered if I was making an expensive mistake. I knew I would use it some; still, I wondered whether I'd use it enough to justify its high cost. As it has turned out, this tool gets used FAR more often than I ever would have guessed, on projects large and small, and is one of the very best additions I've ever made to my shop.

[jhart]

Larry, that saddle square looks pretty neat. May have to get one. Thanks

[ironhat]

A few:
1) Ridgid 3650 table saw. I had worked with a Shopsmith for 25 years and its small table and drifty fence.

2) Real cabinet chisels. Not the best but the 'bonus' DeWalt chisels were light years ahead of the Stanley contractor grade chisels no matter how sharp I got them.

3) Kreg pocket hole jig. Enough said.

[DustyandLefty]

going back in time

Yes, my two impact drivers (a 14.4 DeWalt and 12 volt right-angle Ridgid) are what I reach for first and second. Terrific. But then there was...

- the first time I used a cordless drill 3 stories up on scaffolding instead of running 100 feet of heavy extension cord along behind me. Aha! What a difference. Must have been about 1999. Now I only use my old Milwaukee for mixing paint or mud or 3" holes.

- the first time I ever used an excel spreadsheet tool to update about 3 dozen linked cells into one big revised calculation. It saved what felt like 8 hours of work and endless double-checking of my feeble math on a calculator. Sometime in the mid-1980's I'd guess.

Dusty&Lefty