Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:04 Welcome to the Weekend, warriors Home Improvement Show, built by Par Lumber when it comes to big or small projects around the home. Tony and Corey, you've got the know-how and the answers to make your life just a bit easier. Here they are. Your weekend Warriors, Tony and Corey.
Speaker 2 00:00:22 Hey, welcome to the Weekend, Warrior's Home Improvement Show podcast. I'm Corey Valdez.
Speaker 3 00:00:27 And I'm Tony Cookson.
Speaker 2 00:00:28 Thanks for, uh, checking in with us today. We've got another great show we're gonna talk about today, or another great topic I guess we're gonna talk about today. Every weekend Warrior that I know, including myself and Tony <laugh>, we have a lot of tools. Would you say Tony combined? We have a lot of tools.
Speaker 3 00:00:47 Oh, combined, yes. We have a lot of tools. <laugh> the amount of tools that I have compared to the amount of tools that Corey has, uh, there's a big disparity there, but, um, I do have a lot of tools compared to a lot of people.
Speaker 2 00:01:02 Yeah. Well, I mean, your tool collection has been growing significantly Yeah. Over the past
Speaker 3 00:01:08 Few years. Yeah. When I decided that I was going to stick with one particular brand of power tool, and of course that is Makita,
Speaker 2 00:01:17 Uh, you went that route. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:01:18 When I started that and I decided that this was the platform that I was gonna use for my power tools, there was nothing keeping me from buying every tool that I felt like would be something that I would use. And a lot of times, you know, I come working through a project and I reach a point where there's a tool that would make this project easier, but I don't own it. And then the decision is made. Do I borrow it? Do I rent it <laugh> or do I buy it? And that decision becomes a lot easier when you can get the tool that you want on the platform that you're already working with.
Speaker 2 00:01:52 Right. You know, that is probably the best part about the Makita platform. I mean, in my opinion, is that all of their tools use the same battery. Yeah. You get the one battery or you get 10 batteries. They all work the same on all of your tools, even their yard tools. You have lawnmowers now that use the same battery. Yep. I love it.
Speaker 3 00:02:13 Yeah. Chainsaws, weed eaters, tree trimmers, all of that. Um, running on the same battery platform, which is awesome because you don't have to buy a charger and a battery every time you buy a tool. Makita was smart enough to market their tools tool only, so you can buy a kit with a tool and a battery and a charger, or you can buy a tool only and use it with the batteries and chargers that you already own, which makes expanding your tools, um, a lot less expensive.
Speaker 2 00:02:44 Do you have to be a tool to buy a tool
Speaker 3 00:02:47 Only? Oh, no. You will buy a tool only and become a tool <laugh>,
Speaker 2 00:02:51 But you've got that covered, bro.
Speaker 3 00:02:52 Yeah. You don't have to actually already be a tool
Speaker 2 00:02:55 <laugh>. Uh, anyway, so I think what we're gonna talk about today is kind of a list of essential tools that every weekend warrior should either have or consider having. And if you don't have 'em, we're gonna talk about some of the differences. You know, when you dig down into a saw, for instance, if you just say a saw, there are so many different types. So we're gonna talk about that, the little differences between some of those things. But number one, Tony, what is probably the biggest thing, maybe not necessarily a tool, what's the biggest thing a weekend warrior should probably have in their garage or workshop?
Speaker 3 00:03:33 Well, I can tell you that I know for you and me specifically, because we went through this when we, um, started to build the Weekend Warriors workshop, which is where we shoot all of our videos for our YouTube channel. Right. Um, when we got the, the workshop after we put cabinets on the wall to hold all of our stuff
Speaker 2 00:03:52 Storage.
Speaker 3 00:03:52 Yeah, yeah. Storage, which was very important. That was number one for us. Um, immediately after that, we wanted to build something. We had our storage and, and, um, we actually kind of came into the thing with some tools already. Uh, but our very first build required a place to build it. And unless you want to build things on the floor, repair things on the floor, you need a workbench. So a workbench I feel like was, and I know for a fact, was our number one video after having built the workshop. That's right. The first thing we did was we built, uh, a workbench.
Speaker 2 00:04:30 Yeah. And one of our favorite videos that we ever did was for a mobile collapsible workbench. That's right. Uh, if you have a garage or if you've got a full on shop, some people just don't have the room to keep an entirely huge workbench to, you know, leaned up against a wall or whatever. So we invented or designed this mobile collapsible one that uses saw horses. I'm sure it's not, you know, we're not the first one in the world to build one Of course.
Speaker 3 00:04:57 No. But we certainly did use the heck out of it, didn't
Speaker 2 00:05:00 We? Oh, yeah. We built it and we needed it sturdy, so we built that thing really solid and collapsible. So you could take it down, stash it behind, you know, whatever, back in the corner and then pop it up when you need
Speaker 3 00:05:11 It. Yeah. When we were shooting videos prior to being in the workshop, we used that every time, no matter where we were at on location or in the garage or wherever we were working, we had hundred percent that workbench was the first thing. Set it up and get ready to shoot some video.
Speaker 2 00:05:26 Yeah. I would say too, uh, if you're gonna build a workbench, make sure it's sturdy. You want a nice flat top, you want it sturdy. You wanna be able to work on things and not worry about it collapsing under you or falling or tipping over. Another nice thing to have on your workbench is a bench face.
Speaker 3 00:05:46 Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2 00:05:46 No question. Help you hold stuff down or help that hold piece of wood or hold a piece of steel or whatever in your vice.
Speaker 3 00:05:53 Interestingly enough, one of the tools that you didn't have on, on your workbench at home for a long time
Speaker 2 00:05:59 Was a vice.
Speaker 3 00:06:00 Yeah. I remember. Um, we were clamping things using clamps to clamp the project to the table because we didn't have a vice. But you have now you got two, right? You maybe three <laugh>.
Speaker 2 00:06:11 You you hooked me up with a nice vice. I was very happy with that. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:06:14 Yeah. Vice is, uh, a vice is an essential tool, no question.
Speaker 2 00:06:18 Absolutely. Uh, number one, uh, probably number two on the list for me would be safety equipment, whether it's safety goggles, earplugs, or a dust mask. If you're working in a small space like I do in my garage or in our weekend warrior workshop, uh, where we record our videos, the dust sawdust absolutely kills me, kills my lungs when I'm breathing it in. I'm hacking up dust for days.
Speaker 3 00:06:46 And even to go a step further than that, uh, not necessarily just a dust mask, because of course they make them pretty simple. A respirator even better. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:06:55 That's actually what we use a filter. You
Speaker 3 00:06:57 And I both filtered mask.
Speaker 2 00:06:58 Yeah. We wear a filtered dust mask to for dust or even spray painting or polyurethane, you know, keeping that chemical outta your lungs. But along with that might be some sort of dust collection system. Oh,
Speaker 3 00:07:10 Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:07:10 We're going to build one for our workshop. I have one in my garage. I absolutely love it. It's very simple, but it draws air through basically simple air filters and you can swap 'em out, take 'em out, throw 'em away, replace 'em, and it cleans the, the dust outta the air a lot
Speaker 3 00:07:27 Quicker. Yeah. It's interesting, this, this concept with the, with the dust particle remover item, right? You think to yourself, if you, if your filtration system is hanging from the ceiling or is up high, right? It's not getting all of that sawdust that you're creating and there's still sawdust all over the table and sawdust on the ground. Well, you're not breathing in the sawdust. The sawdust that's heavy enough to sit on the table or on the ground is not the particles you're fighting. The particles you're fighting are in the air that you're breathing. And that's what you have to get out. Right? So the filtration system, wherever it is in the enclosed room that you're working in, if it's moving the air, changing the air, filtering the air, it's doing what you need it to do, it's getting those particulates out of the air so that you're not breathing 'em into your
Speaker 2 00:08:15 Lungs. Yeah. And I'll tell you what, it's easy to think about your eyes, right? You're, you're looking at something sawdust, whatever pieces of whatever are flying towards your face, <laugh>, and it's easy to go, oh, I need to put on my safety goggles. But when you're sanding away on a piece of wood and you're going at it for a while, next thing you know, you don't really realize until you turn it off, maybe that the whole room is filled with
Speaker 3 00:08:43 Saw dust, and then you blow your nose after you've been doing that for a half an hour or an hour. And it's black
Speaker 2 00:08:48 Wood pulp.
Speaker 3 00:08:49 Yeah. It's wood. It's, it's like wood glue. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:08:52 Yeah. It's, uh, I'll tell you, that's a, a very important aspect is dust collect. Think about that. You know, and a lot of people just work outside, which is possible. You can do that. You work outside, uh, make sure you bring a ShopVac or something too, to collect as much dust as possible. That's another option.
Speaker 3 00:09:09 Yeah. There, there's ways also to filter the air in the room without going out and buying a, a very big expensive dust collection system, which is one way to go. They do sell those, of
Speaker 2 00:09:20 Course. Oh, a hundred
Speaker 3 00:09:21 Percent. But, um, what you utilize in your garage is, uh, very effective. And it, it's been simply put together with a plywood box mm-hmm. <affirmative> that has, um, uh, that has a place to slide in and out easily filters on both sides. And in the middle you have a fan. Really?
Speaker 2 00:09:43 Yeah. It's a, it, it's actually an old furnace, like a
Speaker 3 00:09:46 Blower,
Speaker 2 00:09:46 Right? Yeah. Yeah. It's like an air mover fan out of an old furnace. That's all it is. And you Yes. Not ex mounted in there with a switch. Not
Speaker 3 00:09:54 Expensive to buy. Uhuh, a little bit of electrical work, a little bit of, uh, craftsmanship, and you've put together a, a filter that will filter your air and then, and then the responsibility falls to you, of course, to change the filter. Correct. If you don't change the filter, then it's not doing what it's supposed to do.
Speaker 2 00:10:09 Okay. But it's e you know, you see it as well, I ha I have mine up high and I can see it when it's getting really full and swap it out. Bam. Yeah, you're good to go again. Yeah. I will say on a budget, and I did this, you remember the fires we had a few years ago? Oh, yeah. Like of course you remember in my house, you know, that you weren't, they were saying stay indoors, but the air quality inside the house wasn't necessarily fantastic. Right. So I went and bought a box fan, and I had, because you, you know, we went to the store, we were looking for air purifiers, right.
Speaker 3 00:10:41 Gone. Yeah. I bought one Yeah. During that same time. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:10:44 You couldn't find them if you got one, you were lucky. So I bought a box fan, and then I went to the furnace filter aisle, and I bought a really high quality furnace filter. Well, like one of those three inch deep Sure. Cartridge type. Yeah. And it fit the box fan just perfectly. And then I duct taped all the way around the edges of it, and I ran that thing 24 7. And when I threw it away after that week of fires that we had, it was dark. Oh yeah. Dark gray. So, I mean, that worked pretty well in a, uh, in a pinch.
Speaker 3 00:11:19 Sure. Yeah. And not terribly expensive.
Speaker 2 00:11:21 Yeah. Totally. Uh, okay. What other things, Tony, what's next on the list?
Speaker 3 00:11:27 Uh, the next thing on the list here, of course, is a level. A level is, uh, essential to building a project that is going to have a right angles and stand pleasing to the eye and be aesthetic and not lean one way or the other, or Right. Fall forward or
Speaker 2 00:11:46 Backwards. Yeah. You're hanging a door. You need a level.
Speaker 3 00:11:48 You can build something without a level, but it will be obvious that you built it without a level, um, oftentimes.
Speaker 2 00:11:56 Right. The word that I would use would be wonky, right.
Speaker 3 00:12:00 <laugh>. Yeah. A level will definitely help you make sure that your project turns out as good as it can. Yep. You can certainly cobble things together without using a level, but, um, it just won't have the, the finesse or, you know, professional edge to it that it would have if
Speaker 2 00:12:18 Used level. One thing I was gonna say, when I was learning different projects, I would hang out with guys. I would, I had friends who were contractors and I, they would come over and I'd learn a lot from them. And I'll never forget the day that I had a contractor buddy of mine come over. He was a fence builder, and he said, I'll help you build your fence. So we were putting in posts in the ground, and I was grabbing my level, and I was using my level to level the post
Speaker 3 00:12:45 On, on two sides. Level two
Speaker 2 00:12:47 Sides, yeah. Using a stake and then hold knitting in place while we were pouring the concrete. And he told me I was an idiot because I was saying that I was leveling the post.
Speaker 3 00:12:55 Oh, right, sure, sure.
Speaker 2 00:12:56 He's like, no, no, no. <laugh>, you're plumbing the post. Yeah. Vertical. When you're using a level and it's vertical position, you're, you're making sure it's plumb Right. Level is when it's horizontal. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And I was like, wow, I didn't know that. <laugh>, you know, I'm sorry. Yeah. Yeah. But, uh, from that, that point forward, I started calling things plum. So when you're, you know, putting a wall up, you wanna make sure it's plum, you're putting a door install, installing a door, you wanna make sure it's plum and level. So anyway, one of those interesting little things. There are tons of different types of levels too.
Speaker 3 00:13:29 Yeah. If I'm thinking about you using a level, a two three or a four foot level to plum a post for a fence, you're building, I, my immediate thought is, you know, they make a post level, right. Which is a sort of right angle thing that has vials, um, on both sides, and you just got a little rubber band
Speaker 2 00:13:46 On it. Those are nifty.
Speaker 3 00:13:47 Yeah. You just rubber band that thing to your post, and you don't ever have, you don't have to hold it. It reads two sides at the same time. Very easy to pull a post that way.
Speaker 2 00:13:55 That's a cool
Speaker 3 00:13:56 Tool. And they're not, also not expensive.
Speaker 2 00:13:58 No. Uh, another level we used in that application was a line level. We strung a string or a string level you could call it. We strung a string from our first post on one side of the yard all the way to the other side of the yard, and put what's called a string level. You do a string and then it hooks on there and it hangs. And that way, you know, if your line going all the way across the yard is level. Yep, absolutely. And then you set all your posts to that. It was perfect.
Speaker 3 00:14:24 Yeah. That also, I mean, I know I'm gonna keep saying this, I'm gonna try not to keep saying it very inexpensive. A very inexpensive and easy way to make sure that all your buck, that all your posts are, um, are standing up at the same height and that your rails that you're putting on your, on your fence are level all the way
Speaker 2 00:14:44 Across. And also too, you know, we mentioned hanging a door and you wanna make sure your door is plumb. You have to use a longer level. If you use a six inch level,
Speaker 3 00:14:55 A torpedo
Speaker 2 00:14:56 Level, a torpedo level to install a door, you're asking for trouble. We actually learned this because we had a guy from Therma Tru, is he an expert door installer, come to our studio and he showed us how to hang a door in the studio. And he actually said, the reason is if you have a six inch level and you put it in there and you put that bubble between the lines and you think it's level, go ahead and tack it in place and then grab a five foot or a six foot level and put it on there. And you could potentially be at the top of the door, a quarter of an inch out of plum. Yeah. And in a door, a quarter of inch of an inch is huge.
Speaker 3 00:15:40 Yeah. I'll tell you another really good use of a longer level six or eight foot level is if you're doing anything around landscaping, if you're building a retaining wall, or if you are building, uh, planter beds or, um, planter areas, and you want them to be level, you know, a six inch level or a two foot level is not gonna tell you the story on a 10 or 20 foot run. Right. You need something much longer to get it to be accurate.
Speaker 2 00:16:07 That's why when you go out into a job site and you see contractors, builders, framing houses, they use plate levels. They're, they have levels that go out to 12 feet Yeah. That extend mm-hmm. <affirmative>, because you can't just throw a little two foot level on your wall and say, yep, it's plum. Yep. Because by the time you get to the roof, that sucker's gonna be crooked.
Speaker 3 00:16:29 Telescoping levels are not inexpensive. <laugh> No,
Speaker 2 00:16:32 It's probably not, not a nec necessarily a weekend warrior type tool.
Speaker 3 00:16:36 Probably not an essential tool for a weekend warrior, but definitely, um, definitely tells the story.
Speaker 2 00:16:41 Well, at least now you know what it is.
Speaker 3 00:16:42 Yep. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 00:16:43 All right. Next one on the list for us is a set of pliers of par. I mean, there are so many different types of pliers too, but I feel like pliers should be an every weekend Warriors work, you know, toolbox, tool bag, whatever you got.
Speaker 3 00:16:57 Yeah, you're right. Pliers from the simplest pair of pliers to a set of plumbers pliers or to side cutters, channel
Speaker 2 00:17:09 Locks.
Speaker 3 00:17:09 Channel lock's a brand that makes, um, all of the different types of, of PLI type items, whether it's cutting or crimping or whatever it is, you know, end nippers, all of the things.
Speaker 2 00:17:22 Needle, nose,
Speaker 3 00:17:23 Needle, nose pliers. Yeah. All of those. Um, a lot of those are, are essential tools. A set is the best way to go. Oh
Speaker 2 00:17:30 Yeah. Go to the store, buy yourself every PLI known to man and just put 'em in your toolbox here. What
Speaker 3 00:17:37 About locking locking pliers? Do you have a pair of of vices grips?
Speaker 2 00:17:41 Oh, vices grips. Oh yeah. Absolutely. I would say that vices grips are an excellent tool to add to your tool collection.
Speaker 3 00:17:51 Yeah. Vices Grip also is a brand name, uh, but it is a locking set of pliers. And so you set it to a certain, um, bite and then you squeeze that down and it locks and it has a little trigger that releases it Right. When you're done. But, uh,
Speaker 2 00:18:05 There's a little thumb screw on the backside. Yeah. You'd adjust
Speaker 3 00:18:08 Vice grips. Good. Is a good way to go. A great, uh, a great tool to have
Speaker 2 00:18:12 If you need to hold onto something
Speaker 3 00:18:14 And then you need to let go and not let it slip. You need a third hand while you're using two hands to work on the project. And the, and the pliers are doing their deal the whole time.
Speaker 2 00:18:22 Banana hands
Speaker 3 00:18:23 Bananas.
Speaker 2 00:18:24 Uh, another one would be a wrench set, specifically like an adjustable wrench set. Okay. You know, obviously tools in general, but an adjustable wrench, like a Crescent wrench is another brand. Crescent is, uh, one of those brands that's been around for eons mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but they make 'em the a little thumb turn that you adjust the, the width of the jaws jaws itself, and you can grab an, any, any size bolt that you want. Really.
Speaker 3 00:18:55 Yeah. Some of these tools, some of these tools are, um, redundant, a little redundant. If you have a full set of box end wrenches, then your wrench needs are probably covered. A full set would ha be, would have metric and s sae, and then that would probably cover the sizes of all nuts. But invariably you find yourself reaching for the adjustable wrench in order to fit some weird thing like, um, like a nut that has been a ground down or a nut that has been rounded off. Um, sometimes it, the, sometimes the best tool to use is an adjustable
Speaker 2 00:19:35 Wrench. Yeah. I'll usually go for the adjustable wrench if it's something that is not incredibly tight. You know what I mean by that? Yeah. If you've got a, a nut on something and you just, you don't know what the size is off the top of your head and you don't want to go bring three or four or five different wrenches,
Speaker 3 00:19:52 <laugh>, which is what you have to do if, if you
Speaker 2 00:19:53 Don't know. Yeah. If you don't know, then you kind of, you know, really good mechanics. Let's say they'll look at something and they'll go, oh, that's a 13 millimeter. Yeah, well, how would I know that? Sure. You know what I mean? I'm a weakened warrior. Yeah. So I'm gonna go grab my adjustable wrench, you know, if I'm, if I'm tightening the nut on my battery terminals, I'm just gonna grab my adjustable wrench, honestly. Yeah. But the thing about adjustable wrenches is you don't want to have to, you don't want to use that tool if it's something that you need to get very, very tight. Or if something is very, very tight that you need to loosen. Cuz an adjustable wrench isn't as accurate and you can round off Right. The nut or the bolt and make things worse.
Speaker 3 00:20:32 Right. You, I mean, you have to get it, uh, you have to get it really cranked down as much as you can and you can't, uh, you know, it doesn't allow you to get it really good and tight. Like, like something that was intended to fit
Speaker 2 00:20:44 The gluten tight,
Speaker 3 00:20:45 Good and tight.
Speaker 2 00:20:46 Yeah, definitely. So anyway, that's my 2 cents there. So you mentioned s ae, do you know what that means, Tony?
Speaker 3 00:20:53 I do. I I know that it is a, I noted that. Is it an am It is a, an American version of sizing, I guess would be the way that I would
Speaker 2 00:21:03 Describe it. It's a metric. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, it actually stands for a Society of Automotive Engineers. Okay. Which, which is odd. Right. Actually, uh, we should research that a little bit and, and talk about the differences between metric and S
Speaker 3 00:21:17 Sae. I know that S SAE is a size, um, platform that's used in the US a lot. And Metric is a size platform that's used overseas a lot. Sure. We find generally speaking
Speaker 2 00:21:31 Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:21:32 How, but of course we buy stuff from overseas, so we have both here all
Speaker 2 00:21:36 The time. Well, you see it in the automotive industry a lot as they'll use
Speaker 3 00:21:39 Both. My dad used to say it's an American car
Speaker 2 00:21:42 <laugh>. Well
Speaker 3 00:21:43 Leave the metric wrenches over there
Speaker 2 00:21:45 And I'll tell you what American cars used mostly metric now do they <laugh>? Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 00:21:49 That's
Speaker 2 00:21:50 Interesting. It's all in, it depends on where it's made and what it does. Yeah. It's kinda weird. Uh, anyway, uh, next on the list would be a utility knife. A utility knife for me is always around. I've probably got 10 of them, to be honest with you. And to go along with my utility knife, I have a pack of fresh blades. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:22:07 That's in Paramount for
Speaker 2 00:22:08 Sure. I always have a pack, you know, like you buy those a hundred packs, those are amazing. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> just do it. Just go out and buy one, put it on your wall, they hang, and then you can just grab a new one every time That thing gets dull.
Speaker 3 00:22:20 If you can keep track of where you put that pack of a hundred blades, you'll use it for years.
Speaker 2 00:22:24 Oh yeah. Totally. Years. And the thing about using a utility knife is you always wanna make sure you have a sharp blade. Right. Because a dull blade is dangerous. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, because you're gonna put extra effort into cutting something and next thing you know, you're gonna slice through it wrongly and then cut your cut something. I did that when I was a kid. I learned the really hard way. I almost cut my thumb off as a matter of fact. Yikes. I was using an old utility knife. So anyway, I have a pack of fresh blades, and what I really, really love is having one of those utility blades that collapses. You know what I mean? Like a,
Speaker 3 00:23:01 It opens like a, like
Speaker 2 00:23:02 A knife. Like a pocket knife. Yeah, yeah. Like a pocket knife. Yep. And you replace the blade on those. I've got a, I've got several of those that I love. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:23:07 Let's, let's be clear here. Using a utility knife that's sharp is not less dangerous. It's just dangerous in a different way. You still have to be very, very careful how you use your knife. Uh, and, and so I can tell a little storage, just a quick one. I was using utility knife to cut through something that was very hard to cut plastic. I was cutting through some plastic and the, there was only one way to get the knife into the place and do the thing. And so I was cutting with my right hand, but I had to use leverage with my body in order to get enough weight behind it to move the blade through the plastic. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so I was very careful to move my left hand, which has a tendency to be grabbing a hold of something near the area where the blade will go when it releases. So the, you're cutting through and then it will be hard to hard, hard. And then it will let go and then the blade is gonna go somewhere mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So I was very careful to move my hand down and away from where the blade would be exiting the material that I was cutting.
Speaker 2 00:24:08 That's a very good
Speaker 3 00:24:10 Tip. And then it let go. And then the knife ricocheted <laugh> off of, uh, a solid concrete surface and down and still cut myself. Oh
Speaker 2 00:24:19 My goodness.
Speaker 3 00:24:20 <laugh>. But, but it, it, uh, it was a better scenario than it had been if my hand were in the place where it rico shaped.
Speaker 2 00:24:27 Well, that's what I'm saying. When I, when I say a dull knife is dangerous, because when it's dull, you're putting extra force and extra effort into cutting through whatever it is you're cutting. Yeah. And when you get to the end of it all that force, you're gonna be really pushing hard. Right. And when it breaks loose, that knife's going. Yeah. Just
Speaker 3 00:24:47 Think about where your exit's gonna be. That's right. Make sure that your body's not in the
Speaker 2 00:24:50 Way. Yeah. Never cut anything towards
Speaker 3 00:24:52 You, towards you. Right. Never cut towards you
Speaker 2 00:24:56 Unless you're a carver wood carver, <laugh>, wood carver do that. I always watch videos of be of guys doing wood carving and I'm just like, man, how do they do that? Honestly, I think it's because the blades are extremely sharp. Yeah. And they're very confident in how they're
Speaker 3 00:25:10 Well, you know, uh, you can do things that you advise people not to do. If it's something that you do a lot and are very good at it and you're in control of your faculties, the problem is when you're doing something you don't do very often, that's when the mistakes are made.
Speaker 2 00:25:25 That's right. Uh, okay. Next one on the list. Tony,
Speaker 3 00:25:29 How about this? A tape measure?
Speaker 2 00:25:32 Oh yeah, that's a
Speaker 3 00:25:32 Good one. Tape measure is, you know what? Honestly, these are not in order of absolute, um, essentiality. Right. Is that a word?
Speaker 2 00:25:42 Yeah, sure.
Speaker 3 00:25:42 Okay. I just made up another word. You do make
Speaker 2 00:25:44 A
Speaker 3 00:25:45 Lot of words. Um, because, because this really, these are all essential hand tool type items. Um, but a tape measure probably would be near the top of the
Speaker 2 00:25:54 List. A
Speaker 3 00:25:55 Hundred percent for most anybody.
Speaker 2 00:25:56 And Tony and i's favorite, favorite tape measure? Well, mine anyway. Yours is different.
Speaker 3 00:26:01 Yeah. You decided you didn't like my tape measure the other day. You said it's not measuring Right. Well,
Speaker 2 00:26:06 What is it? Is a Lufkin
Speaker 3 00:26:08 No, it's a kamin
Speaker 2 00:26:09 Kamlan. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> Kamlan Kamlan. Yeah. Yeah. That tape that we were using the other night, when you pulled it, you know, the little tab on the end that grabs onto the end of the wood. Right. It was flexing.
Speaker 3 00:26:21 There's a little bit of play in that, uh, in the tip of a measuring tape. Right. There's a little like a rivet on there that's loose that allows that to, to move a little.
Speaker 2 00:26:30 It wasn't that No. So much. It was like flexing and bending
Speaker 3 00:26:34 In the, it was the blade that was flexing.
Speaker 2 00:26:36 Yes. So I was getting dimensions, like I was pulling dimensions to cut something with our track saw for our YouTube channel and I was marking it and then I went to the other side, I pulled it, marked it, ran my line and marked it for the saw. And then when I checked it with my square, it was way off. Yeah. Like a quarter of an inch. And I'm like, I am not bad at this. What is going on here? <laugh>. And I had to switch tape measures and it was fine. So. Well, I think there's, I just wasn't happy.
Speaker 3 00:27:05 I think there's something to how long a tape measure has been being used as well. They can get little, um, cuts in the blade that cause the blade to flex or give more than it should. Yeah. And if you're doing really detailed work and you want to be right on the nose, um, you know, what tape should be replaced when it starts to show where Yeah. In the blade.
Speaker 2 00:27:24 And it's, for me, it's consistency in how it measures. Cuz I don't care if, if it's a quarter of an inch off, as long as it's a quarter of an inch off on every cut that I make sure. Sure. You know what I mean? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, I guess I shouldn't say that. That was dumb, but how about I like Stanley Fatmax.
Speaker 3 00:27:41 Oh yeah. That's my tape. It's got like, it, it's an inch and a quarter wide blade. Yeah. It's a beast. Really substantial. What about a laser measuring tool?
Speaker 2 00:27:50 A laser? Oh, you know what? I actually just got one for Christmas. I'd love it because you can throw it, for instance, if you are, you can use them for really high accurate things if you buy a really, really nice one. But what I will use mine for is, like, I have friends all the time say, Hey, I'm building a fence. Can you come help me measure it, come up with a material list. Well, you know, I don't have a 200 foot tape and I don't like to care, you know, go buy. I don't wanna go buy one. Sure. And then huff that thing around. So I'll take my laser, put it up in the corner, bam, hit it to the other end and, you know, 160 foot there, 48 foot there. And it gives you like a really close number for estimating in that sense. Um, recently, I'm, I'm gonna do redo all of the trim in my house. It's perfect. Yeah. I go in every room and just bam, bam, bam, hit all the numbers, write 'em down by myself. I don't have to have somebody holding the tape or Sure. If I'm going over 25 or 30 foot, which is my longest tape that I own, I don't have to make a little mark and then extend and do math. It's just kind of nice. I really like having a laser measuring tool.
Speaker 3 00:28:59 You know, what goes along with a tape measure is of course a pencil. We have our favorite now, or at least I have my favorite. Oh yeah. That Holta four pencil, which has the ability to have different colors of lead and it, there's a refill and it's like a, it's like a, a heavy duty, like an industrial mechanical pencil type thing that, um, has a sharpener right on it and a clip for your pocket. And, uh, it is a very, it's a very cool tool. I, uh, I like using that, that marking tool.
Speaker 2 00:29:32 Yeah, it is. I I do too. I like it as well. Um, what other thing during, on the marking in measuring, oh, a square, A speed square. Sure. Yeah. That's any sort of square.
Speaker 3 00:29:44 Absolutely square. Uh, a speed square for me is an essential tool without
Speaker 2 00:29:49 Question. Yeah. That's a fun one. I use that all the time when I'm making just about anything. All right, next one on the list. A hammer. You know, there are unbelievable amounts of different types of hammers. <laugh>.
Speaker 3 00:30:03 Yeah. I I mean you, they go all the way from a, a finished hammer to a ball, pee hammer, a framing hammer, uh, a heavy framing hammer, a light framing hammer, a framing hatchet with a hammer, a sledge hammer, um, you name it. Yeah. How about, how about a rotary hammer?
Speaker 2 00:30:21 What about an mc hammer?
Speaker 3 00:30:23 Oh, MC hammer is very baggy. I noticed that that, uh, that's a very baggy when you're using it
Speaker 2 00:30:29 So dumb
Speaker 3 00:30:29 When it dances, it's baggy <laugh>. Uh, I think, um, there are so many different types of hammers and one hammer does not fill all needs. Usually. You definitely are going to have to have a smooth faced hammer. And a m probably a mill faced hammer. Yeah. The mill face on a hammer is intended to grip the head of the nail when you're driving it. So big nails with big heads and you're driving it with a mill faced hammer and it bites the head of the hammer. And you can get a lot of framing type work done more quickly with a big mill faced
Speaker 2 00:31:05 Hammer. Right. But you don't wanna be hanging a picture. Right. Or, you know, putting together fine furniture. Like if you're putting a little piece of furniture in, you're tapping something in. You don't wanna use your milled face hammer. Sure.
Speaker 3 00:31:17 Or, and you don't want use
Speaker 2 00:31:19 Marks on it. Yeah. And you
Speaker 3 00:31:20 Don't want to use a 20 ounce hammer for that. Probably either you want maybe like a, you know, a little eight or 10 ounce hammer or something for,
Speaker 2 00:31:27 If I think about all the hammers I have in my garage, I'm not kidding. I probably have six or seven different types of hammers.
Speaker 3 00:31:34 Rubber mallet.
Speaker 2 00:31:35 Yeah. Mallets, wood mallet. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. I have two rubber mallets. A wood mallet. I have a dead blow mallet. Oh yeah. I have a brass mallet. I have, yeah. Sledge hammers of different various sizes. I have framing hammers, small picture frame hammers. Yep. Tons of 'em.
Speaker 3 00:31:54 Lots of, lots of hammers. Hammers are, um, are an essential tool
Speaker 2 00:31:57 For sure. You come to my house for sure. It is hammer time. Hammer time.
Speaker 3 00:32:03 Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:32:03 Sorry. Uh, alright. What else? Tony
Speaker 3 00:32:06 Screwdriver, if you are doing it by hand, uh, a screwdriver is gonna be something that you'll need. There are so many different kinds of screwdrivers. Of course. Phillip's head common slot is what I call, uh, uh, a screwdriver with just a flat blade on the end. And then of course there's a tiny common slot and then a, maybe a medium size and then an extra wide. Or you can get a, a common slot screwdriver that's 12 inches long or you can get one that's two inches long if you are, if you're using the screwdriver for your glasses, it's gonna be a very tiny little screwdriver.
Speaker 2 00:32:44 I know one thing that I bought a long time ago that I absolutely love is this little kit that comes in a box. It's probably six inches by six inches and inside of it has all of these little bits that fit into a screwdriver,
Speaker 3 00:33:03 A screwdriver type holder device. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:33:05 Holder. Yep. And then it's got all these little bits that fit inside it. And essentially you have, and it's got all of the small sizes so you know, your common slot torques, security, you know what I mean? Like you want to take apart your iPad, you could use this kit <laugh> and I think I paid like 20, 30 bucks for it. And it is probably the best thing I've ever owned since I have kids, especially mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, we get 'em something for Christmas and it's got all these tiny little screws you gotta take out and removed to put batteries in or whatever. So I would highly recommend getting that and a screwdriver set that has everything, like you said, this common slot Phillips torques. Yeah. Which is, you know, that another word for that kind of that star look, uh, bit. Um, there's so many different types in my opinion you can't have enough.
Speaker 3 00:33:57 Yeah, I agree with that. Screwdriver is very important. Multiple sizes are very important
Speaker 2 00:34:02 And don't cheap
Speaker 3 00:34:03 Out when it comes to, hold that thought when it comes to Phillips screwdrivers, you could have a screw that has a number one Phillips drive, a number two Phillips drive, or a number three Phillips drive. Right. And you won't use the same screwdriver for each of those three sizes of screw headss.
Speaker 2 00:34:18 They even have combination Phillips that are Phillips slash square drive.
Speaker 3 00:34:22 That's right. That's right. Um, so yeah, like you said, don't cheap out when you're buying a set of screwdrivers.
Speaker 2 00:34:30 Yeah. You buy the cheap ones when you go to unscrew something and it rounds your screw out. Ugh. What a nightmare.
Speaker 3 00:34:37 Yeah, that's, uh, that's definitely an essential tool. And of course these days, oftentimes these days we find ourselves using a, a cordless screwdriver or a cordless drill or an impact driver to do a lot of the things that we would normally have done with a screwdriver. But there is still always a time when a hand screwdriver is the way to go.
Speaker 2 00:35:01 Oh, totally. Absolutely. A hundred percent. Um, alright, last couple things. On our, our list of smaller type things like that are sandpaper and it's a weird one, but it's always nice. I have a collection, like I have a case out in my garage that I have many different types of sandpaper, many different grits in both sheets, smaller sheets. Um, I have 'em for my orbital sander, you know, a five inch diameter orbital sander, different types and different grits in that. And I tell you what, it's kind of nice just to have, because when you have a project and you need sandpaper, invariably you need two or three different grits as you're sanding something down from heavy to light. So I always say just go buy a multi-pack. Or if you're going to the store and you're thinking you wanna buy sandpaper, buy a pack of each, you know, get some two 20, get some three 20, get some 80 grit. Yeah. You just never know what you're gonna need and when you're gonna need it.
Speaker 3 00:36:02 Sandpaper is very inexpensive. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:36:04 Uh, and have
Speaker 3 00:36:05 It around having it on hand what you need, the grit and the type that you need is very important. Yep.
Speaker 2 00:36:11 Uh, and speaking of which, if you don't have an orbital sander, I'd get one. Oh
Speaker 3 00:36:16 Yeah. Well, for sure. And, and if you are buying sandpaper for your orbital sander, it's notable, some of those adhere with, uh, with an a sticky pad. Some of those adhere with hook and loop. Uh,
Speaker 2 00:36:31 This is correct.
Speaker 3 00:36:31 Yeah. Some of them have five holes, some of them have eight holes. Those are the little vent holes that are in the pad that's on your sander
Speaker 2 00:36:40 That draw the dust out that's right off the surface and then deposit it usually into a bag. Or sometimes you can hook it up to your shop back, which is excellent. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Uh, but yeah, you're right. There are many different types, so it probably a good idea to check that out before you go buy it. But a lot of the type of, a lot of the brands, so if you buy a Makita, Makita sells their own sandpaper. Right. And it's going to be
Speaker 3 00:37:04 Exactly what you need for that tool.
Speaker 2 00:37:06 Correct. So, um, another thing, Tony, a ladder
Speaker 3 00:37:12 Yeah. Ladder, it kind of bridges the gap between a, an essential tool that you would use in your workshop, um, and an essential tool that you maybe would store in your workshop. I don't know how often someone needs a ladder in the workshop, A step stool, maybe, maybe a two or three or four, four step stool in the shop. The ladder would probably be used outside of the shop, but definitely for a homeowner, maybe even a renter. Um, a ladder is an essential tool. There are so many things obviously that you need a ladder
Speaker 2 00:37:49 For. Yeah. At least a six foot step ladder in my opinion. Yeah. Um, if you're a homeowner, I would recommend getting a step ladder and an extension ladder.
Speaker 3 00:37:59 It's notable that if you're shopping for ladders and you're looking at ladders that look exactly the same, you can be looking at three or four ladders that are all the same height that
Speaker 2 00:38:08 Range Yeah. That range from 60 bucks to 300 bucks.
Speaker 3 00:38:10 Yeah. They all have the same amount of steps. There are different colors. What's the deal here? Um, some of them could be wood or they could be fiberglass, or they could be aluminum. But I'll tell you what, the number one thing you need to look for is the weight rating. Right. The weight rating on a ladder is everything. If you, um, if you are a 250 pound, um, weekend warrior and you buy a ladder, I'm trying to say, and you buy a, a ladder that is rated for 150 pounds, well that ladder's not for you, even though it's only $60. Spend the extra money and get one that's rated for your, for your size.
Speaker 2 00:38:47 Right. They do make very high weight rated ladders. I am
Speaker 3 00:38:51 A big guy. I I cannot safely climb every ladder that's manufactured out there. No. I need to find, uh, a ladder that's, you know, for a guy that's six three and you know, 250 pounds,
Speaker 2 00:39:04 300,
Speaker 3 00:39:05 350 pounds <laugh>. Uh, I definitely go for the heavy duty ladder. I don't want to, I don't want to compromise my safety when I'm climbing a ladder. Especially because when you're on a ladder, you are at your most vulnerable. Sure. And you, well, the one thing you don't want to fail is the
Speaker 2 00:39:23 Ladder <laugh>. Yeah. You don't want to get any criticism up there
Speaker 3 00:39:26 Yet. Yeah. I'm already <laugh>, I'm already gonna be doing the dumb stuff. I want the ladder to do the smart stuff. So,
Speaker 2 00:39:33 Uh, it's notable too, Tony, that the weight rating on a ladder is also including the stuff that you're carrying. You know what I mean? If you're walking up a ladder and throwing something up, or you're carrying something heavy up a ladder and you know, you have a 250 pound ladder and you're 250 pounds and you've got 50 or 60 pounds of things that you're carrying up that ladder. Right. You know what I mean? You're stressing it to the max already. So anyway, like Tony said, take a look at the weight rating and buy accordingly. The high, the higher heavier duty ladders, the Class A ladders
Speaker 3 00:40:14 Orange, usually I think on
Speaker 2 00:40:16 One A mm-hmm. <affirmative>, is that what it is? One. A class, one A. Anyway, you'll see it when you buy a ladder. Just don't skimp on that. Right. In my opinion, what you agree, buy the best ladder for you.
Speaker 3 00:40:26 Right. Agreed.
Speaker 2 00:40:27 Uh, another thing on our list, Tony is a saw.
Speaker 3 00:40:30 Yeah. We're kind of gonna move now out of the hand tool type items. There, there are some hand tools, uh, further down the list that we'll talk to talk about. But, but, uh, when you say a saw, there are, like you mentioned earlier,
Speaker 2 00:40:45 So many different
Speaker 3 00:40:46 Types, so many different things, and a lot of them are essential, not just as saw, but many saws are essential.
Speaker 2 00:40:53 Yeah. I mean honestly, they, when you say saw, you could mean hand saw. Right. Or you could mean power saw. Right. I actually recommend getting both. I have many types of different hand saws for different applications, small pole saws, Japanese pole saws. I have coping saws, I have
Speaker 3 00:41:13 Hacksaw,
Speaker 2 00:41:14 Hacksaw, you know, and those are just things that you would need to cut different type materials from metal to wood to a finer cut.
Speaker 3 00:41:23 A cross cut
Speaker 2 00:41:24 Saw. Yeah. Flexible type saw that you can cut things down. Um, those are just really nice to have different tools for. Now if you talk about, about power tools, I mean, you've got a table saw, a mir saw circular saw, jigsaw band, saw a scroll saw.
Speaker 3 00:41:42 I have a scroll saw.
Speaker 2 00:41:43 See, I don't,
Speaker 3 00:41:44 I love the scroll saw. Very cool. You know, it would've made the work that we did on that weekend warrior sign that we built. We cut out all those letters and we did that with a jigsaw. Right. That, that the scroll saw that I have would've made that what much easier work. Why
Speaker 2 00:42:01 Didn't you not mention this?
Speaker 3 00:42:02 And, but Well, because we were, we were, we didn't, we weren't in a place where we had it with us.
Speaker 2 00:42:06 Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:42:06 That would've been, but that would've made work much easier. A scroll saw is a very cool tool for, um, for finished type things. The blades are very small and, um, and the work is delicate, but, um, but it is a lot of fun. They're fun
Speaker 2 00:42:20 To work with. Right. I would say at the bare minimum every week in Warrior should own a circular saw. No question. Then I would probably go with a table saw, probably also a mir saw. Right. That would be kind of my top three. Yep. Then a jigsaw would be right behind that. I really want a bandsaw. I don't own one, but I would love one. I just don't have the room
Speaker 3 00:42:41 For it. You know, one that's not on the list here that you and I both have and have used many, many times, especially in demo
Speaker 2 00:42:47 Saw
Speaker 3 00:42:48 AIP sauces. Right? That's right. Uh, Sazo, of course, is a brand name that is, uh, Milwaukee, that is a Milwaukee tool. They, I, I guess they, they kind of made that saw popular. Right. Um, but, uh, Recep saw is made by all different brands of tools and ACEP saw it definitely does something that other saws don't do. It's very powerful. It has a lot of reach and, and it makes demo a lot easier. Oh
Speaker 2 00:43:14 Yeah, it has. Yeah. You can buy so many different types of blades for it. The cut through nails
Speaker 3 00:43:18 I think of, of it as steel wood. I, I think of it as a demolition saw.
Speaker 2 00:43:22 Yeah. I would too. Yeah. You're not really gonna get a very fine cut.
Speaker 3 00:43:25 Nope. Nope. Not fine. The recent saw for sure, and the blade has a lot of flex in it, so it's not gonna be really true and straight and level and plumb and all that.
Speaker 2 00:43:33 We actually had in last week's winter storm, we had a tree come down. I took my Rey saw <laugh> with a aggressive blade on it, and I cut the tree branch up with my cordless. Oh, nice. Re sip saw, I don't know, a chainsaw. Oh, yeah. So as a pretty good use of that tool. Uh, what was the other thing I was just thinking of?
Speaker 3 00:43:54 Speaking of that I just tell you just said it. You just said chainsaw. I didn't have a chainsaw. Right. You know, Makita makes a cordless chainsaw, which is as easy to use as any of their other cordless saws as easy to use as ACEP saw. But man oh man, it's so much more aggressive and makes that kind of a job a lot faster. And it fits right with the Nikita platform, same type battery, everything.
Speaker 2 00:44:17 I need to get one of those.
Speaker 3 00:44:18 Those are very cool tools. Very cool.
Speaker 2 00:44:20 All right. Moving along the list in power tools would be a drill.
Speaker 3 00:44:24 Yep. Absolutely. Not just one drill. I mean, so there also are a bunch of different kinds of drills. There's a, a hammer drill, um, a regular drill driver there,
Speaker 2 00:44:35 A impact drill,
Speaker 3 00:44:36 A screwdriver, a a, a sort of cordless screwdriver that looks like a drill, but it's, um, but it has different capabilities. Um, a sh like a drywall screwdriver for example. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, impacter, like you mentioned, lots of different, um, drills and, and that work differently and do different things. But even with all of that said, more than one drill, even more than the, one of the same kind of drill, the drill for me. Corey is the number one tool that you have to keep on hand for people who come to help you work.
Speaker 2 00:45:11 This is true.
Speaker 3 00:45:12 If you are having people come on a workday, the one tool that you have to have more than one of, or maybe a drill three or four is a drill that is, uh, as a very essential, I have obviously multiple drills. You have multiple drills.
Speaker 2 00:45:28 You know, Tony, I used to say for long time that you should have a cord, uh, cordless drill, like a, uh, your Makita impact or drill driver or whatever. And then you should also have a corded drill. So if you're drilling through, you know, big holes through a, you know, using through a like a, with a hole saw, maybe through a piece of wood or something like that. Or you're drilling out multiple holes for electrical wire or something and you're using spade bits, right. It's just a lot of power that you're, you're trying to drill these holes with.
Speaker 3 00:46:00 Or a three quarter inch by 24 inch auger bit. Right. You're running through a big,
Speaker 2 00:46:05 Big timber made, we made corn hole boards and we use a big six inch hole saw we're cutting through an inch and a half of plywood double three quarter plywood. Right. It's just a lot. Right. So if you've got a cordless drill, I used to say have a corded drill on hand, but I tell you what, the new kind of the new school cordless drills, like the Makita five amp battery cordless drills. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 00:46:34 <affirmative>
Speaker 2 00:46:35 Are just as good. I mean they have just as much power and can rip a six inch hole hole saw through wood with no problem.
Speaker 3 00:46:44 Here's, here's a telltale sign. If the cordless drill that you're purchasing for a big job, that you would normally have a corded drill for sells with a side handle that screws into the side of the drill. Yeah. There's a reason why they included that. It's got, it's got some torque. That's because it's got torque. And you are gonna need to have double grips on that drill before you start, you know, Dr. Working with it. So that's a, that's a telltale sign. And Makita definitely makes some drills that have cordless drills that have a lot of power like that.
Speaker 2 00:47:13 Absolutely. Uh, to go along with drills, you need some drill bits and there are, man, there are so many different types of drill bits. Number one twist drill bits. That's gonna be your standard run of the mill. Common type drill bit. You can drill through wood, metal, plastic. I always recommend getting a full set of twist drill bits. I probably honestly have five full sets of drill bits and they're different types have different hardnesses that I can cut through wood quickly. I can, I have drill bits that I can cut through steel quickly. Uh, and those are just your standard twist drill bits. They also have sped drill bits. If you're trying to drill holes through wood that are larger than let's say half inch, you're not gonna use a one inch diameter twist drill bit. You can Yeah. They, they make
Speaker 3 00:48:05 'em, they make those wood owls or, or those are those big auger bits. Bits.
Speaker 2 00:48:08 But you're gonna pay out the nose for 'em for to drill a hole. So for most often you would use an auger bit. They're, they're like a paddle bit. They're wider. You can get 'em, you know, you can drill it up to probably an inch and a half, maybe even bigger two inch paddle bit.
Speaker 3 00:48:24 Yeah. Spade spade bit, spade bit, uh, yeah. Irwin who's who has a really good following with those types of, they call them speed board bits. We
Speaker 2 00:48:32 Used to speed board.
Speaker 3 00:48:33 Yep. We used to buy speed
Speaker 2 00:48:34 Board. They've got a little uh, drill
Speaker 3 00:48:36 Tip
Speaker 2 00:48:37 Tip on 'em that draws that wood. Right. Or that drill bit right through the wood extremely fast. It's not a very clean cut. Right.
Speaker 3 00:48:45 That's another example of making sure that you're using the right tool for the right job. If this is a project that's not a, not the finished surface, you're not working on the finished surface, it's gonna be covered up or you know, sanded or whatever.
Speaker 2 00:48:58 Spade bits are aggressive.
Speaker 3 00:48:59 Spade bits are very aggressive. An auger bit around auger bit would owl or something like that. We give you a cleaner finish
Speaker 2 00:49:06 In an even cleaner finish than that would be a forner bit. Oh yeah. Not forner, but forced forner bit drill bit. They are flat bottom. They have a drill bit in the center and it's almost like a very, um, it's like a hole saw almost. But they have really sharp carbides and will cut a very clean, precise hole.
Speaker 3 00:49:31 The thing to note about the difference between a forester bit and a hole saw is a hole saw is not gonna work for you unless you're going all the way through the material that you're cutting. Correct. You have to go exit all the way out. A forner bit can actually cut a half deep hole. You can go down a half an inch or a three quarter of an inch, put a spot face as you would refer to it. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, in the wood and then it would be solid in the bottom. Um, but a whole saw has gotta go all the way through.
Speaker 2 00:49:55 That is correct. Yeah. And be, and the difference is, is because the forner bit has carbide bits across it mm-hmm. <affirmative> the whole thing versus a whole saw which has either carbide or just teeth around the perimeter
Speaker 3 00:50:07 Around the outside of, then you end up with a plug inside of the whole saw that you have to get out. Correct. But a forner bit just creates soest.
Speaker 2 00:50:15 Yep. Yep. No
Speaker 3 00:50:16 Plug. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 00:50:16 Yeah. The only other set you might want on hand would be maybe a mills masonry drill bit set or even a tile saw drill bit set. Oh yeah. I should have those around my house. Cause I've had to, you know, I've had to install like say a towel rack in my bathroom over tile. You don't wanna just use a standard masonry drill bit. You want to use a tile drill bit.
Speaker 3 00:50:38 Another thing that you didn't mention specifically that will come in very handy all the time is, um, like counters, sink bits a bit that is very short. Oh yeah. That has a little counters sink attachment on it so that you are drilling a small hole. A about the size of the diameter of the screw you're using a little bit
Speaker 2 00:50:59 Smaller, slightly smaller.
Speaker 3 00:50:59 Yeah. And then it also will counters sink for the head of the screw so the head of the screw can sit flush with the surface of the project. So they have those in a, a number 6, 7, 8, 10. Right. 12,
Speaker 2 00:51:14 Depending on the size of the
Speaker 3 00:51:15 Screw you're pulling, depending on the size of the screw, you would want to get a set of counter sinks, um, or pre-drill bits or whatever they call those.
Speaker 2 00:51:23 Right. Those are really handy if you are screwing something together that you don't wanna split. Right. Because screws in general are very aggressive and they're moving material wood fiber out of the way, and they're boring that hole down deep and they're pulling that wood fiber down tight. And sometimes and especially harder material, it'll just crack
Speaker 3 00:51:45 Gets bound up in there and there's, there's crack forcing too much into a place where it wasn't supposed to be. And it will find relief somewhere. Exactly.
Speaker 2 00:51:52 Yeah. So if you're, if you're building something and you don't want it to split or crack, use a pre-drill predrill a, uh, countering. That's a great tip. I like that one. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. I actually have a whole set of those. I love
Speaker 3 00:52:03 'em. Me too. I, they, they make them now very commonly tapered. Um, really sharp at the pinch at the point, and then gets bigger to be the size of the screw that you're working with or just smaller Absolutely. As it goes up.
Speaker 2 00:52:15 Um, next one on the list would be, you know, chisels. Yeah. A set of chisels. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. If you're a woodworker, you probably have lots of chisels. Um, I am not necessarily, I wouldn't call myself a worker. I like building things. I like building furniture. Different things that aren't, uh, fine furniture. I don't wanna misrepresent my abilities.
Speaker 3 00:52:37 <laugh>, I have a, I have a very nice set of Stanley chisels that are super sharp. I don't use them very often, but when I want to use it works really good. Um, it's nice to be able to reach for a chisel and have it be sharp when
Speaker 2 00:52:52 You need it. Yeah. If you watch some of these guys that are real, real woodworkers, their chisels are unbelievably sharp mm-hmm. <affirmative> and they're very expensive and they store them very well and they sharpen them. So it's, uh, it's probably not something every weekend warrior would have, but a good set of like Stanley Chisels, like you said, is very good to have for different applications. You know, if you're installing a door and you're putting your strike plate out on the strike plate doesn't quite fit in the, the hole that they notched out for you at the factory. Yep. You know, you grab a chisel and you can clean that hole up, make it a little bit wider. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and you would never even know. Right. There's a, that's the only tool that you can use there. Right. If you try to use anything else, it's gonna look terrible. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 00:53:39 <affirmative> agreed.
Speaker 2 00:53:40 I don't wanna go through this whole list of chisels cuz there's, I don't either. There are so many there that, uh, yeah. I, I wrote 'em all down. I researched it, I wrote 'em all down. I'm like, I don't even know what these
Speaker 3 00:53:48 Are. There's a lot. I mean, I might mention a cold chisel, which is something, uh, and it, uh, that is commonly used if you are doing that kind of work.
Speaker 2 00:53:58 Oh, yeah. It's not really for wood. Right. Cold chisel would be for concrete or steel. Right. You know, you could, you could use it on that sort of thing.
Speaker 3 00:54:06 And then the other thing that came to my mind as I was looking at this list, honestly, is, and I know it's not even a chisel, but it seems to pop into this area, are nail sets. You know, we, we don't have nail sets on the list, but a set of nail sets, if you are doing that kind of work, finish work and you're using, um, even if you're using a Brad nailer, oftentimes you're firing a along and your Brad nailer is, um, maybe running out of air
Speaker 2 00:54:34 Or Well, you should explain what a nail set is then.
Speaker 3 00:54:36 Yeah. A nail set is, uh, which looks like a, um,
Speaker 2 00:54:40 Like a punch. Yeah,
Speaker 3 00:54:42 Like a punch, like a leather punch or something. Yeah. And it's got a tip down there that the tip matches the head of the nail that you're working with. So they can have some, a fine point, a medium range, or a, a thick point and use that to set the nail deeper in, below the surface of the wood so that you can use a wood putty to fill over the top.
Speaker 2 00:55:03 Right. Yeah. And there's not another tool you can use for that really. Right, right. Because you've gotta get it the pretty basic, basically the same size as the nail to drive it deeper into the thing so it's not sticking out. Yeah. It's a, yeah, it's a good idea. I like that tool. I have a bunch myself. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, another one is clamps. How many clamps do you own, Tony? Well,
Speaker 3 00:55:24 A lot more now than I used to. <laugh>. I remember a project that you and I did. We were building a table, uh, I think, and you said you need to bring all the clamps you have. We are gonna have to clamp clamp clamp.
Speaker 2 00:55:35 Right. We needed longer ones too. Yeah. We needed, we needed to be like at least four
Speaker 3 00:55:39 Foot, four foot pony clamps. We, we, uh, used pony clamps. Pony clamp is a brand name again, um, pony. But, um, yeah. And then, and then we decided we still didn't have enough after we combined my clamps in your clamps and all the clamps that I got from my father-in-law. Right. Which, uh, are, I'll tell you what, a clamp, a really well-built clamp, like a pony clamp. Those things will last forever. Yeah. It's really, really, really good tool. And, uh, and I have, um, inherited some from my father-in-law when he passed, and I absolutely love those really good quality clamps. We had to go out and buy
Speaker 2 00:56:12 More. I know
Speaker 3 00:56:13 <laugh>, we bought some, some heavy duty Bessie brand eye clamps. Yeah. That, uh, we used actually on a project that we built recently in the, in the, uh, workshop. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:56:23 Bar clamps is
Speaker 3 00:56:24 What you would do. Yeah. Bar clamps and, um, yeah. Clamps are a very necessary part of any type of woodwork that you're doing. And you, you need to have little ones see clamps, you need to have probably some squeeze clamps. You need squeeze clamps here and there. I've got a half a dozen squeeze
Speaker 2 00:56:42 Clamps and in different various sizes too. You know, you just can't have enough. You can have the short ones from, you know, 12 inches all the way up to, you know, I've got some 48 inch five, you know, I think the ones that you bought were actually five foot long. Yeah. And you, you can use 'em for anything with that sizer or shorter. The nice part about pipe clamps, did you mention pipe clamp? Yeah. Pony makes pipe clamps that you just buy
Speaker 3 00:57:06 Like galvanized
Speaker 2 00:57:07 Pipe. Galvanized pipe, three quarter inch galvanized pipe at whatever length you want. You could go buy 'em 12 foot long if you wanted to. Yeah. And then they just thread onto one end and then the other end slides back and forth and allows you to clamp really long things. Yeah. So that's the nice versatility for a pipe clamp. Um, but yeah, you also have like little hand spring clamps. I use those all the time for holding up anything or, or just temporarily holding something to something. I like having all of those, so Yeah, you just can't have too many clamps. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:57:41 We've got some, uh, some what we call quick clamps, which is a, kinda like a squeeze. You just squeeze the, the handle and it advances. Um, which is also a, a good way to tighten something down as opposed to cranking it around. Um, and I'll tell you what, there's one clamp that I need that I don't have. What's
Speaker 2 00:58:02 That?
Speaker 3 00:58:02 A clamp that clamps at a 45 degree or at a 90 degree? Yeah, at a 90
Speaker 2 00:58:11 Degree. Oh. From making like a box,
Speaker 3 00:58:12 If you will, if you were making a picture frame, for example mm-hmm. <affirmative> mm-hmm. <affirmative>. You're putting two legs of a picture frame together and you can, you can glue that thing together and clamp it and then fasten it together and let it, it holds it while it's gluing. That's, um, that's a tool that I have had need for and haven't had. That's a good tool. Those are
Speaker 2 00:58:32 Cool. You could Uncle Jed clamp it.
Speaker 3 00:58:34 Yeah. I don't know how to do that. <laugh>
Speaker 2 00:58:37 Full of 'em today. <laugh>.
Speaker 3 00:58:39 Uh,
Speaker 2 00:58:39 Alright. We're, uh, I think we wanna try to wrap this up here. Although there's only tool tools left on our list. One of them is a planer. I own a planer. It's probably not, and I wouldn't call it necessarily an essential tool for every weekend warrior, but it's really nice to have if you're trying to take material off something, like if you're trying to thin something down, if you take a two by four and you run it through your planter, you can thin it down to whatever thickness you need it to be. Or if you're trying to clean it up.
Speaker 3 00:59:13 Are you talking about a hand planter or are you talking about like a,
Speaker 2 00:59:17 A power planter?
Speaker 3 00:59:17 Benchtop
Speaker 2 00:59:18 Planter. Yeah. Benchtop power planter. There are hand planters, you know, actual hand tool hand planters that you would set the height and run that thing through. Those are great to have. I would say that's a little more advanced for maybe a award worker.
Speaker 3 00:59:34 Makita makes a cordless Mm. Portable power planter that's not a bench planter. Right. You, it's small and you hold it in your hand. It's got a knob on top and, and you run that along. But I'll tell you what, if you are going to be taking a consistent amount of material off from one side to the other and you're using a portable planter like that, um, you have to be very consistent in how you use it. It seems to me that it would be very easy to get too much material in one place or to push too hard or have it slide one direction or the other. Um, I have not mastered the use of that Yeah. Portable planter tool
Speaker 2 01:00:13 Yet. I'd say that it's, it's a little more advanced.
Speaker 3 01:00:15 I think it is a
Speaker 2 01:00:16 Little bit of a more advanced
Speaker 3 01:00:17 Tool. It's advanced beyond my capability today. Well,
Speaker 2 01:00:20 And you wouldn't need it. You don't really need it,
Speaker 3 01:00:22 But we'll figure out how to, how to make it make us better at some point going forward. For sure. Um, something else that's not on our list before we go to the last item and mention it. I want to say this, it's an essential tool for you. And I know that because I've had to borrow yours and as a matter of fact, I have it today, which is a belt sander. Oh yeah. Obviously a palm sander is essential. We covered that, but sometimes the sanding job that you have to do is bigger than what you could do with a palm sander. Effectively. We've had to sand some big projects, uh, like a table, a couple of tables, and, uh, a belt sander with the right grit sandpaper on it can do exactly the job you need to do, but in very short
Speaker 2 01:01:06 Order. Right. Yeah. Taking, we're making a tabletop right now and a video and having to use a palm sander or a rotary palm sander and get that thing consistently flat across the whole thing would take a very long time. Right. You hit it with the, the, uh, belt sander, belt sander, the, that like the one that I lent you. And then we're going to use, you put a, a 60 grid or an 80 grit belt on that thing and that thing will be flat in 10 minutes.
Speaker 3 01:01:36 Yeah. Yeah. It's a lot of work that, that, uh, tool a lot of dust. That tool definitely takes it out of you after, uh, an hour or two hours of sanding with three or four different grits of paper. You know, you've done something <laugh>, especially if you're leaning over the project, getting it
Speaker 2 01:01:51 Done. I remember when I was a kid, I was helping my dad sand floors, hardwood floors.
Speaker 3 01:01:57 Oh man. That's a big
Speaker 2 01:01:58 Job. Yeah. And it was in a smaller room, so he didn't rent anything. He just had his belt sander. And I remember walking over and plugging that thing in and we had left the power switch on and that thing took off.
Speaker 3 01:02:14 Oh man. Shoot.
Speaker 2 01:02:15 Across the, across the room.
Speaker 3 01:02:16 Yep.
Speaker 2 01:02:16 Until it hit the end of the extension cord and pulled, pulled the plug. Oh, <laugh>. I was like, thank goodness. Wow. Scared the crap outta me. Yeah.
Speaker 3 01:02:24 Yikes.
Speaker 2 01:02:25 Anyway, the last one on our list as an essential tool is a router. Yeah. A hand router, fixed base router. You've got plunge routers, trim routers, combination routers. Even a C N C router. Wow. I actually want a C N C router. Me too. I think it would be super, super cool and I don't know what I would use it for quite yet, but I want one.
Speaker 3 01:02:46 You buy it. I'll borrow yours. <laugh>.
Speaker 2 01:02:49 What if you bought it for a
Speaker 3 01:02:50 Change? I, I think they're expensive.
Speaker 2 01:02:52 Well, you could get, uh, I've actually, me and a buddy of mine were looking at going in on a big router like that mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, to make, you know, signage. Sure, sure. You know, he really wanted to get into it and I told him I would maybe want to try and look into it. Man, you can get there. Honestly. You can get 'em for 10, 15, $20,000 for like a bigger wow. Industrial type C n C router. Wow. Unbelievable.
Speaker 3 01:03:19 Wow.
Speaker 2 01:03:20 That's lot. You can get 'em for less of course. Sure. You know, you can buy a $500 C
Speaker 3 01:03:24 Router, but you don't know how to do anything halfway. You're, if you're in, you're all in. Well,
Speaker 2 01:03:28 I don't like buying junk
Speaker 3 01:03:30 <laugh>. I know it's true. But, uh, but routers are a very good way to put a very, very, and I'm gonna say very one more time, very nice finishing touch on your project. That's
Speaker 2 01:03:42 Three varies.
Speaker 3 01:03:42 Everyone rounding over the edges and, uh, cleaning up any holes that are in your project and just making them, uh, making them look like they're intended to be there and, and not an accident. Right. So I really love what a rider router can do.
Speaker 2 01:03:58 Let's get one more. Very,
Speaker 3 01:04:00 Very nice to have a router on hand.
Speaker 2 01:04:03 Awesome. Well, I'm sure there's a million more things, uh, but if you check out our podcast or our YouTube channel, you know, we'll, we'll be doing this show again, I'm sure. But, uh, anyway, thanks for checking us out. If you haven't already, go, uh, go look at our YouTube channel, it's youtube.com forward slash ww home show. You want to catch any of our other shows. Make sure you hit that subscribe button and uh, turn on notification so every time we drop a new show, a new podcast, you can go download it.
Speaker 3 01:04:30 Absolutely. Thank you so much for tuning in to the Weekend, warriors Home Improvement Podcast.
Speaker 2 01:04:36 See you next week.
