Purchasing Used Woodworking Tools

If you are just setting up your woodworking shop you might want to consider purchasing used woodworking tools instead of new. Yes, there’s nothing quite like buying a brand new tool and taking it out of the box for the first time. And if you have the money to do so, this is fine. However, tools, especially good ones can be expensive and your bill can quickly add up.

I recommend you make a list of the basic tools you will need to set up your woodworking workshop. Tool lists can be found on the internet at sites like Popular Woodworking Magazine. Some of your essentials will be an assortment of regular, Robertson, and Phillips screwdrivers, a level, block plane, square, and of course, claw hammer. These and a few other basic tools will give you a great start on your beginners woodworking projects. Once you have your list, you can go about filling it.

Used hand tools are the easiest to purchase with confidence since there are none to few moving parts and you can easily tell if they are going to work or not. Items like screwdrivers, chisels, hammers are numerous and you can easily find them at local flea markets, garage sales or through your local classified ads. Estate sales can be a great place to find tools, especially if they belonged to a hobbyist (lightly used). Often the executors want a quick sale and you will get a great deal.

When choosing your hand tools, look for things like the sharpness of edges. This is especially important for items like screwdrivers. In other cases (chisels) a sharpening stone is all you need to bring them back to top working condition.

When purchasing more expensive tools, or tools with working parts, you will have to exercise more care. If a tool looks beat up it probably is, and best avoided. Just like buying a used car, if it has low mileage and is for sale by a senior who only drove it a few times a week, it will likely last you longer.

One approach to buying higher cost tools is going the refurbished route. Sometimes tools will be returned to the store for minor reasons, repaired and re-sold at a much lower price – still with their warranty. You can purchase these at your big box stores.

Be cautious with used cordless tools. Batteries can come to the end of their life and can be expensive to replace. If most of your work will be done in a shop setting, a corded tool will work just fine, will not die on you, and will generally be more powerful than its cordless counterpart.

Once you have your tools, it’s important in setting up your woodworking shop to ensure your tools are stored safely, and are easy to access. One excellent and inexpensive method to do this is to set up a peg board on one wall. You can hang most of your tools there and outline them on the peg board with a felt pen or paint. This will show you where to return them, and you can easily see when one is missing.

Purchasing used woodworking tools – especially hand tools – is an excellent way to start your workshop and get going with your woodworking projects. Buying used tools is ideal if you are a beginning woodworker. You can save a lot of money this way, and should you decide to do less woodworking and play more golf, you will not regret your investment.