Why is woodpeckers so expensive?

would you rather have this small collection of tools that cost nearly 500 or all of these for about half the price this could upset some people stick around and find out undoubtedly the most important skill in woodworking is learning to build projects that are square so what kind of score do you need is it a 100 woodpeckers 851 despite this being a youtube video i'm actually going to say no i believe the first purchase any new hobby should make is a machinist square and here's why this set of three costs fifty dollars and is guaranteed to be more precise than even the most expensive woodworking tri-squares thanks to precision german engineering these are machined to a tolerance of seven tenths of a thousandth of an inch compared to the one one thousandth over here so you're getting three beefier squares that are more exact for half the price other than verifying your cuts are square it's critical to ensure your tools are set up correctly machinist squares are perfect for verifying table saw band saw and miter saw blades are 90 degrees they're also great for setting the fence on your jointer if you make a lot of beveled cuts on your table saw there are also 45 degree versions that are sold you can use these as a north star of sorts for confirming any future purchases are indeed 90 degrees as advertised so are these tools a waste of money that's not what i'm saying i bought these later on in my journey and i like them a lot but this video is about maximizing your budget when you're building out a collection as a reminder every item i mentioned in this video will have a link in the description below in the same family as tri-squares are speed squares another tool that is great for checking 90 or 45 but if you already have a nice machinist square or other must-haves that we will visit later on i think spending anything more than five dollars for the plastic version sold at home centers is a bit of a waste i do reach for this quite frequently but only for transferring lines when i'm doing rough layouts or a task or i can throw this around with no regard for its well-being in defense of the more premium versions like this dell square from woodpeckers saying these two tools are the exact same thing just isn't true this has graduations you can use for layouts reference edges for finding centers on nominal dimensions and a host of other nice touches i just don't think they're necessary because you can perform most of those tasks was something that's less of a one-trick pony seriously i bought this just for the b-roll and to make that point i didn't even own one i guess this is my life now this brings us to an interesting debate steel versus aluminum which tends to be the biggest objection of woodpecker's critics it's a pretty simple conversation that gets overblown steel is more durable but carries a higher cost aluminum is softer which makes it more prone to denting but it's cheaper to produce buy whatever fits your budget and makes you happy moving along every woodworker should have a good machinist rule in the shop you know for things like measuring i keep a 6 and a 12 inch but there are some buying considerations that you need to be aware of the first is avoiding a ruler like this one because the graduations are offset from the end unlike these where you can use the edge as the reference additionally you want to get something that has etched graduations instead of printed the etch makes it substantially easier when using a marker knife for layout and more on that later these rules start out around six dollars and come in a couple different finishes depending on your preference something nice about the satin finish is you can actually write on them and it wipes off easily keep in mind the pricing for rules goes up exponentially the longer the rule and that's because it's more costly to maintain accuracy as the length increases woodpecker sells this pelini pocket rule for 48 dollars which is a far cry from the 10 or so you can spend here so is it worth it the best feature by far is the indentation on the end which accounts for the thickness of your pencil width which is often overlooked during layouts there are also measurements here that could technically be used for blade height setups but that's crazy talk i've had this for a year or so and quite honestly find it collecting dust more than being used and at that price you can spend the money elsewhere for general layout in 17 dollars i find the incra tiny tee much better all around my main complaint about the pocket rule is the small reference edge which makes it difficult to keep square when doing long layout runs unlike the tiny t which is easier to keep square because of the longer base furthermore i prefer layout holes and slots rather than manual adjustments for repeatability which introduces human error now before you start chirping at me in the comments section that woodpecker sells a saddle t-square i'm aware but i don't think it's worth three times the price of this incar which is a company known for quality products the only downside to the tiny tee is you need a mechanical pencil and if you use cheap lead it breaks easily but i clearly have low self-worth and i'm a glutton for punishment because i continue to drive myself crazy with these son for most woodworkers if you could only choose one measuring and layout tool for your shop it would most certainly be a combination square they can be as cheap as 12 and go all the way up to a couple hundred the use cases are somewhat extensive but these shine in general layout and transferring measurements from one work piece to another great for easily checking the depth of dados or grooves and yes they are fantastic for verifying something is indeed 90 degrees which is often overlooked with combination squares even though it says square in the name unlike their brother the double square combos provide the added benefit of 45 degrees since this is one of the most important purchases for your shop i want to dive a little deeper here in front of me are four options from cheapest to most expensive please don't waste your money on a box store combo square their tolerances are great for general carpentry and not ideal for high quality woodworking if you see something listed as guaranteed square that's a warning side sadly even when a company does say something like accurate to a thin 0.1 degrees this can also be misleading after some wildly complicated math you would come to the conclusion that a six inch square could be out as much as ten thousandths of an inch you might be thinking that's not a lot but when you see it visually you realize this would lead to some unneeded frustration and have you second guessing your skills on the complete opposite end of the spectrum is a premium combo square like this steroid if you're unfamiliar with steroid think of them like a cup of black coffee and an old-fashioned donut versus woodpeckers who's a triple tie macchiato grande from starbucks ordered by steven spelled with a c they're both great but one doesn't need to be all dolled up this is an absolutely high quality tool that's comfortable has a nice weight to it and is more accurate than ever needed in woodworking but it does basically the same as these two options if you're looking to make your first purchase or upgrade from a home center combo square i would consider one of these first is the benchmark square which comes in six in 12 inch sizes and is accurate within four thousandths of an inch over the length of the longer blade pretty damn good also costs just fifty dollars this is a square from a company called pec which is short for products engineering corporation you probably haven't heard of them because they mostly white label for consumer facing brands and sell directly to the us government their accuracy standards are also very good and they are proudly made in the usa go america also as a bonus if you're okay with dents dings or scratches you can save 40 or so off their retail price by purchasing a blemish square like this one the blends have no impact on performance so if you're like me and don't give a about appearances it's a nice way to save some cash as far as the 6 and 12 inches concerned i personally prefer a 6 inch because i rarely have things i need to lay out or transfer measurements on that are more than a couple inches so the 12 inch has always felt like overkill but that's just me everyone's builds are different a double square is the weird middle child of the 90 degrees family now i wouldn't categorize this as a need to have like everything else we've discussed but they are nice the major advantage to a double verse a combo square is access to both sides of the rule this little guy is a four inch from benchmark tools costs only 25 dollars and is accurate to within 2 000 of an inch over the length of the blade so if you're looking for something else to easily misplace around your shop consider one of these if i pulled a hundred different woodworkers about what is the most underrated item in a wood shop i bet less than five percent would pick what i consider to be the correct answer and that is an actual straight edge here's why once you start acquiring cast iron tools setting them up properly becomes almost as important as the tool itself because a three thousand dollar jointer that hasn't been properly tuned up will get you the same results as a 300 jointer most beginners assume that the level you buy from a home center is flat because it's a level so why wouldn't it be but remember these are used for general construction and are not designed to be accurate within thousandths of an inch like these options which sadly is what you need to really dial in a finicky tool like the jointer or the top of your table saw you might be saying to yourself do i really need to spend another sixty dollars on a dedicated trade edge and my answer back would be if you spend thousands of dollars on tools but cancel out the extra cash to make sure those tools get you the best possible results and peace of mind you need to readjust your priorities on purchases other than properly setting up machines i find myself constantly reaching for this to check the flatness of my panel glue ups or verify an edge that's been jointed i recommend aluminum strained edges i think the steel is overkill and can be almost two times the cost these come in sizes from 18 to 50 inches i personally wouldn't go any smaller than the 38 inch version though to maximize the effectiveness of your straight edge when dialing in your tools get a set of feeler gauges which help measure in increments of thousandths of an inch great news if you've been paying attention you've got an extra 300 or so dollars in your pocket don't need to thank me yet we're about to rapid fire a bunch of additional items that i use frequently this is a little segment called lincoln street just saved you a bunch of money but now we're going to spend it so i didn't actually save you anything all right we might need to workshop that title a bit get yourself a set of calipers they come in dial or digital versions i prefer the digital because i don't trust myself to read the dial use cases seem never ending for these checking depths you can't get a larger measuring device into verifying bit sizes stock dimensions and quite honestly too many joinery applications to list point being this is one of those tools you will find yourself reaching for over and over again a sliding bevel gauge and bevel set are a must when you start building more complicated pieces with non-centered angles and you need to transfer that angle to a tool a decent bevel set like this has quarter degree increments and costs about the same as 13 or so old-fashioned donuts another option for setting blades is a digital angle gauge these are accurate within 0.1 degrees on 0 and 90 and 0.2 degrees on everything else in between i actually find myself using this pretty frequently for the in-betweens but prefer a machinist square for 90 degrees once you start to go all fine woodworking in your shop you'll learn that a pencil is only as accurate as your eyes but a marking knife is as accurate as your tools think about it this way when using a pencil mark to line up a cut it's a bit like a car driving down a windy road while the marking knife lines act like tracks for a train the biggest consideration you want to look for on your first knife is a blade that's flat on the back so you can cozy up against the side of your stock remember the etch graduations from earlier a marking knife easily slips in and ensures an accurate transfer for measuring things like run out on your drill press and ensuring your table saw blade and fence are indeed parallel to the miter slot which in turns means they are parallel to one another a dial indicator is nice to have but definitely not necessary instead of spending more money you could build a simple jig like this to hold your dial indicator and if you're interested in a video on basic jigs that save you money let me know below also like calipers these come in digital and dial versions but i still don't trust myself you should watch one of these videos or maybe buy a shirt you could also join our facebook community or you could do nothing let me eat the rest of this donut

Channel: Lincoln St. Woodworks

Views: 1,008,791

Keywords: You bought the wrong plane...beginners guide, woodworking, wood, squares, woodpeckers, woodpecker, starett, combo square, combination square, layout, measuring, marking, PEC, ytou bought the wrong plane...beginners guide

Id: xEMiavhUfag

Length: 11min 46sec (706 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 27 2022