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SAKER
Where the work is

Around the house

Rooms, trim, doors and the odd jobs that appear indoors between the bigger projects.

47 pieces land here, drawn from 6 shelves.

Mini chainsaws and saws (16)Drivers, jigs and install kits (10)Measuring and marking (9)Lights, storage and home (9)Yard and garden (2)Car care and detailing (1)

What this place asks of a tool

Indoor work is measured twice

A cut you get wrong outside is firewood. A cut you get wrong on baseboard is a gap you look at every day, which is why gauges outnumber saws here.

Dust travels

Anything that cuts indoors sends powder into two more rooms. Small tools and short cuts beat big tools and long ones for that reason alone.

Old houses are out of square

Corners settle, floors slope and casings lean. Copying the real shape gets you further than trusting the number that should be there.

Mini chainsaws and saws

Short bar saws for limbs, storm cleanup and firewood rounds, with the chains, bars and files that keep them cutting.

The whole mini chainsaws and saws shelf

Drivers, jigs and install kits

Driver sets, doweling jigs, handle templates and the small rigs that put a screw where you meant it to go.

The whole drivers, jigs and install kits shelf

Measuring and marking

Contour gauges, folding rules, angle finders and marking tools that copy a shape onto a plank before the saw touches it.

The whole measuring and marking shelf

Lights, storage and home

Work lights, headlamps, hooks and storage pieces that turn a dark corner into a place where you can find things.

The whole lights, storage and home shelf

Yard and garden

Only 2 pieces off this shelf land here. The rest of it sits on its own page.

The whole yard and garden shelf

Car care and detailing

Only 1 piece off this shelf lands here. The rest of it sits on its own page.

The whole car care and detailing shelf

How this page is put together

Indoor jobs are small, frequent and unforgiving about appearance. A shelf that is level within a degree still reads as crooked from the doorway, and a tile with a two millimeter gap at the pipe is the thing guests notice.

So this page leans toward gauges, levels, templates and driver sets, with the short bar saws that handle firewood at the hearth and the lights that make a closet or a crawlspace workable. It is the page most people use in the first month of owning a place.

Reading the tool

What a six inch bar actually cuts

The bar length on our mini chainsaw is not the limb thickness it handles. Here is where the line really falls, and what happens past it.

6 sectionsReading the figures

Volts, amp hours, and what each one buys you

One number sets how hard a tool pulls, the other sets how long. Also the part most brands skip: our packs are not one family.

6 sectionsOn the bench

Copy a shape with a contour gauge

The tool that turns a door casing into a pencil line. How to press it, when to lock it, and which length to reach for.

6 sectionsUpkeep

Keeping a chain sharp between jobs

A dull chain makes dust instead of chips and asks you to push. What the angles mean, and why touching up beats grinding.

6 sectionsOn the bench

Setting cabinet handles without guessing

Thirty identical holes, drilled once. How the jig sets centers and edge distance, and the order that keeps a run of doors matching.

6 sections

Not sure which of these it is?

Answer two questions about what is in front of you and the finder points at the shelf that handles it.

Start the tool finderBack to the shelves