New Products

Makita’s 18V X2 LXT®(36V) Brushless Cordless Rear Handle 7‑1/4″ Circular Saw

It was not so long ago that the idea of a competent cordless saw was more wish than reality. Many was the time I heard the sad whine of a weak saw bogging down in a piece of 1″x pine at the lumber yard. Now tool and battery technology has advanced to a point where […]

By |September 4th, 2017|New Products, Previous Posts|0 Comments

KEEN Utility Davenport Boots

I received a pair of KEEN Footwear’s Davenport boots for review and have been wearing them for nearly 6 weeks; working on hard packed dirt, concrete, gravel, and rough wood surfaces. They are my first pair of newer-tech boots and they are quite different than the traditional leather ankle-highs that I have been wearing for many […]

By |August 13th, 2017|New Products, Previous Posts|0 Comments

Ryobi’s New Score™ Wireless Speaker Set

Music on a jobsite was once a luxury not allowed by many old school builders, but now nearly a necessity for many of us. It seems that all the major power tool companies have entered the jobsite audio market with radio/speaker sets with Bluetooth connectivity and auxiliary inputs to handle just about any audio source. Ryobi’s […]

By |May 29th, 2017|New Products, Previous Posts|0 Comments

Milwaukee’s M18 Radius™ LED Compact Site Light

If Milwaukee’s New Product Symposium for 2016 was a movie and I was voting for the Academy Awards, I would give Best Actor to the M18 Fuel™ Compound Miter Saw, with the Best Supporting Role going to the M18 Fuel™ Drywall Screwgun. On the production side,  Milwaukee’s jobsite lighting solutions would again carry the day.

It’s hard to pick a […]

By |June 11th, 2016|New Products, Previous Posts|0 Comments

Milwaukee’s Expanded Line of M12™ Heated Gear

When I first tried on my new Milwaukee Heated Gear back in August, the weather was pretty warm, as you may imagine. It was not my first introduction. I wore the M12™ Heated Jacket all of last winter and it kept me very comfortable on its own. The few times I wore anything over it I […]

By |January 3rd, 2016|New Products, Previous Posts|0 Comments

Milwaukee’s 46″ Steel Storage Chest and Cabinet

When I began this blog, it was not my intention to make it all Milwaukee, all the time, but my enthusiasm for their tools has had considerable influence on the content! While I am currently working on other posts, the introduction and release of the new 46″ Steel Storage Chest and Cabinet has prompted me to […]

By |May 23rd, 2015|New Products, Previous Posts|4 Comments

Milwaukee’s M12™ Compact Vacuum

I have never liked a dirty job site, and I really don’t like building dirt into my work. I don’t care if it can be covered with flooring or sheetrock, I want it clean before I move on to the next step, so a broom, dustpan and brush are always part of my kit. I’ve tried two cordless vacs […]

By |May 4th, 2015|New Products, Previous Posts|0 Comments

The Milwaukee M18™ Sawzall

Milwaukee has a new version of its M18™ Sawzall reciprocating saw. It’s a replacement for the first M18™ Sawzall (2620) and it features overload protection for the motor and battery, an all-metal gear case and gearing and a slimmer front end for improved ergonomics. At 8.9 lb., the new M18™ is over 1 lb. heavier than its predecessor, […]

By |April 28th, 2015|New Products, Previous Posts|0 Comments

Milwaukee Sawzalls Old and New

Somewhere around 1977 or ’78 I was working with my father John Van Lieu on an extensive renovation of a pair of old cranberry shacks that had been moved to Baxter Road in Sconset. Part of the job involved converting an adjacent garage into a bedroom. It was a curious structure with sheet metal sides […]

By |December 29th, 2014|New Products, Old Tools, Previous Posts|0 Comments
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