Tools for the New Year

Upcoming M12 Circular Saw - Milwaukee

With the new year comes new tools, gear, and projects to think about. Here's the first of three posts on what I'm planning for 2015.

Read on to see the tools I'm most excited for this year.

Milwaukee M12 Fuel Circular Saw

I’ve been itching for Milwaukee to release a small circular saw ever since I bought my first M12 tool about two years ago. Since that time, I’ve been constantly checking the Tool Guyd blog, my main source of new tool news, for any hints from Milwaukee. Well, they’re finally release one in February 2015! This will be a brushless model that’s touted to be comparable to competitors’ 18 volt saws. Perhaps best of all, it has the cutting capacity to go through 2x material in one pass. It sounds like they’ve been taking their time to ensure this is an amazing tool. Needless to say, I’m excited! Link to product page.

Milwaukee M12 Vacuum

A cordless vacuum doesn’t sound all that exciting, does it? Well, having owned a Black and Decker 18 volt vac for a couple years now, I can say that they’re very useful tools. Unfortunately, my model has an internal battery that I believe is the older Ni-Cd technology. The runtime seems to be only about 10-15 min and then I’m searching for the charging cord. This upcoming Milwaukee model should give me the benefit of more power and swappable batteries. Link to product page.

Knipex Pliers Wrench

Is it a pair of pliers? Is it a wrench? Well, it’s both. This one has been on my wishlist for a while now and I think the only thing stopping me from buying one is the price. Sure, at $50 it’s a bit spendy, but plenty of reviews out there claim it’s worth every penny. What sets it apart from some similar pliers is the 10x leverage coupled with parallel jaws, thus the ability to function well as a wrench in addition to pliers. I'm hoping these will replace two tools in my tool bag. Link to product page.

Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpmaker

Sharpening knives is an art that seems to take a lot of patience to master - not to mention money. There are tons of sharpening systems out there that claim to do away with various spendy sharpening stones while lowering the skill requirement. This certainly sounds appealing, but many of those gadgets are most likely gimmicks; however, the Spyderco Sharpmaker is well-regarded in the knife enthusiast community and looks to be a winner. I can see a lot of benefit from having something like this for my EDC / tool knives as well as kitchen knives. Link to product page.

Some Kind of Socket Set

Now I’ll be the first to admit that mechanical projects are not my strongpoint. Granted, over the last few years I’ve learned a lot about cars and I can do some pretty basic maintenance and repairs; however, I don’t think of myself as very mechanically inclined. Perhaps as a result, I don’t have much in terms of a socket set. I’m halfway keeping an eye out for a small set that I could store in my car if I ever needed to fix something on the road. This is something everyone should have, even if it’s only used for looking like you’re at least trying to fix the problem as the tow truck is on its way.

Well, that's it in terms of tools I'm seeking out in 2015. What are you interested in buying this year?