One of my first tools was an early Bosch cordless drill. It was back in the days before “Max” had to follow every marketed voltage stat, and before serious power made it into the cordless realm. One feature that it and some other tools at the time had was onboard bit storage. This tool had two double-ended bits that covered just about all the flat and phillips fasteners of the early cordless era. Despite all the amazing advances surrounding cordless drills and drivers, I have to say I miss having convenient bit access. Apparently someone at Skil missed that convenience too. Rather than just tack on a couple bit clips, they completely rethought cordless screwdrivers AND their bits. [click to continue…]
Marc
Deep in an undisclosed, carefully guarded third-world bunker, HomeFixated minions have been toiling away at a project so secret, only dozens of people knew it existed. Those that did know of this shadowy project were given only fragmented details, ensuring no single person could put together the intricate puzzle pieces. This top secret project had the potential to topple powerful governments and end human existence as we know it – but mostly it will just teach you cool stuff and make you laugh. So what is this ultra secret Home Fixated project? [click to continue…]
Every year, I travel with several hundred thousand of my closest media and trade friends to the National Hardware Show in Las Vegas. Since NHS isn’t open to the public, coverage from intrepid media outlets like Home Fixated is one of the few ways to find out what’s new and interesting in the world of tools, hardware, and home products. Normally I allow several days to cover the million+ square feet of show floor, but this year circumstances dictate I cover the show in one day. I did that once before and vowed never to do it again given that the show is too huge to cover thoroughly in a week, but I’ll be breaking that vow today (not the vow people usually break in Las Vegas – don’t worry honey). As with prior years, I’ll cover what I can of the show live via Twitter, with follow-ups on interesting products trickling in on HomeFixated in the months after the show. If you’re not already following HomeFixated on Twitter, do it now and you’ll be among the first to know about some great new tools, products and shenanigans – straight from Vegas. Check out all the highlights from our NHS whirlwind visit here! [click to continue…]
Several months ago we did a review of the Bosch L-Boxx 1A. We found it to be a very solid, versatile, transportable way to organize things around the shop. Unfortunately, once we put stuff in the L-Boxx, we had absolutely no clue which L-Boxx had what in it. In addition to the L-Boxx mystery, some of our tools were playing hard-to-get too. While a few of our more beloved tools are out in the open, free-range style, many are safely stored away in the fairly nondescript boxes they came in. Some manufacturers are kind enough to label the boxes, but most don’t. The result is a shop that makes finding the right tool more like an Easter egg hunt than a quick grab. We needed help, and the folks at Epson sent it to us in the form an LW-400 Label Maker to review. [click to continue…]
Just like certain “movie” stars, some tool accessories are known for their girth, and others for their length. Jigsaw blades aren’t typically known for either. If you’re looking to cut a meaty piece of wood and you don’t happen to have a bandsaw handy, your options have been pretty limited. Bosch recently released their Precision line of extra long 10 inch jigsaw blades and we found ourselves wondering whether they had much practical use, particularly for doing what you often do with jigsaws; cutting curves. With our curiosity piqued, we asked Bosch if they could send a few blades our way to review. We were pretty sure they could cut a thick piece of wood straight, so we set out to test these with curvaceous cuts that would have been a challenge even with a portable bandsaw. [click to continue…]
