Worst tool, gadget, gizmo, accessory etc.. you've ever bought

Worst: Wobble dado blade and a jointer “Magna Set” blade holder.
Not Used: Probably my scroll saw, but I always plan on using it.
(That lathe really does sound bad, but the planer will come in real handy

-- Stevethepeeve -- I'm no rocket surgeon

I wasted money on quite a few electric drills that wore out to soon.

I bought a Porter Cable gas operated nailing gun that I hardly ever used.

If I made a list, I would run out of paper.

-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

Worst: I bought one of the wobble dado blades and hated it. I never really knew where I was cutting or how deep or wide. Something about a moving target …

Not Used: Rigid lathe. My son talked me into getting it because it was a floor model (but because he worked at the store I got a new one in the box) and it was only $200. I put it together, put a piece of wood in it and turned it on. That didn’t go well. It sits off to the side these days mocking me.

-- When you give someone a chance it may well be their last.

How much you want for the lathe Russel?

(see my forum post right before this one that actually started this post)

-- Dad to 5, Son of The One

If you’ve got a way to get a fully assembled lathe w/o a box from Michigan to you, you can have it.

-- When you give someone a chance it may well be their last.

The worst tool I ever bought came from Ebay. It was a Chinese copy of a Makita grinder. Got it for a dollar!!! (And $20.00 shipping) Still was cheaper than a real Makita and it looked pretty too. So when it arrived, there was no side handle…the maker forgot to include it. I plugged it in and it came on, and made the most horrible dry, grinding, bearing noise…I swear this thing was gonna fly apart in my hand! It went right into the trash can.

-- Bob Vila would be so proud of you!

I had a set of those orange plastic push stick thingies given to me as a present and I don’t think I’ve ever used them (does a present count?). I like my own homemade wooden push stick thingies.

-- Better to say nothing and be thought the fool... then to speak and erase all doubt.

Worst tool: a Firestorm 12 volt drill. The company quit making the batteries the next year and I had to pay for a replacement charger. Of course, they said that they would pay for the next one. Seemed a little backwards to me. The charger didn’t last another year and since there were not replacement batteries available there was no use in getting another charger for it because the battery was bad.

-- Jesus is Lord!

Clamps, I thought that buying cheap clamps on sale, I could buy more and make up the difference in quantity instead of quality. I don’t think that any more, even if its only one at a time I buy the best I can afford. As some one said “lesson learned”

-- Andy Stark

The absolute biggest piece of crap, and total waste of money, was an Arrow electric brad nailer.

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

I think the Arrow Brad nailer is also the worst. It won’t drive brads into Oak. maybe a quarter inch or so. Lots of tools sit in drawers unused, but some day I’ll use them so I can’t call that a worst buy yet.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

Wait a second, did Mot just call one of our members, Brad Nailor, a piece of crap? I had a feeling Mot was a closet troublemaker ;-)

-- Better to say nothing and be thought the fool... then to speak and erase all doubt.

I’ve got a inside corner detail sander (ryobi) that is as powerful as an electric tooth brush. It is easier for me to just use sand paper or a cabinet scrapper. It sits in the bottom drawer with all the dead tools…never throw anything away!

-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com

Oh Dennis I’ve got one of those also. I wonder where mine is.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

Dennis and Karson, I’ve got one too. But it was a present so I guess it doesn’t count.

-- Stevethepeeve -- I'm no rocket surgeon

Cheap 4 inch grinder from Harbor Freight tried to use it and sparks flew everywhere. Buy a Mikita and save some money, spend a little more and get a quality product that lasts.

-- Only the Shadow knows....................

That wooden body plane doohickey for radiusing corners. So bad I have forgotten it’s name.
Runner up, 10” disk/4×36” belt sander from Penn State (why I expected this tool at 100 bucks would do what more reputable manufacturers sell for three times as much says as much about me as it does for PSI). This PIA stalls if you look at it hard. Good only for squaring pen blanks, and a standard reamer type would take up 1/100th the room.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

I think a lot of us have bought one of those wobble dado blades in the beginning… “hey, why spend over $100 when this thing does the same thing?” ... well, it doesn’t.

Never used: Hollow chisel mortiser. Still working on smaller projects. But having it keeps me hopeful that I will build furniture one day.

I spent $40 bucks on a big square rock. (Granite sharpening slab with a certificate of machined flatness for use with wet sandpaper). A piece of glass does the same thing.

-- Check out my new website! http://www.theeasellife.com

I’ve never bought anything I don’t need or use.

Yeah right!

I buy “stuff” just because it’s the same color as other “stuff” I have and don’t use!

I guess it’s all part of the fun of being a woodworker.

Lee

-- by Lee A. Jesberger http://www.prowoodworkingtips.com http://www.ezee-feed.com

Cheap bar clamps that won’t clamp.

But at least I never bought one of those wobble dado blades!

Gary

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

I’ve got one of those Ryobi corner sanders as well. Only thing Ryobi I ever bought. I’ve got one of those Beadlock outfits as well. I tryed it and now it is in the drawer.

-- Thos. Angle, Owyhee Design, Oregon

Worst: ditto on the cheap clamps on ebay. Simply would not hold tight. Had to refile all of the notches to get them to stay put even a little bit. Wound up throwing them all away.

Next worst: Delta lathe. Read my review here .

Not used: Drill press safety planer. What as waste of money! LINK

-- Just another woodworker

the sears router—not horrible compared to some of the above, but with the thingy releasing the bit depth all the time (I’ll let someone else explain it in technical terms).. it’s a pain in the butt and now sits in a corner taunting me.

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Thanks for saving me from buying the Ryobi corner sander!

I’ll second the Slick Plane (aka “that wooden body plane doohickey for radiusing corners”).

-- Coffee is best with a fine layer of sawdust on top. -- http://www.north40custom.com

Debbie: I had the same router and I would say it was worse than the clamps that are lousy. I ruined a number of projects with that router and almost gave up woodworking. I do not have it anymore but it would be at the top of my list

Blake: the Hollow chisel mortiser will be your favorite tool when you will start making furniture. I have an attachment on my drill press (not as nice) but I like/use it a lot. You overpayed for the granite (I got mine for 17$) but otherwise I think it is better than glass (more massive).

Tools that I do not use: small Jet lathe (very good but small; I have a not so good but big Grizzly lathe that I use), palm sander (waste of time, random orbit sander is much better), old handplanes (my Veritas Jointer is much better), wobbling dado (like lots of other people) and belt sander (I do use it every 6 months for 5 minutes, get mad and swear never to use it again).

Worst tools: almost anything I bought from flea-market. At least at Harborfreight you can return them.

Alin

-- -- Alin Dobra, Gainesville, Florida

Thanks, Peter for the reminder. Arrgggh! Time to pull the damned thing off the pegboard and toss it…

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Tom and Karson..I don’t know why you are buying electric arrows, but I assure you I had nothing to do with it ;^)

Worst tool .. I bought a no name brand sawzall on Ebay. Turned it on and made 2 cuts with it and then it never turned on again. 50 bucks right in the trash.

Worst impulse tool buy… Porter cable biscuitt joiner. I love it and its a great tool..I just dont use it as much as I thought i would

Worst designed tools I fell for….
Rockler corner clamping system… A plastic right angle guide with 2 small clamps..totally useless. Impossible to put the clamps where you need them to be and hard to use when you have glue on parts trying to line things up. Sold at a tag sale for 1/16th of what they cost…..
Pony plastic clamp pads…. they leave funny coloration on the wood you clamp with them thats not easy to remove..scrap 1/2” Baltic works way better….
Edge banding iron…. This item worked well, but the cheap black paint on it came off on my pieces. I ended up sanding the paint off on the parts that touch wood..but now that I think about it it was made in China. I wonder if it was lead paint? I could have bought a cheap clothes iron at Kmart for less than I paid for it.

-- Women love me.....trees fear me

Beware of the guy who pulls up to you in a car and says “hey buddy, I’ve got this great tool for you.” I should have realized a knock off when I smelled the Harbour Frieght rubber smell. It was a Dewalt sds roto hammer knock off. The motor turned on but the drills didn’t fit, didn’t hammer, and no return policy. I keep it hanging from my shop rafters with a sign reading Beware of the Knock Off. Good thing I got it for $40 down from the $60 he wanted.

-- bobdurnell, Santa Ana California.

I bought a chain saw lumbermaker attachment on ebay for 29 bucks.

A week later my harbor freight catalog came, & it was $12.95, Bummer!

Even though I’m mad about the price, I use it, & it works fairly good.

PS: I’ve got one them Ryobi triangle sanders in a drawer somewhere.

-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

I’ve been fighting with a Craftsman router table for ten years. Finally got smart this weekend and put some birch ply ribs on the back of a piece of MDF, screwed two pieces of MDF together for a fence, and bolted my router to the bottom. Whaahoo! For $8 I have a huge, usefull router table.

That Crapsman table was enough to make anyone take up checkers…

How about a saw sharpening gizmo. Mine is still in the shrink wrap, along with the price sticker.

-- Bill, Oregon

Talking about clamps, I went through my tool cabinet the other day and found to my surprise pipe clamp parts (not sure what to call them). There were left overs from my Father-in-Law’s shop. My Father-in-Law was a product of the Depression, so he did not spend much on tools or anything else. He took old broken tools and through his ingenuity made them work after a fashion. I likely will not want to invest in pipes with no name clamp parts or I will end up with one more worst tool.

I also have a bunch of tools that I used once and just keep moving around in my tool cabinet when I am looking for a tool that I can use. Can’t seem to toss those things for some reason.

Dalec

Well, I haven’t bought enough yet to have too much regret. But this thread sure does serve as a warning – it’s much better to learn for others’ mistakes than your own. I sure won’t buy a wobble dado blade!

I do have a Skil router/table combo that I bought for $99.00 that I’m not too happy with but I’m trying to figure out if it’s just operator ignorance or the router itself.

-- Tim D. - Woodstock, GA

I found a Sears Router in the shop, still in the box, with the original receipt still taped on the top of the box. It’s probably over 10 years old. i wonder if I can return it. For fun I might just try that.

Maybe I’ll get enough money to buy myself a useful tool that I can put in a drawer instead of taking up precious shelf space.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

OOOh! I’ve got another one…

I bought a Craftsman biscuit cutter attachment for a router from Sears. $50 Bucks plus $15 for the “universal” adapter to my router plate. What a piece of garbage! Pain in the arse to set up and use. Never actually used it for any project.

-- Check out my new website! http://www.theeasellife.com

I Bought a Skil Brand 1825 Plunge router that has SOooooooooo much runout in the shaft that it breaks bits off at the collet nut, I thought the first one was just a defective porter cable brand bit and I contacted them and to their credit they mailed me not one replacement but two, well very next time I used the router to profile an edge, while on the second light cut the bit snapped off again, just missed me when it went sailing by my right ear. there will NEVER be another Skill brand tool in my shop, sucked it up and spent the money on a good Porter Cable router and never looked back (the Skill router hangs by it’s tail in the corner of the shop to remind me about buying cheap to “Save Money”)

I bought a 10” bench top drill press from Menards———- Boat anchor!

A No name buisut joiner from ebay that does actually work but sounds like it’s gonna explode right in your hand.

Oh, and one of my first purchases, right after the Cheap CRAPSMAN table saw, was in fact, a Wobble Dado - Both have been replaced with quality tools

Funny! If you take the money I saved plus the money I spent on Cheap tools plus the money spent to replace those with quality tools the second time around kind of makes the quality tools far more expensive in the end. Looks like we all navigate this same learning curve don’t we? Cheaper is almost NEVER better when it comes to tools, especially the ones that can hurt you.

Merry Christmas All

-- So Much Wood - So Little Time! --

Keen1

Great topic,

I could fill this page with my silly and stupid tool buying experiences.

I took me a while to learn.

I think that lesson has been ingrained in me now.

Off the top of my head one of the worst investments I made was a whole assortment of carbide router bits.

Besides burning up and tearing apart my wood and chattering like a wounded squirrel, pieces of the bit broke off and flew about the shop like hail falling from the sky.

Not good!

The best part about that purchase was the “nice box ” the bits came in.

I am happy to say the whole bit set is part of my green program.

They went to the recycling bin and are melted down and serving some other useful purpose.

The box is holding down a shelf some where in my shop doing a fine job of collecting dust.

-- Dusty

well i guess i can feel pretty big about escapeing the wobble dado !! lol no i wasnt smart , i wasnt even lucky !
i was learning from a furniture maker and he told me not to buy one . after reading thru this blog im wondering if he told me that because he had bought one !! lol

I’ve got to second the Craftsman Router Table, and throw in the Craftsman dovetail jig. Both were presents.

The first problem with the router table was the metal insert. At the time I got it I was using a Black & Decker router that didn’t fit the plate. Then when I decided to upgrade the miter gauge I discovered that the slot is not a standard size. I still use it, though I’ll be making my own soon. Most of the time I’m using it with a shop built fence and with an auxiliary table over the top.

The dovetail jig – even when setup correctly didn’t produce even joints and was totally frustrating.

-- Chelle http://artsgranddaughter.blogspot.com

Hi, I’m Carl and I too have a wobbly dado blade. I feel better now.

The only other tool I wish I hadn’t payed money for was the $200 craftsman table saw complete with aluminum top and wings. It says 3 hp on the side. Maybe if it were kicked off a cliff you’d get 3 hp. Hmmmm.

-- Carl Rast, Pelion, SC

Back when I was just starting to do some wood projects I’d buy cheap Skil or Ryobi tools I’d buy on sale at Odd Lots or Lowes. At the time they seemed pretty-decent, but years later when I actually spent money on good tools I was amazed what pieces of junk they were. I also had one of those router biscuit attachments. Used it once and it was a PITA to setup and wasn’t very good. My Porter Cable biscuit joiner is infinitely better.

Never had a wobble dado blade, but I had a cheap dado setup that couldn’t cut a flat bottom to save its life. I’ve been pretty-lucky in the cheap clamp department, but I have bought a few that wouldn’t hold for squat. I have a nice assortment of good clamps, but I have a bunch of cheap plastic spring clamps and such that do a good job for what they are.

I currently have some cabinet scrapers I’ve never had a chance to use, as well as a dovetail machine. I’ll use them eventually, but they are just sitting now.

I also had a wobble dadoo blade, cheap clamps, Harbor Freight mini lathe, when I finally got to setting up my shop and using it, it didn’t work. I do have craftsman table saw, band saw, biscuit cutter and routers and table and haven’t experienced problems.

-- Ron Central, CA

I think we have a consensus on the wobble dado. I cant even remember how I wound up with 2 of them but they have been hanging on by pegboard for years collecting dust. Yeah oscorner I agree the firestorm cordless drill is a POS. I got one for Christmas and it didn’t last thru 2 charges before it burned up in a hail of smoke and stink. I still have the battery do you want me to sent it. Finally knockoff palm carving chisels from E-Bay you couldn’t carve your finger nail with.
Oh yes I have several of those other thingy doohickey gizmos.

-- DocK, WV

We all agree on the atrocious wobble dado and the flimsy flea market clamps but I think when we bought them they served some purpose (at least for most of us). When I was buying these things, I was not so sure I want to be a woodworker. I was mostly trying to do some projects to save some money. Moving from a bad router to even a wobbling dado seemed extraordinary at the time. Only later when I saw how a good tool behaves, I started to question the wobbling dado and started thinking about getting the real thing. I visited China this summer (a conference) and I saw some guys cutting lumber in one of the back streets close to the Forbidden City. Their table saw was way worse and unsafe than my first table saw (the 100$ Delta with direct drive). After purchasing a contractor saw, the old Delta seems a disaster but somehow the Chinese workers were getting the job done and were pretty happy about it. Maybe (just maybe) we are a little spoiled since we can afford fantastic the tools we have. Not that I want to go back to the old crappy tools.

Just something to think about,
Alin

-- -- Alin Dobra, Gainesville, Florida

I’ve bought a bunch of crap as well. I think I’ve learned my lesson there though.

Most recent frustration – Dremel XPR with Planer Attachment. The Dremel is solid, but the Planer killed the motor within 2 minutes of use on a chair back. I followed the speed guidelines. So the $20 planer killed the $80 tool. :(

All-time worst: Toss up between a few Harbor Freight wastes of space and a 10” Tradesmen Benchtop Tablesaw that I gave away to someone who likes suprises. Good thing, with that saw, every cut is a suprise result. I rarely will purchase anything with a motor or battery from Harbor Freight now. The one exception that I still use is their dust collector.

Funny note: I’ve noticed Arrow’s Brad Nailer a few times on this thread. I have it as well. I use of it when I need to fasten something temporarily. Since the nailer stinks, the brads only get partially driven which makes them easy to pull. :)

-- Jeff, South Carolina

Quote from Russel: “If you’ve got a way to get a fully assembled lathe w/o a box from Michigan to you, you can have it.”

Hey, Russel, I live probably five minutes away from you…are you interested in selling that lathe or just getting it out of your garage?

-- Living on the square...

OK, I had a wobbler, too. I used to think craftsman made good tools. I doubt if I will ever buy another tool from K-Mart/Sears. Last thing I got there is a benchtop drill press. It’s not even a good boat anchor cuz there’s no good place to tie the rope.

-- Maplewood, MN

Ditto on the routers with terrible RUNOUT. I’ll never get a skil for sure. But beware of the Chicago Tools 3.25 Horsepower router from Harbor Freight. I put a 1/4” straight bit in the collet and mounted the router under a table. (actually I had the router in the table before I put in the bit ;-D.) I spun the shaft by hand and I could see with the naked eye AT LEAST 1/32” runout—That’s 32 thousandths of an inch—a whole lot!

So I tried a blind cut in a piece of walnut, and I heard the router bit stop cutting, even though I was still feeding the wood through…
Yep, that bit snapped off and was sitting on the motor casing where the fan exhausts air from the motor.

Oh well… I guess I’ll drop $350 on the Porter Cable beast and be good to go, even though $100 seemed REALLY GREAT for a 19 Amp router—It really will cut through anything…just not very accurately and safely.

I would beware of the Makita 3612, because from photographs, it appears to be THE EXACT SAME ROUTER AS THE CHIGACO…so for another hundred bucks, you can get just as bad of a router. Someone correct me if the Makita is really good…then I might buy one, since I custom machined my router plate to fit those two models.

-- Lane Custom Guitars and Basses

I love my cheap Harbor Freight clamps, using them for 15+ years not one broke! (pipe and steel bar)

One of the worst was a HF brad nailer, will shoot through 3/4” maple but the safety mechanism works only sometimes, still use it carefully, what you want for $18.

-- MARK IN BOB, So. CAL

Makita makes great tools. Probably why the Chinese knock-off artists copied them for the “Chicago” tools.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Douglas is right – Makita makes really nice tools. My only complaint was that the bearings in their corded drills in the late 80s and early 90s didn’t hold up. All of the other Makita tools I’ve owned have been high quality. I don’t have the Makita router, but I wouldn’t hesitate to own one.

-- Coffee is best with a fine layer of sawdust on top. -- http://www.north40custom.com

Hey rikkor, Craftsmen used to make good tools but the manufacturer lost the contract years ago and found somebody who asked them to make the tool line better. They work for Home Depot now and the tool line is called Ridgid. As for my worst…The $99 Delta tablesaw with the undersized miter slots. I don’t think that machine could ever cut anything square. Luckily for me skipped the Wobble blade and went straight to a Frued which I love. I think the Dewalt Biscuit Joiner is the big dust collector in my shop, not that it’s a bad tool. Just one of those things I had to have and a year later, still haven’t used.

-- Mike and his helper "Stoli"

Definitely the worst tool was the Ryobi beginners router table and router combo. I haven’t done enough demanding work with the router to be disapointed, but the table is absolutely horrid. It’s set up so it’s impossible to change the bit without taking off the tool and the fence is a complete joke. Just got a hand-me-down Bosch 3hp (I think) plunge router with a 1/2” shaft from my popinlaw. I plan to build Norm’s deluxe router table for it’s new home and am sure I’ll be much happier than the Ryobi unit.

Also, the $29 router bit set from B-g Lots. Sure it comes with like 50 bits, but don’t plan on cutting anything accurately with them.

-- David, Lakeland, FL - GO BOLTS!!!

Harbor Freight biscuit jointer. Worst POS ever. Had to tape it together before I used it the first time. All adjustments require an allen wrench to completely remove and replace set screws. Very flimsy, you must hold it just right to get acceptable cuts. It was cheap and I have actually used it for a project but it really is a POS.

BTW – I have one of their cheap routers and it seems to work OK.

-- Leon -- Houston, TX - " I create all my own designs and it looks like it "

Dennis listed mine already way at the top of the list here, the Ryobi detail sander, what a joke. Whenever I used it I felt like I was doing as much work as a prisoner with a nail file on some steel bars, heck the prisoner probably did better.

-- Rob (A) Waxahachie,TX

worst list from above that I have too !
Wobble blade ... used once and in drawer forever
Skil Brand Plunge router … worked for my first project, but have upgraded since cheap clamps on ebay … they soon break
wooden body plane doohickey for radiusing corners … nothing but problems, tearout !

Firestorm 12 volt drill .. had the same exact problems
Ryobi detail sander … still with under an hour of useage

-- ..... art for lifes sake ... danwalters@lumberjocks.com

Worst tool for me was a mortising attachment for my router. I never could get it to cut a good straight and centered mortise. I won’t name the manufacturer because I have other products from them that I really like.

I never had the wobble dado. My first, and only, dado set was from Grizzly, the model H7777. For $50 bucks it has five tooth carbide chippers and 30 tooth main blades. It works great and leaves a nice smooth bottom.

The only other tool I regret buying is my Grizzly 6” jointer. Don’t get me wrong the jointer works great I just wish I would have bought at least an 8” model.

-- Owen Johnson - aka IowaWoodcrafter

I bought a set of hole saws off Ebay awhile back…”Carbide tipped!” “Drill thru wood and metal!”

Yeah right. The first time it touched steel, the teeth melted! It ain’t carbide and it don’t sport no carbide teeth, and worst of all, it’s too late to send it back. Just more Chinese crap from Ebay. I labeled the case “POS! Wood only!”

Today, when I shop Ebay, it’s only for brand name stuff.

-- Bob Vila would be so proud of you!

Looks like there might be a market for selling an attachment to turn them ryobi detail sanders into back scratchers….Hmmmm

-- miles125, Alabama.."Architecture is frozen music""

If you never got to hear this classic story on This American Life, Here is a link to one man’s adventure with the ryobi router table.

Excerpt: “This Ryobi router table is the worst thing I’ve ever spent money on. Period. I’ve wasted money on a lot of things in my life: women, cars, other things I didn’t need, you name it, but I’ve never felt like I totally 100% wasted my money on something until I bought this router table. I’ve wasted money, but I normally got some sort of satisfaction out of it, no matter how small, I got something out of it This is the most worthless piece of crap item I have ever had the displeasure of working with in my life. I have much more colorful ways of describing this but I realize that there may be some kids that will read this so I will try to keep it PG.

It comes complete with most of the crappy accessories it came with. An example is the plastic pusher miter thingie that’s so sloppy that I don’t understand why they even bothered making it adjustable. It’s really nice when you’re trying to rout something at an angle and it slips in the middle of the cut and jerks the workpiece right out of your hands and flings it across the room. Or the super anti-precision fence that’s almost impossible to adjust and keep in place. Or the slippery painted surface that wears off, exposing the rough surface that mars the workpiece as you slide it over. It does come with a power switch that always worked. I’ll give it that. It has a really nice power switch. Some of the other small items got destroyed in a fit of rage one day after fighting it for a couple of hours.”

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

miles125
back scratcher is a great idea ! my wife would love it !
DAN

forgot my enco jointer … nearly impossible to change the blades and the switch broke

-- ..... art for lifes sake ... danwalters@lumberjocks.com

Thanks Jon. I never heard that episode so I’ll give it a listen. TAL is fantastic.

Worst performer – Rockler dovetail jig. It couldn’t have been something less expensive, no. I guess it was a good thing because I’m much more discerning. I should have been more wary when I discovered they sell a special $14 jig to help with the setup. Ish.

Worst shortcut before buying an appropriate tool – one of those silly jigs you use with your electric drill that is supposed to improve the trajectory of the hole. Since it’s flimsey you can still drill a whole that is not in the plane you want. I’m glad that one was under $15.

-- Jeff, St. Paul, MN

Rotozip…..

Jimmy

-- Jimmy

Worst tool, Grizzley tennon jig. Impossible to adjust accurately.

Worst accessory, Grizzley fence on the Ultimate 14” bandsaw. The saw is fantastic but the fence is impossible to adjust.

Least used tool, Craftsman plastic hand clamps. Can’t seem to get enough pressure with them.

-- The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. Aristotle

wobble dado, used twice. I got lucky on the rotozip. I borrowed one on a job to cut a hole in some plywood and that told me all I needed to know. I had wanted one for a couple of years, but after using one, I hope no one ever gives me one.
God bless

-- Gene, a Christian in Virginia

To steal from Carl -
Hi my name is Andy and I have a wobblehead dado too… But I don’t feel better.
It is truly amazing how many of these could been mine. I always heard fishing lure companies try harder to design lures that catch fishermen more than fish. Looks like the woodworking tool companies took their lesson to heart!
I’ve bought more cheap tools over the years… and regretted them all.
Like many of you I still have most of them in a drawer….. maybe the elves will come make them work??
I bought a Craftsman router and didn’t know how bad it was. So I vought a Craftsman router table – thinking that must be the answer…. you can’t adjust it because the screws are covered by the table pieces – which came first the chiecken or the egg? You can’t setup the table becasue the adjustment screws are in the way and you can ‘t adjust it because it isn’t put together yet sheesh
I have a makita minirouter laminate trimmer I HAD to have….. one day I’ll take it out of the box – maybe.
I’m sure its a great tool I wish I could remember why I bought it.
Guess if nothing else I am feeling better I’m in good company at least
I thought I’d gotten better with my “craftsmanship” I think maybe that I’ve just gotten better tools!

-- CaptnA - "When someone hurts you, write it in the sand so the winds of forgiveness will scatter the memory... "

I bought one of those knock off dovetail jigs from Woodworkers Warehouse a long time ago. Thought I would be the king of drawer makers. Never could get the two sides to line up. The killer is I have moved twice since the purchase and because of it’s weight I have probably another $40 invested in moving charges.

-- Geoff, Lillington, NC

LOL, Top! The only HF stuff I’ve found that is usable is their C-clamps, aluminum bar clamps and some of their simple hand tools.

-- North Texas

I found one thing at HF that works fine and I use often. It is the aluminum can with a magnet inside that us used to pick up spilled ferrous items and then releases them when a handle is pulled. ;-) Some of the air tools are OK.

-- Abe Low, Fine furniture, Sacramento, CA

I have 2 and one was a gift that got me started woodworking, so i shouldn’t complain about it. It was a craftsman tablesaw. The absolute worst tablesaw i’ve ever seen. It couldn’t make strait cuts, wasn’t big enough or powerful enough. It was ok for a hobbiest, but it didn’t take me long to realize that i would need something alot better and more accurate.
The other is a router table with a built in motor. I paid $200 for this thing at lowe’s about 5 years ago. I can’t remeber the name of the manufacturer, but Lowe’s hasn’t carried it since. I want to say general machinary. it was just too limited with what it could do. Extremely hard to change bits and depth and would only take a 1/4” collet. It did make me build my own router cabinet that i put an aftermarket tabletop and fence from Rockler on.
So you live and learn, we just have a hobby or proffesion where mistakes can cost you alot of money. And you really do get what you pay for.

-- Joey, Magee, Ms http://woodnwaresms.com

most tools I purchased at harbor freight crapped out early, but the worst tool I ever purchased was a dial dado set. I returned it and got a real dado set. The dial a dado was rediculously expensive for a contraption that does not work

-- making sawdust....

CHEAP CLAMPS !!!!

-- Making sawdust is what I do best

As a beginner and someone who can’t pick up the scratch to get, heck, a decent mechanic’s set (hey, food or steel. Cheap food, cheap steel, I can do everything) and just learning – worst performing tool I own is probably every single one. HF router that busted apart mid-project(s), B&D jigsaw that is about as useful as a mouth on my elbow, chisels from weak steel. The joy? I know which tool I use, and I’m learning which tools I actually use. When I start wearing ‘m out, I’ll replace it.

HF router got fixed though. My girl’s an electrical engineer, so I went ahead and bought a new one. She…she fixed the old one….errr.