The Task Force jigsaw we have here in the shop died last week. We’d like to be upset about it, but we’re actually amazed it lasted this long. The Task Force cost us $19 brand new — and though it was never a looker, it did work for a little over a year.

When you break it down, our saw cost us a little over a dollar a month during its time here. We’d have liked it to hold on another year, but the non-stop action in the shop of hard knocks didn’t exactly prolong its service life.

In the end we’re left with this question: Is it better to pay up for a longer-lasting tool, or to take the disposable tool for all it’s worth and see what you get out of it? Looking back over the life of the saw this last year, we’re inclined to think we got our money’s worth out of it. What do you think? Is this a bad deal or a great way to get some work done cheap? Let us know in comments.

Task Force Orbital Action Jigsaw [Lowe’s]

When biscuits came out in 1956, they changed woodworkers’ approach to butt joinery. Simply by lining up two separate slots and inserting a glue-covered biscuit, you could join panels easily. Now Lamello, the company that brought us the biscuit, has come out with a new way to join wood: the Fixo biscuit.

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Back about six years ago, when I used to fabricate and install granite countertops, we caulked with manual guns — the fancy electronic ones weren’t available yet. During an install, we’d set the granite countertop pieces on the cabinets, align ‘em to their final position, and then lift up the pieces to caulk underneath ‘em. And the guy doing the caulking had to race to squeeze out enough caulk before my arms gave out from the insane amount of weight.

It seems that a powered caulking gun would’ve been very useful to squeeze the caulk out faster, but I’ve never used one and don’t know anyone who has. So, I’m turning to you. Do you have a battery-powered caulking gun — or maybe a pneumatic? What brand is it? Does it lay down a seriously precise bead of caulk? Or is it a heavy, cumbersome waste of money?  Let us know in comments.

Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Who wouldn’t want a five-ton hydraulic bench vise in their shop? With Posi Lock’s model PHV859A hydraulic vise, you can clamp anything that fits into its 8″ jaws hands-free. It also pulls double duty as a hydraulic press capable of forming steel.

Posi Lock casts its hydraulic vise from steel — the finished product has a tensile strength of 52,600 PSI. The vise derives it’s power from an air-over-hydraulic 10,000 PSI foot pump. The foot pump sports a 10,000 PSI gauge, an air control valve, and a foot switch to control the vise jaw. A 10′ hydraulic hose connects the foot pump to the vise head.

The vise’s jaws open to a maximum width of eight inches, and a spring returns the jaws to the open position when hydraulic power’s removed. The vise comes with replaceable magnetic jaw plates.

The PHV859A retails anywhere from $900 to $1,000 — a sweet, if expensive, addition to any Toolmonger’s shop.

Hydraulic Bench Vise [Posi Lock]
Hydraulic Bench Vise [Granger]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon(B000B45AXM) [What’s This?]

What do you mean you don’t own a miter saw? Well, it’s hard not to own one now, with this steal/deal over at Amazon on Hitachi’s C10FCE2 10″ compound miter saw: $100 with free shipping. The 15A motor pumps out 1,950 watts of power for a top speed of 5,000 RPM.  Sporting that “aggressive” green Hitachi coloring, the saw features a 4″ tall pivoting fence, rubberized grip for reduced vibration, clamping vice to lock down your material, dust bag, and a carbide blade.

If you want even further savings on this model, check out the refurbed link where you can pick this up for $64 plus shipping.

C10FCE2 10″ Saw [Hitachi]
Via Amazon (B000V5Z6RG) [What’s This?]
C10FCE2 Refurb [Reconditioned Sales]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

Don’t call this diminutive belt sander a toy. Like all of Proxxon’s power tools, they designed their block belt sander for smaller projects and detail work. Though it weighs in at just 1-1/2 lbs, this little belt sander can chew through ferrous and non-ferrous metals, wood, and plastic almost as well as its larger cousins.

A quiet 1/5 HP motor drives the belt on this little powerhouse up to 525 ft/min. Proxxon manufactures the housing from fiberglass-reinforced polyamide, with a hole in the housing that can accommodate a screw clamp, turning the tool into a stationary belt sander.

With its 1-1/2″ wide aluminum oxide sanding belt, the block belt sander sports a total sanding surface of 1-1/2″ by 2-3/8″. A finely adjustable spring-clamping system secures the belt and makes changing belts a tool-less operation. The belt sits flush to the left side of the sander for sanding all the way into corners.

You’ll pay $150 to own this fine little belt sander. For that price, you’ll also get five 120-grit belts, five 240-grit belts, and a stationary screw clamp, all packed in a high-quality polypropylene storage case. You can get additional belts in 80, 120, 180, and 240 grits.

Proxxon [Corporate Site]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
VIa Amazon [What’s This?]

The AVT in Makita’s AVT line of tools stands for Anti-Vibration Technology. The AVT tools work on the same principle as a boxer engine in a motorcycle: a mechanism inside the tool propels a counterweight that balances the force of the tool’s stroke. In addition to giving the user a much smoother experience, the technology also increases the efficiency of the tool, because it isn’t jolted all around while it’s cutting or pounding or whatever. Toolmonger has featured the AVT jackhammer — and of course, we’d all love to use a jackhammer at least once. But now the AVT technology is also available in a tool your average Toolmonger can get some use out of, a recip saw.

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Here’s a sweet deal from HomeDepot.com: All summer long, they’ll be shipping most power tools for free. According to Home Depot:

“The offer is valid on select tool purchases from 2/21/08 - 7/31/08 only. Offer includes: combination tool kits, drill presses, cordless drills, corded drills, impact drivers, screwdrivers, screwguns, sanders, polishers, grinders, hammer drills, chippers, breakers, lathes, staplers, planers, joiners, routers, recip saws, spiral saws, cut-off saws, circular saws, jig saws, band saws, worm drive saws, mitre saws, table saws, heat guns, nibblers, shears, stationary table saws and nailers. Offer excludes garden tools, plumbing tools and electrical tools.”

The offer also excludes certain package weights and sizes, and they won’t deliver to P.O. boxes, Alaska, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico.

Free Shipping Deal [Home Depot]

Just when you thought your multi-talented angle grinder couldn’t get any “multi-talented-er”, along comes the Grizzly Industrial angle grinder stand. This cool grinder accessory effectively turns your 4-1/2″ angle grinder into a mini metal-cutting chopsaw.

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The long wait for the Festool sliding miter saw may actually be over. Distributors are taking pre-orders, and they expect the tools to arrive by early July. But some Toolmongers may still be a bit skeptical, and rightfully so — Festool first teased us with the KS 120 about a year ago, and since then we’ve only had a few pictures and wishful thinking to go on.

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When NASA’s astronauts need a power tool to use in orbit, they can’t just head down to Lowe’s and pick up a DeWalt. Vacuum, radiation, and extreme temperatures make for a difficult environment, to say the least, so NASA started looking into a tool — half drill-driver, half ratcheting torque wrench — that could be used on spacewalks to maintain the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station in the mid ’90s. Alliant Techsystems filled that order with the Pistol Grip Tool or PGT: it’s a self-contained, computer-controlled, and battery-operated tool that can torque down fasteners very precisely while being operated by an astronaut with the dexterity of someone wearing pressurized hockey gloves.

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Small spenders take note: Ryobi has added lithium-ion power to their low-buck One+ system, dramatically increasing the line’s potential and raising the bar significantly for affordable cordless power tools. You’ll find several combination sets on store shelves now — all featuring the new batteries plus a retina-burning, high-visibility green color scheme.

For today’s test, we snagged a four-piece set — the “Ryobi One+ 4-PC Lithium Power Tool Kit,” which includes a charger, two batteries, a drill/driver, a reciprocating saw, a circular saw, and a worklight. Wondering just what $300 buys you in a four-piece li-ion combo? Read on past the jump to find out.

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Right now at Sears.com, they’re discounting all their cordless power tools by 10%. You can pick the tools up at your local Sears, but you need to order online to get the 10% savings. The sale will run through this Wednesday, April 9th, but some of the individual product pages say, “Save 10% until the 12th,” so you may have a couple of extra days — act fast.

Sears [Corporate Site]

Sick of carrying around bulky bolt cutters? This year Greenlee’s introducing a small and lightweight, battery-powered steel cutter. You could call the ETS12 battery-powered bolt cutters, but that wouldn’t really do the tool justice. The ETS12 can cut grade 8 bolts, threaded rod, grade 40 rebar, steel rod, ground rods, copper and aluminum cable, guy strand, aircraft cable, and other mild steel.

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As if you weren’t already getting great bang-for-your-buck from your Ryobi tools — now they’re offering reconditioned tools through their official web distributor, at about 30% off retail prices. I’ve purchased a few items from them, and they were all in like-new condition. The only thing distinguishing these from brand-new is the “RECON” branding somewhere on the tool. They even carry a one year warranty.

If you have the One+ system, you can pick up some very nice additions for cheap, like the 18V angle grinder for $28 — nice!

Reconditioned Ryobi Tools [Gardner Inc.]

Whether you’re an aircraft mechanic, auto mechanic, welder, or DIYer, you’ll eventually need to grind or sand some metal. But what happens when your angle grinder doesn’t offer the finesse you need for a small, intricate job? What happens when you need to get into a hard-to-reach area? Here’s a solution that takes advantage of a tool you already have — 3M’s Roloc drill-mounted grinding/sanding/finishing system.

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If you need to drill a hole in steel, you’re going to want a drill press. The power, the stability, and the accuracy will allow you to bore your way through small or narrow pieces of stock. But what do you do when you need precise holes in a large piece of plate steel that you can’t take to the drill press? You need to take the press to the steel. Milwaukee’s magnetic drill press lets you do just that.

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