Tools We've Used the Most in the First Year at CloverLock Lane
Before we moved to CloverLock Lane, we rented a home and had built what I thought was a decent starter collection of tools. I did not realize just how many tools we didn’t have and would desperately need once we settled in and started working rehabbing the property.
In the last year we’ve built up a much bigger collection of tools, and we’ve figured out quite a few creative uses for what we have to get the job done. These five are the ones we use the most, so much so that they rarely get put away in the shed, rather stashed in my office closet. It’s quite a funny set up, having my Ryobi collection neatly stacked next to my collection of dresses and purses.
I call this photo: Projects, Many.
Disclaimer: If you’re looking at this list and thinking, dang, sponsored by Ryobi much? You’d be wrong. They’re just good, affordable tools!
However, if you work for Ryobi and are thinking, dang should we sponsor CloverLock Lane? You’d be correct, please very much hit us up Team Ryobi, we’d be super super down for that.
Tools We've Used the Most in the First Year at CloverLock Lane
Drill & Driver Kit
Already starting with a technicality, we only have the drill set, not the drill and driver set. It was a gift from my in-laws when C and I moved into our first place, and the drill has seen and done it all for us. The battery lasts forever and the bit starter set has just about everything you’d need. However, I would highly recommend getting the set with drill and impact driver. First, it’s super handy to have two options when you’re building with a partner or doing something like pilot holes, where you can just swap drills instead of swapping the bit every single time. Second, drills and drivers server different purposes. Drills are better for light work, but an impact driver is going to handle screws or heavier-duty jobs better. Check out the deal on this set from Home Depot
Hammer
I’m gonna hold your hand when I say this, if you don’t already own a hammer, I need you to go to Home Depot immediately. A hammer is the simplest and most important you can have. You won’t need it for projects as often as the drill, but the hammer is going to be essential for so many random tasks and fixes. “Hammer to fit, paint to finish,” is always tossed around as a joke, but I promise you’ll live with that mantra way more than you think. Opening stuck latches, finding frozen spots in pipes, putting in garden stakes, installing t-posts, hanging pictures, unsticking ceramic pots, I could go on for days on the essential uses of a hammer just in the last year alone.
You don’t need something fancy, this is a great basic
Circular Saw
Maybe a controversial statement, but I think this might be the best first saw you can add to your workshop. It’s super flexible and you can mod your situation to use it as almost anything. It can fill the same niche as a miter saw, table saw, track saw, and in some cases a reciprocating saw too. If you’re doing a lot of woodworking, detailed work, or foresee lots of projects in the near future, definitely invest in a wider span of tools and the tools you need to accomplish the specific jobs. However, where most homeowners/early homesteaders/weekend project warriors are, including us, a circular saw is the perfect can-do-all saw to start with!
We got the corded Ryobi circular saw. It was a really tough decision, but you get more power and don’t run the risk of it dying in the middle of a cut! And we’re mostly using this saw in the workshop or on the deck versus at the far ends of the property, so I’m worried about access to power, and I’d rather have the reliability of the corded version. If you want the cordless version, you can get it here.
