Large Scale Central

New (to me) power tools

We did some lettering on a custom made cabinet at work last week. I was talking to the cabinet maker and mentioned my envy of his wood shop. He asked what power tools I had. My answer was meager - A table saw, a miter saw, palm sander, jig saw and power drills. He asked if I could use a Craftsman router and table. How much? I asked expecting it to be over my budget. $20 too much? he says Then he asked if I had any Dado blades for my table saw. Nope I don’t. How bout a ‘wobble dado’ and a 7 section dado for another $20 he asked.

He dropped them off today and I just put them right in my car. At that price I wasn’t going to nit pick.

At home tonight I did an inspection. The Router/table is an older Craftsman router motor, but it looks to be in good shape. The table (also Craftsman) is a small light-weight affair, but it can be bolted down to to something more substantial. The table has a hardwood faced fence and a slot miter gauge. Looks perfect for modeling or small cabinetry work.

The Wobble Dado looks almost brand new. It is adjustable for dado cuts from 3/16" to 3/4" and is marked in 16ths. The seller said it’s not terribly accurate.

The sectional dado has two brand new looking blades and 5 chippers, 4 thick and one thin. Maximum dado looks to be about 1.5"

I think this was probably the best $40 I’ve spent in a long time. Now I need get some router bits (Harbor Freight for starters) and dream up some projects

Nice buy !

I personally would spend the extra money on a set of Freud bits however that is my preference. Ryobi makes a decent set.

I don’t really have the budget at the moment for even a small HF carbide set. I have a Ryobi set at work - they are OK. I think for starters I’ll just buy a combo roundover / beading bit and an Ogee bit from HF just to play - That will set me back about $10.

a good start with some very useful tools, the wobble dado does not produce a flat bottom slot, works in most cases.

Just keep the fingers out of them, use good push sticks.

Dennis