A good staple gun is worth its weight in gold for both home redecorating projects and construction jobs. These handy tools can make quick work of laying pad or carpet, installing insulation, tacking cable, making window treatments, reupholstering furniture and …

The most popular types of electric wood sanders for do-it-yourselfers and serious hobbyists are belt, random orbit and detail. Belt sanders cover large, flat areas in a hurry, but unless you’re experienced, it’s best to stick with a 3-by-21-inch model. …

Fences may make good neighbors, but proud homeowners have long considered a neatly trimmed hedge to be a more graceful boundary marker. Whether your hedge is grown from naturally compact boxwood or more rambunctious privet, you need a trimmer to …

Oak tree limbing its way onto your patio? Reach up with your bow saw and remove the offending branch. Coffee table too wobbly? Shave a half-inch off the lengthy leg with a shortcut saw. Got an old pipe sticking out …

Are you ready for some serious gardening? Then perhaps it’s time for your own power tiller. Tillers can break new ground, prepare seedbeds, cultivate weeds, blend in compost and turn under dead crops at the end of the growing season. …

Imagine a hack saw with a street-tough disposition. A reciprocating saw is an in-line jigsaw’s bigger, tougher brother — a heavyweight mean machine with lots of power and a voracious appetite for wood, pipe, PVC, particle board, nails, wire, shingles, …

As the popularity of cordless drills has skyrocketed, manufacturers have raced to produce more and more-powerful cordless drill/drivers, with 12-, 14.4- and even 18-volt models becoming commonplace. Now, even 24-volt monsters are appearing on store shelves. Enough’s Enough Just because there are …

Today’s jigsaws pack performance and convenience. For $100, you can buy a jigsaw that will zip through plywood, laminate, even 2xs; cut a bevel; scroll a fanciful piece of gingerbread, or make the sink cut in a countertop without a …

Whether you’re cutting framing stock or ripping sheets of plywood (or MDF), few building tools are more useful than the versatile and increasingly lightweight circular saw. Plus, there’s something about their distinctive whine as these 10-pound powerhouses slice through a …

This power pusher is America’s most-wanted — tool, that is. Cordless drills have vaulted to the top of do-it-yourselfers’ and professionals’ short list of must-have tools. A cordless drill doesn’t pack the punch of similarly priced corded models, but for …