Woodworking tool rental?

OK... if you haven't seen any of my posts here's a brief spew... Im not sure HOW I want to approach the WW hobby (although I definitely want to do WW) ... Power or Hand. So, I was thinking hand tooling would be waaaay cheaper, but not necessarily. Seems a good plane is $150+ (and you probably still have to tune it when you get it), good chisels are $30 each (and you still need to sharpen it when you get it), and a good blah blah but blah blah...

anyways, I was thinking I would like to try some power tools. Im into amateur astronomy and when we have a club meeting/star party people bring their scopes... so you can look through the various kinds and sizes to see what you like and dont like, get the feel for the brands, measure out quality vs price, etc. Obviously folks don't haul their 8" jointers and 48" belt sanders around to club meetings so others can use them... so I was wondering if there are any/many tool rental houses that would rent fine woodworking power tools? I live near Cincinnati (Who-dey!) OH in case you wonder where I'm looking. Particularly I would love to rent a jointer, a power planer, big drill press, nice drum sander, maybe even a nice table saw (probably have to be a contractor type), yadda yadda, for a day or so each to see what I like.

Anyone know if places do this? Am I, once again, waaaay off?

Thanks, Mike W.

Reply to
Mike W.
Loading thread data ...

Your best bet would be to look into woodworking classes offered by BOCES in your area.

-- Jack Novak Buffalo, NY - USA (Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)

Reply to
Nova

Woodcraft (at least the one about 50 miles from me, in Dublin, CA) has a shop you can rent. All the big iron is there. If you can find one nearby, give them a call.

dave

Mike W. wrote:

Reply to
Bay Area Dave

I thought of that as more of a high-schooler-trying-to-determine-career type of thing. I wouldnt want to barge in with a hobbyist mentality????

Thanks, Mike W.

Reply to
Mike W.

The Big U near me (my alma mater) has a craft center w/ wood and metal shops, glass blowing and ceramic studios, and etc. For $17/day or $75 +/- a quarter I get full access to the wood shop.

They've got the usual big iron (Delta cabinet saw w/ huge outfeed table, jointer, BIG honkin' RAS, and 15" planer; Powermatic mortiser; stationary belt and disk sanders; drill presses, etc.), plus benches and layout tables, hand tools and hand-held power tools, AND ... dust collection. I have a restrictively small shop for the time being, so its great to have access to the big tools and the layout room.

The downside is this: sometimes, the tools are in pretty poor alignment or repair, other times, they're in great shape. You just never know what shape they're in until you get there, or when they'll get realigned by whoever does it. Also, they don't allow users to bring in tools, so I'm often left wishing I had one or more of my hand planes for that final fitting. Most of the time its worked out pretty well for me.

-JBB

Reply to
J.B. Bobbitt

Around here the classes are mostly filled with people wanting to learn new skills for personal reasons. Getting to use the tools to decide which to purchase plays a big part (example - "do I want a Arc, MIG, or TIG welder").

-- Jack Novak Buffalo, NY - USA (Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)

Reply to
Nova

Take a woodworking course at a local votech school. You'll get to try many different tools perhaps even more than one model of some.

Dennis Vogel

Reply to
Dennis Vogel

so I was

Have you joined a woodworking club/guild? If not your should. I have a fairly well equipped shop and many times I have invited beginning woodworkers to use my tools for a project or to try something out before buying.

I also think that you will find that it is not a hand or power tool decision. For most people it seems to be both. I have what people seem to be calling "big iron" but for many tasks I use hand tools. It depends on the situation.

Bob McBreen

Reply to
RWM

Reply to
larry in cinci

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.