If you remember a few posts back, the post titled New hole saws from Milwaukee. I criticized Milwaukee for making these new hole saws, but not using carbide for the teeth. Well I did not know at the time that Bosch already has carbide teeth hole saws. If I had known this, I probably would have been even more baffled as to why Milwaukee choose to dismiss the feature. I guess I shouldn't be too hard on Milwaukee, the price of the Bosch is more then double the price of the Milwaukee. Amazons current price for a Bosch 3 inch Carbide tooth hole saw is $86.94 while the Milwaukee is $33.57. Just for price reference a standard 3 inch hole saw is around $10. So I guess Milwaukee wanted a better rough cut hole saw that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg. I would like to see some side by side comparisons to see how they both stack up.

This isn't your average iPod dock, this bad boy has just about everything the man on the job needs. You wont being seeing these in the dorm rooms, or at some girly cafe.

Complete with AM/FM tuner, and Ipod dock, the specs also say it can play music from a USB flash stick or SD card. You will also notice the heavy duty roll cage and GFCI outlets. It also has 2 DC ports to plug in your phone or maybe XM?, and it has a 5 volt USB charger for, I guess your non-iPod MP3 players. If you thought that wasn't enough, it has a built in spotlight. I don't know why your radio needs a spotlight, but this one has it.

I wish there was a bit more info on the radio. Like is the dock dust sealed to protect your $200 iPod? Does it work with all iPods? I don't know. Check it out at SkyMall

Ever since Festool announced they were making a miter saw, the woodworking world went crazy. There have been a few details floating around the Internet for a while now, and even a video or two. But the big news is that we finally have a price. Rumors had the price set between $1200 and $1500, and they were right on the money. The official price from Festool is $1300. Now $1300 is not cheap when it comes to miter saws, especially for a 10 inch, but when has Festool ever been cheap? People that buy Festools either buy because they want a good high quality tool that will last them a lifetime, or they buy because they think the most expensive tools will make them a woodworker.

There are a number of features that set the new Kapex apart from the rest of the miter saw field. You might not be able to notice from the above photo, but the parallel rails that typically side on a normal sliding saw, are stationary. Instead, the whole saw body slides on the rails. This allows for a much smaller overall size. You can basically put this saw right up against a wall, without having to worry about the rails putting a hole in your wall when you slide the saw back.

There are almost too many things to mention that make this saw the new top dog, but here are a few more features. The Kapex has a variable speed motor that allows you to set the speed for the type of material you are cutting. The bevel adjustment is completely counter balanced via springs. You can literally adjust the bevel to any angle and the saw will stay there. The saw base is made out of Magnesium alloy, this puts the saw weight at only 47 Lbs. The Bosch and Makita counterparts weigh in at 55, and 48.5Lbs. Sure Its only 1.5Lbs under the Makita, but the fact that it has a number of extra features, shows how well it is engineered.

I could go on and on, but I bet you would just like to see the Kapex in action already. Check out the Kapex Mini site , and watch the video. I cant wait to see some real world reviews of the Kapex. It would be nice if Festool would send me a demo, so I could see if the Kapex can handle cutting miles of base and crown on a real construction site, and give it a real review. *Hint Hint*

I can dream.

Well, are they? I have been in the construction business for almost 7 years now, and I have never heard of them until just recently. I also doubt that any of my co-workers have heard of them; if they had, they probably would be using their blades instead of the Diablo. So why is it that I have never heard of them? Probably like most construction workers, we use what we can readily find, and what we know works. This is one of the reasons, I am thinking of buying a 7 1/4" saw, and shelving my 6". It has become just too hard to find good 6" blades anymore.

I saw on another website, that the author recommended Forrest Woodworker II blades for his table saw. I had seen the same thing on his website over and over again, without even giving it a second thought. The other day I happened to see it again, and decided to see what this blade was all about. I did a Google search for Forrest Blades and found their website. One thing that really caught my attention, was the fact that they re-sharpen their own blades. I always doubted the fact that the local blade sharpener could match every single tooth on every saw blade to the original specs. Having the manufacture re-sharpen their own blades solves this problem.

I decided to see if Amazon carried their blades. They are one of the few online stores that have a huge stock on tools, and most of the time, the lowest price. If I cant find a tool locally, I go to Amazon next. Sure enough they have it in stock. I was then shocked to see the amount of 5 star reviews the Woodworker II has. At the time of this blog entry the 10" 40 tooth WWII has 111 out of 127 reviews being 5 stars. Sure it costs a little more then your average blade, but when you need straight cuts, and the blade is said to last 3x longer, it seems worth it.

They have a wide verity of sizes of blades to fit almost every saw imaginable, so be sure to check them out on their website, or check their selection on Amazon.

 

One thing I forgot to mention. The new Festool Kapex KS 120 uses a 30mm arbor, and most saw blades are 5/8". What I got from reading Forrest's website, is that for  $9  they will make the saw blade with a larger arbor size. Or if you already own a blade, they can enlarge it for $11.  You do not have to be stuck with the stock Festool blades.