I can agree with the router bits needing to be easier to remove. I bought a good set of Freud raised panel bits and sliced my hand wide open the first time I removed them

You should do this all again with all the same tools from Harbor Freight and see how the Harbor stacks up.

Quick history lesson. Black and decker bought dewalt in early 60’s. Dewalt invented the radial arm saw, and only made radial arm saws. In the mid 90’s, black and decker industrial line of tools( black and gray, not orange)were great trade quality tools. But because suffering from late 70’s home owner black and decker tools stigma, they changed their line to yellow dewalt. It was a branding PR excercise( not that’s necessarily bad thing.)they also owned Elu( Swiss made tools, routers jigsaws, biscuit jointer, grinders) so early dewalt tools were all black and decker industrial, or Elu, just with a yellow case and name dewalt. Dewalt tools are great tools, not because the name, but because of designs they came from 2 different companies. The original dewalt company made legendary radial arm saws, I have a 1952, and 59 version. Black decker sold to dewalt RAS design to THe Original Saw Company. American company that stills makes industrial quality radial arm saws, that look identical to dewalt radial arm saw design from the 1940’s

I am excited for your budget friendly shop and super curious about the project you're planning with these tools in mind. Love this form of content, David.

Get yourself a WEN track saw…. Your going to need it for your budget shop:) my 14” bandsaw is also a WEN , with a custom carbide blade it’s a beast:) make something!

We had a talk in carpentry class about the elitism behind "good tools" and i said, "look, im gunna stick with my Ryobi tools and goodwill finds and put Sailor Moon stickers on everything because i would rather people not steal my stuff when i go to jobs sites." 😂 My nice DeWalt carbon fiber hammer tacker has already come up missing and that's a financial hit to replace for me trying to make it through school on a tight budget living in Seattle and working full time.

Five plus stars for you! This was an excellent video and your plans for a "cheap tools" woodworking future is awesome! Truth be told, I am sure the majority of us out here can't afford expensive tools and we do love diy woodworking! Big thumbs up!

Thank you for your financial sacrifices for the woodworking community

Wen is legit. I don't know if this applies to all of their products, but an observation I made with the few tools of theirs I have... The packaging...packed on top is the instructions. Then the rest of the parts are packed to be pulled out in the order they're listed in the instructions. That's a planning detail I've never seen with any other company, and I like it.

The "Extended Thin Rip Jig" was sold out, but I did order an identical looking one on Amazon & can't wait to try it out when it gets here - I cut a lot of thin strips & this looks like it'll be amazing (for me). Thanks for the video!

I love that you're doing this. Not only cheap tools but hand held power tools seem to get at least left behind and often disparaged.

1st Love the "steam" coming off the mug @ 2:25. Great Job Dan! 2nd, WEN tools are surprisingly good. I have a couple.

Great vid, as always! My WEN drill press is coming up on 8 years of use. It's needed some attention a few times to keep the variable speed pulley working smoothly...but it's still working. I also have the WEN spindle sander. Overall I'm not disappointed with their tools.

Wen is an old old company and directly responsible for the development of power tools as a whole, helping to develop the motor system. I dunno how more people haven't heard of the company

Thank you for making burst out with laughter at the "where the butthole would be" part.

Also, the clamps coming apart can be a good thing. You can then flip them around and use them to push apart like a jack instead of push together.

Per your previous suggestions, I always buy a couple more F clamps whenever I walk into my HF store. For me, it's the nice chunky handles they have. Far superior grip to the tiny wood handles on my Irwin clamps. As for the rest, I've already got my budget tools and have been slowly upgrading to better quality. But this is a good demonstration for what is out there and good enough to start working. Would also recommend for bigger tools looking for them 2nd or 3rd hand from garage and estate sales and auctions. Thanks for sharing!

Entry level budget brands can often be quite good if you get ones made early in the production life. Later versions of the same model can be vastly inferior as moulds, jigs, dies used in production get worn. Materials are substituted and parts get subcontracted to reduce costs. And likely dozens of other factors

Well done Dan! I like Wen tools myself as they are reasonably priced & good quality. Can't wait to see what you build with all of those cheap tools! 👍👍🔨🔨

I have no issues with my Wen strip sander. Works great. Thinking about the other tools, and even Ryobi makes decent cheap tools, but price wise Wen beats them. I'm super excited to see what you make. A good wood worker should be able to use cheap tools to make nice things.

From a friend who used to work for one of the mentioned brands here, how some of the product line worked, was if they needed a cheap Snow blower, they would at a chinese tradeshow go and find a supplier, ask them to send them some product samples with the correct color and if they could match the color, it would be in the stores to prep you for the winter and you probably never see that specific product model again.

Love the iron eagle poster popping up when talking about Tom cruise lol definitely a childhood favorite movie.

Great vid, David. So fun. :D Incidentally, i went looking for a "how to do flocking" video last week, and found myself watching one of your very early ones. So cool to see how little/much you've changed. 5 Thumbs up.

I enjoyed this video. Im a new woodworker and watching my budget. I especially enjoyed your testing out these products right out of the box!

24:40 YUP Be realistic on your expectations. You can easily get started making simple projects with cheap tools and then upgrade the ones you use the most. Steve Ramsey is the king of great projects around the house with minimal tools that do not cost an arm and a leg. Only a leg! !! !!!

Love the few Wen tools I have. Would love to see a deep dive into their cordless tools from drills to sanders and the cordless track saws. No one has the balls to go that deep. They all hover around just the corded track saw and the thickness planer. But they might have a deep bench for the hobbyist/diy-er.

I have been pleased with the Wen, corded track saw i purchased knowing it wouldnt hold up if i was using it in the trade. Some of the woodworking magazines have started including Wen in the mix when they do tool reviews.

-Nobody, nobody at all. -David’s coffee cup: “BOILING LAVA HOT” 😂 Love it!

loved the channel for years, chair backwards real talk needs to be a thing, your channel makes me want to make more stuff which is probably the highest compliment I can give. cant wait for the cheap tools build. I have a few Wen tools and for the price they have served me well. i got their spindle sander which I now feel is an essential tool but couldnt afford a super high end one. I use it all the time and it works great

Entertaining vid as always! In all fairness to the wen palm sander, at 26:08 it looks like a dust extraction adapter falls out of the packaging on the floor when you remove the sander from the box…..the palm sander is asking for a bump in score lol😂

I have several Wen benchtop tools and the Wen track saw. For me as only a hobbyist woodworker in retirement it is a great saw. I put a Diablo thin kerf 40 tooth blade and it is great. Now being a retired cabinet maker, I have had access to Festool and while their track saw is amazing. Nowhere in my budget. Love this video. Love your content

I use to have a $49 black and decker circular saw a few years ago. Brought it for cutting up pallets for firewood. I worked really well with a 24 tooth blade on it. No complaints about it had the power to cut though most things including the odd nail

I use a WEN 6" disc/Belt sander combo from Home Depot about 4 years ago. I love this tool, and it still works like the day I bought it.

I love your "I bought" series, it's one of my favorite videos on UKposts

WEN products are actually pretty good quality for the price. I have multiple WEN products that are going strong.

First video I´ve seen from this channel Great energy, great sense of humour, not shitting on cheap stuff. 1+ follower and I can´t wait to binge watch more videos of yours

Awesome video, very useful information for those new to making or working under a budget.

I have not been disappointed by any of the wen products I have purchased. I have and use the oscillating belt/spindle sander, band saw, drill press. I also have their 660 cfm rolling dust collector and their track saw, but haven't used either yet.

UK here. I just recently bought a 'Spec Ops' imperial tape measure from Amazon and can highly recommend it - I don't see it amongst your tape collection!! Not sure what makes it a military spec tape measure, apart from it being black and brown coloured, but it also has the fraction markings on it. I like that. As I got older I found I was measuring more and more stuff in imperial and got sick of how we in the UK try to make out that we are a metric using nation - we're not. We buy sheet material in 2400mm x 1200mm x 19mm thickness (or 12mm, or 6mm) - it is an 8' x 4' sheet in either 3/4" or 1/2" or 1/4". We buy timber in 2400mm lengths - they're 8ft. Let's face it we are a metric using nation only in name! Our roadsigns are in miles. Our speedometers are in miles per hour. Whenever I see something with sizes detailed and the dimensions are a strange amount of millimetres I always convert it in my head and discover it is almost always a nice round number of inches.

Thin Rip Jig link is not working, but holy moly, that thing costs 70€ on german amazon...

Love how the real talk chair costs 10 times as much as the tool collection 😅

I have a WEN 12 in. Variable Speed drill press, oscillating sander, bandsaw, jointer and planer (uses the small 14mm blades in both) and am very happy with the price, performance and quality of everything. I'm just a hobby woodworker so this fits my needs perfectly.

Nice video. I'm happy about the budget shop concept. Too many channels have evolved to woodworking in the pro cabinet shop.

I've got a Black&Decker jigsaw that I picked up at a garage sale, brand new for like $5 and it's my favorite jigsaw ever. Great video man.

I have a wen drillpress and it's got a CVT on it with a digital RPM readout, surprisingly good. Sure, the spindle squeaks when you spin it by hand, but when powered, it's great, no complaints.

“WEN below average is perfectly acceptable, WEN”. I’ve owned several WEN tools and I cannot recommend them even if you’re on a budget. Especially for something as crucial as a saw. Save up, and buy a Makita. And you’re totally right about the router bit packing. One of the worst cuts I’ve ever had was from trying to remove a bit from its holder. I only get bits from Bits&Bits now, and the packaging is great.

When I had my shop, I had a buttload of WEN tools (planer, drill press, jointer even a stool) and they were solid tools. Highly recommend. I give this video 5 stars.

Ive had that black and decker jigsaw for three/four years now. Mines tough as nails. Been used and abused and never misses a beat

I actually own one of those cheapazz sets of router bits and still use them. I bought them about a decade ago. I don't mount them in the router table or use them in my CNC mill, but I use them in the handheld routers (DeWalt plunge, Bosch fixed) regularly. They're easy to sharpen and since I don't use them constantly, they do fine.

That is a very fun idea with the separate builds using budget tools. Will be interesting to see which tool you really think is worth upgrading. I am thinking the sandervdue to vibrations?

This video is a great example of why I am not afraid to buy the cheap Harbor Freight tools for one or two job uses. Most of these are basic, mechanical devices and the biggest concern is going to be efficiency and durability.

I have a Wen drill dress. It was like $100-$150 8 years ago. Two of the three chuck key holes are a little wonky now, but there's no real run out and motor is still like new. Totally worth it.

Oh, tape measures. Nothing beats my old chrome Stanley. It's withstood the test of time. I now have both 16' and 25' varieties in my toolbox.

Issue I've had with bits like that is the way they are attached, its like the hex part is crimped on, but once it breaks I just have to take it off and use it like a smooth bit.

I'm a fan of Black+Decker. Being that I do very little work with power tools, I bought a variety from their 20V line. They all work great for my intents and purposes and the best part to me is that each one comes with a battery. So, I have a total of 6 and they still hold a charge just fine. I like the fact that you can get non-tool items to use with the 20V batteries. For instance, one thing I use every single day is a little "Hand Vacuum". It'll drain a battery the quickest out of all the tools but, it's fairly powerful and really comes in handy. And having all those extra batteries from the other tools to swap in and out is great.

I needed a desktop belt sander for a project, got a Wen, totally recommend for a budget one. No complaints.

On the combination square, you can get a 12" Johnson Level for less than $8.00 in a lot of big box stores. They aren't perfect but pretty good for price.

That "odd" type of extrator is actually very common especially on small sanding tools. In some cases though they come with circular adaptors. I'm surprised the cheap drill bit set was as good as you said. I bought a cheap set off Amazon that were an unusual design for masonry drilling. First use the hardened tip (this is like a slotted piece welded in) broke off inside the hole and when I tried to further drill and hammer with that bit the rest of it broke so they went back. I tend to only use Hitachi, Makita, DeWalt or Bosch bits and if I buy one of those multi bit sets with hundreds of bits in there (sometimes the case is handy...) then the first thing I replace is the masonry bits.

Good on ya for deep diving cheap tools! I tend to pay near top-dollar for really good versions of the tools I will use a lot and want to perform well for years. But for rarely-used things or tools that don’t need to be great, my inner Scotsman comes out and Harbor Freight it is. Case in point: I rarely need to do scrollwork, but even in my small shop, I made room for a 9” WEN bandsaw that cost $20 more than the rip blade for my 14” band saw did. It’s a complete toy, but it works so well that it’s made me pretty open to other WEN tools in the future. BTW, I bought a ton of HF quick clamps (not F clamps) at $3 a few years ago and they’re great EXCEPT… the plastic clamping face pads leave oily footprints so I can’t use them for any fine woodworking, only rough construction. All of them do it, have you seen that issue? Or did I just get a bad batch?

Lol, the taped together instructions at 1:22 had me laughing. Love your sense of humor!

Starrett is a very well known precision measuring equipment company. They make, or used to at least, a tape measure. I have one and love it.

You are so right on tape measures... Im as bad as you are with tapes. I actually went with Hart 12'. I have 5 in my shop now and plan on buying a few more

Another great one Dave! That old picture of you had me cracking up!

If you ever have massive tool breakage again (Ref "My Worst Shop Day Ever") you have some (sort) of recourse! Nice can't wait to see what project you (awesomely) complete with them!

6:35 with the tool throw... I belly laughed so hard.... Didnt foresee the the shot put coming! Well done David!

I don't really go use a bunch of tape measures, but I was introduced to Lufkin and I love them.

On tape measurers, I personally like the Bauer (Harbor Freight). It has a reverse stop, so when you extend it isn't running back or need to hold while getting more length. Just push the button to retract.

I love my black and decker jigsaw. I have the exact same one. Been using it now for about 6 years. Still works great! 5⭐️

Talks about "Top cut" and Tom Cruise. Inserts image of Lewis Gossit Jr from Iron Eagle.... 🤣🤣🤣

Dave you should get the wen spiral helical head planer for your budget shop and review it.

I can see things both ways on the way router bits are packaged. Judging by how some of my packages have been delivered, carriers don't handle packages with care so those bits need to stay in place for shipping. Once the bits are in my shop, and I have to take them out of the holder, I agree with you that some feel real sketchy. For example, the Diablo/Freud flush trim bit in the rubber holder, I was absolutely sure I was going to slice a finger.

Thanks David. Now when I look at all the dust collection ports on my power tools, all I see are butt holes...😮

I still have my Amazon cheep router bit set purchased back in 2012. I don't use them too much, but enough that they should have given out years ago. No burning when I use them with exception for the pattern bit. I get some mild burning with that one.

i love my Wen tools. Fantastic, powerful router (although the base is non standard) the biscuit joiner is accurate and quick, the bench sander is solid. They seem to share DNA with Bauer available at Harbor Freight. I have been getting Wen since the 70s

Wen tools are surprisingly good and definitely punch above their price. I used their track saw for a few years before finally upgrading.

I have a half dozen 9ft craftsmN magnetic tape measure. Love them. Got them stuck on all my larger tools

I am a retired master carpenter, I agree with most of what you said and what star ranking you gave, on a good tape measure, I go Craftsman & Stanley (25 foot) I have used both for over 40 years.. When I retired, the only battery tool was a drill that was worthless in the field.. phonematic air guns were just gaining popularity.. My home shop was hand tools a few power a few air and no battery.. I recently upgraded my whole shop to all latest top shelf tooling, a couple CNC tables, I kept all my old school hand tools, I have over a dozen different cordless tools, Mostly DeWalt & Milwaukee, Lots of other miscellaneous tools, I am lucky to have a massive shop, from carpentry to metal working.. I wish I could do what I could 20 & 30 years ago, but my grandchildren and great grandchildren take full advantage of having a place to learn and have fun building..

hey btw about the f clamps, from what i know most good ones allow you to take the moveable part off and swap the directrion of the stationarry head so that you can use them to have things pushing away for certain aplicatyions where you might need that

19:04 easy fix for this clamp is to either mushroom the end of the bar or drill a hole and pin the end of the bar. That is if you already have these clamps and do not have a local Harbor Freight.

I have that pink drill, I'm a big fan of it for doing smaller tasks where I've already pre-drilled

That drill is meant more for holes in drywall to hang stuff and/or just driving screws into threaded holes and things for speedy assembly.

Good review. Tools like these are great beginner's and in every homeowner's arsenal . Hey I noticed you didn't toss the Festool nor Bosch tool like the Wen ????

Once you go pink, you never go back. Thanks for all the quick reviews, looking forward to your upcoming project.

I’m a makita guy, but I’ve got a handful of wen tools that I’m more than pleased with. Drill press works great, and the portable spindle sander is an absolute godsend for my microscopic shop.

Comoware drill bits. Funny, but I have two of those sets and they are my go to drill bit for household stuff. They are so cheap that if I break or dull one, another set is cheap. But, this is the reason why I wrote this. I installed 4 barndoor tracks made of stainless steel. I reversed the top hangers, which required drilling a lot of quarter inch holes. I burned up a couple of Freud cobalt bits and tried others that did not last. Somehow I ran across and bought a set of Comoware cobalt drill bits. Let me tell you, the darned things lasted and lasted and drilled a lot of quarter inch holes in quarter inch stainless steel bar stock. For me, they were as good as or better than Freud. I used a WEN drill press on slowest speed and Tap Magic cutting oil. The drill bits are so good, I use them for a lot of stuff. Unless I am drilling in stainless, I don't think they will ever wear out. PS. I concur with your ratings and also put in a strong vote for WEN products. I have some of them also.

the added steam coming out of your mug is great!

Edit* I see you found it lol I'm pretty sure the vaccum nozzle adapter fell out when you first opened the box on the wen sander. I saw something fly out

I have a bacho, selflocking/automatic locking mesuring tape. That is a feature i did not know a need before I got one. it is invaluble when working on big projects alone. I wish the "tape" should be stiffer and wider so when taking long mesurement it stays strait/holding on better.

WEN has a US office and US tech support that speaks clear english. Had a question about the negative battery cable on my Generator and the tech support was awesome and understanding of my lack of paying attention to the manual.

a good palm sander is soo important, its probably the tool you will use the most, as almost every project will require some sanding. and having a bad one can really mess your hands. and having a tool that you hate using will result in worse results as you eventually go "thats is, its good enough" and put it down before you are actually finished. also a good screwdriver can be crucial. we had really good Bosch ones at works but after a break in we lost ALL our cordless tools, batteries and chargers. so when we had to buy new stuff we bought another Bosch screwdriver and they are also the blue pro class. but this one i hate, batteries drains faster and worst of all it really dont like slow speeds as it often cuts off if you go too slow and that is NO GOOD when dealing with assembling. but most of these tools will be good enough for a starter or if you just need them for one project a year or something. because i doubt they will last long, at least they are corded so most of the reliability issues will come into play when eventually will drop the tool. would also love if you did a similar video for larger machines such as table saws and planers. imo planers are essential for a workshop. i mean sure there are ways around it but its so great to have, but you kinda must have a dust collection for it.

I’m trying to get into the hobby and my window shopping on Amazon has shown me many Wen tools with fairly decent reviews. While I haven’t used any of them, they seem to be trying to position themselves as the go to entry-level power tool company.

Those speed clamps without the stops, I have seen some where it is intentional so you can turn that part around and it can put clamp pressure outwards instead of inwards.

I have a Wen oscillating drum sander (Amazon Prime Day sale) $85. I have a Wen 12" variable speed drill press (Amazon Prime Day sale) $195. Both were about 30% below Amazon's regular sale price. What I will say is that they are each worth their weight in cold-rolled latinum as the Ferengi would say.

I have a 1970 B&D jigsaw that still work. Design has never changed.

Fun video. I have a Wen 6307 detail belt sander (power file?) that I use ALL the time. I'm sure I will get more Wen tools.

I have a WEN miter saw and a WEN track saw. Both are built well and cut accurately. I would compare their durability and accuracy with any manufacturer. I highly recommend them.

the word you were looking for (in regard to the battery) is platform. Great video.

I learned so much today. I have an assortment of tools but i recently started getting serious about my woodworking and i dont want to waste the little money i have and i probably wont buy a pink drill but the wen products nice and that tool for the thin strips nice , router bits nice. Thanks for including the bit about the harbor freight clamps i knew nothing about clamps especially the corner clamps i like the metal ones you showed definite yes. I also didnt know anything about the square or whats important about it. I been using a speed square the whole time. Thanks

Very good video with good humor lots of good tips on what to buy

Thanks for doing these i was wondering about the harbor freight clamps and i will be getting some