Shopsmith Forums

I admit it, I'm cheap.
But, more than that, it's a long way to town and I might not find what I'm looking for anyway.
What use do you other frugal woodworkers make of everyday items. For instance. I use cut up pop cans for shims. If that isn't enough, I have a chain of old Formica samples that work.
My digital calipers have been retired...at least for gauging thickness out of the planer. Now I use open end wrenches. For odd height and spacing of router bits, I use drill bits. That's when my keyway stock isn't sufficient. Got a bunch of keyway shorts from a machinist's cutoff bin. $5.00 and sizes from 1/8 through 3/4 by 1/6ths. Sure beats those brass bars for price and utility.
Got tired of paying big bucks for ceramic band saw guides, so I made my own from oak. Soaked them in used motor oil and they work great.
A few sptrizes of 409 or Simple Green and my saw blades and router bits look like new.
Recently, I decided I'd had enough of cleaning up behind my SCMS so I built a dust catcher. Dollar store $4.00 large plastic storage container on it's side. 4" Toilet Flange through the side (now the bottom). Lockable sliding sleeve attached to the back (the orig. bottom). 2X3 post fits in the sleeve. 45* cutoffs for feet. Attach the DC hose to the toilet flange. Total cost.....about $10.00 and some scrap wood and all thread.
Works like a charm.
Now, don't get me wrong. When it comes to tools and safety, I don't scrimp.
I'm sure there are a lot of you guys and gals that resist opening your wallets or purses and have lots of frugal tips to share. So, how about it?

I'm about as cheap as one can get but I just cannot think of any interesting examples.

I do collect containers. I got all of the kids hooked on Skippy peanut butter so that they could save peanut butter jars for me. Guess what. It didn't work. Now everybody in the family uses empty containers for their screws, nuts, bolts and nails.

I use them to store stop collars, arbors, etc. I save desiccant bags to go in with the parts that I don't want to chance rusting.

Don't discard your old hack saw blades. After you file off the teeth they come in handy for all sorts of things.

Dusty, how does a peanut butter jar serve as a stop collar?
Milk jug material can make a shim, too.
I haven't done it yet, but you can take an old bandsaw blade and break it into pieces of the same length, wrap both ends with duct tape, wire in the middle and you have a nice rasp. I think the teeth should alternate....not sure, though.

Save all those sample charge cards they send you can use them as shims.

You know the ones with "your name here" on the name line.

They make terrific shims for all things I even cut some round and use them as dado blade shims.

Yeah charge card samples are also great for spreading things like glue. I love re purposing old tools. Like a flat bladed screw driver with a corner broken off of a blade. I needed to strip grout from bathtub tile. I ground the blade to a point and heated it with the propane torch bending it such that it fits into the grout line and strips grout perfectly. Better in fact than tools that have been made for that purpose. Cardboard makes great templates for cutouts such as those for a sewing machine opening in the brides sewing cabinet. How about Peanut cans for storing about everything. They have wide mouths for my fat hands and stack beautifully. When we bought this house the garage had several workbenches and high wooden shelves. As my brother in law and I ripped them out he suggested we move them to the old barn on the hill. My son was tankful we had moved everything up there as those pallets on the ground kept his stuff from become wet during spring thaw. Fjimp

This bench is 95% made of castaway junk I found in neighborhoods on "trash days." All 2x4's and 4x4's plus the MDF sub-top and the final hardboard top were from such sources. The vice on the right was from a kid's workbench that was in someone's trash. I replaced the broken hub with a piece of walnut which was a fallen tree-branch on my street which was the first thing I ever 'turned' on my Shopsmith.

Of course all those savings later got spent elsewhere, but at least I had some sense of control over my destiny .

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The best way to save money in woodworking is to avoid purchasing jigs/tools (except for SS stuff). Not a week goes by the Rockler doesn't send me coupons/emails/catalogs for every tool imaginable. Box joint cutting jigs, cross cut sleds, little plastic pyramids to hold you projects while you finish them. All of which you can make in the shop or live without.

The second best way for me it to get wood from sources other than my local wood seller. Garage and estate sales often have wood that can be re-purposed. Old be frames a great source of wood.

A penny saved and all that.

berry wrote:The best way to save money in woodworking is to avoid purchasing jigs/tools (except for SS stuff). Not a week goes by the Rockler doesn't send me coupons/emails/catalogs for every tool imaginable. Box joint cutting jigs, cross cut sleds, little plastic pyramids to hold you projects while you finish them. All of which you can make in the shop or live without.

The second best way for me it to get wood from sources other than my local wood seller. Garage and estate sales often have wood that can be re-purposed. Old be frames a great source of wood.

A penny saved and all that.

You left out curb cruising!:rolleyes:

berry wrote:The best way to save money in woodworking is to avoid purchasing jigs/tools (except for SS stuff). Not a week goes by the Rockler doesn't send me coupons/emails/catalogs for every tool imaginable. Box joint cutting jigs, cross cut sleds, little plastic pyramids to hold you projects while you finish them. All of which you can make in the shop or live without.

The second best way for me it to get wood from sources other than my local wood seller. Garage and estate sales often have wood that can be re-purposed. Old be frames a great source of wood.

A penny saved and all that.

I throw the catalogs in the truck. They come in real handy when I get left sitting while she goes shopping or to the doctor.

I have been trying to figure out how I can make little pyramids (SAFELY).

Old water bed frames. Usually made from 2x materials. Be careful though. Used lunber can be hard on planer blades.

I know of several antique tractor clubs that run sawmills during their shows and then sell the wood to raise funds for the club. The local club has done that except one professional woodworker member has often ran the wood through his kiln and then stored it until the next year where they sold it at the consignment auction they were holding each year. Since the logs are donated they don't have to get a lot out of it to make decent money for the club.
Farm auctions also often have a little wood, especially Amish auctions. Their school fund raising consignment auctions often have several pallets of rough-sawn hardwoods. While it sells fairly well the price is a drop in the bucket compared to most wood dealers.