Profit Making Machines

Tablesaw is the money maker. You can make jigs for a lot of things they make machines to do, but cutting material can be a pain with out the saw.
I’d say there are two tools I don’t know what I did without, or couldn’t understand why I didn’t buy them sooner and that would be the pneumatic pocket borer and the line boring machine. Then again I am in the business of making kitchen and bath cabinets and production matters.
I also use the router table very frequently so it’s up there too, but you can buy a lot of things you make with it pre-made like mouldings, doors, etc. Like I said though, having a TS or panel saw is a must. I’m sure the planer is up there too. Oh and the um…..............

BTW, I’m a profit making machine, and up for sale if anyone needs a new machine….......

-- ~ Inspiring those who inspire me ~

My hands! Next to that it has to be the workhorse of my shop, the tablesaw.

-- Julian, Park Forest, IL

you cant make things furniture etc without a tablesaw so that’s no 1 then a band saw and a planer thicknesser of course I would also say no 1 for may might be a lathe.With just one tool allowed to have a lathe would make you more money than anything else I should think.Unless I have misunderstood your question. the tookl I would miss most is the planer thicknesser or jointer planer in USA .or lathe as I love to turn. Alistair

-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease

table saw
band saw
drum sander
jointer
planer
router
drill press
hand tools
miter saw (is a must when building some things)

-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings

I think Julian said it best…

My hands have made me ALL of my money in my 25 years in the workforce.

Which leads me to the ever important statement.

Safety first. :)

-- Honey... I need to buy a tool to build you a present!

While I agree the workhorse of the shop is the table saw, I think that goes without saying, nothings getting done before cutting boards, and of course it takes skilled hands to run the tools.

My biggest money maker has been from my edge bander. (SCMI Basic II) I couldn’t count how much time has been saved when it comes to putting edging on. I used to do it with an iron, after I got the bander it was the one tool that I asked myself how I could have gone so long without one.
My main source of work is building cabinetry, so the next tool I think has been best for me is my (Ritter)double line boring machine for drilling adjustable shelf holes. Drills 42 holes at a time, 21 at the front and 21 at the back. Couldn’t, or wouldn’t want to be without it.

Bentlyj thats a job which could easily be done with 42 co workers each with hand held drills why do you need to get an expensive dedicated machine.LOL seriously I would never have thought of the edgebander but it shows me I have alot to learn yet thanks guys for posting don’t pay any attention to my LOL posts I am just feeling a fraction better tonight.Alistair

-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease

Axe, froe, mallet, wedges, drawknives, chisels, hammers, brace and bits, Asian saws and planes, shaving horse, good weather, great clients.

-- Randy, Rustic Artisan, a family tradition. (No PM's - auto-deleted.) - "I am a seeker, not a follower."

thickness planer would be my vote, as i use a lot of reclaimed wood in my projects. zero cost in material really helps you make money ;)

-- James, Bluffton, IN

I’d probably agree with you Bently about the edgebander being a profit maker. I just never could afford one. Turns out, nothing was really making me any profit. LOL, okay well that’s not funny…........

-- ~ Inspiring those who inspire me ~

thats called “intellectual property” which should never be made public and at a “price” might be for sale.

edgebanders can do in one hour, what takes ten men and a boy a “week” to do

thickness sanders can do in an “hour” what 50 men cant do in a “lifetime.”

a good fundemental understanding of joinery procedure and methodology …..................priceless…...and there is no machine that can replace that.

-- http://www.furnituremann.ca/

will mine is kind of out of left field but my kreg pocket hole jig has been a work horse in my shop so much so im thinking of buying a pocket hole machine one day i use it on all sorts of things glueing up table tops face frames. this thing saves me so much time it not even funny.

-- I buy tools so i can make more money,so ican buy more tools so I can work more, to make more money, so I can buy more tool, so I can work more

No fair answering your own question. LOL

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop, custom furniture ,maker, woodworking school, heirloomwoodshop.com

Your personal skill and knowledge.

Without those all the tools in the world won’t help.

-- I never started a project I couldn't screw up.

Aside from the basic woodworking tools that are needed for a shop such as the table saw, router table, etc, my drum sander is one of most important tools. I always viewed a drum sander as a luxury that would be the last thing I would buy, but now that I have one, it runs almost as much as my table saw.

-- I don't make mistakes, only design changes....www.dgmwoodworks.com

money management skills. no profit without it. it’s too late at night to go off on a tangent here, and for those who actually read this, please don’t take offense. it’s only my opinion. in good times when money is flowing, most any one with some talent and a few tools can make a living in a craft as obtuse as woodworking. a stockbroker didn’t have to be a genius in the 90’s to make money in the stock market. most anything he recommended went up. what separates the wheat from the chaft is the hard times. a one or two man shop is basically a thing of the past. you need a critical mass to stay in business. unless you have a very special talent, like brain surgery or international law, you are the one of many. this wood whisper guy makes his living on advertisements and teaching classes. the other guy, T-chisel, is selling miniaiture baseball bats rather than promoting fine furniture. i know these guys are not your average woodworker, but they prove a point. and that is you need (must have) an edge, and even then it’s hard, in any business. if you are out there banging cabinets together for a living, like you did last year, and the year before that, someone is eventually gonna figure out how to take the work from you. i see quite a few hungry fellows out there using inferior product and undercutting price. don’t blame the consumer. it’s not their fault some cannot adapt to change. ego and pride and business are not always a good mix. i’m just saying if a person can’t find their unique niche and change with the times, as in be nimble and flexible, and watch his bottom line, we’re gonna be reading a lot more posts of down and out woodworkers. again just my opinion. not trying to offend anyone.

-- david roberts, houston area, "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but that has never been a problem for me."

David, I agree with you 100% and as a business that failed didn’t see anything offensive. I think my business failed because I didn’t know how to run it. I am a cabinetmaker/woodworker. That’s it. When the ex left she left an office only she was familier with. I would walk in there, sit down, and be completely depressed. I don’t know accounting, taxes, marketing, etc. It’s like jumping off the diving board without knowing how to swim. Some people make it to the edge and crawl out. Right now I’m in the middle at the bottom, with a cement boot. The boot is debt and lack of work. If I can fix one of those, the other will be easy to fix and I can make my way to the edge. Providing I don’t drowned first. As it stands, I am holding my breath.

-- ~ Inspiring those who inspire me ~

totally agree with you last two guys….don’t have much else to say about it, it’s pretty late and if i were the “average” person that i should be i shouldn’t even be up cuz i should have work early in the morning…lol but i don’t, and when you’re down and everything or everyone around you seems to be kicking you while you’re there it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel…but i still see it, just faintly compared to earlier times in my life, although i’m young and haven’t lived much of it (24 years), i have started and sadly closed 2 businesses (selling cars and commercial “cabinetry”, very primitive stuff though)....i have no where near the technical skills/experience that a lot of guys have out there, and would consider myself an entrepreneur more in just a general business sense, but find myself with most of my assets/passion being devoted to woodworking. But I wonder if i can even make it in that market these days? without finding some special niche that i haven’t thought of/approached yet….i dunno about most, but i’m thinking that would be the majority consensus these days with all the offshoring/outsourcing/lack of quality….I’m thinking my only way to survive is to do some other work i hate at a base 9 to 5 and save up til i can find a better business model…save up, invest some in better tools (i have every basic hand/power tool but low quality for the most part), invest more time in more well thought out plans/ideas, and have the time to implement them without having to feel forced by the pressure to make an income from it (when your best creativity can come out)....i don’t know why i even felt the need to respond, but i guess it’s cuz i figured you guys would probably understand me more than most people around me would about this woodworking stuff…give the real deal, good or bad, often a bit of both. I like reading all the different approaches people have on figuring out a problem, it shows a lot i think. Thanks for reading this if you did, and even more so for your response! lol