Vince takes on DeWALT’s confusing drills and Robillard teaches you to find studs without a stud finder! This is your Power Tool Week In Review!
Tool Box Buzz – Milwaukee Hatchet
We start off this week with Rob Robillard, who finally got his hands on the Milwaukee Hatchet. THIS is Rob Robillard, and THAT is the M12 HATCHET 6” pruning saw. It’s a tiny chainsaw making really big news, as it seems everyone who gets their hands on it, just about falls in love. Now Rob reduced his experience down to 4 words… “Compact, portable, powerful, and strange.” Why strange? Well, look at that thing! But who cares what it looks like. This tiny thing RIPS. We’ve used it ourselves and we agree with Rob. “The hatchet is cool” You can find his full review at toolbox buzz on YouTube.
VCG Construction – DeWALT Flexvolt Advantage and Power Detect
Let me ask you something. What’s the difference between DeWALTs Flexvolt Advantage and their Power Detect? Don’t feel bad. No one else knows either, but this week Vince decided to find out. Vince got a hold of the new DeWALT 999 20V, Max Hammer Drill, with Flexvolt Advantage. That means the drill is significantly more powerful when you use a Flexvolt battery. Not to be confused with their 998 with Power Detect, which gains power when you use specific 20V XR Batteries, Also not to be confused with the 996, which is, I don’t know… a normal human drill. Something like that. The point is, if you’re going to buy a DeWALT 20V Hammer Drill, you have WAY too many options, and Vince tries to sort it all out. I watched this video 3 times, and I’m still not sure he did. But maybe you can sort it out for yourself by visiting VCG Construction on YouTube.
Belts and Boxes – Makita New Tools
Makita continues to drop new tools on us, and October brought some good ones. First up is XWT17 and 18, which are 18V LXT Brushless 4 Speed Mid-Torque ½” Sq Drive Impact Wrenches, which Makita claims are the most powerful impact wrenches in their class. I’m sure most of you are anxious to see how these measure up to the new Milwaukee Mid-Torque options announced at PIPELINE.
Also arriving this month, the highly anticipated Makita AN613 15-Degree 2 ½” Sliding Coil Nailer, now upgraded with an improved ergonomic design, upgraded trigger and head mechanism designed to reduce air leak and recoil, tool-les depth adjustment, all in a lighter 5.1lb package. You can get yours this month for $359.
And finally, this month you’ll be able to pick up their new 18V LXT Handheld Vacuum specifically designed for the automotive industry. Makita, if you’re watching, I don’t have a pickup so I’ve been using my wife’s minivan to make lumber runs, and she’s insisting I clean it… often. So if you need someone to test out that new Vac, you let us know.
Project Farm – Metal Oscillating Blades
With so many new oscillating tools coming out this year, you may find yourself looking for the very best metal cutting blade for it. Fortunately for us, the unbiased team at Project Farm decided to find it for you. Todd is one of our favorite tool reviewers. He refuses to take free products, instead choosing to buy everything he tests. Hey, if you already have 1 and a half million subs, you can probably afford to do that. But more than that, Todd is really good at what he does, and this week he’s putting a bunch of metal cutting oscillating tool blades to the test, in his typically genius way. To push these blades to their limit, he built a multi-tool track, screwed in some screws, and let gravity do the rest. I can’t explain why, but this is one of the most fun videos we’ve watched this week. I don’t care if you need a blade or not. Just go watch it at Project Farm on YouTube.
Instagram Favorites
If you’re like us and keep everything you care about in custom cut Kaizen Foam, you’ll be interested in their new green and black sandwich foam, which they have in very limited supply.
Pac_King_Out, the self-proclaimed king of packout. Well the King shared this amazing custom built, packout compatible charger and battery carrier that I need immediately.
And last of all, Keifer the Toolaholic gives us our zen moment of the week as we watch him use the Senco DuraSpin screwdriver to get the squeaks out of some old flooring.
Last week we dug deep into some Milwaukee Pipeline goodness, which you can watch here.
Thank you Skilsaw and Ohio Power Tool for sponsoring this episode! We couldn’t do this without you.