Tools

Digital calipers have a split personality. In a machine shop, they are a quick-check tool, a step below the micrometer in precision but far ahead in speed.

The first power tool most people buy is a drill. That is a shame, because for a huge share of the work a drill gets used for, it is the wrong tool.

Boring a 2-1/8 inch hole through a solid-core door is one of the most unforgiving operations in residential carpentry.

The small rotary tool, usually sold as a Dremel or one of its many clones, sits in a drawer in most households, pulled out twice a year to cut a rusty bolt or grind down a sharp edge on a piece of met

Vevor occupies a very specific lane in the tool market. It is the brand that appears when a home workshop owner searches for a metal lathe, a shop press, a bead roller, a diesel heater, a hydraulic cr

There is a chair in most homes that does not need to be thrown away. The frame is solid, the shape is right, and only the fabric has given up, sagging in the seat or peeling at the armrests.

The belt sander is the most honest tool in a workshop, and that is exactly why it punishes the people who fear it. A random orbital sander forgives a heavy hand. A belt sander does not.

The stamped number on the head of a pop rivet is not a suggestion.

Drill bits are the most lied-about tool accessory in the average garage.

Heat guns get blamed for scorched wood, and the blame is usually deserved. A person cranks the temperature to max, hovers the nozzle an inch from a door panel, and waits for the paint to bubble.