What woodworking tool/gadget were you skeptical of at first, but

[gMike]

Fein Multitool for me. I bought it for a specific job. The longer I have it the more I use it for those oddball things that nothing else works for.

[Axehandle]

Steve N said:

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[blockquote]Axehandle said:

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Knew Concepts fret and coping saw.

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Did you buy after trying them, or just order online?

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I was skeptical of them even after I bought them. I used the coping saw for three rooms worth of 3 piece baseboards in my house and I was not convinced it was any better than the TFWW German one I had. The difference was the blades. The TFWW one had a TFWW olsen? blade and the KC was some unknown. After I got that sorted out there was a pretty reasonable difference in tension. Not a ton, maybe not enough to justify the price difference but it is a better tool and my skepticism went away because of it.

Later I tried the KC fret saw at Highland in Atlanta and just bought it. I don't regret it. It is the 5" one. Im really getting into hand tools that do not look traditional.

[Doug_H]

I am genetically frugal. I scoffed at almost everything in the Lee Valley catalog, especially hand planes. "You want how much?" I can buy a [whichever power tool] for that price. Well, I have completely changed my mind. Now that I have fettled some inexpensive planes and bought some good ones I see both the value of handplanes in my work (for almost every furniture project) and the reason why I should pay the money for good quality hand planes.

I scoffed at dust control until I noticed what I was coughing up.

The opposite example is the razor blade plane. Seemed like a useful tool for removing glue squeezeout, etc. but I'm still trying to figure out what it's useful for. I should have scoffed more at that one.

Doug

[museumguy]

gMike said:

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Fein Multitool for me. I bought it for a specific job. The longer I have it the more I use it for those oddball things that nothing else works for.

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Me also. Then I bought a corded generic version and fell in love. Perfect timing as I had to cut a double band joist and sill plate out on my house. Short work for this tool. Fast forward a couple of years and I bought a cordless version. You think you grabbed one a bunch before, buy a cordless version. That thing hardly ever got put away. The thing is the blades, buy the best blades you can find, it makes a world of difference.

[Bibliophile 13]

Hand-stitched cabinet rasp.

I always preferred edge tools, something I could resharpen. I had had hit-and-miss experiences with machine-cut rasps, but eventually I needed to shape some tight curves that only a rasp could handle. I bought a couple of the Czech-made rasps from LV, and wow--I use them frequently now! One of these days I might upgrade to a French-made one, but I'm totally sold on these things.

[AgGEM]

Bibliophile 13 said:

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Hand-stitched cabinet rasp.

I always preferred edge tools, something I could resharpen. I had had hit-and-miss experiences with machine-cut rasps, but eventually I needed to shape some tight curves that only a rasp could handle. I bought a couple of the Czech-made rasps from LV, and wow--I use them frequently now! One of these days I might upgrade to a French-made one, but I'm totally sold on these things.

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I'll agree about rasps too. Recommended to me by fellow woodnetters, fun to use and they get the job done.
Ag

[Superglide]

I'll add the Foredom to the list. Thought the Dremel was a good tool, and Foredom overpriced. Bought it, and was hooked.

[Steve N]

Lee mounts the saws with Pegas blades. I'm pretty sure this is his go to guy but Joel sells them at TFFW too.

Generally they are a saw a person will hem and haw about the $$ but once they use them, the $$$ is easy

[JR1]

Festool Domino, I had a Jet mortiser and it didn't do a lot of what I needed. Then every one was pushing biscuit joiners and I bought a Lamello after a demo. Worked great for aligning sheet goods, particularly ply, but it was a one trick pony. I heard about the Domino but didn't see anything impressive but the price. Went to a Demo day then got a loner; dumped the Jet and the Lamello.

[Gary™]

1. Card scraper was a game changer for me
2. I've fallen in love with a Gyokucho 372; best Japanese saw ever.