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Hitachi Wood Plug Cutter Works Perfectly in Hand Held Drills (2013)

paulsellers.com

21–30 of 64 posts

Re: Hitachi Wood Plug Cutter Works Perfectly in Hand Held Drills (2013)

#21
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, beautiful stuff. Definitely my favorite woodworker on YouTube so far. I think his style is more mine. The epoxy "river tables" and all the live-edge stuff that is trendy puts me off of other the YouTubers. (Never mind all the Festool marketing that goes on.)

The river table stuff is largely dead, from my perspective. It's a neat gimmick but it's run its course. I haven't seen somebody talk about one, or seen a new one on YouTube, for months. Maybe longer? And, FWIW, Festool only sponsors a couple of woodworkers and very rarely gives tools to others for marketing purposes. You see a lot of Festool (and Fein and Mirka) because it's worth it if you're serious. They feel goo…

Festool's Domino system is the one product I cannot find a cheaper alternative (too pricey for me though, so sticking with my biscuit joiner).

I'm very happy with my Makita track saw though that, while still pricey, was maybe 1/3 the cost of the Festool?

Re: Hitachi Wood Plug Cutter Works Perfectly in Hand Held Drills (2013)

#22

-- never cared about woodwork till discovering Blacktail Studio on youtube - now all I want to do is make tables - highly recommend - especially if you give zero f's about woodworking -- https://www.youtube.com/c/BlacktailStudio/videos

I had the same experience. If you want to branch out, Tyrell Knifeworks - https://www.youtube.com/c/tyrellknifeworks - gave me a similar experience with knife forging/construction

Re: Hitachi Wood Plug Cutter Works Perfectly in Hand Held Drills (2013)

#23
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The river table stuff is largely dead, from my perspective. It's a neat gimmick but it's run its course. I haven't seen somebody talk about one, or seen a new one on YouTube, for months. Maybe longer? And, FWIW, Festool only sponsors a couple of woodworkers and very rarely gives tools to others for marketing purposes. You see a lot of Festool (and Fein and Mirka) because it's worth it if you're serious. They feel goo…

Festool's Domino system is the one product I cannot find a cheaper alternative (too pricey for me though, so sticking with my biscuit joiner). I'm very happy with my Makita track saw though that, while still pricey, was maybe 1/3 the cost of the Festool?

I have a Makita track saw, and it's great. (I joke that using it on my MFT probably has me banned from at least one Central European country.) It absolutely wasn't a third of the price of a Festool, though. More like $500 versus $600 at the time--the spread's a bit more now. I use cheap Wen tracks that are compatible with both, so track prices are a bit of a wash.

The track saw (or like, a drill/driver, but that's a bit jokey) is probably the one place where Festool has the least delta, IMO. The Domino, their sanders, and their dust extractors are genuinely a cut above, and while my shop is outgrowing the basic MFT that they sell, it's mostly to build my own, bigger, more rugged one.

Re: Hitachi Wood Plug Cutter Works Perfectly in Hand Held Drills (2013)

#24

-- never cared about woodwork till discovering Blacktail Studio on youtube - now all I want to do is make tables - highly recommend - especially if you give zero f's about woodworking -- https://www.youtube.com/c/BlacktailStudio/videos

Matthias Wandel might interest you, woodworking with the hacker spirit (including making his own tools...out of wood)

https://woodgears.ca

Re: Hitachi Wood Plug Cutter Works Perfectly in Hand Held Drills (2013)

#25
post #9

-- never cared about woodwork till discovering Blacktail Studio on youtube - now all I want to do is make tables - highly recommend - especially if you give zero f's about woodworking -- https://www.youtube.com/c/BlacktailStudio/videos

Can one make a decent income with woodworking?

Definitely as a luthier -- a violin made by a skilled luthier (not "top of the profession", but "a decade or more of experience doing this full time") is typically in the $10-40k range and if they're not doing repairs (which can also be lucrative) a luthier working full time hours can make 8-16 good quality violins per year.

Of course there's a bunch of expenses to be accounted for, but it's definitely still in the category of "six figure income if you're good".

Re: Hitachi Wood Plug Cutter Works Perfectly in Hand Held Drills (2013)

#26
post #24

-- never cared about woodwork till discovering Blacktail Studio on youtube - now all I want to do is make tables - highly recommend - especially if you give zero f's about woodworking -- https://www.youtube.com/c/BlacktailStudio/videos

Matthias Wandel might interest you, woodworking with the hacker spirit (including making his own tools...out of wood) https://woodgears.ca

FWIW AFAIK Matthias is an engineer who used to work at RIM (BlackBerry). His videos about woodworking and everything else are great yeah.

Re: Hitachi Wood Plug Cutter Works Perfectly in Hand Held Drills (2013)

#28
Just want to make a plug for Paul Sellers. His YouTube videos on woodworking with handheld tools have kept me captivated for years. Through watching his videos, I learned how to cut mortise and tenon, dovetail, and dado joints without touching a powered tool. A weekend hobbyist woodworker, the pleasure I get from truly crafting by hand is immense. Paul is a heavyweight, and he shares what he knows without holding back.

Re: Hitachi Wood Plug Cutter Works Perfectly in Hand Held Drills (2013)

#29
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The river table stuff is largely dead, from my perspective. It's a neat gimmick but it's run its course. I haven't seen somebody talk about one, or seen a new one on YouTube, for months. Maybe longer? And, FWIW, Festool only sponsors a couple of woodworkers and very rarely gives tools to others for marketing purposes. You see a lot of Festool (and Fein and Mirka) because it's worth it if you're serious. They feel goo…

Festool's Domino system is the one product I cannot find a cheaper alternative (too pricey for me though, so sticking with my biscuit joiner). I'm very happy with my Makita track saw though that, while still pricey, was maybe 1/3 the cost of the Festool?

Coincidentally, just last night I watched this video from Stumpy Nubs showing how to create loose tenon joinery without the Domino. Of course, it does have some complexities, and assumes you have a table saw and plunge router.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx1Mg2mTMO0

Re: Hitachi Wood Plug Cutter Works Perfectly in Hand Held Drills (2013)

#30
Plug cutters, especially those that cut a tapered plug are an interesting exercise in patent shenanigans. As mentioned in this thread, a tapered plug is almost always superior than a straight sided one...the wedge action as the plug is driven down results in a very snug fit. Lee Valley Tools has a patented Snug Plug cutter. As you might imagine, it's been ripped off by many manufacturers. Lest you thing a tapered plug was patented...be aware it's not. The tool design itself is. In the case of the Lee Valley cutter, it has 4 "legs" that outline and then shear the sides off the plug. A quick patent search on "tapered plug cutter" will illustrate many designs...all patented, and resulting in a tapered plug. The idea is to copy the result of the product, and not the product itself. I will say the Lee Valley Snug plug cutters work very well. While you can use them hand held, they (like any similar cutter) will function far better in a drill press.
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