Tool Time

Regardless of your level of handiness, you reach a point where you need some certain basic tools for everyday household tasks. And given my somewhat compulsive nature, I like to have the correct tool for the job when possible. The Mrs. made fun of me when I bought a rubber mallet to use to assemble a piece of furniture (she probably would have just used her shoe), but it was only $5 and I have had numerous occasions to use it since.

Likewise, I purchased a small hand saw many years ago (I can't even remember why I needed it then) and the first year we were living here, one of the upstairs neighbors knocked on the door one December afternoon and asked, with some skepticism, "Do you by any chance happen to have a saw?" because they had just brought home a Christmas tree and it was a bit too tall. I was only too happy to be able to say that I did in fact have a saw.

Power tools cost more, so the purchase of them has to be justified more. I've had a Black & Decker cordless screwdriver for almost a decade, and it's one of those things that makes sense for almost anyone to have. But I'd noticed that mine was losing its ability to hold a charge, until it no longer worked at all. So now you have another screwdriver that's just like all your other screwdrivers, except it's much bigger, heavier, and more awkward to use.

I was thinking about what to get for a replacement when one of those one-day sale sites, Yugster I think, offered a palm-size model from Skil. I went back a couple of hours later to take a closer look and it was already sold out, and this was before noon, so I figured it must be a decent gadget. I looked around online and found it on the Skil web site. There are actually a few different models, but they're all basically the same. They have lithium-ion batteries that hold their charge for a very long time, and some models come with an LED light below the bit to help you see what you're doing.

Some models come with accessory kits and charging stands, but I think the biggest benefit of this is the small size: not only is it easy to hold, but you can add a bit extender and get into tight spaces with it. I finally made it to a Lowe's over the weekend and picked one up; it was $30 there.