OK, wreckers. It's 'fess up time!

[foggytown]

And now in a burst of refreshing honesty we're all going to admit to the most useless, waste-of-money, unnecessary, white elephant, "why the hell did I ever buy that" tool in our arsenal.

For me it's a B&D "electric file" - basically a needle-nose belt sander. It's a something that should be handy as hell but it's just too damned vicious. Touch it to a piece of wood and you have instant "shit - too much". I've never been able to get anything done with it. Next?

FoggyTown "Cut to shape . . . pound to fit."

[Gino]

Mastercraft Rotozip kit. Gift. $150 CDN and the biggest piece of crap I have ever seen. Even the power cord is made out of such hard wire you can't even stretch it out in warm weather. Nothing can be squared, the plunge router attachment is a complete joke.

Complete crap.

[WoodchuckCanuck]

Dremel and all its accessories...especially the...cough cough..."router table".

Jim

[My Old Tools]

PC biscuit joiner. I just don't use it. Mortise and tenon is stronger and I prefer it to the noise and dust.

[Gino]

I couldn't live without a Dremel. I even used it to remove the exhaust system from my 3/4 ton pickup.:) Router attachment is cool, especially for installing hinges in almost anything. I've never seen the router table.

[Duane Bozarth]

... Biscuits work great for aligning edges, etc...

[Bill Thomas]

[Lee Michaels]

Those things can actually be quite useful for metal working. Used often with the small, light gauge tubing for furniture, etc.

[the_tool_man]

Those little Veritas corner rounding planes - the ones bent from a piece of steel with the little elliptical opening. Woodcraft sells them for $14 apiece. They either split the grain or require so much pressure to work that my fingers get sore quite quickly. Easier and more consistent to use sandpaper or a router.

[Olebiker]

Water stones. I found that I was spending more time trying to take care of the stones than I was using them to sharpen anything. I scary sharp now.

Dick Durbin

[Bob]

A Japanese flush cut saw. It bends easily and I have difficulty using it (maybe my technique). It always turns and cuts into the surface I'm trying to flush with. I have much better results using a Japanese Razor saw. I cut off close to the surface, then use a small low angle block plane to do the flush trim part.

Bob

[Eddie Munster]

[Dave Hinz]

SWMBO bought me a Black and Decker "sanding mouse" 2 years ago for Christmas. I've never used it, and she's never asked about it. As far as woodworking stuff, clamps. I've got too damn many clamps.

Dave "sorry..." Hinz

[Mark & Juanita]

There are several, but up among the top 5 is the drill press mortising attachement. After having the chuck drop a couple of times, one decides that this is not the way to go.

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Now we'll just use some glue to hold things in place until the brads dry +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

[larrygfox]

I agree with Bob - A Japanese flush cut saw. For all the same reasons he mentions.

[Chuck Hoffman]

A Ryobi detail sander. It looked like a good idea at the time but...

[Gino]

It's funny, because the best furniture I've seen made by someone I know personally came from a guy who had TWO rusty old pipe clamps total. He made oak furniture, cherry furniture and did it on a clamping table using wedges and twisted rope.

He used rope twisted tight with a stick to make drawers and boxes and everything came out perfect.

Just thinking about it brings back the stench of rancid hide glue he always had bubbling away.

[sandman]

The Original Freud Hot-Air Edge Bander. I salvaged the hot air gun from it, and use it often , but the rest of it went with the trash. Truly one of those tools that should work, and sporadically did work, but was no time saver compared to a regular iron. Just one major source of frustration, to the point I 'repaired' it one day with some excess energy and my lunch bucket ended up flying through the shop as a punctuation mark. I was told, several hours later, when the rest of the crew dared to come close enough to me again, that I had uttered previously unknown words as I was 'adjusting' the tool with a 5 pound ball-peen hammer. It was very irresponsible and immature behaviour, but dammit, it felt great.

r

[Bob]

Whew! and I thought it was just me! I feel better about myself now. Thanks for the therapeutic comments!

Bob

[toller]

I think anyone who bought a PC 944 detail sander would list it as worthless; though maybe many would not admit to buying it.

It was my first "good" tool and HD had it on closeout at half-price... Live and learn.