All-in-one

Can you really have an all-in-one woodshop? 

While I’ve never contributed to a Kickstarter campaign, I’m a big fan of the site. It’s amazing how many woodworking tools pop up, and I love seeing designers’ ideas and how they plan to implement them. 

Not all Kickstarter campaigns are successful, but many are. (One of my laser engravers got its start as a Kickstarter campaign a few years ago.) The trick is twofold: Come up with a better idea of doing something, targeted to a specific market. Which, I suppose, is the point of any new product. But a new tool system called VersaCarve kept popping up on my Facebook feed, so I thought I’d check it out. 

The makers describe it as an “all-in-one micro workshop,” and technically it fits that. It drills, sands, polishes, carves, engraves, and solders. For a complete workshop, I’d argue that you also need a hammer, screwdriver and a few other things, but I digress. Actually, it’s kind of impressive. 

The concept revolves around two main components — a basic rotary tool and a soldering iron. But those are designed to work with a series of mounts, jigs, holders, swappable tooling, and a host of bits and cutters. Using the various mounts turns the basic parts into a (very) small table saw, drum sander, drill press, and more. There’s even a fume extractor as part of the system to allow use anywhere without creating too much of a mess. You undoubtedly have all those things already, and if you have a Dremel rotary tool you can probably already do everything this can.   

But that’s thing, this is targeted to hobbyists and crafters who don’t have those things — or even a workshop — and need a solution to work on wood just about anywhere. Crafters just starting out would love it, but its greatest use in my opinion is enticing kids to fall in love with woodworking. Are these kids’ tools, then? No, they’re real tools, but they’re real small. They’ll do the work, without intimidating kids.  

If you’re a regular follower, you know I support getting young people interested in woodworking whenever possible. The future of professional shops depends on it. As an inexpensive way to do that, this is pretty clever.