Tool Reviews & Buying Guides by Trade

If you want to read articles and reviews that are trade-specific, try our Tool Reviews by Trade section. This organizes our site into topics suited particularly for a specific trade such as plumbing, electrical, framing, roofing & siding, concrete/masonry, and carpentry. Roofing and siding pros will find pneumatic roofing nailers as well as tools like cap staplers and hammer tackers. Tile & Flooring Pros will gain easy access to our tile saws, flooring staplers, and floor scrapers. As a painting professional, reviews of airless sprayers and cordless sprayers may interest you the most. You can count on one thing: whatever your craft, you need good tools. Our tool reviews by trade will help you drill down to quickly find the information you need. If you want to avoid anything that sits outside of your trade, this way helps you do it. If you can’t find a tool here, let us know.

Kobalt 27-Piece Xtreme Access Socket Set Review

Kobalt 27-Piece Xtreme Access Socket Set Review

The new trend in sockets, which Kobalt has fully embraced with its 27-pc Xtreme Access Socket Set, is the universal SAE/Metric spline drive that fits 6 & 12 pt, spline, star, square and even most rounded sockets. But Kobalt also utilized a new 4-in-1 solution that has the ratchet surrounding the socket, leaving the center open. Why is that important? With the center open , your bolt can pass right through, letting you use the same socket for both shallow and deep applications. Combined with the specialized drive system, this 27-piece socket set covers nearly all the bases for most general socket use.

Stinger CN100 Cap Nailer fastening

Stinger CN100B Cap Nailer Review

When we got to check out a preview of National Nail Corp’s Stinger CN100 Cap Nailer at the 2011 International Builders’ Show, we were impressed – and that was before their product manager, Rocky Stroud, sent us one for a proper review. When you live in Florida, roofing is something you have to deal with on a regular basis – but it’s not exactly the most enjoyable form of employment – at least not in the summer. When the humidity is at 98% and the sun is beating down on you in June, anything you can do to get off that roof more quickly is going to be music to your ears. The Stinger CN100 Cap Nailer is the brainchild of National Nail Corp which is in the business of manufacturing high quality fasteners for the commercial and residential construction markets. The Stinger CN100 is their latest product, and it positions itself as a way to speed up the job of fastening underlayment, felt paper or Tyvek-style housewrap while still adhering to most local building codes that may not yet accept staples.

Bosch FNS138-23 Pin Nailer Preview

Bosch FNS138-23 Pin Nailer Preview

In the past we reviewed the Bosch SN350-20F Framing Nailer, and the Bosch FNA250-15 15 ga Angled Finish Nailer. Now, the company showed us its latest pneumatic nailer product – and this one is really perfect for the avid woodworker. The Bosch FNS138-23 Pin Nailer has a zero nail dry fire lockout mechanism. If ever a nailer needed dry fire lockout, it’s the pin nailer. Designed to shoot nails with an almost invisible footprint, it’s likely you won’t realize you’ve run out of nails until something falls down that you thought was secured. With the way Bosch designed this nailer, you only get locked out when all the bails are gone and you can load up a couple new clips of nails without losing any along the way.

Milwaukee 2270-20 Contact Temperature Meter Preview

Milwaukee 2270-20 Contact Temperature Meter Preview

The new Milwaukee 2270-20 Contact Temperature Meter can simultaneously measure two temperature points. It has a high contrast white on black display that can be read across the room and simple controls that are easy to use. In fact, the entire user interface is very simple. The tool performs Celsius to Fahrenheit conversion, simultaneous T1 and T2 measurements, and even difference measurements. It can store minimum and maximum temperature readings and has a strong removable magnetic base for hanging it directly, or via suspension, off duct work, panels and other metallic surfaces.

Rockler Universal Fence Clamps with Clamp-It Review

Rockler Universal Fence Clamps with Clamp-It Review

This won’t be a long review, mostly because the tool under scrutiny is so easy to use. Rockler introduced its Universal Clamp-It Kit several months ago. This is a clamp set designed to give you a “third arm” when assembling frames, drawers, or any two pieces of stock wood at 90 degrees. Anyone who’s done this type of work will recognize that clamping a perfect 90° angle can be a pain without the right jigs and clamps. Rockler’s new Clamp-It and Fence looks to be a good “one person” solution that simplifies the process of tightly and securely joining stock.