Tool Blog

Cordless tools may be king on the jobsite, but that doesn't mean there isn't a place for corded tools in your life. Corded tools offer a few key benefits over their cordless cousins, such as more speed in a lighter body at a much lower cost. Plus, as long at you pay your electric bill, you will never run out of power. Bosch's latest corded drill model 1006VSR uses a 6.3 amp motor to deliver 0-2600 RPMs, which is significantly higher then an 18 volt equivalent, while also keeping the weight at...

Not really, but scraps are something we usually have around the shop or on the jobsite. Very rarely do I use real paper on the job for measurements or notes. What about when you are at home or in the office? You probably use those post-it notes that you can conveniently stick on anything and everything. The problem - they sure are ugly. Sure they can be seen from a distance, but that just means they are even more ugly up close. The Kakuzai Wood Memo Block is the answer to people...

I received an email with some information on the pricing and availability of the BucketVac we talked about a couple weeks ago. It looks like the launch will happen the 3rd week of December at the earliest (I hope they have fast shipping for Christmas). SpeedClean decided to delay the launch so they could make some design changes. We felt the right approach was to make sure we incorporated all the consumer feedback into the product before we launched it. Though SpeedClean is in discussions with national retailers...

Bosch is expanding their cordless 10.8 volt line in the UK with the addition of a compact metal shear. Bosch boasts a cutting speed of up to 4 times faster then cutting with hand shears. Considering the tool is doing all the work at a size not much bigger then a hand shear, I would probably be happy if it was only as fast has a hand shear. The faster speed is just an added bonus. If my conversions are correct, it looks like it can cut up to 16 18 gauge steel, and 12...

How many times have you been in a restaurant, historic building, or just anywhere and wondered what type of wood is being used throughout the building? Maybe you just have too much wood in your shop, and can't remember what is what. Some types of wood are incredibly easy to ID, while other species are not. The I.D. Wood App for the iPhone or iPod Touch is a reference guide that is designed to make identifying wood as easy as possible. With over 50 species of wood listed, including high quality sample...

One problem many of us face is tool organization. It takes so many tools to get the job done right, that sometimes they are hard to keep track of. One of the reasons for disorganization could be because of using your "work" tools at home, or using the same tools to go from building in your shop, to installing on the jobsite. If you are not completely organized, you could leave an important tool behind, which could be very costly. I would like to introduce Sortimo, a 40 year old European company...

So, you just picked up the LS1016L 10" miter saw from Makita, and now you are in search of a miter saw stand to free up your saw horses. Good news, Makita has just announced a brand new mobile jobsite miter saw stand. The Model 195083-4 miter saw stand adjusts to five height positions to fit workers of all sizes. It also features two out-feed roller stands to support longer materials. If you are working with material in the 14-16 foot range, you will probably have to use additional out-feed stands. The...

No, you are not day dreaming... Makita has just introduced a brand new 36 volt cordless LXT lithium-ion 1" SDS-Plus rotary hammer. Makita says the new BHR261 was designed and engineered to offer the power and speed of a corded 1" rotary hammer, with the freedom offered from being cordless. The BHR261 has 3 modes of operation that should accommodate all of your construction/destruction needs: "Rotation only" for those delicate materials, "hammering with rotation" for drilling into harder tougher materials, and "hammering only" used for material removal. The BHR261 uses a Makita built motor...

A recently passed bylaw by the town of Granby, Quebec has the power tool community in an uproar. A 7-2 vote by the city council has banned all use of construction power tools on Sunday, despite objections by local citizens, contractors, and 1,500 petition signatures "Every time we make a bylaw it's usually because the minority is not respecting the majority," said Granby Mayor Richard Goulet. The problem is the bylaw was touted as a anti-noise regulation, yet the use of lawnmowers is...

A vacuum is something many of us need on the jobsite and some jobsites even demand them. The problem is, they take up so much room in the truck to be only used a few times a day. I say, the more room for the tools that make you money, the better. SpeedClean has come up with a vacuum that is absolutely genius. It uses a standard 5 gallon bucket that many of us already own, or can be found for free on the jobsites, as the storage for all of your...