Tools I used Building the Cedar Wedding Arbor
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This article is a rundown of all of the tools I used in building the Cedar Wedding Arbor build. Yyou can find the video below or the free plans in the shop. If you haven’t already, please consider supporting the #Teamtrees collaboration. The plans for this project are free, and I am hoping you could generously donate at teamtrees.org to help us plant 20M trees by 2020.
M18 FUEL 18-Volt Lithium-Ion 10 in. Sliding Miter Saw
I had a bunch of cedar to cut on this project. ~550 linear feet of it to be exact. I wanted to put one of the new cordless miter saws I had in for review to the test on this project. Let’s see what this Milwaukee has to offer.
Is a cord still necessary for a Miter saw? It still kinda depends but I would say no. Battery tech has gotten so good! With 18v brushless motors getting so good as proven by my “Best Cordless Circular Saw Video of All Time” video, cords might be a thing of the past.
The Milwaukee brushless cordless 10” compound miter saw has a ton precise detents, a shadow line cut indicator, and a pretty nifty slide locking mechanism. The new beastly 18v brushless motors that only Milwaukee has right now (they just did a motor redesign), nobody else can touch their power with less than 36 volts. The only shortcomings on this saw are that the slide mechanism needs somewhere to go. You can’t use the slide against a wall, and the dust collection is amongst the worst I have used.
M12 FUEL Brushless Stubby 3/8 in. Impact Wrench
The directions on the side of the 6” lagbolts I used for this build, it specified an 18 volt or higher cordless impact driver. “Bah” I said…who reads directions? I drove all 40 of the 6” bolts on this project using the tiny little M12 Fuel Stuppy impact wrench.
On a fresh battery the power was more than enough. In fact when installing some more lag bolts to install my pull up bar for #soberoctober I snapped the head right of a ½” zinc lag. This lightweight package would be great for changing wheels for a weekend warrior pit crew taking a track day. You could also use it for the millions of repairs involved in owning a side by side. The only real place this will let you down is battery life. With all of the 3ah+ battery kits available for 18v+ systems 2ah M12 batteries are a little disappointing.
Lucky you can get them in up to 6ah now.
M12 FUEL SURGE 1/4 in. Impact Driver
Of the tools that I have reviewed this quarter, this is the only one going permanently on my tool-wall-of-fame. I used the M12 FUEL SURGE on both the bunk-bed build and the Arbor this month. This thing is a BEAST. All of the power of an 18v impact driver, and it is more compact and even quieter than my all-time favorite Impact Driver, the 18v Ridgid StealthForce Impact driver.
But who to dethrone?
Milwaukee Rafter Square
Not much to say about this one. Rafter squares are sort of like the offensive line of carpenters tools. If you are talking about them, something went terribly wrong. These lightweight aluminum squares have precise machining and measurements. They are marked for all of the typical rafter square hacks, and they are very well made. On top of all of this the price is O-SO right. Aluminum is a soft metal, this might put off some people, but the nice thing is that is can be machined with woodworking tools. If it ever comes out of square and needs to be righted.
Laguna 18BX 18” 220v 3HP Bandsaw
My baby…I mean she’s bigger than me, but this is my favorite new tool in the workshop. We’re still working all the ins and outs of aligning the blade just-so and figuring out how she likes the tension on her blades. She needs to get dust collection hooked up to this BEHEMOTH. You might see me build a whole project using only this bandsaw. It’s that good.
I finally understand why some people prefer their bandsaw to their table saw. I just ordered the futuristic-looking robot arm light and mobile base for this 400-pound monster. Now all I need is a few motors and some servos and big BX-ey can follow me around the shop to help out.
There were a few other tools I used in this build but I have already mentioned those in other articles. Let me know if you have any other questions. If you like these tool round-ups let me know in the comments. I will try to feature these on future projects to show you the tools I use.
KEEP YOUR TOOLS SHARP, AND KEEP YOUR MIND SHARPER
RICK
I acknowledge that The Home Depot is partnering with me to participate in the promotional program described above (the “Program”). As a part of the Program, I am receiving compensation in the form of products and services, for the purpose of promoting The Home Depot. All expressed opinions and experiences are my own words. My post complies with the Word Of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) Ethics Code and applicable Federal Trade Commission guidelines.
