With our brand new Craftsman rolling tool cabinet we were finally able to put into play some sort of organization system for all of our tools. We have accumulated quite the supply of tools this past year and I was really sick of them living in our office closet.
Our first DIY project was our living room table, and we were lucky because Casey's dad drove to our home and brought along quite a few of his tools. Many of the tools were Casey's grandpa's and Casey's dad was so kind to let us keep them.
However we have bought quite a few of our own and are frequently asked by many of y'all what are "must have" tools to begin DIYing. Now, let me make this clear...these are a list of tools that are the most versatile and can be used for nearly every project. They are not necessarily our favorite, but rather the most useful for a variety of situations.
1) Oscillating multi-tool. It is described as a multi-tool for a reason...you can buy all sorts of attachments that can simplify many projects. It is most commonly used for making "plunge" cuts, but we have actually found a lot of value in the sander attachment for hard to reach crevices and corners.
2) Drill. This should be a no brainer, but you will use this for almost every project big and small. Whether it be simply hanging a shelf or drilling over 500 holes into a piece of wooden artwork, you'll use the drill.
3) Circular saw. We love our miter saw and table saw, but if forced to choose only ONE saw to have in our garage it would be a circular saw because of its versatility. With a circular saw you can make miter-cuts, cross-cuts (perpendicular to grain) and rip-cuts (parallel to grain). Therefore, the circular saw gives you the most bang for your buck. We would recommend spending the extra money for a cordless option because it is a lot more convenient working on a project.
Now if you are certain that you are going to really dig into DIYing then we would probably recommend a miter saw and table saw as they will make your life easier, but are quite expensive. If you are unsure and just want something to start with then the circular saw is your guy.
4) Nail gun. It is hard to believe that we actually rented one of these for our first accent wall because there have been few projects since that we have not used our nail gun. Fun fact: I bought Casey this Dewalt nail gun for a wedding gift...mainly so he could build me my wedding gift of a porch swing daybed! We use it a lot to build furniture and accent walls, but it also comes into use when completing basic home upgrades such as adding baseboards or molding.
5) Sander. While not the most exciting nor glorious part of "DIYing" you will find you spend more time sanding than actually building. There are several types of sanders you can use, but we recommend an orbital sander with a hook and loop fastening system to make switching out sanding pads a breeze.
And there ya have it, five must have tools to start building. We will be sure to do another post soon with our five FAVORITE tools because that list is a little different! With only the ceiling shiplap completed we could have done the entire ceiling with only three of the tools listed here: circular saw, nail gun, and drill.
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