Peter Argyropoulos

For the money, you can't beat an Old Smokey. http://www.oldsmokey.com/collections/grills

I still can't get over how close together you guys up north are allowed to build wood structure homes. I've seen them so close together outside of Toronto that you could pass notes between bedroom windows.

My first power tool was also my first battery tool. It was a Milwaukee electric screwdriver from sometime in the mid 1980s maybe? I'm pretty sure it was one of their first ever cordless tools.

a 24' ladder will only get you up to about 18-20' above ground standing height. Depending on the design of the roof, it might get you above the gutter line, but I don't think it's a definite. I'd go with a 28 or 32 footer.

Thanks. Just a heads up... these are WAC LED track heads. They're nice, but salty at about $130/piece. The 80 ft. of 1 and 2 circuit track and 25 heads cost almost 5k just in materials, minus wiring and dimmers. You can do it much cheaper using $20 JUNO heads, single circuit track and LED PAR lamps.

To get a magnet out for replacement, heat it up a little with a torch till it loses its magnetic strength.

make sure you glue it in.

Love it! I could live in that room

I wouldn't stick to any one platform to begin with. I have corded tools from Milwaukee, Hilti and Fein, and cordless tools from Milwaukee, Bosch, Fein, Hilti, Metabo and Rockwell (don't ask ). In general, I'd prefer to buy the best tool I can for the job I need to do than to buy into a lineup of tools to minimize chargers and batteries.

Very, very similar to my Fluke. It's got more range, though, which may or may not be helpful. I find that in anything but ideal conditions, you can't really see where the dot's actually hitting so you don't know if you're on target. At that point one of those hunter's rangefinders would be better.

Right, but again, an impact should be designed to NOT bog down so I'm not sure why this is an issue. Brushless

There is no such thing as a small project There is framing around the bulkhead, but you can just leave the old drywall up and frame some new supports for drywall to the ceiling and bottom of the existing bulkhead to pack it out. Get a stud finder, mark out the framing in the bulkhead and ceiling to know your attachment points, and frame 1/2-inch back from the other bulkhead's surface for your new drywall.

So if it's overload protection, it has to be in the battery. An impact driver is designed to work against a non-moving target by nature. That's why there's no solid connection between the motor and the chuck. I had tried it already on my truck's lug nuts and it worked as expected even though they didn't move. I'm thinking it might be time for a teardown of this tool to see how they finished the anvil. There's got to be some reason why it's not jumping when it should be.

I had a chance this week to use my new impact for drilling some old framing members with a 3/4" self-feed spade bit. I was drilling on high speed in a true 2-1/2x10 floor joist and came up against a knot. The tool started stalling out when I pressed it hard into the knot. I've never seen an impact do that - usually the anvil starts whacking and the motor should keep spinning at near full speed. It ultimately got through the joist alright, but that stalling left me puzzled. Could it be from using the 2.0 A/hr batteries? Could there be some other problem? An impact driver, by design, shouldn't start to stall when working. Any thoughts?

Looking at the pics, I'm wondering why leave any wall there at all? It seems like it would interfere with what could be a much better traffic flow through the kitchen into the dining room. Also, with that bulkhead now visible through the two rooms, it would be ideal to eliminate it, but if that's not possible, maybe build out the smaller section to match the larger one so you have a clean line down the ceiling.

Both tools are performing their jobs very well. You can't really compare them since they're designed to do totally different tasks.

I started my reply this morning and posted it now without seeing your list. Here are some thoughts: Pliers - handle them before buying if possible. I still recommend Knipex as the best. Hammer - I'd go with a Klein - reason being that many of the hammers sold in hardware stores nowadays have handles that won't fit in a ladder top and you'll want to be able to do that sooner or later. 10" channellocks - Knipex Cobras if you can afford them. They beat anything else out there by a mile. Tape measure - I like the 16' idea, but if you can find a 1" wide tape, go with that. Standout on a 3/4" tape is going to be awful Screwdrivers - go with the Wiha set. You probably won't need anything else for a long time. Diagonal pliers - I'll second the need for 8" handles. 6" dykes won't have anywhere near the leverage you need to cut real wires. Torpedo level - get something out of machined aluminum with a groove on the bottom and rare-earth magnets. I have a Stabila and love it, but there are other brands that make good ones. Keyhole saw - I don't waste my money on these. I recommend a Milwaukee folding saw that accepts sawzall blades. It doubles as both a drywall and metal cutting saw. Wire strippers - get a pair that does at least 18-10 AWG to start. Most are made by the same US manufacturer, so it probably doesn't matter which you choose. Crimpers - I'm assuming that they mean pliers type. If so, make sure to get the ones with indents for both insulated and non-insulated crimps. Klein or TNB are both good ones Tool pouch - Check out the Veto Pro Pac TP4 Also, get yourself a Fluke 1AC-A1-II non-contact tester. I think it's the best there is and it might save your life.

I've been using Knipex and Wiha almost exclusively for the last 9 years. Not that other brands aren't good, but some tools fit your hand better than others and for me that's where things have settled. I like the Knipex 9-inch combination pliers. I got away from using New England style a while back and find these to be more useful. I buy the Wiha 1000V insulated 6-driver set that they have at Sears. It's around $40 and kicks ass. The forged heads last a long time. Any of the Knipex high leverage adjustable pliers will beat the competition hands down in size/power ratio. I have a set of 10-inch Cobras in my pouch that does 99% of the work I need channelocks for. For testers, I'd recommend starting with a TRMS clamp meter that does at least AC amps and AC/DC volts. You're less likely to blow up a clamp meter by accident since you can't have the leads plugged in wrong on one. Here are a few to look at: Amprobe AMP-210 Fluke 323 Megger DCM320-EN Hioki 3280-20 Any of these would be a decent first meter and all of them are made by companies that both design and produce their own products (unlike brands like Klein, Milwaukee, Ideal, Greenlee et al.).

These guys are gonna kill me

I have pretty large hands (usually XL or XXL gloves) so it doesn't feel that big to me. I tend to forget that others have smaller hands and tools that seem right for me might not be for everyone.

Recessed lighting is great when you want to light horizontal surfaces like counters, tables or desks and for floors. With careful planning and layout, it can be good for lighting artwork, but it's an expensive way to do it and you have to know pretty exactly what you're lighting, how high it's going to be hung, the dimensions, etc. or you find that the lights won't cover it properly. Track is good if you have: High ceilings artwork versatile floor plans or changing wall layouts (artwork). A weak side of track lighting when you use it in rooms with lower ceilings is that you don't get good general light on the floor or into the center of the room. I only recommend it for rooms like that when there will definitely be a lot of artwork and the walls can be used as reflective surfaces to bounce light back into the room. That was the plan in this house, even though the ceilings are about 9-feet high.

I tried it on the lug nuts on my truck - no go. I don't know whether they were torqued down properly or whether some Jack-the-Bear mechanic beat on them with an air impact. $88 is a great price considering you got the tool, two batteries and a charger.

You did a nice job. I need to do this to my basement windows. Are those breathers made special for glass block? I've never seen them used in this area, but would like something like that in my place.

It isn't as popular, but a lot of that has to do with the heads. When I show customers how many different styles are available, it becomes a pretty easy sell. This customer was pretty adamant that she wanted LED heads, and almost every month something new is coming out in that area. The sample head is mounted on the 8' track on the right and it's just a mini cylinder. Very low profile and doesn't look 1970s at all. I like recessed lighting for some things, but when a customer tells me they have "a lot" of artwork to light or they want a hi-tech look, track or monorail are the go-to products.

Friday and today were track days. One of my customers decided on track lighting (almost 80 feet) for her downstairs rooms which will be living space with lots of artwork to be displayed. The layout was somewhat intimidating since I don't have the ideal laser tools for layout of the double U shape in the main area and had to work around piles of wood trim on the floor to mark out 90s (using 3-4-5) and transfer them via laser to the ceiling, and the two U's had to meet up, and I work alone All in all it went pretty smoothly and the ends of the U's are only off by about 1/8-inch. For cutting the track I used a kick-ass variable speed benchtop band saw which I got from eastwood.com for a reasonable price. I'll be picking up the LED track heads tomorrow and try to get them turned on and get some pics of that as well.