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Join me as I document my journey from live-streaming to the workshop. I'm a dad who traded the webcam for wood glue and sawdust, and I'm learning woodworking one project at a time.
In each episode, we'll explore what it really takes to build a maker practice without breaking the bank. From workshop organization and tool choices to tackling first projects and avoiding the "you're not serious if you don't overspend" mentality, this is an honest look at the ups, downs, and lessons learned along the way.
Whether you're a seasoned woodworker, a curious beginner, or someone who just loves making things with their hands, you'll find practical insights, real talk about mistakes, and encouragement to start building, no matter where you are in your journey.
New episodes every week. Grab your tea, fire up the table saw (safely), and let's get to work.
So the great debate that plague many makers, creators, woodworkers, construction people, anyone in the trades, is the debate of corded versus cordless tools, power tools, I mean, to be exact.
And this has pretty much gone on for, I want to say, since the dawn of time.
It's kind of a dumb way to put it because they didn't have power tools back in the Bronze Age and earlier and Renaissance.
But it's the fact of many people look at cordless tools as, oh, this great thing that helps, you know, makes you a little bit faster in doing your work.
and you can pretty much go anywhere.
You don't need to worry about having power
or looking for an extension cord
or anything like that.
While people on the corded side say,
well, my tool, I don't have to worry about battery dying
or making sure I have available batteries
or if they're no longer valuable,
I don't have to worry about spending
God's amount of money on getting new batteries.
So let's actually talk about the corded versus cordless debate here for a moment.
Because I'm on the fence of between the two parties.
I do like the corded tools because I do have a Metabo Sawzall that is corded.
I have a Jigsaw that is corded and a circular saw that is corded.
Currently, I only have, oh, and also a multi-tool is corded.
So when you look at it, when I look at it, I'm pretty much in the camp of corded.
But I do, you know, have a cordless drill.
I do have a corded drill.
I know, I have so many tools that are in the corded side.
But this is my thinking, is corded, yes, you have to worry about a six to nine foot cord.
and then also the extension cord as well.
But the thing is that you don't have to worry about power
as much if you're inside a workshop or at a house
or somewhere that you know there is going to be reliable power.
And even nowadays, you have portable power banks
like a Jackery or ones from Anker
or many other companies are into the um the portable power bank as it were
it's a large capacity batteries that you can use that can power your power corded power tools
for hours on end or even days but the fact is that we've gotten to the point where it's kind of
It's a ride or die camp, depending on which side that you sit on.
Sometimes, especially for myself, when you go to like a Home Depot or Lowe's or Ace or any other store that carries power tools,
the major floor space is dedicated to cordless.
You're really going to look for a corded power tool.
There isn't really a section that is just dedicated to corded tools.
Most of your shelf space is for the cordless.
And a good reason for that, because that's where a lot of these companies like DeWalt, Milwaukee, Ryobi, and the rest get their major profits from.
they generate a lot of profits on the corded,
I mean,
the cordless,
sorry,
the cordless side of things.
It's not because it's some kind of shadow cabal of power tool,
government,
whatever kind of conspiracy theory that you want to look into because it's not
really like that.
It just,
the cordless side of things is more expensive.
And this,
This is just my opinions on it.
It's more expensive and it's a better profit margin
for the power tool manufacturers
than the corded side of things.
So let me go ahead, I'm gonna pull up a couple of examples,
or actually two examples here.
So I'm gonna pull up the corded.
These are two tools that are pretty much the same thing.
One's corded and one is cordless.
So we got the DeWalt circular saw.
It's a seven and a quarter inch lightweight circular saw.
I just went through on Lowe's and Home Depot.
Just try to find something that is very comparable to one or the other.
And of course, this is a corded one.
It is one, let's say 170.
And the power on this is 5200 RPM.
So that's your maximum speed of the blade itself.
And the cordless one, which is the exact same, is 230.
Now, save $50 because it's on a lower price.
But let's say $280 MSRP.
so when you look at it the power is very similar and this one is 5500 rpm but they say
that is with no load meaning that uses pull the trigger and it's not cutting into active
actively cutting into anything so you can say the same thing with the corded at 52 so
the rpm would drop if it's if you're pushing it through material but we're only looking at what
300 rpms if that roughly between the two of them and they're very comparable for each other
so off the bat the cordless one is already more expensive and the thing is this is my this is my
argument to between corded and cordless is that this is tool only so you're already at 230 dollars
you still have to purchase a battery now battery just by itself if you want a decent one that is
you know it'll last a long time is 180 dollars so you're already well above i mean you can buy
two circular corded circular saws for the price of one cordless and the battery
so i'm gonna try to do some napkin math here i know don't hold your breath or anything
so you're already so yet let me get get my phone
all right calculator all right let's do
180 plus
230.
So you're already at $410.
Right out the door
for cordless circular saw.
Now it is the tool itself
and a
A1 battery.
Well, your
corded cousin
is at $170.
Take away $170.
So you're already saving $240.
But here's the kicker.
So let's say you get the DeWalt cordless circular saw.
So now you had the battery,
but you need two batteries
because you're not just going to sit there with one battery
while you're cutting your projects,
wood, material, and then your battery dies.
You're not just going to sit there and wait on the battery to be charged, right?
So you need a second battery.
That is another $180.
So you're at $590.
Making sure I get it right.
Yeah, $180.
So that's two batteries and a tool.
You're at $590.
That is the price for almost, you're almost at the price of a DeWalt table saw with the
stand.
Because usually those are around like $650, $630, I want to say.
So at $590, that's just one tool and two batteries.
Great.
You got two batteries.
So now I can buy, let's buy something else.
I want to get this max cordless or, you know, get something else that is a doodad for, you know, because I want to be in the ecosystem.
All right, cool.
Oh, I also forgot.
I need a charger to charge my batteries.
Oh, it's a good thing I have this deal here.
So it's $200 plus.
$200.
Okay, that also comes with two batteries as well.
That's awesome because it's a package deal.
So now you're at $790.
Just for one tool.
Now you have four batteries and a charger.
So you almost spent $1,000 just on one tool.
That's insane.
That's why when you look at the shelves and your,
and your big box stores and your hardware stores,
that's why when you look at the shelves,
there are almost no package deals or combo deals or specials on corded
equipment,
power tools,
because they know they have the,
they've done their market research.
They know that,
Oh,
Jim Bob's coming in.
he needs a new drill he's going to spend 180 250 on the tool but he also needs batteries so it's
just they all they see is dollar signs they they're they're smart they know what they're doing
but it's just crazy to think about it is that the amount 790 for a single tool
four batteries and a charger
that is crazy and the thing is that if once you start getting into let's say you bought
the the dewalt ecosystem so you're going to have to buy the um like your oscillating
multi-tool so that's another 170 you don't have to worry about batteries because you got four of them
but you have to have think about it is the number of batteries per tool
comfortably is probably two one that you're actively using and one on the charger
as you know the backup and so when the one that you're using dies you can swap them out
so for per tool you need two batteries
so that's what 180 times two that's
numbers high numbers you see where i'm going with this is that i don't want to um be the person to
poo-poo anyone who who likes cordless power tools i get it i like cordless power tools because
it's the ease and form factor of it and it's great too because you can quickly go out and do
you know zip zap and then you're done it's just the monetary hit to the wallet that hurts the most
because as you just saw with the four batteries charger and one tool you're almost at a thousand
dollars now i know dewalt is probably on the higher end you can probably get a good deal
um combo deals especially right now i'm looking at it right here my face you have uh the impact
and the uh drill combo for like 250 plus two batteries and a charger so i'm not saying that
it is a no it's a lump sum if you only go this route because there are combo deals like this one
like i just saw like i just said save it's a value of 575 dollars so it's 575 dollars
out the door oh but it's a good deal it's 250 so you're already half off
but the fact of the matter it's it's getting to the point where it's almost as bad as you know
printers hp printers are notorious if anyone is out there looking to get a printer
do not do not go hp get something that is more in the line like brother
because with HP, yeah, your printer is what?
80 bucks, $300, maybe $600 if you get a laser.
But for inkjets, inkjet printers, especially in HP,
you're looking at $80, let's say $100 flat.
Your ink is anywhere from 30 bucks to 45, $50 for a color
or maybe a color multi-pack but with hp they have added in a subscription so you have to get hp
branded inkjet cartridges and you think oh i know how to use it it's just a subscription for the
print my my papers and stuff i want to print out wrong you need a subscription because if you don't
pay for it your printer doesn't work even though you have full print cartridges if you don't pay
for the hp print plus whatever garbage crap it is you're not printing so that's why uh if anyone
says oh i'm gonna go buy a printer and just go for brother because they don't put up they don't
do any kind of this um subscription garbage hp does so or epson epson is decent or get a laser
jet or a laser printer yeah it might be more expensive than on the onset but those toner
cartridges last forever especially if you're doing uh print jobs every once in a while so
that's my little um side tangent there but it's getting to the point going back to the power tools
it's getting to the point where if you're purchasing a cordless power tool no matter
what brand it is you're locking yourself into that brand loyalty because i i know there are
some adapters to you can use a milwaukee battery and a dewalt drill but the thing is is that i
wouldn't trust those because you don't know who made those it could be something that fell off
the back of a truck or out of the shipping container on its way from overseas from china
know what not and you do you really want to take the risk of that adopt that adapter
unleashing the blue genie smoke from your very expensive power tool and you can't warranty that
because they'll say oh well you you didn't use our battery and you use a unapproved adapter
well see ya that's your own fault you messed up so it's just the fact that you're going to be
locked in so if you're in i know people are very particular on their brands there's the
ryobi um fanboys and girls uh same thing with the dewalt and be like you won't catch me dead
using the green label but it's it's maybe like one or two maybe three companies
that actually produce these tools anymore so yeah
yeah saint clint hey what's up yeah uh he said uh does it come up there yeah i'm gonna have to do a
scene basically yeah love my brother laser printer and in 13 years i've only had to buy
two laser cartridges i think that was several years before i finished with the one that came
with it yeah and it's the thing same thing with like tools is you got this stuff again like i
said with lock-in and it's they get you one way or the other but with corded you don't have to
worry about like my little example a thousand dollars with just one tool four batteries and
a charger i'm gonna keep harping on that because it is what it is it's it's crazy numbers when you
think about it really is that i can almost spend a thousand dollars i can spend almost a thousand
on this and I still have not purchased anything else.
Just the power source, the portable power sources to run my circular saw.
That's it.
That's crazy.
And I know probably someone posts up in the comments or is watching this after the fact
and saying, man, you're stupid.
Corded power tools are so 1990s.
So what?
I don't have to worry about my battery packs crapping out on me after a year or two
or you know a couple years and if if I I have the especially with my circular saw that I got
because I have uh it was a gift not a gift but it was like uh here you go a hand-me-down from my
our neighbor when we first moved in it was um oh it's not working anymore because it the power
cord got in front of the blade and yeah it killed itself well that was an easy fix you just
splice the wires together and you know what it's working again i gotta get a new blade because the
blade and the doll is hell and uh yeah but that's about it if if you damage the cord you can replace
the cord easily and probably replace it with something else that's what 40 bucks that's a
hell of a lot cheaper than $180 for a battery.
I mean, it is what it is.
And again, like I said at the beginning,
I'm going to camp on both sides.
I like my corded tools because I don't have to worry about battery dying
or making sure that the battery is charged or has enough juice in it.
I can just plug it in.
Yeah, I might have to look for or stretch out a extension cable, but, you know, whatever.
It is what it is.
But then I have the power to do what I need to get done.
And I can have it for a long sustained period, especially my corded drill.
It's a hammer drill.
So I can sit there and drill through cinder blocks all day.
I'm not going to be happy.
My shoulders aren't going to be happy.
But I can do that all day with a corded, but you can't really do that with a battery.
But yeah.
So if you're watching this after facts and this podcast episode, let me know.
Are you corded cordless?
I really would like to know what your stance on this ridiculous,
you know,
side of the fence kind of discussion that we've had or that we've been going
through for decades now.
Definitely let me know.
If you liked this episode,
definitely let me know by giving me a five star review on Apple podcast.
Be much appreciated.
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