Lumberjack Tools Home Series Beginners Kit (HSBK1)

This is a high quality tool. It worked great for the project that I was working on.

My 18 volt Ryobi hammer drill has a stabilizer handle which is a necessity and turns the tool great with cedar, a bit too aggressive for black spruce but still gets the job done. Built the Adirondack chair first and the double second from the plans list and they are prettier and stronger than anything you could buy in my opinion. Looking forward to many more projects because now ALL my friends want me to build them something.

Perfect, just what I was looking for deck renovation. Works well.

I like the fact that it is made in the USA, and that it looks and feels as good as it is. I have rated it 4 stars because I have not used it yet, but I know I can be sure it will be every bit as good as advertised. Thank You for having Good products Made in USA or Canada. Definitely will be doing more shopping here.

This can become a tool you get addicted to using. Remember all that deadfall you had which you often just burned, well you might just do something different with it after getting this. I had a plum tree come down, along with a lot of other stuff, and I basically bucked it up and placed it on the wood pile. After getting this tool I thought about using it on some scrap pieces of wood to try it out. After about a week, I have about a dozen benches, saw horses, tools, etc. I had a big pile of scrap wood but that is almost gone now. I used an Alaskan saw mill and slabbed up some nice 4 inch thick boards and used those to make benches from maple and fir. I have attached a few pics. Notes: 1. You really need a good way to clamp down the wood you are using the tenoning tool on. It is impossible to hold by hand. 2. You really need a big drill to run the tenoning bit, one that has a handle to hold it with. If the bit grabs the wood, which it will absolutely do, you will feel like your arm is going to be ripped off if you dont use a handle. 3. Adjusting the tenoning tool to cut the tenons the right size is trial and error. It seems to cut the tenons just a bit too small. 4. The forstner bit is kind of hard to use. It has a nice long neck to it, a good thing, but it seems kind of dull when compared to other forstner bits on the same wood. For the price of the kit, this should be better. 5. The plan book is not so good. Its not bad either. It has some interesting plans but I think what would be more useful is if the company spent a bit of time creating some videos to go with the plans, as well as some videos that would help make some of the more complicated joinery that is possible, and maybe a few jigs to help build the items in the plans. 6. Dont run the tenoning bit in reverse WHEN you get it stuck. It will unscrew. Instead, get a softblow hammer and whack the bottom edge until it comes loose. If you hear the bit 'squeak' you might need to back it off before it gets stuck. You will understand this when you hear it and feel it. 7. There is no slot on this version of the tenon bit, so you dont really know how deep you have cut the tenon. The more expensive version has a depth slot. Not sure if that is really that important. Since I grab just about any piece of wood that looks to be the right diameter, I end up with very 'rustic' looking legs that sometimes splay all over the place. Because of this, I always start off with the legs extra long and cut the tenons to full length. Once inserted into the mortice, I either cut them to length and blind wedge them or flush cut them to the top and wedge them. Later I level the bench, mark the legs and cut them to length. Overall, this is a pretty nice kit.