I have a confession to make. I love woodworking tools!

On more than one occasion, my wife has told people that if our house were on fire, the first thing I would drag out is my table saw! That is not exactly true (the first thing to come out would be my 1967 Pontiac Firebird!), but my tools certainly are important to me. I have gotten a great deal of satisfaction over the years from building things with them, and I can't imagine life without my tools. Having the right tool to accomplish what I want to do just makes life easier and more enjoyable.

I want to provide you with information, specs, and honest reviews of woodworking tools from a woodworker's point of view. Not from a professional's viewpoint, but from someone who thoroughly enjoys working with wood as a hobby and is on a budget.

Quality tools are a joy to work with. They just feel right in your hands, and can give you years (or even a lifetime) of reliable service. When a piece of equipment works as it was intended every time you pick it up or turn it on, it allows you to focus on the project at hand and get more done in less time. Quality tools can often give you better results than inferior tools, requiring less time sanding, sharpening, reshaping, or reworking the wood.

That being said, I am also a fan of saving money wherever you can. Using woodworking tools of inferior quality is often an exercise in frustration, but spending extra for a professional quality tool "just because" isn't the smartest thing to do either, unless you have a surplus of funds. I rarely advise buying anything that is the cheapest model available. My general advice is to buy the best quality tool you can reasonably afford. But you have to weigh your options and your needs.

Not everyone needs the biggest, baddest, most powerful and expensive thingamajig on the market. For instance, for many folks an inexpensive $50 cordless drill will perform just as well and last just as long as a $200 professional cordless drill will.

Sure, the more expensive version may drill more holes between charges and power through the hard stuff in half the time. But if the less expensive drill will do what you ask of it without complaint, that extra hundred and fifty bucks could be spent elsewhere, maybe on a cordless trim saw and a jig saw to go with the drill!

I own a wide variety of tools, ranging from cheap, homeowner-grade stuff to "the best you can buy" automotive tools (I was an auto mechanic in a former life!). I have to admit, most of my woodworking tools are "middle of the road" quality. Not the cheapest ones out there, but certainly not on par with professional grade equipment designed for daily use. Most of them have served me quite well.

I also have to admit that I am a "research junkie". When I get ready to buy something new, be it a tool, a home appliance, a computer, or anything that is either a) expensive, b) something I will use frequently, or c) something I expect to have for a long time, I tend to research it to death. It drives my wife crazy!

When I decided to replace my old, worn out, not-so-trusty–anymore chain saw, I spent a couple of months reading up on all the different specs and people's opinions on chain saw brands and models before I decided on one (a Stihl MS 250 - please, no hate mail from the Husqvarna crowd!). The same thing when I bought my wood lathe, and miter saw (and rotary hammer, and mig welder, and digital camera, and ...). I like to compare features and specs of different woodworking tools side by side, so I feel like I'm making the best possible choice to suit my needs.

Sometimes it takes some searching to find all the information I am looking for, and I often end up compiling info from several different sources. Believe it or not, I frequently create spreadsheets with all the specs and features of the different models of whatever it is I am looking at buying. My aim here is to compile as much info on woodworking tools as possible all in one place, so you don't have to search far and wide to find what you are looking for. I will be offering reviews and specs for table saws, miter saws, band saws, drill presses, routers, chain saws, sanders, planers, jointers, wood lathes, you name it!

At the moment, I will only be doing reviews for tools that get average or better owner ratings from retailers and on the various woodworking forums. There are too many good woodworking tools out there to spend time writing about poor quality stuff. However, don't take that to mean that a tool is of poor quality just because it isn't listed here! I may just not have gotten to it yet.

In the future, I will also be providing info on woodworking plans and projects, and maybe even show off a little of my own work when I have something I'm proud of. Who knows, maybe I'll make a video or two showing different techniques, too. Although I might better film my Dad, since he is more skilled than I ever hope to be!

It will take a while to cover all the different types of woodworking tools out there, so bear with me. Pages will be added to this site on a weekly (and sometimes daily) basis as time allows, and I will provide actual owner reviews when possible. So check back often, and watch as we grow!