Time For Tool Upgrade

ron schenker

I'm looking to upgrade all of my power tools this year and I'm buying all second hand. EBAY, garage sales, friends, Buy and Sell newspaper, special event shows, etc. What do you recommend for this list:
1- 12" sliding compound miter saw
2- portable table saw
3- cordless drill
4- light duty framing nailer
5- brad nailer
6- light duty circular saw
7- recip. saw
8- hardwood floor nailer
I don't want to spend thousands of $$ on brand new Hilti's, DeW, Milwaukees, etc. I'm hoping to find some well maintained pieces at a fraction of the cost of new. I know I'm coming across as "cheap" but compared to ya'll, I'm just a little guy working my way up. Thanks for the advice

IHI

Naturally your going to get a bunch of different answers to this so guess I'll pipe in with my opinons too

1- 12" sliding compound miter saw-Dewalt or Ridgid, have 2 dewalt 12" compound miters for years with zero problems so I have to assume their slider is of the same quality and recently bought this Ridgid 12" compound miter and it seems smoother than the Dewalt but I dont have 8 or 9 yrs on it yet so I cant say if it's going to be as reliable as the Dewalts have been, but have to assume it will be. I worked in a cabinet company right out of high school and we had 1 dewalt 12" compound miter we used 3 shifts 5 days a week....4yrs later we replaced the trigger and multiple blades but it was still going strong.

2- portable table saw-Definately Dewalt 10" contractor, also have had 2 of these for many many years and both are still performing flawlessly, compact/light easy to store and set up, works great for rough work as well as intricate work-plenty of nuts for whatever you cut pending a good/proper blade for the substrate your working with

3- cordless drill-oddly enough I've gotten the best battery life and durability from this 18V Ryobi stuff, with Makita a close second. I've had 4 Dewalt drills and batt's only last about a yr before they give up the ghost. Plenty of power for anything we've ever done. Not as fancy as the Dewalt/Milwaukee/Ridgid but IMo the Ryobi stuff has been the best long term/low cost cordless stuff I've ever bought over the years not to mention the new tools they add to the 18V makes it easy to add tools at very affordable prices to make other work easier. Either way batteries are the downfall of any cordless since the tool itself will out live it. But I've dropped 2 of the 4 dewalts from ladders and 2 of 4 broke in the handle/trigger area...the ryobi's have taken the same fall and just keep on working with no signs of damages

4- light duty framing nailer- Bostich hands down-opt for the new Bostich with the prescion point interchangable tip so you get 2 nail guns in one, typical framing nailer AND a joist hanger/metal bracket nailer-no brainer at only $248 on sale/$289 regular cost new plus it has ALOT of driving force and a quick set depth nose adjustiment

5- brad nailer-I've had great luck with Bostich as well, but recently added a Porter Cable that shoots finer/smaller brads for fine finish work and have to say I absoluetly love it to death. Light weight, no misfires/jambs to date

6- light duty circular saw-term light duty so I recommend a Makita. Extremely light 7 1/4" with enough power to cut treated/glue lams and standard lumber. Porter cable ranks up there as well but they are a tad heavier, but of all the skill saws I've used the Porter Cable has been the smoothest I've ever used and I like the large base for truer cuts

7- recip. saw-had a dewalt for 9 years before trigger finally wore out, replaced with a newer larger dewalt that's easily twice the saw the former was power wise-makes demo alot faster. I used a Porter Cable Tigeer Saw my gradfather bought and this is also a very powerful saw/smooth as silk so in another 8 yrs if this latest dewalt breaks down I'll look into a porter cable

8- hardwood floor nailer- only used a bostich a few times that I borrwed from a buddy so nothing to compare it to, but it worked flawlessly for me so I have nothing bad to say about it.

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cjc21021

1- 12" compound miter saw-ridgid I want Bosch
2- portable table saw- Ridgid 10" or 10" Bosch
3- cordless drill- Dewalt 14.4
4- light duty framing nailer- Senco or Porter Cable
5- brad nailer- Porter Cables or Sencos
6- light duty circular saw- Miwaukee but I want the new direct connect from Bosch and the Bosch worm drive
7- recip. saw- Milwaukee super sawzall or Bosch Dont but Ridgids
8- hardwood not sure

I too am new and just starting but I feel tools are an important investment for our trade. Every time I have bought cheaper tools to save money I regreted it later once they broke or would not prefrom properly.

ApgarNJ

1. 12" compound, get the dewalt slider. great saw, zero problems.
2. table saw, i'd get the bosch 10" great saw, downside is it's heavy, but it expands for ripping larger pieces and that really comes in handy when doing builtins on jobsites etc. i had a makita table saw before that, and i hated it. not sure about the dewalt one, never used it.
3. cordless drill, either porter cable, or milwaukee, i try to stick with one company for cordless stuff so all the batteries work together, right now, i do have a mix of some different cordless though. i really like the power and torque of the new loktor from milwaukee 18v is the way to go, nothing smaller unless you are doing very lightweight work.
4. framing nailer, i have a coil framer, and i bought the hitachi nv83. i like it because you don't have to reload it after two sticks. the coils are huge. i'd go with either hitachi, or porter cable on this one.
5. brad nailer, go porter cable or paslode(pnumatic) i have the paslode cordless finish nailer also, and the framer, i love them both and use them all the time, not sure you'll find some of this stuff at garage sales, most home owners aren't going to have these kinds of tools.
6. circ saw. well, i have the dewalt 71/4 and it's been a great saw, never had any isssues with cords or triggers etc. i think if i had to replace it right now, i'd get the porter cable one, it's lighter and easier to use.
7. recip saw, i'd go super sawzall all the way. no other choice there.
i beat the heck out of mine and it never quits.
8. hardwood floor nailer, well, i just bought one on this job i'm on now, i've always rented from my lumber yard, but i had to put down 2000 sq ft of cherry and i figured it would be better to just buy my own, so it wasn't cheap, but i got the powernail brand. and it's great. good feel to it. check their website, a few diffent models to choose from, i got the one with the longer handle, but shorter stick for nails because you can start nailing the rows faster. this is the brand they rent at my local lumber yard and those models take a beating being rented and they stand up great, so i looked into them and that is one of the best out there. if you are just starting out though, and not doing alot of flooring, you might want to just rent this nailer for a while, like i did.
the one i got was new, and was 550 bucks. well worth it though.

when i first started, i bought some of the middle grade tools and after a year or so, i wanted to upgrade everything to what i have now. so if you have the money, go new for all of it, it's worth the investment, you just never know what you are getting when you buy used. especially from garage sales or other types of sales. pick the tools you'll use on a daily basis and buy the good ones. because if they are used all the time, it's worth the money to buy new and the best brands
the cheaper brands are only going to be just that, cheap and probably not the most reliable tools. and when time is money, break downs aren't what you want.

PrecisionFloors

1. Dewalt 718
2. Dewalt 744s best saw on the market by far
3. Panasonic or Bosch
4. Senco or Bostich
5. Bostich or Porter Cable
6. Bosch worm drive
7. Milwaukee Super
8. Bostich MIII FS best gun bar none and its super easy to get parts.

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