Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Description:
Limited to 5/8″ stock up to almost 12″ wide. Plastic template guide and ineffective “unique cam-action clamping system.”

Experience:
I used this jig once. The experience was abysmal. I set it on a shelf for 10 years, then sold it on eBay. Why? Because, as memory serves, it would only accept up to 5/8″ thick boards. I’m not sure about you but I’ve never put a 1/2″ drawer face on. Sure I make drawer boxes out of 1/2″ stock and then add a 3/4″ face to them but if you’re going to use a dovetail jig then why limit it to such thin stock. In order to use this jig I had to thickness plane my 3/4″ stock to fit in the jig. In other words, you can’t use this jig for anything other than making drawer boxes and at that point, why bother using a jig to make a 4″ joint? The W1099 jig is also limited to 12″ pieces making it worthless for larger projects… no, you can’t slide the piece over and continue, it’s a one shot 1/2″ thick up to 12″ wide edge and that’s it. Used once… then discarded.

Links:
Apparently the company has replaced the model W1099 with the newer D2796 that accepts up to 1 1/4″ material. Guess they figured out the limitation of 5/8″ stock made the original less than desirable.

Note: I realize this is a crappy review but this thing was a piece of crap. Also the review is written a decade after my first and only use of the jig. Basically, I’m just documenting the fact I made the mistake of buying this tool.

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Just checking in to let you know I’ll be updating the site a bit more regularly now that I’ve returned from a long summer break.

Ever wish you were 20.5″ taller on the job? This is just the tool to keep you ceiling high, safely. Not too expensive and super-lightweight, this small sized work platform is one handy tool to have around.

Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

Experience:

I stopped by the local Depot to buy a Gorilla Ladder. When I got to the ladder department I ran into a carpenter I had worked with once upon a time. We exchanged greetings and chatted about the ladders. He pointed out this little work platform and said. “This is a great little work platform, and it’s cheap too.” So, I bought it and head back to work.

The job I purchased the Gorilla Ladder for is an example that lends credibility to this tool. I own several different methods for creating work platforms at various heights. I’ve used the Gorilla-Type ladders to create two stanchions for supporting an aluminum plank accessing up to 16′ lengths at a time. Great for two guys working together. I needed to set up a platform system to install 180-feet of beadboard ceiling on a wrap-around porch. Turns out this little Tricam WP-20-06 was quite popular. We set up the planks at each end and used this easy to move work platform to nail off the field.

I’ve had my Tricam work platform for a few years now and I love it. Most of the time, I bring a Werner 4-Foot Stepladder with me to work. I’ve mentioned in other articles how I’m feeling too old to be carrying a million pounds of crap with me everywhere so I opt for as little as necessary. This WP-20-06 is a lightweight, strong, and simple single-step ladder. It won’t get you higher than an 8′ ceiling but for crown moulding, header casings and windows it’s perfect.

I recommend owning one of these. Easier to carry than a ladder when you only need to reach 92″ high and a much larger and safer place to stand. For a good percentage of my tasks 20″ is all the taller I need to be.

Did I mention you can sit on it at lunch time and have room for your sandwich and drinks!

Links:
Tricam WP-20-B 20-Inch Work Platform, 225-Pound Capacity

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I wish I had more pictures for you to show just how strong these Thoroughbred Tote-A-Horse stands are. I have used them on every job I’ve had for the past ten years. Testing their limits, I’ve put far more weight than is safe on them and they still haven’t quit. Watch your fingers when folding closed.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Experience:

Too much experience with these horses: Some tools mean work and sawhorses mean I’m processing lumber products. These horses have supported literally thousands of feet of wood on a single job. Last year I prefinished some 5/4″ decking on these, sticking up 1000′ at a time to dry.

How it goes, I guess you know: Show up to jobsite. Set up shop including horses. Some jobs demand a lot of horses on site. I’ve gone through dozens of the folding build-your-own horse tin pieces of crap.. which with good bracing make for easy on-site horses but not the kind you bring home.

It’s hard to say which task this favorite pair of horses might undertake on the job. Framing, Trimming or Siding I like to have at least one 4′x8′ worktable setup. How many tools get onto such a “table” before the end of the day is amazing. It’s a good place to make jigsaw cuts, scribe something, layout, work on tools, sharpen one’s chisels..

Maybe the horses end up supporting a load of lumber. How many sheets of ply you can stack on these steel horses I don’t know. They hold it.

Comments:

Watch your digits and even the skin on your hands. These aren’t gentle. They are heavy and awkward to carry. Mine are so loose the legs flop open easily.. making them more difficult to transport and store. They have loosened up a bit over time and won’t hold as much before leaning but they are still the ones I carry to my jobs.

Links:
5 each: Tote-A-Horse Portable Sawhorse (TS-110S)

I picked up the Workforce Hardwood Dolly to help a friend move out of her apartment and have used it a lot more than I thought. For the price, this is a handy tool to have at home.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Features:

• Capacity: 1000 pound
• Dimensions: 18″ x 30″
• Carpeted Ends
• (4) Swivel Casters

Experience:

I bought this specifically to move some furniture in the city. It worked great to get a lot of furniture down the hall, into the elevator and rolled outside for transport. Spring cleaning? I’ve since used this dolly to move my furniture to the other side of the room and back again. Getting stuff outside is a lot easier if you don’t have a gravel driveway but it’s fine on the concrete floor of my shop and over my exterior brick walkway.

I used the dolly in my shop this week to move cabinets I was making. Shoot one together, set it on the dolly and roll it out of the way. On the dolly, painting a large piece is a lot easier since you can spin it around.

Comments:

I know cobblestones are a little inappropriate but I found myself delivering a heavy blanket chest to an apartment building that has a stone driveway. Something happened to one of the wheels causing it to lock up. Fortunately, I had the same size casters and the nuts holding the casters on are on the outside so it was easily replaced.

Links:

Hardwood Dolly With Carpeted Ends Deck 30 X 18 1000 Lb. Capacity

Even though it’s the only router table set up in my shop at the moment the Porter-Cable 698 has a few drawbacks. The fence altogether sucks. It’s held in place by two really long thumbscrews threaded into the table top. If you don’t immediately cut them down to 1″ you’ll be twisting for 20 minutes to get the fence off. You’ll need to take the fence off because it’s limited to a very small range of movement.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Description:

• Portable, adjustable table accommodates 3-1/2-inch router bits
• Split fence with two independent sections
• Made of lightweight, durable machined-aluminum
• Dimensions: 19.75-by-16.75-inches; 1-year warranty
• Comes with table and miter gauge

Experience:
In my shop you’ll find the Porter-Cable Router Table mounted to legs and stashed in the corner. I’ve pushed this little table to it’s limits on both size of material and size of cut, but it serves best for edge details, that is, after you fix the fence.

Comments:
Mentioned twice already, the fence system on this is the worst. It’s two thin pieces of wood bolted to a metal frame, that frame is what the long thumbscrews hold down. The factory wood is adjustable in every direction via little screws here and there. It’s a simple fix though and my preferred method even on costly fences: Screw a very flat piece of 3/4″ wood to the factory fence. Make it taller, longer, flat and straight and fasten it to the two multi-directional pieces. I use the bit itself to cut the bottom of the new fence but a bearing-guided bit may require a notch in the new fence.

The switch on mine busted a few years ago and I haven’t bothered to find out why yet, opting for the power switch on the router. [Don't get me started on dangerous! I forgot to tighten in the router once and it dropped out spitting chunks of aluminum, steel and carbide bit on it's way to the floor spinning wildly and scaring the hell out of me - unscathed but more conscious!]

Note: The Rousseau table saw stand I wrote about earlier with attached Router Extension Table provides the great Rousseau fence for my 3 1/2h.p. router but the tubular steel edge is rounded at the bottom relegating this to larger material.

For it’s intended purpose, which is “bench top” router table (sounds very handy-homeownerish to me) the Porter-Cable 698 Router Table will get the job done. If you need to spend hours each week on a router table, look for a better system unless you’re prepared to make a few jigs and a new fence for cuts more than a few inches from the edge.

Porter-Cable 698 Router Table at Delta.com (Product Data)
Porter-Cable 698 Bench Top Router Table at Amazon.com

The Rousseau Porta Max Table Saw Stand has been the foundation of my mobile construction shop for over a decade. The 2700xl equipped with a 10″ Makita table saw and the optional #2720 outfeed table provide a solid platform for ripping sheet-goods and supporting other powertools.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Description:

• Rip Capacity to 27″
• Comfortable 34 1/2″ Work Height With HPL Professional Grade Laminate On Both Sides of Top
• Quick & Accurate Saw Positioning System
• Powder Coated Steel Construction
• Self Adhesive Tape Measure For Accuracy
• Fit Most Saws

Experience:
I’m an old hand with the Rousseau Porta Max. My current 2700xl is my third Porta Max table saw stand. For the past twenty years my daily tasks start just after 6am when I load my truck with 1000lbs of tools and materials, only to unload them at the site an hour later. Almost regardless of the task at hand, a fundamental piece of my portable shop is my Rousseau Porta Max 2700XL Table Saw Stand. It’s the first and last tool in and out of my truck each day and the foundation of my mobile shop. In other words, I have folded and unfolded the legs on the Rousseau a 100,000 times and passed millions of feet of lumber over it’s laminate. My Rousseau Table Saw Stand travels from jobsite to my shop and is the only table saw system I own. I have based my day and built my business on the quality of the Rousseau stock fence system.

Comments:
After a ding in the table surface and subsequent infiltration by H2O the laminate lifts and shatters. This happens over time to all Rousseau laminated tables. I’ve owned three and their lifetime is based on handling. My current Rousseau table is exactly as old as Makita’s 10″ 2703 Table Saw. That’s because when my 8″ Makita died I picked up the 10″ not knowing it wouldn’t fit in the Rousseau 2700 I had. I converted that stand into a router table utilizing the sturdy Rousseau fence system. The real benefit of the Rousseau table is the fence.

The tape measure was nice while it lasted. About 5 years before mine was destroyed, which is a lot longer than some of my friend’s. In fact, my Rousseau looks trashed these days. It’s speckled with years of paint, glue and finish, flaking laminate, exposed pressboard, missing every end cap, dented and dinged and here-in lies the value of the Rousseau Porta Max 2700XL Table Saw Stand; My stand has been reduced to it’s primary function, a flat table with a solid and accurate fence system. It looks trashed but I can set up a table saw in three minutes and accurately rip sheet goods by myself just about anywhere there is an outlet!

I highly recommend Rousseau Company products. I own three stands, two outfeed tables, the 2715XL Extension with Router Plate and the PM2710XL Extension Table. With the addition of a few rollers I’ve run huge productions, milling miles of lumber on this equipment.

Links:
Rousseau Co.
Rousseau 2700XL Saw Stand at Amazon.com

Description: This stand has everything and it weighs it. There are nice steel rollers on multi-direction adjustable support arms. Fasten your saw to removable  mounting rails that simply clamp to the stand for easy attachment and removal. It’s got great levers to tighten all the adjustments. There are poorly designed legs that pull out and pivot down from the extensions.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Experience:
I struggled with the package at the Depot. I got a cart. I assembled for an hour. Fit and finish were questionable. I mounted the saw and brought it to a siding job for a month. It’s a little unsure of itself on its tubular feet. A little top heavy, no doubt. The first week on the job both support legs for the roller extensions broke off. One orange clip shattered but the leg still worked. Some laborers failed to notice the little steel ball you press in to unlock the leg before pivoting it back up and sliding it inside the extension leg and broke it clean off.
Comments:
It’s a 100lb. nightmare. That’s my impression and it comes at a high price because this stand does it all. MOST importantly, it’s got wheels. The sole reason I purchased this down-right heavy-as-lead miter saw stand was for the wheels. I should have known better when I couldn’t manage the box in the store without a cart. The second best feature are the nice rollers but the support legs on mine broke leaving the roller supported by the extension arms, a little wobbly.

I dislike this stand so much that I started this blog. It pisses me off every time I use it and I’ll tell you why because it’s features epitomize the demands of a mobile carpentry shop but it’s functionality and quality are seriously lacking.
I recently purchased another miter saw. I picked up the Makita LS1013FL . The 10" Makita comes in a few pounds lighter on the scales which helps with day after day lifting from shop to truck to job back to truck and shop, ugh. So sick of this back and forth am I that I decided to buy wheels for my saw; roll to truck, pivot onto bed and slide it in. No lifting.
Well, true enough I can now roll my saw, attached to the MS-UV, to my tailgate, lift and heave-ho it’s in. Open tailgate, lean down wheels first and roll to site. The stand should weigh less than 1/2 of it’s current weight of 94lbs !

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Links:
MS-UV at Ridgid.com (Product Data)

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In brief; Don’t buy this economy model hand truck with pneumatic tires even if, like me, you just need to move something once and the price is right for the job. It’s not worth it if a tire runs flat and you won’t be able to repair it on site.

Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

The Tool: Harper Dual Handle Hand Truck