PutnamEco

That Power 8 always looked a bit sketchy to me...

Once they choose to regulate something here, they tend to go overboard with it as well, We may soon be forced to buy all our new table saws with flesh sensing tech. like they offer on the SawStop. http://www.cpsc.gov/...2/tablesaw.html

I would rather deal with a leaky air hose than a leaky extension cord, LOL Who says we don't take safety seriously here?

I wish they were available, tools like Makitas LH1200FL look like they would be the ideal tool for flooring work. I have never received a straight answer as to why they are not, I have heard both that they may not meet our safety requirements and that there is no market for them here.

It is the rare jobsite here in the U.S. that does not use air. Cordless nailers are painfully slow and unreliable in comparison to pneumatic, not to mention the expense of fuel for the cordless. It is only in repair, small punch list or finish type jobs that cordless is common(outside of drills+impacts), most new construction is done with corded tools.

No flip or combination saws for us here in the U.S.

Just picture the thought of your boat sinking or having to drain and refill your pool verses that old 9.6v drill you have had for far to long, and figure that it might actually live to tell the tale.

Flashback from shop class LOL, Primitive Pete

In support of our Independce day, I present one of our great tool stores. Harry J. Epstein Co. Is an awesome retailer, featuring American made hand tools. Always has an interesting selection of tools at reasonable prices. They make it real easy to see where the tool your buying is manufactured.

Craftsman doesn't really make any tools, they rebrands other manufacturers tools as Craftsman. The Nextec line reminds me of another home owner orientated line that has since went down the tubes, the Black & Decker VPX line. I can’t really see taking these tools seriously for anything other than extreme light duty tasks. Re: I use a Grip-Rite mini palm nailer for close quarters nailing, and find this tool absolutely amazing. At first I thought it was some kind of gimmicky little goofball tool, but after the first couple of times I used it, my mind quickly changed. It has held up remarkably well, the only maintenance, beside keeping it oiled, has been tightening a body screw that vibrated loose. For the price they charge for this tool, there is no reason not to have one in your arsenal.

I have come across them a couple of times doing web searches for items that are uncommon in the U.S., usually after about 20 pages or so. The last time I came across them I was looking for a Squire lock and chain set (decided against went with Abus), that is about all I know of them.

I'm wondering, do they differentiate between impact drivers and impact wrenches over there? Here in the states we do, an impact driver has a female socket on it that accepts bits, an impact wrench on the other hand, has a male driver in the same style as a hand held ratchet and accepts regular impact sockets.

So jealous... I can't have nice things like smartphones, I always end up trashing them in short order, even busted up a bunch of so called armored phones, so I purchase the cheapest phones I can get and swap out the SIM when the inevitable disaster occurs. I so could use BuildCalc

Have you ever heard of what we in the states call a hammerdrill refereed to as an impact drill?

Had me nervous there for a minute , thinking you were attempting 1" holes with a regular old hammerdrill. Here in the U.S. we make a distinction between hammer drills and what we call this tool, a rotary hammer Wiki.answers explains it well.

I posted previously about using cordless tools underwater, (I used mostly cheap or older tools) they will work for a while, it is when they are taken out of the water and dried out that they stop working, very much more so when salt water is involved.

If it was me, and I was looking for a SMALL miter saw, I would be looking very closely at the Makita LS0714, This saw will cut up to 8" stock at 45 degrees. If I was a home owner looking to save a buck or two, I would see what the rental companies in my area have to offer. $40 for a weekends work might make this an option. A regular 10" or 12" chop saw (non slider) should do the trick as well, sometimes simpler tools work out better with a lot less things to get bent or broken, and less chance of it going out of adjustment. Lowes just recently came out with a Kobalt 7 1/2" SCMS for $109 that would have you covered capacity wise. I will not vouch for this tool, but it might be good enough for one or two jobs....

Shipping is remarkably cheap here in the states, it is when you go for the overnight or express options that it starts getting expensive. Most shipping charges tend to be around the $25 mark. I can get most tools cheaper even with the shipping charges than I can when I go to a brick and mortar retailer. A lot of our online vendors often run specials in which they offer free shipping as well. Even with the expense of overnight shipping it often is still cheaper than paying for the fuel to get to a store that actually has what your looking for. One of my strategies for dealing with my rural location and internet shipping is to have duplicates of any tools that may be job stoppers should they cease to function. Re: searching for stuff. I feel your pain, so often when I look for things I get all the "yellow page" type listing rather than the actual company I'm looking for, it can be rather maddening. Compare my local tool stores price to Amazons on the Milwaukee impact driver and you will see what I'm talking about. local (which by the way, will take up half a day to do my shopping there and cost me $15 in gas) http://www.erniestools.com/impacts/ Amazon http://www.amazon.co...+Driver+2650-21

In my younger days when I lived in New Jersey, We had a Black & Decker factory store that was like hog heaven to me. Mind you this was before Dewalt had come out and they still had some decent tools. They used to be an awesome place to get both recon tools and tool parts. I remember picking up plenty of tools at less than half retail price. I used to get their home owner grade tools so cheap that I could easily afford to use them as disposable tools. I used to keep a bunch of them around for all those dirty tool killing jobs. I was filled with great sadness recently, when I learned they were closing all their factory stores. Here in my rural county in Florida, tool shopping is absolutely dismal. The nearest tool supply is a pretty long drive and it is in a shore town so the prices are not good. I haven't really found a good tool supply within what I'm willing to drive. Then again I'm spoiled, I used to live in Connecticut before I came down here and had easy access to all the tri state areas shopping, even my local hardware store had a better tool selection then I can find in my county here in Florida If it were not for the internet and online shopping I would not have any easy access to quality tools.

Does Panasonic have a reputation for working in inclement weather over there??? Panasonic is one of the worst at marketing their tools over here in the states, I hardly ever see them, in fact I see more Festool than I do Panasonic. What little exposure I do have to them has lead me to believe they are a worthy contender. One of the groups I volunteer for has one of their 15.6v NiMH drills and it is still going strong. I also tried one of their newer impacts at a demo station set up in a store and it felt really good. Panasonic is a manufacturer of batteries and I would hazard a guess that they put some of their best in their tools.

I can remember when AEG made a few great tools, back in the day, they used to have one of the best hammerdrills and they also had a kick butt belt sander, now it would seem they are just another homogenized consumer tool company like the other members of the TTI group. You probably get a better selection of AEGs tools than we get of their rebranded Rigid line, as AEG still has a limited presence in our tool market.

What, you don't want a timberframe garden shed??? Plus it would give you a chance to build her that pergola she always wanted.

We can get the Mafell ZS260E here, but just about everyone I know gets a Bigfoot "Head Cutter" for their chainsaw. We also have the Prazi beam cutter that can attach to the common wormdrive saw, and it would appear they recently added a model that works with sidewinder saws.

Thanks for the info , that greatly eases my grey market fantasies of bringing in a PDC 18-4 and using a Festool charger and not having to deal with an inverter/transformer. Now if I can figure a work around for the CSP 85/60 circular saw. I have always wanted to try a regular circular saw with a riving knife.

How about the current crop of 18v Lith-Ion, are they interchangeable?