Thursday, October 26, 2006

by Johnathan Bakers

A well equipped work shop is the first step to making sure you are ready and able for any do-it-yourself home improvement project. With a few basic workhorses, you can saw, nail, sand, shape and sharpen the way the pros do it.

The Top Five Tool List
There are thousands of tools on the shelves of the hardware store and the work benches of seasoned do-it-yourself gurus, but it you were to break them down into categories, they all do some of the same things. So with five basic pieces of hardware as your foundation, you can build anything and then work from there to build your own workshop.

The first power tool to have is a circular saw. With this you can cut straight lines and large curves. Setting a board along the top of two saw horses, can create a work area to hold wood being cut.

Next, for larger wood working projects a table saw or radial arm saw is in line. Choosing one that rotates to different angles is important if you plan to cut picture framing or crown mouldings for your home. The angles allow you to create the 45 degree mitre cuts for a perfect fit.

Third, the well- equipped workshop has an electric sander. All of this work could be done by hand, but the electric belt sander gives each piece of wood a professionally finished look. It prepares long strips of moulding or the edges of table tops and other furniture for staining or painting.

Fourth, every wood working work shop should have a router. This handy tool allows you to make woodworking patterns and grooves that take a piece of furniture or moulding from that plain look of the Shaker style to the ornate French provincial elegance.

Finally, maintaining your saws and other tools is easier with a grinding wheel or knife sharpener. These will allow you to maintain blades and keep them cutting the fine details and patterns that take your handicraft up a notch from amateur to professional.

Solid Brands for Solid Quality
There are some brands of tools that the name alone creates an image of quality. Makita, Ryobi, Rockler, Rockwell, Sears Craftman, Snap-On, Hitachi, and Rigid are all names you can rely on. The prices in these brands vary a little, but with any of them you can count on a quality tool that will last decades. It is worth the investment.

Adding On
Once you have stocked your workshop shelves with the basics, you can add some of the luxuries that make the jobs easier and smoother. Of course there are the smaller devices such as gluers and clamps that keep projects together while you work. But to that you can add electric nailers, dovetail jigs, jet tools and more to make life easier.

A well organized workshop with all of the basics is the ideal way to work. Perhaps your first big project can be building the workbench that will serve as your foundation for many more projects to come.

About the Author
Concentrating on informating about antique hand tools, the author is publishing primarily for http://www.insidewoodworking.com amongst others on on hand toolshttp://www.insidewoodworking.com/tools/HandTools.html .

The Story Behind Jet Power Tools

by Peter J. Wilson

Setting up shop is easy when you have a supplier that can provide you with jet power tools. The top-of-the-line woodworking and metalworking tools can be found at more than 9,000 dealers world-wide.

All About Jet
Jet power tools are not just made in one place, but are a collection of the finest technology and materials from around the world. The tools are manufactured in areas where engineers have perfected specific crafts and designed the tools to support them.
One of the unique qualities about Jet power tools is that they have the accessories that are most useful to each tool. For example, power saws are supported by products such as the Cyclone Dust Collector and Parallel Clamps. This makes working with the saw more efficient and creates a better workshop environment.

Jet power tools are backed by warranties on each and every product. Authorized Jet distributors stand behind this warranty as well. All tools can be maintained and services at authorized Jet service centres around the world. If you ever need a part, it will be available when you need it. Replacement and spare parts are well inventoried with more than $3 million of parts in stock at any given time.

And the Winner Is...

Jet has been the recipient of many prestigious awards within the power tool industry. Woodworking magazines are consistently rating Jet tools as the finest brand of power tools on the market. The awards don't come easily either. They are based on a comparison of all tools within any given category from around the world and at all price levels.

What You Can Get From Jet Power Tools
In addition to quality you can get one of the widest varieties of power tools from Jet. The Jet lathe, Jet table saw and Long Bed Jointer are among the convenient woodworking tools by Jet.
One special item from Jet is the portable horizontal band saw. This lightweight series of saws are great for jobs outside of the workshop. They are small, yet big on capabilities. The blades can be adjusted to 45 and 60 degree angles great for miter cuts. The bi-metal blade makes it durable and able to handle jobs that normally require much bigger saws. There is also an optional floor stand that instantly turns the band saw into a multi-functional table saw.

To get the most from these portable saws and all of the tools carrying the Jet name, Jet has created training videos. These videos feature all of the top products by Jet in their training series known as the "Shopclass Series." Either WMH Tool Group or specific distributors can provide you with the list of titles to help you complete any job.

Deep Backing for Jet WMH Tool Group
Jet power tools are one brand supported by parent company WMH Tool Group. This long-standing leader in tools also provides the Powermatic and Wilton lines to serious craftsman and do-it-yourself homeowners alike. To get a good look up close at the complete line of Jet power tools you can visit a distributor or attend one of the many industry trade shows where WMH Tool Group sets up their interactive booth. The website also features pictures and descriptions of all of their top selling tools and a list of distributors who carry them.

About the Author
Peter J. Wilson's summaries can be discovered on plenty of websites linked to jet lathe and jet table saw. From his reports like http://www.insidewoodworking.com/jet/index.html ,he showed his deep knowledge on things related to jet power tools and jet table saw.

Power Tools And Router Combo Kits

by Dana Bradley

With one motor for two methods of routing, the router is used for continuous cutting like profiling the board's edges. In the fixed base, the router has a lower center of gravity which makes it very simple to control. When the motor is in the plunge base, the router instantly becomes better suited for creating stopped cuts. This is due to the fact that a plunge base permits the router bit to be lowered straight into a work-piece, before it's raised up at the end of the routing cut.

The disadvantage to owning both the plunge router and fixed-base router was once the cost. However, router combo kits cause it to be a lot less costly to own both a plunge router and fixed-base router. The unique combo kits are constructed with two bases and one motor to service the two. Two routers for just a tad more than the price of one is the price of one is the net result.

Six router combo kits were compared and rated. The six routers have a 2 ¼ hp motor with variable speeds. The skil 1825 was rated at 3.66 out of 5 due to the fact that it doesn't have a motor with a soft-start feature, and it doesn't have a consistent speed-control feature that aids in the speed of the motor even when the bit goes into a tough area or used to make deep cuts. Bit shanks of either ¼ inch diameter or ½ diameters are with each of the router combo kits.

Out of the six router combo kits, the Bosch 1617EVSPK normally cost $220 and the Porter-Cable 895k costs approximately $270. The Skil 1825 was the least expensive at $100; therefore, the skil had the best in value.

The Bosch 1617EVSPK is one of many power tools within the top name in tools and accessories.
Bosch products are offered on the Internet

Bosch Power Tools & Accessories is one of the many divisions within the billion dollar North American Robert Bosch Tool Corporation. Bosch supplies an assorted line of cordless and corded power tools, accessories as well as brand-name gear designed to endure any jobsite and permit professionals and enthusiasts to gain control of their hard work.

Bosch power tools provide many alternatives where you can work with flexibility, precision, safety and of course productivity on a repeated basis.

About the Author
Dana Bradley writes about Power Tools coupons, ToolKing Coupon and Nothern Tool Coupon

Random-orbit Power Tools- Palm Sanders

by Dana Bradley

It's been proven for two decades that the most economical and fastest method to make a rough surface smooth has been to use a random-orbit palm sander. No matter if you're in the woodshop or a building site or even around the house, the palm sanders are smooth and aggressive. As tool designs have come around to evolve, vibration has been diminished and dust collection has seen improvement. However, what's most important is that the 5-inches sander can produce a good finish.

First using the PICO-grit pads and then using the P220 - grit pad, 9 hoop-and loop-base 5 inch palm sanders were used to sand a cherry board with each sander until the surface was smooth with satisfaction. When the cherry boards were actually stained and shellacked, they were not distinguishable. A few differences occurred such as some sanders took longer than others to accomplish that result, as well as variations in comfort and dust collection.

An evenly distributed scratch pattern may seem like some sort of contradiction for as "random" -orbit sanders, but that just means that not one specific area is abraded more than the other. These palm sanders establish an across-the -board scratch pattern by coupling an orbital motion that normally distributes the scratches as simply as possible.

Features to look for are the hook-and-loop and variable speeds. Hook-and-Loop is the most customary method to attach paper. Not only is changing the paper easy and quick, but a partially used sanding desk can simply be reinstalled. For resinous woods, variable speed is quite useful. Due to the fact that pads run cooler at slower speeds, low speeds slow paper clogging on woods, like pine.

Festool Eccentric Sander ES 125 EQ has a design of compactness that's lightweight at 2.4 lbs. This random-orbit palm sander not only ascertains overhead work that's long-lasting and non-tiring with single-handed mechanisms. When the tool is set down, due to the sanding pad brake, the highest degree of work-piece protection as well as safety is guaranteed. The sophisticated, vastly fine sanding stroke of the ES 125 EQ assures surface quality of the uttermost perfection. The dustproof contained bearing affords a service life of longevity which actually ensures costs of low maintenance. The Jet stream patented sanding pad augments the lifetime of material that's abrasive by approximately 30% for big savings.

Out of the 9 random-orbit sanders, the Festool ES125 EQ-plus was considered the best overall in a recent poll at 4.84 out of 5.

About the Author
Dana Bradley writes about PowerTools coupons, ToolKing Coupon Codes and Nothern Tool Coupon Codes