r/woodworkingtools

Hello all, I am coming on here to ask if anyone has any tips/tricks to help find those swoop/loop patterns on wood before putting on a finish. I feel like no matter how careful I am I always have at least one scratch on my projects.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I’m working on a safety improvement project in a woodworking/furniture manufacturing environment. We mainly work with plywood and wood panels—making frames, table tops, assemblies, edge-banding, and packaging.
We recently had a finger injury involving a staple gun, so we’re looking at ways to eliminate unnecessary hazards. I’m also looking at replacing exposed metal utility knives with safer retractable/ceramic options for cutting cardboard and trimming plastic/vinyl edging.
For those who work in woodworking or furniture manufacturing:
What tools, equipment, or work methods have actually made your workplace safer?
I’d especially love ideas for:
Safer cutting/deburring tools
Plywood handling and workholding
Jigs, clamps, push blocks, etc.
Preventing pinch/cut injuries during assembly
Dust, eye, and hearing protection
Cheap/simple improvements workers actually appreciate
What’s one safety improvement you wish your workplace had implemented sooner?

As a hobbyist woodworker, is there a reason to buy a $400 lift kit for a router table? I see Chinese kits on ebay for under $100. Is it like buying cheap router bits? They end up just making you frustrated and wear out really fast? Right now I'm just making cutting boards, but might eventually work up to furniture or cabinet doors.

⁠ Hey guys. I’m starting to get more serious about woodworking and I’m currently figuring out what tools are actually worth investing in. I have a couple of questions and would appreciate some advice from people with more experience.

1. Track saw: Is a Festool track saw worth the extra money, or can I go with a Makita? I will be working with hardwood and plywood and would rather spend the extra money elsewhere if the difference isn’t huge.

2. Festool Domino: Is the Domino really worth the price? I’m trying to understand what makes it so much better and whether it’s something a beginner/intermediate woodworker would actually benefit from.

I’m trying to buy good tools that I can keep for years, but I also don’t want to spend extra money just for the brand name.

Why do I have so much trouble getting new sleeves on some of the spindles? Is there a trick to it ?

Anyone. Is there a book out there, that covers extensively, all the uses and know how for Dremel use ?

I purchased a Dewalt DW735X planer, there is an option to add the LPP for $140 for 3 years. One of the perks is that I get 50% back, up to $100 per year, on blades. I will be planing thousands of board feet of oak and locust lumber that I have milled. Do you feel that it'll be worth it to pay $140 to save on blades, or are better value blades sold elsewhere? Thanks!

Working on a job site where we’re installing veneer sheets on walls with a 5/16” gap between sheets to create a reveal line, so all the exposed edges need to be finished cleanly.
The builder ordered non-glued edge banding instead of iron-on, so I’m looking for a portable/on-site edge bander that has a glue pot and applies the hot-melt adhesive to the banding as you go.
Some of these panels are full 4’ x 8’ sheets, with a bunch of other sizes and shapes, so I need something handheld/portable that can be brought to the panel rather than feeding the panel through a stationary machine.
Has anyone had good luck with an on-site edge bander for this type of work? Obviously the Festool Conturo is probably the go-to, but I’d rather not spend Festool money if there’s a solid alternative.
Any recommendations?

Machine is a Laguna dust collector, one of the early generations of cyclone.

It blew the start capacitor when running. Ordered a new capacitor. With the same specs, and it blew smoke as soon as I tried starting the machine. Sounded like it was spooling up as normal, then blew maybe 3/4 of the way to achieving full speed.

I fortunately don’t have to work on my machines often, and the electrical part isn’t my forte. Anyone know what I should be looking at?