I’m very fortunate in that I can say my shop work pays for my shop stuff. I’m not making a living making and or sharpening saws, and that’s not the goal, but it does sustain me when it comes to buying tools and materials. Sure, I occasionally use money from our incomes for some things, but most everything shop related, especially the the more expensive purchases, are paid for mostly from saw work.
I sometimes flip tools, but lately I haven’t really felt the need to constantly search and slowly upgrade what I have and sell the old that I’ve cleaned up. Which is saying something, because I spent most of three years constantly chasing slightly better tools and buying and selling the old. I was determined to let shop stuff pay for shop stuff, it meant having to be patient but its pretty rewarding. Sometimes you meet just the right people too. Went for a router, came home with a $200 8 inch powermatic jointer for example. All there, nothing wrong with it. The guy loved delta, bought an auction lot, sold off non delta cheap just to get rid of it.
And, it definitely helps if you are willing and able to take on projects. Things like bearings are cheap and if you can take apart electric motors…. well that just opens up opportunities. Before I was a teacher, I was a mechanic and after taking apart and rebuilding personal car projects including body work, painting, engine, electrical, ect… tools aren’t so bad.
But to start to even buy tools I needed a way to fund the searches. Saws have been a constant, and I think even as I jump from project to project, saw sharpening will always be in the shop.
Thousand Oaks Toolworks 