I get asked about my setup a lot, so here it is. No sponsorships, and while I do use affiliate links, they never influence what I recommend. Just the tools I actually reach for and what I actually think about them.
I work out of a small shop on my father-in-law’s property in Lindsborg, Kansas. It’s not a big space, but it’s mine, and I’ve been pretty deliberate about what I bring into it. Every tool in here either earns its place or it goes.
(Links below are Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases — costs you nothing extra and helps keep the shop running.)
The Miter Saw
The Bosch CM10GD 10-inch Glide Miter Saw is the one I landed on after a lot of research, and I’m glad I did. The glide mechanism is smooth, the 10-inch blade handles everything I throw at it for crosscuts and miters, and it fits tighter against the wall than a standard swing-arm saw. If you’re thinking about a 12-inch version, Bosch makes that too, but the 10 does everything I need.
The Router Situation
I have a router problem. Actually I have a router solution, but it required acquiring several routers to solve it, which my wife views differently than I do.
The Bosch Colt 1/4-inch Palm Router is the one I grab for light work, trimming, and template routing. It’s small, it’s precise, and it doesn’t fight you. The Makita 18V cordless compact router is newer to the shop and it’s become one of my favorites. I lasered some oversized bases for it so I can see my layout lines better, and it is genuinely a pleasure to use untethered. If you don’t have a laser, you can find aftermarket bases on Etsy.
For heavier 1/2-inch work, the Bosch 1617EVS 2.25 HP router is hard to beat on price per horsepower. And for my router table, the DeWalt DW618 Fixed Base Router lives inside a JessEm Mast-R-Lift II. I built a table around that lift inside the cabinet of an old table saw. The JessEm lift is overkill in the best possible way. Bit changes and height adjustments from above the table make the whole thing feel like a different machine than what I grew up using.
The CNC
The Onefinity Woodworker X-50 is the centerpiece of the shop. I use it for guitar bodies, drum caddies, furniture components, and whatever else I need cut precisely and repeatably. It’s a solid machine. Rigid, accurate, and the community around it is genuinely helpful when you’re figuring things out.
I run VCarve Pro for most of my CNC work, and Fusion 360 for the more complex 3D modeling. I’ve been getting Fusion 360 tutoring from a UK luthier named Martin Harmer, which has accelerated my learning curve considerably. If you’re just getting started with CNC, VCarve is more approachable. If you want to do real 3D work, eventually you end up in Fusion.
The 3D Printer
It lives in the shop and it gets used constantly, mostly for jigs, fixtures, and custom router bases. Not glamorous, but it pays for itself in the first month if you’re building things that require precision setup.
The Philosophy
I’m not chasing setups. I’m not buying tools to have them. Everything in this shop either solves a specific problem I ran into or it lets me build something I couldn’t build without it. That’s the filter.
If you have questions about any of these or want to know more about how I use them, come hang out on a stream. I run live shop sessions on Twitch and YouTube most weeks and I’m usually pretty happy to talk about this stuff while I’m working.
Come find us at @carverwoodworking everywhere.