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.
The Ryobi HPL51K electric hand planer is a budget tool that includes some very nice features such as a left/right dust ejection dial, adjustable depth knob and blade-protecting kick stand. This tool really enables easy planning of uneven surfaces – up to 3/32″ in a single cut – and even performs edge and rabbet cuts with the included edge guide.
The Black & Decker JS515 4.5 amp Jigsaw can be found for a reasonable “street” price and offers reliable, if simplistic performance. The saw is your basic model and certainly doesn’t feature many frills besides tool-less changing of both universal and t-shank blades and a handy magnetic storage area for up to 3 blades. If you can find it on sale you may have a deal, but paying retail isn’t something we’d recommend for this model.
We reviewed the Milwaukee 1107-6 7 amp D-handle drill with the optional right angle drive attachment and were blown away by its powerful torque and drilling capability, especially in tight corners. This is a tool that, bar none, any serious contractor should have in their arsenal. This tool is not for bargain hunters, however as it will set you back quite a bit to benefit from its stellar performance.
The Hitachi C7SB2 7-1/4 inch 15 amp circular saw is a workhorse product which can be found for a very reasonable price if you look hard enough. Its clean lines, comfortable feel, and powerful motor make it a decent saw for cutting, but clumsy depth and bevel adjustments give it at least some areas of improvement. This tool will do well in any handyman’s kit and some professionals may even find its lightweight styling is worth a second look.
We found the Hitachi G12SR3 4-1/2 inch 6 amp angle grinder to be an easy to use tool that should be at the top of any handyman’s short list. Price, performance and ease of use make this an easy pick for someone looking to grab a flexible tool that can be used in tile, metalwork or concrete applications.
Vaughan tools are made in the USA, and their XL Superbar 21″ pry bar is among the most versatile and useful […]
The Vaughan Bear Claw Nail Puller is part of its BC series (“Bear Claw”, get it?) of nail pullers are simply […]
Husky, the Home Depot house brand, has some very nice value-oriented knife packages. With their value pricing, the Husky utility […]
