I just wanted to let you guys know that I haven’t disappeared off the face of the earth.  In the last few weeks I’ve been updating some content on the site, trying to make it better.  Soon I will have some reviews coming up here of some exciting new products.

The one I’m most excited about is the new Milwaukee brushless cordless drill, which they call their Fuel system.  So hopefully it won’t be too long before you get to read that.  I also recently got some cordless yard tools, so you should get some reviews on those too.

I just learned that Tim Ferriss’ new book is available for pre-order on Amazon.  It’s called The 4-Hour Chef and you can read his post about the book here.  You may be wondering why I’m posting about this book on a cordless tool blog.  Well, I’m a big fan of Tim Ferriss.  Even so I wouldn’t write about the book here if it was just a cookbook.  The book is really about how to learn any skill effectively.  Cooking is the vehicle Tim uses to teach learning skills.  I’m sure this book will be great just like Tim’s last two books.

I have come up with at least one idea for a DIY Christmas gift for my son.  As I previously mentioned I made my son a “cubby house” last year.  We had some cardboard tubes from carpet rolls and set them up for him to run trains down those tubes.  He loved it.  I guess he could do this anywhere and not just in a cubby house, but I do think it’s more fun for him to climb up in the cubby house and look out the porthole, then run his train down the tube.  At least that’s the way I see it and I need to justify building that cubby house.

That gave me the idea to install some transparent tubes in the house.  Ideally these would twist and turn in all sorts of cool patterns, entering on one level and exiting on another.  I reality, I’m not sure what material is going to allow me to accomplish that.  I’m figuring I can get transparent rigid pipe, which won’t allow the types of spirals and turns I want.  I know I can get a flexible transparent tube from Lowe’s.  The problem with the tubing I know about is I don’t think the bottom will be uniform enough to allow a toy car or train to run well over it.  If the toys get stuck in the tubing that will just be annoying.  Although, perhaps if the tubing is flexible enough, I could flatten out the bottom by attaching it to a strip of wood?

As you can tell, this project is still in the brainstorming phase.  There’s also the problem of how to attach the tubes/pipes to the cubby house.  Right now I’m thinking clamps will be the way to go.

I’m still open to suggestions, so post ‘em below.

Saws are an indispensable tool for light construction.  There’s no doubt about that.  This site is about cordless drills, namely finding the best cordless drill.  But I have to admit that choice seems easy compared to deciding which saw to take with you to a job.

When selecting a drill you usually don’t have to obsess over which type of drill you’re going to take.  That’s usually clear.  But with saws you first have to decide on a circular, table or miter saw, then electric or cordless, then which specific model you want.  We’ve had cordless circular saws for quite a while now, but I think it’s only recently that batteries have gotten good enough to make them a viable choice for regular use.

Of course, the main question is portability versus versatility.  The electric vs. battery question is straight forward.  How much power do you need?  Is there electricity at the job site.  With today’s batteries there are several drills out that will cut 2×4′s easily.  So you can leave the extension cord behind.  Keep in mind that if you have a lot of cutting to do, you’ll probably need to chard the batteries.  But you can do this with a power inverter in your truck instead of having to take generator along.

As for versatility.  I’ve seen people that are pretty handy with a circular saw.  For me, if I need a cut that’s “right on” I’d rather have a table saw.  They are much bulkier, but they’re more exact no matter who you are.  And then there’s the miter saw.  They’re good at cutting any kind of angle you can imagine.  I’ve never seen anyone imitate a miter saw with a circular saw.  If you have, I’d like to hear about it.  Hopefully you know what you’re getting into before you head out to the job site.  Although I’m sure there are some stories out there of people going to help someone with a job that a circular saw could easily handle and then they’re asked to do trim.  But apart from that, you probably know if you need a miter saw.  And there are cordless miter saws now.

I’m just trying to get the discussion started here.  Mostly I’m wondering what you guys take with you when you don’t know what you’re getting to.  And do you have any tips for handling situations you’re not exactly prepare for.  Tell us in the comments.

Also, you can read more about the different types of circular saws at the Wikipedia page for them.

It’s getting close to that time of year, the best time of the year , and I’ve started to think about what I can make my son for Christmas.  Last year I made him a “cubby house.”  It’s 3 levels, made of plywood, and mostly covered in carpet.  He used it some last year, but it’s the kind of thing you use in the winter when you can’t go outside.  We’ll see how much he uses it this winter.

I have mixed feelings about the project.  It takes up a lot of room in our basement and I felt like he didn’t use it that much.  On the other hand, we’ve already had some good times in it and I think there are more good times to come.  And I’m proud that I made it for him.

So what to make this year?  Someone showed me this cool video of an 8x8x8 LED cube.  That’s 512 LEDs hooked up to a controller that runs various programs to switch the LEDs on and off.  Check out the video at the link.  It’s much cooler than it sounds in text.  But still, I’m not sure how much use my 3 year old would get out of it.  I’ve thought about some modifications to make it interactive.  Perhaps he could push a button and it would show a character he likes and play an audio clip from that character.

I want it to be something he has fun with as well as inspires him.  Anyone have any ideas?