New Take On An Old Favorite

Nothing says summertime better than a cold glass of lemonade on a hot day while lounging in an Adirondack chair. With a little inspiration from Fine Woodworking magazine, I've decided to try my hand at this old favorite. The classic lines have literally been turned on their side. The curved arms provide an excellent opportunity to work with bending wood again. What started out as an idea for a Mother's Day gift to my wife, has already turned into an order from a regular customer to make 2 along with matching ottomans.

While this is the inspiration piece, I plan on putting my own mark on the design.

Stay tuned. I'm really looking forward to this project. I will be picking up the materials in a couple days.

Review- Rigid Fuego 18v Impact Driver

Recently I decided that I deserved to buy myself a new tool. Now was my opportunity to get one of those coveted Impact Drivers everyone is talking about. So I consult my army of friends to give me advice on which one they think is the best and why. As most people, most of my friends are brand loyalists and spout their favorite tool brand past their lips before their brain could even process the question as proven by the responses to my follow up question, "why?".

Some said "Huh?" while others repeated some canned responses with no actual data to back it up. "Everyone knows DeWalt is the best" somehow I missed that day when everyone was told who the best was, so without hesitation I went off in search of my own answers, armed with some opinions and some recommendations from professionals who work with these tools on a daily basis.

First off you will always give yourself the best advice when it comes to picking out something for you to use. Who else knows you better than yourself anyway? So I refer to my memory on the times I have used friends tools, I have used Makita before. The XLT professional and the Compact and I was impressed by both. I especially liked the configuration of the LED on the Makita being located just below the bit. It came on when you lightly touched the trigger without activating the motor and it stayed lit for a few seconds giving you time to align the tool, that feature is awesome! But I was not sold just yet, so I took a look at some of the top brands.

So after weighing all the pros and Cons I decided to go with the Ridgid, I was swayed by the Lifetime Guarantee on both the tool and the battery. I also like it tied with Milwaukee for the most torque and tied with Makita's XLT with battery life . I already have an 18v Lithium Drill and two 1.5 Ah Li Batteries and 1 3.0 Ah Li battery. The best deal I was able to find was through Amazon for $60, new with free 2 day shipping.

It arrived and I had a 5" Lag screw waiting to be driven into a 6"X12" chunk of wood with no pilot hole. I removed it from the shipping box with my box cutter making sure that through my excitement I did not remove any fingers in the process. There is was in its Orange pumpkiny goodness waiting to be connected to my 3.0Ah Li-Ion battery that was waiting fully charged for this day. Now was the time, would it accomplish this goal with the lack luster mediocrity of a tool from Harbor Freight? or would it function like a real tool, I put in the hex head and inserted the Lag Screw and pressed it up to the board. I pulled the trigger and pressed slightly... I almost peed myself. The Lag drove home like a drywall screw into balsa with a pilot hole. I pulled it out just as fast and drove it in again. Yep same result.

Now for more testing, lets pull screws from a plastic toy and see if I can put them back in without stripping the plastic, this test showed me how sensitive the trigger was an how intuitive the tool works. I have never been so happy with any tool I have bought and I am sure my other drivers are jealous, I still use my 18V Drill but just for drilling now, and my 12v Li-Ion Drill that I got just for Driving in screws I will give to my 5 y/o Daughter for her tool collection.

In a nutshell, the Ridgid Fuego 18v Impact Driver Is top notch and for its price tag of around $300, if you buy the charger and two 3.0 Ah batteries, is well worth the price. And if you already own a Ridgid 18V tool the $60 price tag can't be beat even if you have to pay for shipping. With its 1400 inch lbs of torque it far out performs the competition except for Milwaukee, and the life time warranty on both tool and batteries pushes this tool far into first place in my eyes. I recommend you try one out, you won't be disappointed.