Best tool money you've spent

[paarker]

When Home Depot was clearing out the Dealt 735 I picked one up for $279. At that price putting a Bryd head on it was an easy decision.

[Tony Z]

Mine was in 2004. My cousin, a teacher at a high school about 30 miles away, alerted me that their high school was buying all new power tools for their shop. Didn't seem to be advertised, so I stopped by the school, seems they just had flyers up in the school, but it was to be a submitted bid auction and open to all.

I ended up with a 8" Delta jointer, a Unisaw, a 7" Delta bench grinder on a cast iron iron pedestal with spark arrester, a heavy duty Delta drill press, a Powermatic Model 45 lathe. The price? $1400.00 for all.

[ajkoontz]

The first thing that popped into my head were some of the 'deals' that I've scored over the years. For example, $250 for a makita tracksaw and the long track. I would have never paid retail for that thing, but now that I have it I wouldn't live without it. But that's not my answer. For me, it is the $1,100 I paid (to someone on this forum) for my unisaw. I use it on almost every project. It's an unsung tool that I just don't think about that much, but really is something I couldn't live without. It makes me a better woodworker, and it makes me (unconsciously) happy every time I turn it on.

Tool regrets? Well, I've had a few of those.

[Philip1231]

My first Lie Nielsen plane: opened up the world of hand tool wooodworking.

[museumguy]

For me, the best deal financially was the Ridgid bandsaw that I bought at HD for a penny. Gave it to my son and he uses it a lot. Still have the receipt.

[Bill_de]

Stationary: Sawstop
Handheld: Domino

The first one saves my life; the second changes my life (I am talking about woodworking life, of course).

Simon

I think just saying Ditto would work for me.

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[Phil Thien]

Probably my Ryobi BT3k table saw.  The saw everyone loved to hate.

They had issues with alignment of the sliding miter table, no miter slot, etc.

I fixed that by eliminating the sliding miter table, building a miter slot and a large sled, and aligning the snot out of the saw.

I guess I've had the thing over 20 years now.

[chapeleastland]

While this won't be considered a power tool in the strictest sense, it did give me power to join quickly and efficiently. I've been amazed at how well it works and how easy it is to use.

It's the Dowelmax. A beautiful piece of machinery that has saved me time and money. If I lost this one, I'd buy another tomorrow.

[handi]

Early in my woodworking I bought a Stanley 103 block plane at a yard sale for $5.00.
Once tuned up, it has been my go-to block plane for more than 20 years.

I have Lie-Neilson and a Lee Valley block planes, and both are wonderful tools, but the little Stanley is small enough to use one handed and fits into an apron pocket or tool box so it is always to hand.

[measure once cut remeasure]

I drove over 100 miles to pick up a keller dovetail jig at a reasonable price.

While there I picked up quite a few other things including a lathe chuck.  I didn't know if it was going to fit my grandfather's old lathe.

I figured for $20, I wasn't out much if it didn't fit. At the time I didn't know that adapters were readily available to make it fit.

The chuck did fit without the need of an adapter.  The chuck was a Oneway stronghold still in the box with wrench. I have since bought an adapter so that it would fit on a PM90.