Hmmmm Battery Drills:
Dewalt & Bosch Power tools:
Milwaukee & Porter Cable; Sawzall, Hole Hawg, Hammer Drill(I hate Milwaukee’s battery drill.) Electrical Hand Tools:
Klein & Ideal (mostly Klein) Plumbing Tools:
Rigid! (& Starret) Misc Hand Tools:
I actually love Craftsman hand tools. (I find their power tools to be less than professional grade. They just don’t stand up to daily use)
The power tools that get the most daily use are the Dewalt 18V battery drill, and the Milwaukee Sawzall
The “best tool” for me seems to change every few years.
Currently, it’s a Japanese Pull Saw. I rebuilt my bathroom and made all of my cuts (except those for de-construction) using my new Pull-Saw; just to see if I could do it. Damn fun tool to use. It’s like an extension of my arm. It made cuts that were clean and splinter-free. And I do mean CLEAN cuts; almost as if they had been sanded!
A few years ago, it was a hardwood mallet. It beefily knocked apart frames and gingerly tapped together dovetails.
Before that, it was my Ryobi plunge router. If for no other reason than to REALLY see the chips fly as I’m milling an edge or corner bead.
But for all-around use; it’s got to be my Dremel rotary tool. I’m taking a pottery class and I cut a die for a clay extruder… I sharpened my hedge trimmers and garden shears… Used it to cut off a bolt that would not budge… Plowed a recess in a wooden toy allowing me to put in magnets to keeps it’s lid on… All within the last month.
I’ll second danceswithcats about a Hart California Framer. I like the 21oz (I think; I’m not in the shop) waffle head with a straight handle, but I tried just about every type when I was buying and every on of them has a better balance than any other hammer I’ve tried. My only regret is that my shop is open to the elements, and the polished hammer heads rust pretty badly.
I also have a Skill 77 that was my father’s. It’s heavy, but it’s torquey as anything and it just feels good to cut with. It’s also a lot quieter than any sidewinder, which is what everyone uses around here.
a drawknife I bought at an antique tool cellar in Portsmouth, NH; I use that damn drawknife for more things than I can count…
my splitting maul–well, the head, really, since I cracked and replaced the handle about 8 times so far–which I inherited from my wife’s Grandfather. When he was alive, he continually kept 20 cords of wood (hand-split) at the ready. (The house had a wood-fired furnace.)
My Oneida stainless steel butter knife. It can cut through butter AND steak. It can double as a straight edge screwdriver. Flip it and you can use the heavy side to hammer in penny nails. It scrapes paint off glass, it pries lids off the paint can. It’s safe enough for the kids. It pries apart frozen steaks. It removes the food that gets stuck between the stove and the granite counter top. You can use it inside or out without having to get the 150’ extension cord and it never runs out of batteries. It is made of a lovely polished stainless steel that can be tossed in the dishwasher for easy clean up.
mr.stretch’s favorite tool has to be his Diamond dikes (diagonal cutting pliers). Second favorite is his compound miter saw.
My favorite has to be my Leatherman micro. I use it for everything–I’ve rebuilt my workstation at work using just my Leatherman. Plus it has scissors so you can curl ribbon when you have to do a last minute wrapping job. Truly a multi-purpose tool.
Gotta agree. I bought one for an addition I’m putting on my house. My brother thought it completely unneeded.
Screw that. I’m 44 and haven’t done any serious framing work for 20 years.
Man, we used the heck out of it. I Bought a framing nail gun and apalm nailer Often, when remodeling, you need to get a nail into a real tight spot. This baby does the trick. It works so well that I started using it for nailing lots of stuff.
Brrrprrpprprprp. Sounds like a machine gun. Great fun to use too.
I read a woodworking magazine once in which various pros were polled for their favorite tool. They voted for the band saw, almost unanimously. I don’t have one, but I am seriously considering a benchtop model for those odd projects that come up.
For a stationary tool: I have what I think is a very nice setup. I have an older Delta Contractor’s saw (wish I could have swung the Unisaw, but there it is). It came with a motor that could be wired for either 110v or 220v, and I wired it for 220v. I removed the steel table on the left, and replace it with the cast iron Bench Dog Pro-Max router table. I have a Bosch 1617 router, and I bought a separate base through Bosch that can be bolted permanently to the bottom of the router table base. The Bosch can easily be removed from the stationary or plunge base, and inserted into the router table base. This is a very flexible setup, and I use this quite a bit for most of my woodworking.
For a handheld tool: I can’t believe how long it took me to buy a cordless drill. I never thought they would have enough power. I bought the DeWalt 18volt drill/driver, and I am a convert.
For those with Leathermans: I have one, but I never use the knife blade because there is no lock on the blade. Did I get the wrong model, or have they changed this?
Klein Tools makes the best electrical tools in the world, bar none. High leverage, hardened steel edges, insulated handles. There’s just nothing that compares.
Hilti products have been the best hammer-drills I’ve ever used. Despite the nuisance of having to use proprietary drill bits, these tools do it all. The battery-powered TE-5a was my workhorse for many years, going through concrete like a hot knife through butter.
Never heard of this problem; everything locks on all the ones I’ve seen/owned, from knife blades to screwdriver bits. The only annoying thing is that, the way the elements are tensioned, you ALWAYS have to open up the knife blade first (either straight or serrated, depending on which leg) and then fold it back down in order to access any of the other tools–I’m always afraid I’m going to cut myself just trying to use a screwdriver.
Couse, seriously, my CyTech Doublepark four post lift. It doubled the storage in the back of my garage and allowed me to All Kinds of car stuff. From tranny and motor swaps to waxing the really hard to get lower panels on the car.
