Great Guy Gifts: Buy Bosch & Makita Power Tools Online

Some of my girlfriends have trouble thinking of what to buy for their special fella for Christmas. I have always been very lucky that way, because I used to be able to pick up the latest kitchen gadget and that would do perfectly for my son. Lately however, he has become interested in home improvements and, of course, in the wonderful world of power tools. This year, in addition to tracking down a Magic Bullet, I'm looking for a good deal in a Bosch or Makita table saw.

Two of the most popular brands of power tools, Bosch and Makita, are each equally well-known for quality and craftsmanship. I have a Makita cordless driver that I wouldn't trade for the world, but I am just as pleased with my Bosch rechargeable drill set. 

I purchased the Makita while I was working in theater and it proved very handy on "strike night", when the set is "struck", or taken down on the last night of a production. The Bosch cordless drill was intended as a gift. I ended up keeping it when the relationship went south. Though the relationship was a bust, the drill is still in excellent working order.

My Makita turned out to be one of the best investments I'd ever made. An adjustable wrench was standard issue for anyone who ever adjusted a lighting instrument, but the cordless drill was a true miracle tool. No more tripping over cords - just hours of happy, cordless screw removal (ha - bet you thought I was going to say "screwing" ).

The Bosch cordless drill is quite a marvel. The rechargeable batteries are easy to use, and, as long as I keep one in the charger, with two more ready to go, I can get through the heaviest day with few problems.

That seems to be the real trick with cordless tools - having enough spare batteries charged up and ready to go.

I was watching one of our favorite home renovation gurus recently, marveling at how effortlessly the contractors, with their cordless tools, rose to every occasion. At the end of that particular episode, the producers included some "out-takes", in which we were treated to a series of mishaps with the cordless tools.

In first brief clip, the contractor was handed a drill to complete the required action - the drill refused to function. The contractor made a clever quip, and a new drill was immediately supplied.

That drill, too, refused to function, and a third was thrust into his hand as the offending second drill was removed. As the contractor raised the new drill to complete the action, the rechargeable battery promptly fell out.

The contractor was not pleased.

Fortunately, there was a line of batteries on chargers in another room, normally out of the cameras eye, waiting for some piece of equipment to run out of juice .

When I grow up I want that many batteries.

Bosch has an amazing line of tools, including some pretty awesome saws and sanders.

We have been using a reciprocating saw for a number of jobs for which it probably wasn't designed, but the saw performed extremely well.

A few of the trees in the side yard had shot up in height over the last few years, and were now overhanging the eaves, leaving a lot of rubbish in the eaves troughs every fall when the trees shed their leaves.

The saw blade went through those branches like the proverbial "knife through butter". It was also most effective at cutting off all the smaller branches, and then sectioning up the limbs into shorter lengths to fit in the truck box.

Yard clean-up was not a breeze, as some commercials suggest, but it was certainly made easier by that saw.

Next summer, we will be tearing down the deck and replacing it with a brand new structure, complete with a ramp and flower pot holders.

In preparation, my son is stockpiling tools against "the season of the build", as we have now dubbed next summer.

He is currently checking out the specs on different table saws, miter saws, and power nailers. As well, we are poring over deck plans and ramp "how-to"s.

It will be quite a challenge to build the ramp, instead of stairs. The ramp will be built to spec as "wheelchair accessible", against future possible need. To maintain the necessary grade, the ramp will most likely wrap around three sides of the deck.

Though buying kitchen tools and supplies may have been more up my alley in the past, I am fast picking up "tool-speak ", and learning to understand the comparative merits of each implement from the abbreviations in the catalog specifications.

Those strange hieroglyphic-like entries once used to leave me cold. Now these stats are hot dinner-table topics. It all reminds me a bit of "Tool Time"...

© 2010, Text by Elle Fredine, All rights reserved