Tools for the budget-conscious.

[Perd Hapley]

Just bought a house, and I need a few things.  I need to find some specific tools cheaply, but hopefully the kind that will last a few years.

1.  String trimmer - preferably gas-powered.  Although my father is a whiz with anything that breathes oxygen and eats petrol, I am a know-nothing in this department.  So, I need something that will work reliably without too much complicated maintenance.  Seriously, it would have to be pretty simple for me to keep it going.  Mixing the gas and changing the air filter is about as deep as I get.

2.  Reciprocating saw - I have to cut a hole in the kitchen floor to install a vent, and tear out the drywall in the bedroom and start over.*  Unless I can use my circ saw to good effect here, it seems I need to invest in a recip.  I'm thinking a recip might be useful on demo,** but maybe moreso for cutting new drywall to desired dimensions - inside corners and small holes for receptacles.  Any suggestions?  

Thanks all,

Mr. and Mrs. fistful


*There's no duct going to the kitchen - what were they thinking?  This house was probably the best deal I could get with my limited finances, but the dodos who owned it previously really dropped the ball.  Or maybe the renters messed things up.  The bedroom walls are textured so thick you could get lost in it, so we're tearing it out.  I would let it go for a while, but since the carpet in that room is in need of immediate replacement, I'll do it now and lay carpet when the messy stuff is over with.  And they put some goofy-looking glass in the middle of the ceiling.  It's comin' down, baby!  Better have on the safety specs.

**I've done a demo where we just cut the sheetrock from floor to ceiling with a recip saw, but that was with shielded wire.  The wire in this old house is too old-school for that, so I'm not sure of the best way to go about it.

[garrettwc]

**I've done a demo where we just cut the sheetrock from floor to ceiling with a recip saw, but that was with shielded wire.  The wire in this old house is too old-school for that, so I'm not sure of the best way to go about it.

For old school drywall and wiring, you gotta go old school on the tools. Big sledge hammer and a crowbar.

As for the other tools. You know the old saying buy cheap buy twice. If money's real tight, might check the local pawn shops for one of the major brands that somebody hocked. The ones around here are thick with construction tools at certain times of year.

[Perd Hapley]

For old school drywall and wiring, you gotta go old school on the tools. Big sledge hammer and a crowbar.

That's not what I wanted to hear.

As for the other tools. You know the old saying buy cheap buy twice. If money's real tight, might check the local pawn shops for one of the major brands that somebody hocked. The ones around here are thick with construction tools at certain times of year.

I don't go to pawnshops much, but I hit one down the street a while ago - they had plenty of well-used tools.  And they were all priced about the same as new tools.  What the dork, over?  Thanks for the suggestion, though, I'll check some other places.

[wingnutx]

A Rotozip is great for drywall.

Get it with the 90-degree attachment and you can cut metal with it, too.

Those things are amazing.

[BozemanMT]

Stihl for the trimmer, see the chainsaw thread.

For the sawzall, borrow one from a friend.  I've ahd one a really good one for 10 years and I bet i've only used it 3 times.  I mean, when you need it, you need it, but you just don't need one that often.
I might even rent one for a one day job.
It's just not a tool you need ALL the time and it's not really worth investing a 100 bucks in with limited funds.

[TarpleyG]

For the trimmer I recommend a Toro with the Expand-it capability.  I have one and have heads for a trimmer, edger, and hedge trimmer.  Cost for just the trimmer and motor were under $200 IIRC from Home Depot or Lowes.  Attachments are $50 to $100.  Of course, if your budget allows, buy a Stihl or Echo.

For a reciprocating saw I'd just buy the middle of the road from HD or lowes and the cost is not too bad and for no more than you'll use it it will probably last a long time.

Greg

[mfree]

Rotozips are great for drywall but JUST DRYWALL.

I've been trying to "dress" a panel I had to cut through in my bathroom. My house is ~50 years old. The "drywall" in there is probably 5/16" gypsum, standard stuff, topped with what appears to be 1/4" of cement, then paper, then plaster (?), then 3/32" of stretchey latex paint.  I was using what was in essence the rotozip, a heavy duty rotary tool with a spiral drywall bit.

I made it 2" and it stopped cold; there weren't any sharp edges left.

Whatever this stuff is it eats drywall blades like candy and dulled a "tuff" reciprocating blade in about 30 seconds, resists any attempt to cut it with a knife, and breaks off in chunks if you use a chisel and hammer.

Pardon my french... but it's all because the goshdamn morons who renovated the place in the 70's decided to wall over a closet that just happened to have the access port to the tub/shower plumbing.

Anyhow, if your drywall has "extra parts", forget the rotozip. If it's plain gypsum board through and through, that tool will make it the easiest (and dustiest) job in the world

[charby]

Stihl for the trimmer, you pay a few extra bucks but you'll have it for a long time. I have been thinking about getting one myself actually.

I have a DeWalt saw. I wanted a Milwaukee Sawzall and was going to buy one but my Dad gave me his DeWalt saw because he didn't need it anymore. I like it a lot and its a great saw but I still want a Milwaukee someday. I only buy Milwaukee blades for my saw though, everything else seems inferior to me.

Dry wall removal?  Just razor blade out the outline (all the way through) what you want out, start a hole in the center and pull out what you don't want. The dust in drywall will kill the motors in electric tools in a short time.

-C

[richyoung]

....supposedly, a "rescue" blade for recip saws is the hot tip.  Apparently it is what fire depts use to cut through cars and collapsed buiildings, and is cheaper than other specialty blades.  Might be the thing for your wall surgery.

[wingnutx]

I use the rotozip with an abrasive cutoff blade for wood/metal/brick. A pneumatic die-grinder is best, but I don't have an air compressor. A 10" electric grinder with a cutoff blade will cut damn near anything. I can cut I-beams if I have to.

Rescue/demolition blades on a sawzall work really well for a lot of things.

[lupinus]

home depot has gas trimmers on the cheap, I got mine for 80 bucks and unless you are mowing a hayfield or trying to cut down a weed that is months old and woody it does just fine and has never given me a problem....ever.  

As for the saw you can get cheapo reciprocating saws just about anywhere but be careful.  A cheap Black&Decker would be better then some no name thing that is going to break in a few hours of use.  B&D may not be the best contractor grade stuff, but they aren't designed to be and for around the house work just fine for most tasks.  As to a circular saw you could depending on how big the hole is, since it is a vent I am assuming it is all strait lines.  Fold the guard up and plunge cut, then you will just have a little bit on the corners to finish off with a hand saw or jig saw, only problem there might be the length of the cuts since to short and it wont work.  Actually all things depending you could just do a pilot hole and then do the whole thing with the jig saw and if you don't have one you can get a good jig saw for about the price of a crappy reciprocating saw.  Least you could last time I priced them, its been awhile.  If you got the cash though rotozips are awesome.

[Art Eatman]

Re Pawnshops:  Americans ain't worth a crap on bargaining.  The pawnshop guy loaned garage-sale money on the tools.  He'll take some percentage over that.  You can usually buy for some 30% to 40% of the price for a new item.  If he won't deal, walk away.

But make the cheap offer!

A buddy of mine has three perfectly good nail guns he got from a pawnshop.  Mainstream brand name, but I forget which.  About 20% of the new price.

Art

[Perd Hapley]

Thanks a lot for the tips, all.  Art, I thought Americans had a rep. for horse-trading.  Anyway, I'm not much on haggling because it's basically dishonest.  If I believe an item is worth ten dollars, I'll ask ten dollars.  Or, I'll ask for less if I think that's what will sell.  I don't assume people are liars, so if I see a price tag, I assume that's the price they expect.  Not much good in a Turkish bazaar, I suppose, but I'm just that honest and simple.

[Robert Sears]

I'll also recommend the Sthil for a trimmer. Something to think about if you're  in a house that has a good lawn and not al ot od sq footage would be the Sthil electric-- plenty powerful for trimming arounf trees and fenceline. Just be sure you use HEAVY cords--12 and 10 gauage.

Bob

[Art Eatman]

fistful, it's not a matter of honesty.  For many, all over the world, haggling is entertainment, an art form.  Heck, that was part of my enjoyment at having a table at a gunshow.

"Nothing is worth more than what somebody is willing to pay."  Never, ever, forget that.  A corollary is, "Cash talks, BS walks."  "Appraised value" of a house or a car is meaningless to any buyer.

The real deal on a sticker price or a price tag or an asking price is, "You can always come down, but you can't go up."

The only place where honesty enters in is that the item be as represented in justification for the price.

, Art

[Declaration Day]

Go to a professional lawnservice equipment store and buy a Redmax trimmer.  You can get a good one for about $325.  

That may seem like a lot, but if you're just using it at your home, it will be the last trimmer you'll ever buy.

It is also much more powerful than the "home depot" brands, as I call them.  Once you gain some skill with it, you'll save a lot of time.

[Guest]

Art I agree with on Pawnshops and the art of haggle.

Mom&Pop Lawn Repair and Tool Repair places are often wise to check out. Sometimes folks do not want to pay repair charges [ Read: gotta a case of "gotta have new one and trade in older one] and some good deals on refurbished.

Stihl trimmer just needed a minor repair, and lady bought it right. Person traded it in for a bigger one. Lawn service warranty is good for , I want to say 6 months. "This one is built better than the new model replacing it". Said the Owner.
Another fella no longer needed his big riding mower, traded it in on a smaller one and usedpush mower and used go cart for grandkids...

Old Used Book Stores have lots of "Do it yourself" books ...

Rental places are good for one time use on projects.

Now I do not know for sure, someone said after a bit these Rental Plases  sell these "right" and sometimes if checking with Mom&Pop repair place first and knowing what to look for, a good deal on tools that does not take much to fix if the need should come up.

Watch the paper for "Parting Out" or "Moving".  Divorce and not having to move a table saw or whatever cross country often works in your favor.

Yard Sales...especially out in the country can find Brace&Bits, Axes, table saws,  and other "good old tools" priced "right".

I paid $3 for  a hydraulic 2.5 ton jack. I used it to install a garbage disposal . [hey let the jack hold it up while I fiddle with the pipes]. I found a floor jack , used in a filling station for...ready...$35.  I just had to clean it up at the car wash and lube it. I gave it to a buddy doing restoration on cars and did mechanic work for folks in his home town. Retired, and just the local "piddle person" helping folks and making spending money.

[Tallpine]

you can make plunge cuts with a skilsaw and cut out just about any hole that you want (or at least I and most decent carpenters can do this )

set the depth of cut to a little more than the expected thickness of the floor/wall material

get one of those cheap "keyhole" handsaws to finish cutting out the corners where the circular blade won't quite cut all the way through - or if it's going to be covered by trim or carpet anyway, just bust it out with a hammer

and like somebody else said, for sheetrock just use a utility knife, but remember that you want to cut down the middle of the stud if you are going to replace the section with new sheetrock

[Perd Hapley]

but remember that you want to cut down the middle of the stud if you are going to replace the section with new sheetrock

I wish I was just patching.  I'm tearing out a whole room.


Thanks everybody.

[ilbob]

My theory in most cases is to buy lesser grade tools. You won't get the servcie out of them, but unless you use them every day, they will last a long time.

I bought a Ryobi set of 18V battery tools as a Christmas present to myself. Drill, recip saw, circ saw, and a coupon to send in for a free mitre saw. $99 at HD.

I will never wear it out.

I buy hand tools at harbour Freight. Life time warranty. Have yet to manage to break one. If I did, it would go back for a replacement.

In fact, as far as I can recall, the only tool I have ever broken was a Craftsmen self adjusting nut driver. the adjustment mechanism just fell apart. I brought it back (at least the pieces) to Sears. They no longer sell it but gave me a set of nut drivers as a replacement. Not as handy, but what are you going to do?

I broke the handle off a nut driver on a $2 nut driver set I bought at menards. Also lifetime warranty but I just tossed it. Not worth the 75 cents in gas it would have cost me to go get a replacement.

[AJ Dual]

I ascribe to that theroy. However, there is a downside.

From a purely monetary standpoint, the cheap tools make sense.

However, from a time standpoint, like when a cheap tool breaks, and you've got one hour of daylight left, you can get burned. Or if a tool fails doing a one-shot job, like when dealing with metal or mortar, usualy very permanantly attached to larger structures, or you've got exactly 2" of wire left before it's too short to make that new box, and you've got to pull a completely new line...

Now my rule of thumb is to get a cheap Harbor Freight/ChiCom tool when it's cheaper than a day's rental, or some weird thing I'll likely never need again.

If it survives, bonus! If not, it did the job I needed and was still cheaper...

[Mannlicher]

Get the string trimmer from Sears

Buy a Milwaukee Super SawsAll.  They are bullet proof.  I bought mine in 1993, used it to help build two commercial buildings, two houses, and a lot of other things. Still runs like brand new.

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

double you double you double you dot harbor freight dot com

nuff said