Over the last two months I ‘ve added a few new toys to the shop.  Mostly I needed a Jointer, so I picked one up from Harbor Freight during a sale and added the 20% off coupon to bring it to under $160.  It’s not the nicest jointer, but it beats the crap out of what I had: None.

I also added a Ryobi AP1300 Thickness Planer.  I managed to grab it when Home Depot was bringing in the new AP1301, which seems inferior to the AP1300 (no cutter head lock, no re-plane, no thickness indicator).  As always, I looked for a deal and talked a manager at a Home Depot in Houston into selling me the floor model (complete, both knives, no manual/box) for $155 for a $280 planer.

Since I got the jointer and thickness planer I’ve expanded my woodworking fun to include some 4/4, 8/4 and 5/4 Walnut, Africian Mahogany and Cherry.  I’ve got to admit, it’s great fun taking rough stock and making dimensioned lumber out of it, regardless of savings.

I had to add a couple of software extras to this via learning Google Sketchup and buying CutList Plus to help me design and layout my cuts on my sometimes weird dimensioned lumber.  Both are highly recommeded.

Finally, I added my my much desired Rockler Router Table #1 package that I’ve been wanting for over a year.  This will get my Hitachi M12v out of my tablesaw and into a proper table of it’s own.  I’ll be building the Router Table cabinet this weekend (if it stays dry) and will post my Sketchup .skp file when I’m done.

Other recent addtions: Incra Precision Jig from Rockler ($59 vs. standard $120) for dovetails and all manner of precision router work and a All-in-one 50″ clamp.  I mention the clamp because it’s changing the way I work with sheet goods and even long stock.  It’s a clamping straightedge which allows me to run my circular saw, router, whatever all the way across a 4×8 piece of plywood in a precise manner.  This means that I essentially have a low volume panel saw when I add 2 2×4’s and a couple of cross 2×2’s to my saw horses.

Now if it will just stay dry I can make some sawdust!

I talked my wife into letting me buy a Rigid Wet / Dry Vac from Home Depot for $39.97 this past weekend. She went with me to supervise and help pick out some hinges for a baby fence I was making for the bedroom. When we arrived there was “Tex” outside hawking some extra display gear. One of the items he had was the Ryobi SS30 1HP straight shaft trimmer, which just happens to be the one I’ve been looking at. “Tex” offered it to us for %50 off, full warranty, extra oil and a strap.

So I scored a shop-vac AND a gas trimmer while with my wife…we have a winner!

My wife’s plan worked like a charm. I spent most of my free time last week cleaning out the garage for my new tools. I’ve setup and adjusted my table saw, sander and drill press. All are working like a charm and I bulit a small flush mount cabinet for my initial project. Amazingly, the door didn’t turn out to be as difficult as I expected. The butt-hinges did give me a little bit of trouble, but not in mortising them in…but mounting them.

I ended up returning my SD208 Dado set to HomeDepot and ordering the SD206 online. (8″ vs. 6″ Dado set)

Well, we took the plunge. Melissa and I had cashed in for $700 of gift cards to Home Depot. The points had been sitting around doing nothing, so we took this chance to put them to use. We also threw in the 10% discount that was available to make the deal even sweeter! We did end up owing a bit, but $850 of stuff for $70 aint bad! I made out the best, but Melissa will reap the rewards. I got my Ryobi BTS3100c Table Saw and my Ryobi Disc/Belt Sander, oh yea! We also picked up a 7000BTU LG Heat/Cool window unit for the shed we are converting into my office. I decided onteh BTS3100c after looking at it, reading about it and checking out the great online community.

She gets the rewards of:

1. My office moving out of the house.
1. Table saw will be used to make things around the house.
1. Sander will do the same.
Me cleaning out the garage to make room for my workshop!

Needless to say, I’m in the process of cleaning out the garage and the shed right now!

The folks from Cummins Tools came through town and did a truckload sale here at the Elk’s Lodge. I picked up a $40 Drill Press and a set of 6 bar clamps for $30.

The Drill Press isn’t fancy and is a table top variety with 50mm (2″) of throw. I figured that for that price, if it works twice it’s just about paid for itself.

The Bar Clamps are similar to the speed clamps you can get at Home Depot or the like, but 6 for $30 instead of ~$20 each.

Melissa and I stopped on the side of the road the other day and looked at cat toys. They wanted close to $250 for some of them and I mentioned that “I could make that”. My birthday was coming up and I’ve been wanting a good power driver so my parents took us to Home Depot. We found a kit that included an 18v driver/drill, 5.5″ circular saw, flashlight and 2 batteries and a charger for $149.

I’ve had a tons of fun building:

1. Cat condo (2 floor enclosed box with circular holes in and out, fully carpeted)
2. Cat tower with 2 platforms
3. A 24″ x 48″ workbench on casters
4. Small parts box (8″ x 9″ with dado’ed base)

Since the initial purchase, we’ve been back and I’ve purchased the 18v speed saw (Rotozip like) and the 18v stapler/brad nail driver. All of this has made work around the house a pleasure and we have the cat toys + tools to make more for around the price the guy on the side of the road was asking.

My next purchase is a Ryobi 3100c table saw which we’ll be needing for the work on the house.