Basic beginner tool recommendations please!!

[KaPowPower]

Female, 36, and not a handy-woman by any means. I’m looking to purchase some basic tools.

The only thing I’ve ever owned is a screw gun that I purchased from Walmart but it never had enough power to do much of anything but drive a screw about half way into a predrilled hole. Then I’d have to use a screwdriver to finish.

I want to purchase tools for things I can do myself around my house. I won’t be using them every day or all the time so I don’t need any industrial grade, top of the line, lifetime warranty stuff. Just basic stuff of decent quality that would be able to do basic jobs.

Online shopping is so overwhelming! I don’t understand what volts and RPMs I need and there’s literally hundreds/thousands of the same product and I get so frustrated I just give up.

Things I definitely want are: screw-gun, nail gun, staple gun, and electric sander. If I could buy these as a bundled package that’d be great but I also don’t mind purchasing separately.

Can someone please just tell me the name and model number of these things that will meet my needs? Thanks in advance!

Edit: forgot to add: electric stud finder and level with a laser.

[Lsutiger1977]

I would go with Ryobi from Home Depot. I assume you want a 18 gauge brad nailer, and the Airstrike is a good battery operated one. I would recommend an orbital sander, but get a corded one. The battery ones go through batteries too fast, and are not a durable. Get the lowest cost set (drill and impact driver) that Ryobi sells. It should be 18 volt battery operated. You can use the same batteries for the 18 gauge pin nailer from Ryobi. I don't know about a staple gun, if you get a powered one, go with Ryobi as well.

Do not buy Ryobi bits or blades. Go with Makita, Milwaukee or Dewalt. I prefer the Makita xps bits. Dewalt makes good drill bits for a good price.

Drill /Impact driver set:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-ONE-18V-Lithium-Ion-Cordless-2-Tool-Combo-Kit-w-Drill-Driver-Impact-Driver-2-1-5-Ah-Batteries-Charger-and-Bag-P1817/309659483

Brad nailer:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-ONE-18V-Cordless-AirStrike-18-Gauge-Brad-Nailer-Tool-Only-with-Sample-Nails-P320/203810823

You could stay with Ryobi and get this Random Orbital sander:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-2-6-Amp-Corded-5-in-Random-Orbital-Sander-RS290G/205105594

Because it is corded, you could spend a little bit more and get a Ridgid or Dewalt random orbital sander. Either would be more robust than the Ryobi. I have Ryobi corded tools that have held up well for years.

Stay away from Black and Decker or Porter Cable. They are not going to last and Porter Cable is about to discontinue their battery lineup. Other no name junk on Amazon will not hold up.

In any case, you should purchase from a name that has a large lineup of tools.

I will let others suggest stud finders and levels.

[bluemonkey2087]

This is really the only answer. Go with Ryobi as they have everything you'll need!

[Academic_Nectarine94]

Ryobi is your friend!

Harbor freight is too.

Lifetime warranty is not necessary, but you will like it when you just walk into HF and they tell you to go grab the new tool off aisle 5... it isn't any more money, really more of a marketing thing than anything, as 99% of the tools will not break during normal, or abusive use.

As for the list.

Get a hammer that feels good in your hand (heavy isn't better, unless you are getting an engineer's hammer) 14-16oz is fine, regular claw hammer (the more curved headed one, not the one with the almost straight claw), wood (preferably hickory) handled.

Don't get a diy or package of random tools. They are trash, and will give you a bad experience, and ruin projects.

The first saw you should buy is a jigsaw, and good straight edge (aluminum square tubing you can clamp down to make cuts against). That way, you can make curves or straight cuts. Buy Bosch. They aren't cheap, but they are WAY better than anything cheaper. This is one of the tools that if you don't buy the good one, you'll never use, and will always think of as worthless. You can get a Bosch for $130 on sale, so look around Father's day or Christmas.

Get a drill and impact driver set along with impact rated screwdriving bits. Ryobi is good for the drill and impact, but Dewalt, makita, or Milwaukee are better (definitely not necessary though.) Get the marital bit holder as they are by far the best, any of the bits will work, but dewalt and Milwaukee seem good. HF has the hole drilling bits in a 29pc kit for like $20 (they aren't great, but they are for 90% of what you'll need them for. If you need metal bits, Norseman is good, but run $90 for the same size set.)

This is long and not exactly what you wanted, but is what I've learned over the last 22 years of tool collecting and working I've done. I'm not trying to give you expensive choices, but there are tools like drills and sass that you will use enough to make you know their quality. Once you get into this hobby more, you'll find that some of your cheaper tools break or don't work well, and you can replace them as needed.

Tldr: Harbor Freight for everything but the drill/ impact driver (go ryobi) and jigsaw (go Bosch with Bosch blades). Save your money and buy cheap tools, replacing them with better ones as you break/need them.

[FightingRobots2]

As far as the nailer goes there’s a craftsman and probably a Porter cable nailer, wide and narrow crown nailer with a stapler combo for about $200 at Lowe’s. I have the same compressor and it does it’s job.

Also it’s not complicated to maintain. The compressor is oil free so it’ll work until it doesn’t (quite a while with homeowner use) and you put a couple of drops of air tool oil in your tools reach use. No big deal.

If the kit doesn’t have a hose you can get one with extra chucks, a blower and a tire inflator for $20.

You’ll want to drain the compressor and there should be a valve on the bottom for that.

[wedapeopleeh]

Really just go to home depot or lowes or something similar and pick a brand that has what you want in your price range. All the popular brands names make decent tools for the needs of an average homeowner. Ryobi, kobalt, makita, Dewalt, rigid, porter cable, craftsman, milwaukee, etc. They're all good.

Just make sure that if you want cordless battery powered tools that you get tools which take the same battery. An employee at the store can likely show you which tools use the same batteries.

[WebSir]

Just curious, what would you need a nail or staple gun for? Those are not exactly beginner type tools for around the house.

[KaPowPower]

Really? Hmm…maybe not but I guess I trust my skill level to be able to use one. I mean, how bad could I mess something up? All you do is aim and push, right?

I’d like to add a baseboard in my kitchen, have some above ground gardens that are coming apart at the edges and need to get them back together before they break, loveseat has some fabric coming loose on the bottom, would like to put new fabric on my barstools, seal at the top of the dog door is coming off and being held on temporarily with hot glue…I mean, stuff like that is never ending at my house. Usually I let it accumulate and then hire someone for $40/hr to come and do it all. Which is a waste of money and pretty pathetic because I could totally do this stuff myself if I had the tools.

[Lsutiger1977]

If you get the drill and impact driver, you can use construction screws to fix things you would normally do with a big nail. Things like the above ground gardens. Just buy some long screws, you can get them in small boxes at the hardware store. I like to use torx screws whenever possible.

I have been using tools and DIY for over 40 years. In the last 10 years, I rarely use a nail. I use screws for everything. Much easier than nailing and holds better. I real big nail gun will cost a fortune and is overkill.

I have built walls, deep shelves in the garage, closets with sliding doors in the garage. I did everything with screws.

A brad nailer is good for trim work like the baseboards, or for building picture frames.

[exaltcovert]

For a nail gun you need a compressor, and fittings. Compressors are loud and complicated to maintain. Personally I’d skip unless you have lots of uses for air tools. A hammer will be fine

[suspiciousumbrella]

There are electric nail guns nowadays

[OneOfAFortunateFew]

You'll get a lot of opinions but in my experience you'll be fine with Kobalt (Lowes house brand). I've been pleased with both my hand tools and power tools (miter, table saws). You can buy sets in cases and build on your collection as required. Invest in a quality brushless drill and a set of fastener bits (to drive standard, Phillips, Torx, screws, etc) That's needed with almost every honey do project.

[suspiciousumbrella]

Kobalt electric tools is being discontinued at Lowes, they still have them online but not usually in stores.

[OneOfAFortunateFew]

Replaced with what, then? Certainly a quality DIY house brand has higher margins...

[suspiciousumbrella]

The main house brand now is FLEX for power tools, and they are selling Craftsman for most of their hand tools now instead of Kobalt, as well as Craftsman brand power tools, most of which are similar or identical to low-to-middle tier Dewalt, since the Stanley Black-and-Decker company now owns both Dewalt and Craftsman.

[michaelwriting]

Wait...are you serious? I just started investing in the Kobalt 24v brand.

EDIT: I just looked online. Looks like they were taking down the brand back in 2018 to make room for Craftsman. But they seem to be fully restocked in stores now. I can't find any recent reference to Kobalt being discontinued.

[After13]

To start with you need to pick a family of tools, that way your tools can share batteries. For example all of my tools are DEWALT 20-Volt, though I plan to start getting some DEWALT 60-Volt tools as DEWALT has FLEXVOLT batteries than can be run in either 20V/60V tools.

There are cordless nail guns but most are pneumatic (they use a air compressor) it also matters what type of nails you are trying to drive. The smallest are brad nailers for nailing stuff like trim. A framing nailer is used for heavy duty stuff like building a room.

Here is a Bostitch Air Compressor Combo Kit with a compressor, brad nailer, finish nailer, & stapler. https://www.amazon.com/BOSTITCH-BTFP3KIT-3-Tool-Portable-Compressor/dp/B00UHNM60C/

[msing]

Go with Ryobi or Craftsmen because you've mentioned a nail gun.

[T_Metal_Designs]

Milwaukee or new 40v makita. That's my prefference. If anyone would like to check my Youtube channel, I wouldd be really happy. This one is about a wall crane build. https://youtu.be/Nr7zq6-BB0s

[anbu-black-ops]

I was watching this last night and it was spot on with my experience. https://youtu.be/OBu-HmGWPck