Hand Tool Reviews

I have owned these snips for over 10 years and they have served me well in many home renovation and construction projects. As old as they are, the grips are still comfortable and they are still sharp... and nowhere near ready for the trash bin!

I highly recommend this tool.

The entire line from WOLF-Garten is just the highest quality available. This is the best bypass lopper I've ever tested. Second to none. Good supplier; excellent price!

I have owned one for 20 years. It does a great job putting a slightly rounded edge on wood. It has individual adjustment on both blades. The correct adjustment is to have the first blade take off about 1/2 to 2/3 of the wood, then let the second blade take off the remaining wood.

This is an excellent tool for doing small jobs such as cutting a dowel rod or triming soft woods such as pine.

I compared this to the super winch 1500 and 1800 and this one seems to have it beat. Looks and acts just like the Super Winch 1800 for a lot less money. I bought it for my Polaris 600 ATV and I purchased a Super Winch mount, but anybodys mount will work because the winch has a universal platfrom which allowes it to work on anymounting kit. You could weld it or u-bolt it up if you wanted with out a kit.

I liked the smaller size rocker switch, which by the way is removable inside the remote handle which is slimmer than most . The freewheeling feature is a must along with power in and out feature it provides.

Just a point I wanted to share which I learned from the battery store. Any winch you buy is only a powerful as the battery. Example a 16amp hr battery which is in my 4 wheeler wont provide any more pull for a 3000# winch than a 1500# winch!
So I went with the right winch for the job based on my battery size.

I use several job chests of this model - each with several large power tools and everything that goes with them stashed inside. I also use one for the range with everything I need for the day: my spotting scope, a roll of targets, tons of ammo and all the little necessities. And, you can sit on it which at my range is an improvement over the benches provided. I'm just packing my garage for a move and I dropped my 2-ton floor jack into one of these: thanks to the wheels I'll never have to pick *that* up to move it, and a pair of jack stands fit in too. ZAG makes a larger chest - the 37001, which at 50 gallons is more than twice as large. I found one in Canada but not in the U.S. Come on amazon: stock the big guy too. These are a bargain, very sturdy, and full of little conveniences: an engineer designed these, not some wiz from the marketing department.

Have worked as a carpenter/framer for 6 years. Have used Bosch, Dewalt, Makita cordless drills. Have used this Panasonic drill for 1 year now. VERY IMPRESSED.

Battery charge lasts longer BY FAR than any other drill I've ever used. Strong motor, light, compact, well-balanced, comfortable. Wide battery makes good base when the drill is set down. Chucking a bit is a little more fussy than with other drills, but is a very minor drawback. May not be quite as strong as some other drills but, if you need more power, you should be using a corded drill anyway.

Everything about this drill is very good or excellent. Battery life is the best!!!

The nickel metal hydride battery packs on the Panasonic are the reason I bought this drill. It holds a charge for much longer, perhaps almost twice as long. It delivers much more power than the 18 volt Bosch or DeWalt through the cycle, and the power does not wane. When the charge finally does run down, it goes from full power to completely flat all at once. The drill is a little lighter and better balanced than the competition. The chuck makes an annoying buzz when you adjust it, but no big deal. Overall, this is clearly the best cordless drill in our remodeling business.

Had it for about 2 years. Finished a 1000 square foot basement on two charges of the battery including all metal studs and drywall screws. No kidding. This is the benchmark for cordless drill design. Bought it to replace my Ryobi. The Ryobi was good for the time but they discontinued the batteries for it and their new cordless tools suck. I read the reviews on Amazon and bought one. I don't use my corded any more. Chuck is loud and no external bit storage. Everything else is perfect. Get it.

I WAS HAD. The blurb mentions attachments (plural) Where are they? I got one!!! I called and was laughed at. Sort of a "Sorry, sucker" laugh. I wanted to know where the instructions were and got snickered at again. I guess that one page bit of nonsense with typos was all I was going to get. No explanation of how the automatic turn on off works. Called the manufacturer's distributor and got laughed at again.
While this may be a fine piece of equipment (I gave up and gave it away) it is totally lacking in (1) the attachments that are needed to use it (oh, did I mention that for nearly $100 "they" will sell you an accessory kit. Yeah, right!) and (2) the user's manual is all but useless and there is no on line help that I could find.
Save your money and buy one of the noisy but well equipped and instructed Craftsman marginal pieces of equipment.

I just, reluctantly, purchased my second Turbo II in six years. The first one started smelling like burned electrical patrs and overheating after four years of very light use (less than 100 total hours of weekend woodworking, dust collection from a random obrit sander, and general shop clean up) and I contacted the Pittsburg repair center. I was told that the motor was burning up probably due to dust getting through the filter and would have to be replaced. They sold me a new motor for about $90 and instructed me never to use the cloth dust bag by itself. I installed the new motor and dutifully used nothing but the 1 micron filter plus the Fein brand paper dust bags from then on. After a few hours use it began to smell again and eventually overheated to the point of warping the the housing. Funny thing, the suction stayed strong but it got louder. I sent it in to the Pittsburg repair center who gave me an estimate of $276 to repair it or $272 to exchange it for a new one. I talked to the technician who was baffeled as to why the thing had failed again because the motor was dust free. He said he understood why I was disappointed. They then offered to lower the repair charge to $160 with a six month warranty. I opted to buy another one from Amazon for $260 with a promotional offer. Fein is giving a three year warranty now with on line registration, a much better deal in my mind than throwing money into something that has already failed twice. Why am I buying another one? Because I already have a set of accessories for this vac. If I had it to do over again and I could stomach the price I would buy the Wap Attix 8/ASE. It is supposed to be a far superior tool and you can buy it for about $370 on other web sites (Roberts IMA Tools). The thing about the Fein is if you can't use the cloth bladder by itself and you can't use it in conjunction with the 1 micron filter or the filter bags (check both the Amazon an Fein US web sites to verify) what is it good for and why even supply it? If the filter bags must be used to protect the delicate motor as I was told(they are now touting the 9-55-13FB model I guess to signify the filter bag requirement)why not be up front about it? The filter bags are very expensive so you should fatcor that into the cost equation. This will be the last chance for Fein with me. It works very well when its working but shouldn't fail after such little usage. It is supposed to be high quality durable tool. We'll see this time.

I have owned a lot of tank style vacuums. They tend to fall over, are messy and very loud. I am restoring a house and there is a lot of clean up and mess. This vacuum is whisper quiet yet very powerful. I am always amazed at the things it picks up. It comes with a very long hose. It is not one of the cheap Kenmore style that you step on once and it is kinked or broken. It has an extra long extention cord on it. You can also hook it up to any tool with a dust collection system. Plug the tool into the vacuum then every time the tool is on the vacuum comes on to suck up the mess.

After 5 years this work horse is still going. I have not had a days problem with it. It cleans so well that I generally use it for all my vacuuming. It is solid construction and I think in the 5 years I have had it I have tipped it over once. My other tank vacuums always fall over. The hose has held up extremely well. I am always pulling the tank around by the hose. This is well worth the money. I will probably have this my entire life. I would recommend buying all of the various accessories.

A must have tool for remodeling. The Fein tool is easy to use and great for doing detailed work in tight spaces.

I had been able to test market this product before purchasing one of my own and I am very impressed with this product. It is very accurate and easy to handle. Very lightweight and compact in size but packs a punch for the amount of tasks it can accomplish.

This detail sander is worth its weight in gold! I have owned one for about 3 years. The construction is rugged and feels good in your hand. The weight is behind the sanding pad which has its advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage allows for a great deal of pressure control on the pad, which I prefer... the down side, if you try to use this tool for an extended period of time you will feel it in your wrist and forearm. The price may seem a bit on the steep side, but this sander can almost eliminate most hand sanding (all but final finish sanding) in corners; around the base of ballisters; and other 'odd' places. It is a shame this unit is so expensive making it one of those 'add-on' tools to your inventory after you have purchased everything else. If you do a lot of woodworking and cabinetry or custom construction and millwork, get one as soon as possible; you will wonder why you waited so long. This labor-saver is one that will spoil you very, very quickly.

I have both the standard size triangular sanding pad and the narrow 'finger' pad and these have been able to meet all my sanding needs. The standard triangular pad allows you to turn the sanding sheet to a 'fresh' sanding point, very handy. I use the 'hook and loop' sanding sheets and they perform much better than the peel and stick variety. I can not speak to the use of the flush cutting attachment (I have a Bosch 1640VS electric flush cutting saw), and have never had occassion to use the scraper attachment; if I have scraping to do it is usually pulling up tile floors and I use a heat gun and broad putty knife.

Note...This tool can be very aggressive. The first time I used it, I put too much pressure on one of the sanding points and in the blink of an eye wore off the point of the sanding sheet AND the rubber covered point of the sanding pad! So go easy on your first project and get a feel for the way this tool functions on some scrap wood and plywood samples. I didn't ruin the project but I did have to replace the sanding pad. Fein has most of the more common sanding grits available in both sheet profiles.

I have just completed the installation of Ipe (Ironwood) boards on my 350sq ft deck and I'm super glad I sprung for this tool!

Using the Bowrench (and a clamp to prevent the Ipe Boards from lifting) makes installing the EB-TYs (hidden fasteners) much easier. A bead of subfloor adhesive across the top of each joist eliminates squeeks.

I notice that I use the bowrench in the "opposite" direction to others here, I guess it works both ways. The only improvement to using it that I can suggest is sometimes to slip a piece of scrap between the end of the tool and the decking as this allows it to slide more readily without marring the edge of the decking, however it can be tricky to keep the scrap there; perhaps the Bowrench should come with a Teflon-edged end-piece or pilot holes into which to screw a sacrificial piece of scrap.

this tool is like having a third hand it a little pricy but worth it

I have learned of this tool when building a deck with my brother-in-law. When I used it for the first time I couldn't believe the leverage you get with it. I had 20 foot long decking to screw down and without this tool it would have taken at least 3 times as long. Since then, I bought one for myself, having to re-deck my mother-in-law's balcony. This tool is a dream. I actually waited for the tool to arrive by mail order before proceeding any further on the balcony job. I knew it would save me a lot of aggrevation. Well worth whatever you pay for it even if you use it only once!