Time for another TBE review, and its two leading wood chisel brands going head to head on an oak frame.

 Our competitors are the Irwin Marples facing off against the Stanley Fat Max. Both chisel sets were to be employed on the construction of a traditional English green oak frame.

 Admittedly this was a tough test for the chisels, but perfect as the ultimate test of durability and toughness.  The best choice for timber framing would be register chisels, perhaps like those made by companies like Robert Sorby but at a starting price of £50 each (more than twice the cost of our chisels) most people will not be using these for the occasional green oak job. This was not a staged test, the chisels were used all day everyday in site conditions, which includes getting dropped on the floor, used to open paint tins (Nooooo!) and butter the bread for lunch.

 We had a 50mm, 38mm 32mm and 25mm Marples  and a 32mm and 25mm Stanley Fat Max. Both brands are bevel-edge chisels, the Stanley has a through tang design whereas the Marples has a plastic handled moulded around the tang. The Marples plastic handle is very comfortable and lightweight to use, whereas the Fat Max has added some rubber for extra comfort and added a steel end cap to the handle. This was of immediate advantage as the handle of the 50mm Marples was soon shattered when one of our carpenters got carried away and tried to use brute force. Although the chisel was mis-used, the handle was definitely not as tough as the Fat Max. In use the Marples were my personal favourite as they felt better in the hand, and the longer blade was more useful for finishing the sides of joints. For me, the shorter blade of the Fat Max was a bit limiting when used on 8” wide oak beams.

 Both chisels maintained their sharpness well but we found that once blunted and re-sharpened the Stanley chisels performed better than the Marples. I cannot explain the reason for this, but it was something we noted.

 Choosing between the two chisel sets is not a critical decision because either set will serve you well. There are some excellent deals on the Marples sets at the moment (check out itslondon.co.uk) but individually the Marples chisels are much more expensive. A 50mm chisel costs £27.54 (inc. Vat) while the same size in the Fat Max is much more reasonable at £18.34 (inc Vat). This makes the Marples 50% more expensive and the simple truth from our experience of both chisels is that the Marples is not 50% better.

 In conclusion, having used both sets of chisels solidly for a month in some of the toughest conditions they are likely to face, there was little to pick between them in terms of performance. The Stanley is better able to cope with misuse with its steel end cap, and would be a good choice to give to the apprentice. The Marples feels better in the hand and has a longer blade. Totally subjectively, I also think it is a nice looking tool and in the wooden case the set makes even the worst wood butcher look like a pro, at least until the work starts. But we are not only talking about the superficial here. The price of the Stanley is a massive point in its favour and I would say that for a carpenter or serious DIYer it represents better value for money but I suspect people who really like their tools will find there is something about the Marples that is hard to resist.

For many years we used a Makita 1923 planer quite happily, always mindful that the alternative was a laborious hand plane. But recently our beloved tool started to make a noise so horrible you thought your ears were going to bleed, and furthermore a carpenter friend of ours brought in his newer Makita KP0810 planer. It was about 10 years younger, and 10 times better to use. It was the death knell for the old planer and we have upgraded to the newer model.

The KP0810 is a far superior planer in most ways, the only exception being that it is a much bigger unit all round so it takes a little more space to use. But given the first thing you notice as you pick up the Makita is the much improved balance and extremely comfortable handle this is a minor grumble. The adjustment on the dial is another huge improvement. The depth of the blade can be adjusted in increments of one tenth of a millimetre, up to a maximum of 4mm. This has two massive benefits. Firstly, you can set the depth and use the tool and then let your colleague use it knowing that you can re-adjust the tool to your previous requirements. Secondly, you can adjust the depth of the blade with confidence in the degree to which you are adjusting the blade, i.e. by increments of 1/10^th millimetre.

The tool comes with an adjustable rebating guide and more useful, an adjustable guide fence. Yet another feature our old plane was missing. When a narrow workpiece is clamped it is often handy for the fence to be adjustable so it can be moved out of the way. The Makita KP0810 has dual side chip ejection, so with a quick changeover the waste can be directed away from your face and onto the floor. Perfect when planning doors on trestles. For even greater comfort the lock off switch can be accessed from both sides so there is no hindrance to those freaky southpaws. This is a feature that Makita are adding to many of their tools, and they really seem to have developed a comfortable grip. Our old plane had a chunky hard plastic handle with the lock-off switch in the form of a very pronounced push button. I have relatively small hands and found the grip very uncomfortable to use for more than a couple of minutes, and pressing the lock-off switch was genuinely tricky. This unintentionally made the tool safer, but much harder to use. The KP0810 planer has smoothed all these troubles away.

Clearly I am enthusiastic for this tool but I have saved the best for last. Planers are on the whole precision tools, used for joinery and so it needs to be well cared for. The essence of the planer is the cutting blade and this is actually very vulnerable. It will continue to spin after the button has been released and remains proud of the base. Any carpentry teacher will tell you that hand planes should never be laid down on their base for fear of chipping the iron. With an electric plane the thinness of the blades and their continued rotation after the button has been released means this rule is even more important. But accidents do happen and the blades remain very vulnerable. On the KP0810 Makita have slipped in an excellent little feature to overcome this, which got us all very excited when we first saw it. At the rear of the planer base a little stand elevates the back of the plane a few millimetres in the air so when laid base down the blades are spinning freely above the surface. When the plane is in use and pushed across the work piece the stand retreats into a recess, but as soon as the tool is lifted a spring pushes the stand out to protect the blades. Simple, but very effective.

The blade protector clearly visible at the rear of the planer base

The Makita KP0810 is a great plane. It has a very comfortable handle, excellent cutting depth (4mm in one pass) and some useful extra features that make it a joy to use. Makita seem to be the masters of producing good tools without any gimmicks. There are no extra features to inflate the price or complicate the job, and everything it does, it does well. I would recommend this tool to anyone, whether they are looking to upgrade an older model or buy their first electric plane.

The humble angle grinder, not the most exciting of tools, but a real labour saver. Sparks fly as you cut steel, and the neighbours washing gets coated in a fine dust as you slice through bricks. Its not subtle, but it is useful. Some tools, like routers, are well looked after by their very nature but an angle grinder is different. The essentials of an angle grinder are toughness and durability.

For many years I had a Bosch angle grinder purchased from a local DIY store. I got a free diamond blade and it was perfect for the occasional jobs. But last summer I used the angle grinder for a months worth of roofing. By the end of that time the grinder was feeling the strain. The dust got into the switch and stopped it working, and the case began to creak and feel as if it was coming apart. No doubt caused by all the moving around and continual bashing that is typical, and unavoidable, on a building site.

So recently I purchased a new grinder, the Makita 9554NB 110v. It came complete with a very sturdy case, a diamond cutting disc and a grinding disc. This angle grinder has been designed with heavy use in mind. Makita boast “labyrinth construction protects all ball bearings from dust and debris.” Frankly, I have no idea what labyrinth construction is but I suspect it means it is very hard for the dust to get to the important bits. What I can be sure of is after ceaseless cutting of bricks and tiles, the tool shows no sign of dust penetration into the switch or the motor.

Ergonomically the tool is comfortable to use, with and without the handle. The switch has moved from the top on earlier models to a more comfortable position on the side. Although this makes it slightly easier to turn the grinder off accidentally (but not on; the action of the switch is designed to be harder to turn on than off) it is still an improvement. Spindle lock for disc change is straightforward. Interestingly, Makita have persevered with their blade guard, secured in place by a screw. It is possible to loosen the screw too much when moving the blade guard so that it falls out onto the floor and is lost forever. On the upside, all you need is another screw! Other brands, notably Bosch, use a catch to secure the blade guard which makes it easier to change position but more vulnerable to terminal damage. It is probably reassuring to see Makita sticking to a method of fixing that is more reliable in the long term than trying to save DIYers a couple of precious seconds.

I have only had the Makita 9554 angle grinder a couple of months but it has worked very hard in that time. What we have then is a solid, dependable and dust proof tool. Exactly what an angle grinder should be. And the best bit of all, it cost £39.13 plus Vat online. For that money, there is surely no reason to buy any other 115mm angle grinder.

Cordless angle grinders

The equivalent Lithium-Ion 115mm angle grinder from Makita costs £259 plus VAT online. Obviously it could be purchased a lot cheaper without batteries but I am dubious of the worth of a cordless grinder in site conditions. Cordless tools have a comfort zone in which they will produce good performance. For example, a drill driver is excellent when screwing into softwood or drilling small holes. Our Lithium-Ion circular saw will slice 12mm plywood all day long. But take those tools to the next level and even Lithium-Ion batteries struggle. The same drill driver hates powering auger bits through joists. The circular saw dies when up against 22mm chipboard. In essence, battery power fails at the top end. And for me, an angle grinder is always working at the top end of its load. The strain on the battery is constant and unforgiving and will surely drain the battery in no time. Finally, what is the point in paying hundreds of pounds for an angle grinder that you can only use on soft masonry? If Makita want to dispute this, send one to TBE and we will road test. Until then, its 110v all the way.

What, Where, How Much?

Makita 9554NBKD 115mm Angle Grinder 110/240v

Bore Size: 22mm Spindle size: M14x2mm

No Load Speed: 10,000rpm

Input wattage:710w

Net Weight: 1.4kg

Wheel size: 115mm

(Source www.makitauk.com)

Price £39.13 plus VAT

We got ours from

www.angliatoolcentre.co.uk

I would consider myself a relatively ‘aware’ builder, keeping an eye out for latest advances in equipment and materials. For some time I had seen impact drivers being advertised fairly heavily on websites and in the tool catalogues. But sheepishly I must confess ignorance to what they were actually for. In fact, seeing them always given away as freebies, made me wonder if they were like the ubiquitous torch that seems to come in every pack. What a shame it took me so long to get wise. Now the impact driver is the one tool I seem to use every single day.

The impact driver is a very simple tool. It accepts standard quarter inch hex bits which are very easy to fit in the driver. You can insert screwdriver bits straight into the tool or use a bit holder. It has forward and reverse selectors and that is it. But when you start to screw a fixing into the workpiece the tool comes alive. Similar to hammer action on a masonry drill, the impact driver vibrates the screw with 3,200 impacts per minute thus making screwing with large screws into tough wood a very simple job. It provides masses of torque for a very small tool. Our Makita BTD140 delivers a maximum torque of 145Nm. Our previous Makita Combi driver could only manage 45Nm. It can screw oak to oak, and fixing 4”x2” timber together with 100mm screws is easy with no pre drilling required. The speed of screwing is also much faster than with a normal combi drill making it ideal for hoardings, shuttering and flooring.

Such is the power of the impact driver that the screw or bit will give out before the machine does. The reliance on the tool has become so great that the cry of “Has anyone got the impacter” is heard even more often than “tea’s up.” WE LOVE THIS TOOL!

But before we endorse this product whole-heartedly lets remember that tools cost money and they are supposed to make work more efficient and thus more profitable. A tool that doesn’t pay for itself is a liability. A Makita BTD140 with two 3.0Ah Li-Ion batteries will set you back in excess of £250 but each Li-Ion retail at approximately £80 each. Thus a bare impact driver will only cost you about £100 (prices from tool-net.co.uk). As the driver is so often bundled up with other power tools I recommend buying it as part of a package. In fact, the impact driver is so useful it is the perfect excuse to upgrade an old combi-drill just to get one.

One final note of caution for any prospective new purchasers. The Makita BTD140 is quite fantastic at screwing large (plus 60mm) screws into large bits of wood (100mm x 50mm). If most of your work is on a smaller scale, perhaps second fix or fine joinery, then you will not use this tool very much. But if you do first fix or shuttering carpentry, or a little bit of everything, then this tool could make a real difference to your productivity and enjoyment. It only took me five years to find out they existed and now I feel obliged to spread the word. There are drill drivers and combi drills that can put screws in but they are not impact drivers. If you can only afford one then it must be a combi driver but get yourself a package that includes both and you are ready for anything. Screwfix currently offer an 18v Li-Ion twin pack of combi and impact driver with two batteries for £329. Clearly a lot of money but the two tools will cover every cordless drilling and screwdriving application you are likely to encounter.

Much excitement at The Building Experience HQ this week as our latest tool arrived on site. We have treated ourselves to the Makita LS0714 sliding compund mitre saw, costing us £320. Before anyone suggests that we cannot be proper builders if we have only just got a mitre saw, rest assured that this an additional saw to go alongside the Makita LS1013 we have had for many years.

For any builder or carpenter starting out on their own the first serious power tool to purchase is a mitre saw and they do not come much better than the Makitas. It is a fantastically useful tool, which can be used for eveything from first fix carpentry to the finest joinery.

What to look for when buying a saw

The rule is always buy the best tool you can afford, and i realise this alters with your budget but as we like to say at TBE, "Buy cheap, buy twice." There are two key features to look at when comparing saws. Firstly, there are two main types of saw, those that are 'sliding' and those that are not. The price difference can be significant  but please go with the former. The sliding element of the saw greatly increses the reach of the saw meaning it can cut much wider timber. The non-sliding Makita LS1040 has a big 260 mm blade but at 90 degrees can only cut 130mm wide. The sliding LS0714 with its 190 mm blade can cut up to 300mm wide. Even 6" skirting boards are too much for a mitre saw without the sliding facility.

The second consideration is the depth of the cut the saw can manage. Our LS0714 is only able to handle 50mm deep timber. Fortunately for most jobs this is adequate. It can cut the ubiquitous 4x2, and can easily handle skirting boards and floors. Larger posts our beyond its range but Makita do offer the monster LS1214, capable of 115 x 308 at 90 degrees. To emphasise again, the choice of which model you go for depends on the types of job you do.

We chose to get a second saw because the bigger LS1013 is a heavy (21kg) and bulky piece of kit. For one day jobs, floors architraves or skirting boards the difficulty in handling was the cause of much cursing at TBE. The smaller saw weighs only 12.6kg forming a much more compact model, albeit with similar performance at the lower end of the scale. 

Why we like our Makita

Anyone who has read our handsaw road test will know that we do a lot of sawing. The idea that a machine can do it for you is rather appealing! For first fix, studs and noggins can be cut much quicker than by hand and they can be trimmed by the millimetre if they are slightly too big, very tricky to do with a handsaw. Roof angles can be cut repeatedly with confidence that the saw will cut the perfectly each time.

For joinery, select a finer blade and you can cut as accurately as your eyes will allow you. Much like computers, this saw will do exactly as you tell it to do and if something is not right you need to question yourself before you blame the machine. We have laid solid oak floors, built wardrobes and staircases with these saws and they are totally reliable. Unlike some of their smaller cordless tools that might be getting a little over elaborate (the 18v MXT Combi Drill 3 speed springs to mind) the bigger kit is still classic Makita. Solid, purposeful, minimal and accurate.

House construction  in the UK is a very conservative environment, the builders fearful to look forward and much keener to 'stick with what you know' So two hundred years after the industrial revolution introduced machines that were denounced for deskilling the workforce while the mill owners became millionairses, UK builders are starting to catch on. With a Makita LS0714 any novice can build a stud wall or fix skirting boards to a high standard without having to go to college, serve an apprenticeship and spend ten years passing tools to the master carpenter before finally learning how to use a handsaw just before he retires. Some people preferred it that way but for everyone else I suggest you buy the Makita LS0714 or one of its bigger brothers. It will earn its money back for you. Your work will improve in quality. And then you can pay a boy to do it for you while you drink tea.