The Smart Home Handyman

Probably one of the most contentious tool oriented discussions I see have to do with which tool brands the "Pro's" use. Here is what's got my attention the most, what exactly is a "Pro" and who gets to define it?  For most of history, being a "professional" is simply the status of doing a certain task or set of tasks as a paid job.  That's it.  If you get paid to do something,  you're a pro.  If you don't get paid to fo it, you're an amateur.  Technically speaking,  being a professional doesn't automatically equate to being particularly good at something.   We like to think so.  Hell, we certainly hope the person we're paying to do some kind of work for us knows what they are doing and is actually good at it. Reality is though, being a paid professional is no guarantee of knowledge or skill.  We have all experienced the disappointment of a paid professional doing a bad job. So, the default definition of "Pro" has n

Sometimes I'm late to the party when it comes to tool stuff.  I know, how can any self respecting tool addict be out of the loop so long.  It happens.  🤦 The reason I post this is because I FINALLY put 2 and 2 together and realized where my Worx Switchdriver fits in.  It's in the installation drill/driver category.  Milwaukee and DeWalt have installation drill/drivers with interchangeable chucks.  Those are pretty cool.  But, my Worx Switchdriver has dual rotating chucks that while not as versatile as the others, still has been very useful to me. Also, in light of where does this tool get used, I do use it almost entirely in installing and mounting furniture, shelves, cabinets, and other similar things.   Whether it's going from drill to driver when mounting items or swapping between screw driver bits and nut drivers while assembling items, it has found its niche in those areas in my day to day toolbox.  I use my cordless hammer drill fo

Q: What is the weakest part of a flatpack item? A: The joints.  The completely assembled item might be stronger than you realize but that is in terms of vertical force or force placed on it from the top down.   Force applied from the sides or at diagonal angles to the item put more force on the joints than they can resist.  This is why you NEVER drag a piece of flatpack furniture.  Pick it up or put it on wheels to move it. Q: Is flatpack hardware actually any good? A: We'll focus on the specialty hardware first to answer this.  Things such as camlocks and flanged quicklok connectors. The plastic connectors can break pretty easily during install if done incorrectly. Their weakest point though is the holes they connect to in engineered wood materials.  Composite wood at contact points especially can break apart and chip away easily if too much pressure is put on them.  Once installed correctly and solid connections are made, they are actually really stable. The composite wood is

I'm a professional handyman.   I've done handyman work as a side gig for the last 30 years while being a local truck driver and delivery person. When I couldn't do the truck driver/delivery anymore,  I went full time handyman.   I enjoy making things happen and getting things done.  But one thing I particularly like to do is help people learn how to do things for themselves. The first thing anyone needs to do is have the right attitude.  You have to believe in yourself.   You have to think that you can do this task or project and you can do it the way it should be done. You don't have to be a "Pro" to do a great job.  It takes knowledge,  practice, and skill.  Some talent can help but it can't replace experience.   When people think something can only be done by a "Pro" or done "right" by a Pro, that's defeatist thinking and it's incorrect.  The only thing a Pro has that you don't is that they get paid to learn and practice

As a local handyman,  I work on projects where it's not uncommon that I'm following up on work someone else did before I got there.  A lot of times, I'm there because of work someone else for before I got there. I can't tell you how many times I've gone into garages and basements with poured concrete or concrete block walls and have to work on handrails, shelves, anchor straps and posts, etc... that have concrete screws used in them and they aren't installed right. Here's a few tips on putting in concrete screw anchors.  First: Is it the right hardware.  Should it be a concrete anchor screw or a plastic concrete anchor with a different type of screw?  Maybe it should be neither of those and should be using a sleeve or wedge anchor instead.  Perhaps a powder activated fastener would be the best choice. There's a lot of different vectors that need to be taken into consideration when fastening into concrete.  For the sake of this discussion,  we

You've heard me go on about my pet peeve about "brand fanboys".  Is that the same as having a brand loyalty?  No, but it's not hard to go from brand loyalty to brand fanboy.  Especially if someone is the hyper competitive type to begin with. But as I was watching a VCG YouTube video recently,  Vince was talking about why "pros" depend on brand loyalty to begin with.   I couldn't help but to agree with his point. When you are self employed, an owner or employee of a busy business, you don't always have time to rely on taking the time to make an in-depth analysis of a given tool to see if it's what you or your employees can use. Brand loyalty allows you to use past experience and general trust to say if blank brand puts it out, it's for you.  This is a lot of what is behind Craftsman, Bosch,  Milwaukee,  etc...  these are all brands with an established brand loyalty base due to their customers general past experiences.  These become knee-jerk

From IKEA to Office Depot and beyond, flatpack furniture is really popular.   When it's assembled the right way, it might surprise you how durable and attractive your furniture can be. The problem is that most people want to rush.  Get it done fast and do the least amount of work necessary.  This leads to furniture that gets scraped, scratched, falls apart and breaks easily. My number one piece of advice is not to rush it.  It takes time to properly unpack, sort pieces, and actually assemble in a way that doesn't damage the pieces or the hardware as you go along.   DO NOT RUSH!  Don't lollygag, especially if your building for someone else.  But do everyone a favor and slow down enough to do it right. Next, don't ignore the directions.   There are sometimes pieces in which the only difference between multiples is the placement of a single hole.  More than one project has gone off the rails because attention to the directions was not gi

I love this tool.  This is far and away one of the most used tools I have.  Of course, given that 50 to 60 percent of my work is furniture and outdoors items assembly,  the number of screws and bolts I have to turn is astronomical.  I did a not-so-brief video introduction chat on it awhile back.  You can see that here. This tool alone has kept me from dying of carpal tunnel.  It has the 3 torque level settings.  Low, Medium, and High.  Don't get excited.  "High" torque means you can put a one inch wood screw into a piece of wood in a pilot hole without too much trouble.  This is NOT a drill/driver or impact driver by ANY stretch of the imagination.  It has in my opinion, as someone who uses it day in and day out for hours at a stretch, a good battery life.  Great even.  If you stay in torque level 1 or mix it up with level 2 from time to time, you'll have it last a good long while.  By that I mean 4 hours nearly constantly.   That's my use

Tools, materials, support, and hardware.  These make up the handyman's quartet.   Tools ; you don't get too much accomplished if you don't have good tools.  They gave to be reliable, durable, capable, and just as importantly,  profitable.   A handyman's tools not only have to work well enough to do the jobs needing done so that they pay for themselves, they have to be durable enough to make a living from having them. Materials ; From dimensional lumber, and drywall, to caulk and concrete.  The things we use to make and fix things have to stand up to the task.  The handyman has to select the materials that best fit the needs and interests of the customers.   Support ;  Probably the least appreciated  or planned for these are the things that the handyman uses to get the jobs done without breaking themself and more often than not, by themself.   It's our second or third pair of hands.  Our lift helpers and our back helpers.  Portable sawhorses, worktable, stands, ladde

As you've read recently,  I just picked up some Craftsman V20 cordless tools.  One of them, the circular saw,  is part of their brand new "RP" branding lineup.  "RP"  they say, stands for Runtime + Performance. As you also may know, I'm very invested in the Worx "Nitro" brushless cordless tools lineup along with their premium "Powershare Pro" batteries.  Why mention Worx?  Because I think both companies are doing basically the same thing at the same time. Though Worx got a headstart, they're having brushless tools, and batteries specifically designed to maximize runtime of said brushless motors in Worx's case,  rebranded to appeal to the hard-core or "power" tool users. These "power" users are people who work with these kinds of tools every day on the job.   They need tools that are powerful,  durable, usable, and dependable.   In Worx case, as a newer power tool company  relative to most known in t

So here I am again, talking about a tool.  The Craftsman V20 RP brushless circular saw to be specific.  Before I go any further...  WTH does RP stand for?  Well, I found out.  It stands for "Runtime + Performance".  It seems that the RP line is Craftsman's new high performance line for pros. I just picked it up on March 1st.  Got the free* $99 valued starter pack with a 4 amp hour battery and a 12/20 volt battery charger. As usual,  this isn't an "unboxing" post.  Bleh! 😖  It is my first impressions of the tool AFTER having gotten it out of the box and the obligatory "play time" session  is over.  I will be doing a more "put it to work" review video later however. To begin, what are *my* uses and expectations of a brushless battery powered circular saw? First, I need a saw like this that can cut 2 by dimenal lumber up to 2x12x12.  It needs to be able to cross-cut and rip those boards without a struggle

Prices on 1/2" thick 4x8 plywood sheets are going for about $53.00 currently.  The equivalent size particle board sheet is going for about $24.00 per sheet or roughly half the price. But I mean, it's particle board, what are you going to build with that?  A sub-floor?  What does it have going for it?   Well, particle board has some benefits.  It's usually lighter than plywood.  It's surface is usually smoother than plywood.  It's considered to be more environmentally friendly than plywood because it's recycled wood chips glued and compressed together.  Basically they're recycled wood sheets.  Last but not least, it costs much less than plywood. Obviously, particle board has some detractors also.  It's not as strong as plywood.  It's not as durable as plywood.  It's not hard to damage particle board.  It swells if it gets wet.  And oh yeah, if it burns, it's toxic.  So much for eco friendly. So why consider building wi

My new Craftsman V20 3/8 inch, powered, cordless ratchet arrived today, a la Amazon Prime.   Next day delivered, thank you very much.   This isn't an "unboxing" post.  I hate those things.  It's an announcement for the upcoming tool review video I'll post on my DIYGuy Video Shop Class on YouTube.  Having said that, I'll tell you now that I don't review tools the same way most others do.  No sirree Bob. I do tool reviews based on the question,  "Can this tool do the things 'I need it to do and how well if it does?" I can't tell you if it's a tool YOU should buy or use because I don't know anything  about how you might use it.  I'm a handyman that seems to do more furniture and shed assembly than other projects lately.   In the case of this ratchet, I don't need a "Hulk Smash" powerhouse of a tool.  I need a glorified nut-runner to be honest.  I need yo get into the tiny spaces t