Earlier this week Dingo and Baby, otherwise known as Oz Tool Talk reminded us that for some unholy reason it’s summer down under, and decided to put a Makita 36V DLM461 mower to the test. They’ve tested battery powered mowers before, and the Makita seemed to have all the power and features they could ask for, well, except for Mike who was left wanting more. If you’re knee deep in snow and want to live vicariously through these guys, visit Oz Tool Talk on YouTube.
If power tools are part of your daily grind, you already know that size isn’t everything. That is until you have to carry the same tool with you all day. Fortunately, Andrew, the leader of the militarized kite flyers, called a cease fire this week to mourn the loss of his Milwaukee M12 drill, and set off on a mission to replace it. Possibly with another Milwaukee. But joining the Red M12 in this contest were compact 12V drills from Ridgid and Makita as well. Andrew doesn’t play favorites here, and runs all three through a decent battery of tests. To find out who won, head over to Kite Army on Youtube.
Are you looking to add a cordless sheet sander to your tool box? Before you do, we suggest you swing by the tool review zone, where Clint takes a look at the DeWALT Brushless XR Version. By now I don’t need to tell you that Clint takes his time working his way over every inch of this sander, and for good reason. Clint likes the power and portability, but seems to worry a lot about having really tiny hands. His hands don’t look that tiny in his footage, but he has been known to play with video effects. To judge for yourself, you can find Clint at tool review zone on YouTube.
The review team over at Tool Box Buzz has once again left the job site empty just long enough to thoroughly test the best of the best. This time around they set out to determine which cordless one handed reciprocating saw is the one you should own. They look at the Bosch, DeWALT, Kobalt, Metabo and Milwaukee. Rob tells us that these have become increasingly popular recently with plumbers and HVAC pros who often need to cut through some pipe as quickly as possible. The review comes with the standard TBB fodder including bar graphs, spreadsheets, Mike talking in slow motion, drone shots of guys working down on the ground with tools too small to see from the sky, and of course gratuitous action shots of hot recip action. To see who comes out on top, visit tool box buzz on YouTube, or you can read the entire article at toolboxbuzz.com
Mr. Builder tests the saw on several masonry blocks in his driveway, and for good measure he includes a detailed look at Milwaukee’s back pack sprayer which, by design, works perfectly providing water to the saw while cutting concrete. Gotta keep that silica dust down! As impressive as the saw turns out to be, the reality is not many of us need a 9” concrete cut off saw… but that has yet to keep any of us from buying the tools we want am I right? To learn every thing you need to about this Milwaukee monster, head over to Mark Thomas Builder on YouTube.
And finally, Richard from Finish Carpentry TV followed through with his promise to produce DeWaukee shirts…Making them available on his website for a very limited time. As a matter of fact, you only have 9 days left! Of course Rob already ordered his. If you want to order yours I would hurry up. https://stores.inksoft.com/finish_carpentry_tv/shop/home
Lets get caught up on our industry news with the construction junkie. First up, Shane seems to think we deserve to be subjected to a music video parody of old town road by a construction company in st. Louis. He’s wrong. But here it is anyways. The Up Companies spent some serious dough putting together their own music video, because you know… marketing. That in and of itself is not shocking. What IS shocking, was that the construction junkie was also able to dig up a rapping safety seminar titled “The Real Slim Safety”, and another rap video, this time from CAT, titled Dozer Pride. I’d love to rag on these guys but hey… they’re doing what they love. I hope.
The USGBC recently announced their 2019 ranking of the top 10 us states for leed construction, sorted by gross square footage per capita. Essentially we’re looking for bragging rights over green, efficient buildings. Wanna know where Ohio is on that list? It’s not, however that doesn’t get us down, we still have an overabundance of serial killers, 3 or 4 sunny days a year, and a never ending feud with Michigan over Toledo. Yeah… we “won” Toledo. What was I talk…. OH Leed buildings. Right. You can find the top 10 list, and all the rest of your construction industry news, over at construction junkie.com
Special thanks you Ohio Power Tool and Skilsaw for sponsoring this week’s episode!