This week, Makita leaves you no choice, but to make a choice. Plus, a building built with fancy promises, and a pile of recip saws get tortured. This is your Power Tool Week In Review!
Oz Tool Talk | DeWALT Jigsaw
Today we have several tool stories for you, starting with the boys down under who took a closer look at DeWALT’s DCS334.
Mike and Dwayne brought out DeWALT’s D-Handle Jigsaw, a handle style beloved by many. Specifically the DeWALT 20V Max version. The boys like the power, the super-fast blade change, and the size. Mike says he used to be a barrel grip guy but Dwayne converted him to D-handle. The guys love the DeWALT, suggesting it’s the perfect size and power combination. If you’re looking for a powerful jigsaw, head over to Oz Tool Talk.
Project Farm | Recip Saws
Todd over at Project Farm just tortured 8 different reciprocating saws, including a knock-off that only cost $30 bucks.
Todd is back to his usual hyper thorough tool tests, this time putting 8 different reciprocating saws in the ring, including a wide variety of competitors. He has examples from DeWALT, HART, 2 Makitas, a Makita knock-off called Heimerdinger, Ryobi, Bauer, and of course a corded and cordless Sawzalls from Milwaukee. All of his testing comes with the usual excitement, including some entry-level tools beating big boys that cost twice as much. Always a good time. For the full reciprocating rodeo, head over to project farm.
Sparky Channel | Milwaukee Angler
One of our favorites is so good at what he does, that I can’t help but smile as soon as I hear this “Hey this is Bill from Sparky Channel”
That’s right. That IS Bill from Sparky Channel, and somehow, no matter what it is he’s selling, I’m always buying. This week, he finally got his hands on the LONG awaited Milwaukee M18 Angler Powered Fish Tape, and I tell ya, this may be the happiest I’ve ever seen Bill, and he’s a happy guy. And while he loves the concept, he seems pretty distracted by the fact that there are both metal and polyester tape cartridges available for the angler, but he’s stuck with the steel, and he REALLY likes polyester. So much so, that after demonstrating the Angler, he grabs a manual polyester tape, just to show you how much better it is. Milwaukee, you need to get this man the Polyester cartridge TODAY. If you have even a passing interest in the world of sparkies, head over to Sparky Channel.
Tool Talk | Makita’s Big Gamble
Last week we talked about funny job site stories. Several of you shared them in the comments, and a few emailed them too, and well, most of them were not suitable for Youtube. But don’t stop sending them. We still have plans to do a bit of jobsite theater, and need to save up as many stories as we can. IF you have a funny jobsite story to share, take a moment to email it to me at info at coptool dot com.
This week, we’re going to talk about Makita. Yesterday they finally announced the US Launch of their internationally popular new XGT 40v and 80v tool platform. There are going to be an impressive 50 tools to help launch the new line, and like many others, we’re anxious to try them out. However, Makita revealed their long term plans, and they’re unique to our industry. Instead of developing an extension of the LXT 18V series they’ve already had, they created an entirely new line of tools, with a TON of overlap. They both have great Impacts, hammer drills, circular saws and many more. Most of which only see minor improvements moving from LXT to XGT. This overlap exists because Makita expects you to choose one or the other, depending on what you need to get your specific job done.
So our topic this week… are they NUTS? Or does this make sense to you. Obviously if you’re deep in LXT and want to slowly move into XGT, you can. They even have a battery adapter to help you. But is this the right plan? Would it have been asking too much just to buy a new platform JUST for the high powered tools like Milwaukee did with MX? We’re going to talk about it in the comments this week, and I look forward to reading and responding to your thoughts after the show.
Construction Junkie | The Associated General Contractors of America
Alright it’s time for some Construction Industry News, and thankfully it’s being provided by the Construction Junkie. The first story this week is about COVID, because it’s probably been a while since you’ve heard anything about that.
The Associated General Contractors of America or AGC for short, recently completed a survey of nearly 1,500 contractor members to see how the ongoing pandemic is still affecting their business. Among the challenges still facing many are supply chain constraints, rising material costs, and project delays and cancellations.
The survey asked a ton of questions, and all of the segmented data can be found on the AGC’s website, Shane covered the highlights in his blog post, including important notes on Project Delays, Costs, Employment turnover and more. For the highlights head over to Construction Junkie.com
Construction Junkie | Catilevered Building
Shane also shared a story about this awesome new building in China, called the F-Building. I’m not abbreviating. That’s it’s name. And instead of being built with Concrete, its made entirely with steel, thanks to their new manufacturing tech.
These are B-Core slabs, designed and built by Broad Group. They claim their steel structural support system is 5 times stronger but 10 times lighter than steel, and can withstand a 9.0 Earthquake or safely build next to the jogging path your mom uses in January. But beyond this structural revolution, they also make some pretty crazy claims in their promotional video, including “100 times stronger than reinforced concrete of equivalent strength.” That’s clearly like being 100 times smarter than someone of equivalent intelligence, leading me to assume this is 100 times more true than statements of similar truthiness.
They also ramble on about amazing air filtration systems that beat COVID, and passive-aggressively suggest we’ve all been a bunch of jerks for ignoring their brilliant ideas for over 10 years. Seriously, go watch this video over at Construction Junkie.
Last week we talked about 3 things you missed in the FLEX Tool announcement, which you can watch right here. Special thanks to SKIL and Ohio Power Tool for sponsoring this episode. We couldn’t do this without you.
