Man, I have a lot of tools that I love. My Lie Nielsen chisels on one end of the spectrum and the Shaper Origin on the other. As lame as it might sound, I think my favorite is my Oneida Supercell paired with the GRIT automation blast gate system. I know some might not count it as a tool, but not having to clean up after myself is pretty amazing!
Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".
I don't know that it's my favorite "tool" but my Festool MFT (Multi Function Table) gets used with every project in my shop. From woodworking to 3D printing to laser engraving/cutting it's my home base.
Probably my favorite at the moment is the Sargent transitional plane I received in last year’s (2021’s) Handplanes of Your Dreams Secret Santa. That now sits out on my bench next to the two block planes that are right at hand for daily use whenever a bit of wood needs to be taken off something. I reduced the width of two pieces of plywood by a hair under 1/16 inch yesterday using the Sargent, plus trimmed over a quarter off a piece of pine ship-lap that became the bottom of a box.
Seeing that I build a lot of basic cabinetry, I love using my edgebander.
It's not the most fulfilling when it comes to turning out something custom, but when I run four sides through the machine and I have a finished panel it gives me a lot of pleasure knowing how much I got done in mere minutes compared to the length of time it would have taken doing it any other way.
Has to be one of my biggest money makers, compared to not having it.
It's one of those machines that if you're going to be applying any substantial amount of banding, you can't afford not to have it.
Figuring out how to do something you have never done is what makes a good challenge.
I guess it depends on the context of favorite, but I guess my Barnes Mortiser; it's just fun for an inexplicable reason. But it wouldn't be the one I'd keep if I had to pick only one main tool to keep, so not sure how that works out lol
There's a reason there's always a scrap/test board on it when I'm not using it. I sometimes just randomly stop and make a few chops in passing for no reason other than the enjoyment of it.
I think it depends on what I am doing. I have a lot of pretty nice tools! haha My current favourite (for metal work) is one I just had shipped over from England. It's a #6 Denbigh fly press. In the wood shop it would be my panel saw (Hammer K3 Winner). In my carving studio it's Cuturi pneumatic air chisel
I've been away from Woodworking for ten years and have managed to pick up a few tools this year and am starting over. The biggest game changer for me is my cordless Makita Track Saw. Being able to take the saw to the sheet goods instead of wrestling full size sheets of plywood onto a table saw is life changing for me.
