On Sunday, July 12, 2020 at 12:18:37 PM UTC-4, Bob D wrote:
This may be an old topic but I am too lazy to search for it.

Do you have an item that has been a game changer for you in pursuit of woodworking excellence. It can be something you purchased or built or found in the trash. It can cost anywhere from free to $1000's. Please refrain from value judgement comments like "too expensive; not worth it; etc". To someone its worth it. I am just looking for inspiration and ideas. Please expand on how or what you accomplished that caused you to say "Wow, this is a real game changer".

I will start it off with some game changers for me.

1. self centering drill bit - I was trying to mount a piano hinge and each screw seemed to try to pull it out of alignment. I bought the bit and re-drilled all the holes. the installation was perfectly aligned and all the screws centered and flush.
2. Sawstop industrial saw - I cannot even begin to express the magic of a great tablesaw.
3. Festool RO sander with dust extractor - sanding without dust. I didn't even know this was possible. Prompted by Leon "Bob, you gotta buy one of these"
4. Veritas saddle square - easy transfer of marks around the sides of a piece.

Bob

I've got 3, one really old, the other 2 are more recent:

1 - I'm just a hobbyist, but the Craftsman 10" table saw that I found in the
newspaper classifieds - 30ish years ago - for $100, was my first game
changing event. I still have that saw, upgraded with a Delta T-Square fence..
The only real issue I've ever had was when the arbor bearing went bad.

2 - A couple of years ago I finally got around to replacing the right
extension panel of the table saw with a DIY router table. No more struggling
with crappy portable router tables or routing by hand in a really small shop.
I scored twice on that one by finding a practically new PC 690 router at a
pawn shop. $50. I was planning to buy just the base for my PC 690 to mount to
the router table and ended up finding a complete unit. Eliminating virtually
all router table setup when wanting to rout something is definitely a game
changer. I modified an old portable router table fence to add dust collection.

3 - This is more of a "household game changer" but it gets used for wood
working quite often. 3 years ago I bought a PC Air Compressor combo set - 16g,
18g and staple gun - but that's not the game changer. The game changer was
the 50' retractable air hose that my son bought me for Christmas. Since I
wanted to mount the hose reel up high in the garage, I needed to run PEX from
the compressor to the reel. As long as I was doing that, I also ran PEX from
the garage down into my basement shop. No more carrying the compressor to
where I need it, no more listening to the noise in the shop. Grabbing a
nail gun to pop a couple of brads into something or use the air nozzle is a
quick and easy process now.