Popular Woodworking 2009-08 № 177, страница 25
Tool Test 3 '/s'-long striking surface. Despite its small size, the mallet has a lot of punch tha nks to the aery 1 ic-i nfused head. Other details: The turned handle is African blackwood, and it is secured to the head by a stainless steel tenon-there'sanice brass bead between the head and handle, which is for show. Despite the plastic nature of the mallet, you would be hard-pressed to sense that the head was anything but a well-finished and dense wood. It does not Feel artificial at all. Of course, when you put the loo! to work, it's immediately obvious that the tool is different - it refuses todem, unlike 01 her wooden-faced mallets 1 have used. The mallet is $80. Dave Jeske of Blue Spruce said he is currently designings square-headed mallet using the same technology- so soon everyone should be happy. —CS Blue Spruce Mallet Blue Spruce Toolworks ■ bluesprucetoolworks.com Street price ■ $60 For more information, go 10 pwtfeeinfo.com. Blue Spruce Mallets Are Shockingly Durable Until November 2008,1 always preferred a square-headed mallet for driving chisels. On that day (it was a Sunday) 1 picked up a Blue Spruce Toolworks mallet and was instantly converted. The revelation was not just that thismal-let is round-it's that it's remarkably sound. Its curly maple head has been infused with acrylicunder vacuum pressure. Asa result, t he head is more durable than any other wooden mallet I've ever used. Since 1 purchased this mallet, 1 have used it to chop out more than 100 dovetails and dozens of mortises. The mallet still looks brand new. After showing it around to the other editors, two of them also bought mallet s (one with a red head and one i n blue - the vacuum processallows them to add dye). Senior Editor Glen D. Hueyhasalsobeen givinghis Blue Spruce mallet a workout. The only blemish on his mallet is the result of it striking the metal hoop on the top of a chisel's handle. The mallet weighs 1 lb. and is 8%" long overall. The head is2iA" in diameter with a Skil's New 18-Volt Lithium-ion Drill/Driver Skil's new drill/driver (2895LI-02) is the core of a new collection or 18-volt, Lithium-ion powered toolsand is featured ina number of combination packages. There are many improvements over the Skil drill (2815-02) we tested in our group review in April 2008 (issue #168). The keyless chuck size has been bumped up from -Va" to for one. And the ease of which the batteryattaches to thedrill andcharger is also improved. The drill/driver features an all-metal geartrain and a two-speed gearbox - one high-torque setting (0/450 rpm) and asec-ond h igh-speed setting that pushes the speed up to 1,400 rpm - to tackle most required tasks. Combined with a 20 + 1 clutch setting anda three-position slide switch, this drill/ driver should do a 11 the work needed around the home or on the jobsite with ease. So how does the drill operate? We returned to our group review test methods to find out. Wesetupto drill 1" holestn lV+" poplar. Afterthe first couple holes were complete, the drill began to shut down during use. Aquick release of the trigger would get things going again- only toexperience the same happenstance wilheach hole. Finally the tool stopped a [together and the flashing-light readout on t he bat tery i nd icated t hi ngs were too hot to operate After the bat tery cooled toapointthat the testing could proceed, the lights indicated less than 10 percent of the total power was left in the battery's charge. Four additional holes were drilled before the flashingindica-torlightsonceagainappeared In the three attempts tocomplete the testing cycle (where we drew the I ine and stoppedt he test) a total of 12'/2 holes were drilled. It's safe to say Lhat while this drill has newe r ba ttery technology a nd is affordable, it'sa tool for homeowners to use around the house and not the drill/driver for professional use - unless it's relegated to the role of backup. FW — GH SKIL. 077-754-5999 or skiltools.com Street price: ■ Drill/driver with one battery ■ $109 ■ Drill/driver with two batteries ■ si 49 ■ Replacement battery* $69 For more imommicn go 10 pwtreeinfo.com- 30 m Popular Wood working August 2009 |
