Bob Cleek

When we were young, it was beer! But, alas, we are no longer young.

Tools get you through times of no love better than love gets you through times of no tools!

I always knew there was a reason that I always kept my printed copies of magazines I valued, but, until now, I never realized why. I have a complete cased set of WoodenBoat magazine, having acquired every issue since they provided us with samples to review at the classic yacht brokerage where I was working when their first issue came out. I also have a digital set and, just as Kurt does, I use the digital version for the index and to skim for what I'm seeking, but when I narrow my research, I always pick up the hard copy. There's no explaining publisher's attitudes. I suppose some have good reason. The motives of others remain suspect. a few decades ago, I contacted the Hearst Publishing offices to inquire whether they would allow me to edit and prepare for publication a "best of" anthology of MoTorBoaTing magazines "Ideal Series," itself a collection of "how to build it" and similar articles from the magazine, which had been very popular between 1920 and 1960 before going out of business and, at some point, selling its rights to the Hearst Publishing Company. There were many "public domain" plans for some of the nicest small boats ever designed by some of the top naval architects in the first half of the 20th Century. I couldn't even get them to send me a rejection letter after three attempts to engage in discussions with them! It would have been some of the easiest money they ever made and there was no doubt the anthology would have been very popular. Hearst didn't even have the courtesy of explaining why they weren't interested.

It would seem that the Peanut6's question, which he titled an "education request," invited a comparison of pros and cons of the various options. As something of a "professional" yacht finisher myself once upon a time, I'm glad to hear that glbarlow's cabinet refinishers used something other than shellac or "satin" varnish, neither of which were the best option for the hard use kitchen cabinets endure. "Satin" varnish is best avoided altogether. It lacks UV filters and will degrade quickly in direct sunlight. It's often also difficult to keep the flattening agent evenly in suspension while applying it, resulting in an uneven flat/gloss level on the surface and the flattening paste (dust, essentially) obscures the wood below it. Clear "satin" finishes are made to mimic a real hand-rubbed finish and they do that poorly, at best. Shellac as a final finish on just about anything that will be handled is just wrong, other than on heirloom quality fine furniture, and then only when applied as "French polish," in which each shellac coat is hand-rubbed with oil, resulting in a finish that is a combination of oil and shellac. A "satin" or "hand-rubbed" look finish is accomplished using a hard top quality clear gloss finish which is hand rubbed with pumice and rottenstone until the desired level of gloss or "satin" is attained. No coatings chemist has yet to produce a brushed or sprayed finish "out of the can" that equals a real hand-rubbed finish. The real hand-rubbed finish is like no other in both appearance and feel. It's clarity and smoothness is unlike anything else. When the nature of a hull lends itself to hand-rubbing, either to depict either a painted or bright (clear) finished surface at "scale viewing distance," a real hand-rubbed finish is unequaled for that application. If it makes the polyurethane fans feel any better, Hamburg-made Steinway pianos have been finished with a sprayed polyester finish for the last 30 years or so and have a deep high-gloss finish. New York Steinway pianos, an entirely different model with different tonal qualities, are finished with hand-rubbed lacquer and have a deep satin finish. Nobody knows fine finishes better than the Steinway company and even they find it useful to use two different coatings for different reasons to finish their pianos. You can be sure, though, that Steinway isn't using shellac or "wipe on poly" on any of its pianos! For those wood finishing wonks, here's an interesting article on how Steinways are refinished: The Art of Refinishing a Piano | Steinway and Sons Piano Refinishing (chuppspianos.com)

I haven't read Chuck's instructions, which may address this issue, but, just as a suggestion, you may want to consider now how you will be mounting the hull when the model is completed. If you are planning to mount it with a couple of lengths of brass rod or on turned stanchions, etc., you may want to drill the mounting holes in the bottom of the hull now before you thin the bulwarks. Drilling mounting holes is sort of "rough stuff" major surgery and it gets really difficult to do if there's anything breakable on the hull. Don't ask me how I know this! I can think of three times that I got ahead of myself and finished a model and then realized I hadn't drilled the mounting holes. I had to build custom-fit cradles to hold the models while I drilled up from the bottom with a jig to keep my drill bit plumb!

Well, in the interests of full disclosure, I don't own any stock in Zinsser ("Bullseye Shellac") or Minwax (wipe on polyurethane,) but I'll add these two considerations to the discussion: If, in some way that escapes my imagination, one botches applying a thin coat of shellac, the error can be easily corrected by diluting the shellac with denatured alcohol and wiping it off. On the other hand, if one botches a coat of wipe on polyurethane, you're going to be in a world of hurt trying to remove it from a model without risking doing some serious damage to the model. For those in the rest of the world who are apparently less susceptible to the seductions of the advertising industry, Minwax's "wipe on poly" is nothing more than polyurethane varnish thinned with mineral spirits or the equivalent. In the US, it's sold with the thinner included for the same price as full-strength polyurethane varnish. Unless it doesn't bother you to pay pay full price for diluted polyurethane varnish, you'll be money ahead to thin it yourself to the consistency desired. Additionally, as wiping up the excess after the material has soaked into the wood surface guarantees a matt finish, I have no idea why Minwax sells "matt finish" version of the stuff. That said, polyurethane varnish is tough as nails and great stuff for bar tops and hardwood floors.

What the other guys said. Fact is, the less CA one uses, the better the model is for all that. A tiny drop of clear shellac on a rigging knot will soak into the cordage and dry invisibly, holding it forever. If you ever need to undo it, another drop of denatured alcohol will dissolve the shellac and permit the knot to be untied while it is wet with alcohol. Actually, surgeons don't struggle with rigging ship models much at all because they have learned how to tie knots with instruments. (And they don't tie bowlines, either. There are many easier knots to choose from.) Modelers would find it helpful to learn how to tie rigging knots the way surgeons tie sutures. There are a ton of YouTube instructional videos on the subject, many posted by medical schools. You'd be amazed what can be done with forceps, needle holders, and tweezers. See: how to tie a surgical knot with instruments - YouTube

... and when you do buy a tool, buy the best quality tool you can afford. The better tool produces better work and will last longer. You'll save money in the long run that way. And never loan a tool unless you don't mind buying another one.

This is all you need to know about lead oxidization in ship models. Read it carefully, It's the "bible" on the subject. Nautical Research Journal - Vol 43 (thenrg.org)

What Jaager said. Shellac is relatively inexpensive. (I but the pint or quart cans, premixed and then thin with denatured alcohol as required.) Shellac can be applied by brush easily. Excess can be wiped off with a rag or paper towel, if you wish. It will soak into the wood without raising the wood grain (unlike water-based coatings.) Cleans up easily with denatured alcohol. It's also good for fixing knots in rigging, or holding rope coils in shape. (Move as desired as the alcohol dries and before the shellac hardens.) Shellac dries very quickly and is easily sanded or rubbed with bronze wood (steel wool leaves tiny bits that will rust eventually, leaving marks on the wood) or rottenstone or pumice. A single coat will dry to a matt finish. Additional coats will build up to a gloss. I use white shellac for everything. Amber or "orange" shellac will darken to a rich dark brown as successive coats are applied. Shellac can also be applied to paper and card stock, which will absorb it and become hard and stiff. It's useful for applying thin sheets of paper to flat surfaces, as well. Try it, you'll like it! It's been around for millennia and is proven to last forever.

You're telling me! "He who dies with the most tools, wins!"

I use technical lead holders as above extensively for drafting and marking. While it's a matter of taste, I suppose, I would consider a 6B or 8B lead way too soft for anything other than making "tick marks." Those grades of lead are very soft. They leave a lot of graphite dust on the work surface, smear easily, and often make a bit mess. (They're just the ticket if you are using pencil lead to mark plank edges to simulate seam stopping, though.) The soft lead doesn't hold a point for long, either. If drawing a 16" line with a soft point, it will wear down as the line is drawn, and the line "weight" (width) will be greater at the end of the line than at the beginning. I'd say nothing softer than an HB and preferably an H2 grade lead, which is much harder. Harder lead doesn't break as easily, either. A chisel-shaped edge on a lead is proper for a compass, but not for a pencil or lead holdler. On a compass, the chisel edge is presented to the surface with its thin edge perpendicular to the line to be drawn, so it leaves a narrow line and wears evenly. On a pencil, a chisel edge will only draw a relatively consistent weight line as long as the chisel edge is always presented parallel to the line to be drawn. If it's skewed one way or the other, the edge will quickly wear down and leave a heavily weighted (wide) line. Technical lead holder points should be sharpened with a "pointer," which creates a very sharp perfectly conical point which can be renewed easily with a "twist of the wrist" circular turn of the holder inserted in the "pointer," which also contains the graphite dust and keeps it from getting everywhere, which is a major problem when using sandpaper. (Which, alas, cannot be avoided when sharpening compass leads.) They're cheap, too. https://www.amazon.com/Staedtler-502-BK-A6-Pointer/dp/B002EL9J50/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=lead+pointer&qid=1634014554&sr=8-2 Old school cast iron desk model of the same device below. Once a common drafting room fixture. Frequently for sale on eBay.

You'll need a compass, too. These are easily sourced on eBay. High quality ones can be had used for pocket change, or you may want to score a classic set of old school drafting instruments if you remember your high school mechanical drawing and geometry classes. (If not, buy a used mechanical (or "technical") drawing high school textbook on line. If you need to mark off fixed distances, like for marking stations on a keel, a compass is the tool to do it. This is one tool where you will appreciate quality. Don't buy one of those cheapo jobs we had in geometry class. Get a proper, solid, compass that holds 2mm compass lead, not one that holds a pencil and has a sloppy joint that's going to move on you. https://www.amazon.com/Mr-Professional-Diameter-Geometry-Precision/dp/B07FWG5SJP/ref=asc_df_B07FWG5SJP?tag=bingshoppinga-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=80882875798513&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4584482455153217&psc=1 (Check the forum search feature for "drafting instruments" to see discussions of the finer points of these "old school" tools. There are a lot of these instruments floating around these days with CAD having replaced the old "tee square and triangle" draftsmen. The professional quality old time stuff has become quite collectable, as it's quite beautiful and satisfying to use, but can still be found for a fraction of what it cost new... and when they were new, these highly accurate technical instruments weren't cheap. Today's "CAD-sters" may sneer at them, but, hey... they put man on the moon!) Marking tools are a lot more effective when used with measurement tools. In terms of modeling measurements, I've long found a good pair of dividers, and/or a set of proportional dividers, essential. (There's a top of the line Keuffel and Esser decimally scalled 10" set of proportional dividers on eBay right now at a very good price: https://www.ebay.com/itm/194401263840?hash=item2d4337e0e0:g:ulkAAOSwKZJg6zF0) Use this forum's search feature to look up "proportional dividers" to learn how these handy devices are useful in modeling. (The measure distances and they translate one distance to any other scale distance you set them to. They also serve as regular dividers for taking up distances.) Find used high quality dividers on eBay under "drafting instruments." (Only buy top quality instruments. Do not buy any instruments made of brass. They are cheap Indian knockoffs and next to useless.) Also get a caliper. There are lots of options. They come with a sliding rule scale, dial readouts and digital readouts. You'll need these for measuring the thickness of wood, etc. For modeling purposes, you don't need a $500 Starrett special. A $20 one will do just fine. A good rule, and particularly scale rules, used in conjunction with your dividers, are essential for measuring scale distances and sizes. Architect's rules are handy. They have twelve rules on a single triangular rule, each having a different scale, e.g. 1:1, 1:2, 1;3, 1:4, 1:8, 1:16, etc. These are relatively inexpensive. Really good rules are not much more expensive than the cheap plastic ones and have finer scales. The cheap plastic ones have wider scaling (writing) on them, but are entirely suitable for modeling. Make sure the rule you buy has the scales you want on it. (Inches, halves, quarters, sixteenths, etc.) Laser etched metal scales are preferred, e.g. https://www.amazon.com/Architectural-Laser-Etched-Architects-Draftsman-Engineers/dp/B094ZBWGLV/ref=asc_df_B094ZBWGLV?tag=bingshoppinga-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=80333187610152&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583932714589816&psc=1

May I ask for a moment of silence in memory of Floquil paints? .... Sigh. I miss them so much. For those who appreciate the qualities of solvent-based paints: Tru-Color Paint, a very high quality solvent-based paint, has been getting rave reviews since they hit the market a few years ago. For some reason, however, they aren't as widely distributed as other brands. Perhaps that's just a function of the "battle for shelf space" in retail stores. I've never used them, but they are big in the model railroad and military armor communities where color accuracy is a very big deal. It seems some of the OEM's are using nothing else on their production lines. Tru-Color Paint | When You Need Tru-Color (trucolorpaint.com) I'd like to hear a review from anybody who's used them. As always, high-quality tubed artists' oil paints are readily available in art supply stores everywhere and the color palette is unlimited. If you haven't used them, it may take a little learning curve, but mixing your own paint from tubed colors is the least expensive way to get a high quality finish. (Check YouTube for "using artists' oil paints on models."

"There's an app for that." Stock item at auto body and fender supply houses. Expensive, but a little goes a long way and you'll make up the difference in sandpaper savings. Additionally, particularly with power driven abrasive disks and belts, the regular use of a crepe rubber cleaning stick will extend the life of the abrasive sheet considerably. They are cheap and last forever. POWERTEC 71002 Abrasive Cleaning Stick for Sanding Belts & Discs | Natural Rubber Eraser - Woodworking Shop Tools for Sanding Perfection - Vacuum And Dust Collector Accessories - Amazon.com

The mentioned article in the NRJ is, as I recall, reprinted in volume two of Ship Modeler's Shop Notes, Vol. 2 – Nautical Research Guild (thenrgstore.org) It's a bargain at the price. It's chock full of good ship modeling technical advice. It contains the best discussion of model finishing I've ever seen. The effect of "scale viewing distance" on model finishes (flat, satin, gloss) and model colors is fully explained in the text and the difference between a well painted model and a less-than-well painted model is tremendous.

Ain't that the truth! I've loved books all my life and I've learned a tremendous amount from them. I can't imagine pursuing ship modeling any distance without a good research library. It's such a joy to be able to look up the answers from authoritative sources. That's part of the difference between making a model and assembling one.

Indeed they do complicate things sometimes. He asked about cutting rabbets, so I figured he'd gotten that far. Now you've given him "butt shift patterns" to worry about.

Truer words were never spoken. A top condition first edition of The Built Up Ship Model is going for $125.00, which amazed me, but you can get a paperback reprint for six bucks. Anything by Charles Davis is worth adding to one's library. The same goes for any of Harold Underhill's works, particularly Plank on Frame Models and Scale Masting and Rigging (Vols. I and II) and Masting and Rigging: The Clipper Ship and Ocean Carrier. For those who haven't grown up and lived with ships all their life, and even for those who have, I would say a copy of The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea, by the publishers of the Oxford English Dictionary, belongs on every modeler's bookshelf, and, for those without bookshelves, it's available for free at: Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea - Oxford Reference Put it in your favorites list and you'll never have a problem with the nomenclature again. Interestingly, despite the unbelievable amount of information on the internet (along with an incredible amount of garbage,) ship modelers who have not built a sufficient research library will forever remain at the mercy of the kit manufacturers whose plans and instructions may leave something to be desired. The good news is that many of these works are readily available on the used market (google is your friend) at prices low enough not to arouse "the purser's" suspicions.

Sad news. From the reports, it seems Pilgrim was another one of those "replicas" that sort of looked like what somebody sort of thought the original might have looked like. Her hull was originally a 1945 three masted Danish schooner, about ten feet longer than Dana's 1830 Pilgrim, which would likely have been "apple-bowed." Reportedly, she was insured for $6 million and a total loss. Assuming her rig and other gear were salvageable, it seems like a more accurate "replica" could be built to USCG school ship certification standards for less than that, so things may not be as bad as one might imagine.

It's a boatwright's term. A fit stick is a short squared stick of wood with a bevel cut on one end that is the same thickness as your planking. It serves to check the fit of the plank in the rabbet as you cut the rabbet. You lay the fit stick against the frame face and slide it down until it fetches up against the keel. You start cutting a notch which will be the shape of the rabbet at that point on the keel and sliding the fit stick down as you remove wood until the stick fits perfectly into the short section of rabbet you've cut. You do this at each frame on the rabbet and similarly in the stem and stern posts. Then you strike your rabbet line with a batten, connecting the rabbet line at each notch you've cut. Then, again using your fit stick, you cut the rest of the rabbet, connecting the notches. In this fashion, the rolling bevel of the rabbet is cut so the plank will lay fairly and flush into the rabbet, which is particularly important on a real rabbet seam which will have to be caulked, but isn't as important with a model that isn't going to be caulked. Still, even with a model, it's got to fit well unless you don't mind slapping a lot of filler to make up for a sloppy fit. This is the easiest way to cut the angle of a rabbet accurately because plans generally only show the rabbet line, but not the back rabbet (apex) line, nor the bearding line. A video is worth ten thousand words.... this British fellow calls it a "planking block," though. "Fit stick" may be an Americanism. See: Traditional Maritime Skills :: Cutting the Rabbet (large vessels) (boat-building.org) This site has a great collection of text and video instructions for boatbuilding skills. Any modeler who is unfamiliar with traditional full-sized wooden boat and ship building techniques should find it very helpful. It's a handy reference site.

Your opinion certainly isn't contrary to mine. The OP asked about rotary tools. Had he asked, "What's the best tool for cleaning up portholes?" my answer would have been a round file or a hand reamer of some sort. My first rotary tool was that same Sears Craftsman rotary tool you mention. I still have it. I can't remember when I used it last. I believe they were made by Weller and labeled "Craftsman" by Sears, as was Sears' practice with all of their products. (Sears and its subsidiary, K-Mart, had over 3,000 stores and they were two of the largest retailers in the US fifteen years ago. Now there are about 19 Sears and 16 Kmart stores left. Stanley Black & Decker now own the Craftsman brand and, while they claim to honor the famous "lifetime no questions asked replacement warranty" on Craftsman hand tools, they only honor it if the store that sells Craftsman tools to which you bring your broken tool happens to have that very same tool in stock, which often they don't. If the broken tool is part of a set, and they don't have loose stock to replace it, they won't break up a set to do the exchange, so you're out of luck. This is classic "thread drift," I know, but I thought it was an interesting footnote.) In retrospect, compared to the Dremel I bought later, the Craftsman/Weller rotary tool was rather inferior.) Perhaps I should have gone into more detail on rotary tools, I suppose. Truly, rotary tools can be and generally are too aggressive when used on anything but metal. (The Dremel Moto-tool was originally designed and marketed as a die grinder.) As I mentioned in my post above, it's all about torque and not about speed. One of the big drawbacks to a high-speed rotary tool is that it too aggressively removes soft material. Combine that limitation with a heavy, less ergonomic tool and controlling it becomes very difficult, especially with fine work. Additionally, slowing down these high-speed motors, particularly the newer very high speed rare earth magnet "micro-motors," results in a corresponding loss of what was not a lot of torque to begin with. Trying to do work with wood, and particularly plastics, which can melt when cut with high speed tools, with a tool that is really only effective at high speed, is very difficult and, in the case of plastic, sometimes impossible. Painting with a somewhat broad brush, I offered four options, intentionally omitting 12 volt and battery-powered options, as well as the entire range of "micro-motor" rotary tools which are becoming more popular in some quarters these days. The micro-motor tools are small handpieces with the motor in the handpiece itself. These are very high speed tools with little torque, but they are easier to control due to their ergonomics. They are primarily useful for very fine detail work and lack the broader range of attachment capabilities of the other rotary tools. All of which is to say that in my opinion the best option of all in terms of versatility and power at low, more easily controllable speeds, as may be needed, are the dental engines. These days, if you watch eBay and similar sites carefully, one can find a dental lab grade dental engine that was built to last a lifetime, in very good condition, for a couple of hundred bucks or less. Considering the maxim that much touted "multi-tools" do none of the things they say they do well, one has to realize that with a dental engine, they may want to acquire a separate mini-drill press or the like because the dental engine isn't going to do it for them on that score, but then again, mounting a Dremel-type motor in a drill press attachment is a poor option anyway. And no matter what, one will need to have a good set of wood-cutting files and rifflers anyway.

The small rechargeable Dremel mototools were quite promising. I have one, but haven't used it in a long time. I bought it for my wife who shows dogs and wanted a cordless Dremel for doing pedicures on her basset hounds on the road at dog shows. There was (is) an undisclosed design defect in them. They are fine for quick use, but if they are run for any length of time (I'm guessing eight or ten minutes continuously,) the battery to motor body contacts heat up to the point where they actually melt, at which point the (expensive) battery is useless. At least, that was my experience with them. I suspect this is why Dremel discontinued them.

Size doesn't matter, really. Most all rotary tools accept a variety of sized collets so a wider range of shaft diameters can be accommodated. (See the black cube collet holder and collets in the lower right hand corner of the posted picture of the Proxxon rotary tool.) Dremel has a Jacobs-type chuck attachment that will accommodate up to 1/8" diameter shanks. Dremel Rotary Tool Quick Change Collet Nuts (5-Piece) with 1/32 in. Rotary Tool Multi-Pro Chuck-4485+4486 - The Home Depot

It depends upon your pocketbook. In order of lowest to highest cost, I'd advise one of the following. Don't waste your money on Asian knockoffs. Only buy the name-brand stuff below. Dremel Moto-tool. The bottom of the line model starts at $40 and they go up from there. Expect to pay $75 to $85 for a top of the line model. Spending a bit more for a model with variable speed is probably a wise move. Buy the self-centering chuck adapter accessory. Dremel 100-N/7 Single Speed Mini Rotary Tool Kit with 7 Accessories- Hobby Drill, Small Pen Sander, Garden Tool Sharpener, Craft & Jewelry Drill, Black - Power Rotary Tools - Amazon.com Proxxon Rotary Tool. Starts around $115.00. Like the Dremel but probably better quality construction and its ergonomics are preferred by some. Likely more readily available in the EU than the Dremel. proxxon rotary tool - Bing Foredom Flex-shaft tool. Serious money at around $300 and up. Extremely versatile. Industry standard for heavy duty rotary tools. Used by commercial jewelers and dental labs. Everything you'll ever need in a rotary tool. Many different handpieces available. Get the drill chuck handpiece and the collet chuck handpiece (shown) for the greatest convenience and flexibility. The foot pedal is a big plus. Comes in a bench base model or for hanging from a bench-mounted hanger. Your preference. Sometimes available used. Amazon.com: Foredom 2230, SR motor, Jewelers Kit Dental lab engine, any brand. (Wells Model shown.) Expect to pay close to a grand retail for one of these ($750 with foot pedal speed control and handpiece arm plus $250 and up for the handpiece,) but your dentist may have one that he's replaced with an air-turbine handpiece unit and would be willing to give to you. They are a lot of them on the used market as air-turbine and micromotor units have come on the market, and they are sometimes at great prices. (E.g.: $400 Belt Drive Wells Dental Engine set Dental laboratory Model EURI Hobby/Carving | eBay and $100 Super-Dent Rugby Dental Laboratory Engine w/ Arm, Handpiece | eBay) The advantage of the "old school" dental engine is that it has a tremendous speed range (40,000 RPM downward) and good torque at low speeds, unlike other rotary tools. This rotary tool is still the workhorse of dental laboratories and parts and service are widely available, if needed. It excels at very fine work (like filling cavities) with it's wide range of very ergonomic handpieces, including angled ones for working in tight spaces. It can be rather difficult to do fine work while holding a heavy, fat, Dremel or Proxxon rotary tool. It does what your dentist does inside your mouth, so you should have no problem reaching inside a framed hull to sand and bevel frames! And, if you ever tire of ship modeling, it will always be handy to have around the house to use for "enhanced interrogation techniques." While others' mileage may differ, I would recommend staying away from 12 volt rotary tools and anything running on batteries. They lack the power to really hog off the material when you want to do that. The same is true for the relatively new "micromotor" rotary tools. As much as they try, the laws of physics just won't permit replacing torque with speed. When it comes to power tools, the emphasis has always to be on power. As for burs and abrasives, note that the quality of those made for the professional jewelry manufacturing industry and the dental professionals will be of much higher quality than anything that uses the word "hobby" in their advertising and they will often be less expensive and longer lasting. Look for them in the online catalogs. They don't sell them in brick and mortar stores. Shop around. This stuff goes on sale regularly. As interesting as it is to read their catalogs, the "hobby" mail order outfits are the most expensive retailers of all with this stuff, although, once in a blue moon, they do offer significant discounts. Don't forget, always buy the best tool you can afford. It will last you a good long time, maybe even longer than you do, and if you find you don't need it anymore, you can almost always sell it for something reasonable. Cheap tools actually cost you more because you have to keep buying them over and over again. (Don't ask me how I know this! ) Oh, and did I say, "Don't buy Asian knock-offs of Dremel and Foredom-type tools." There are lots of them on the market these days. They may look identical and be a quarter the price, but they aren't the same. ("Cleek's Law" #27: "Never buy anything with a cord from Horror Fright!") Rotary tools live hard lives and if they are to live long lives, they have to be made of quality materials. There's no point in spending the money on a machine that will burn its bearings out in six or eight months of occasional use!