Not all of my DIY jobs have to do with working on cars. I also enjoy refurbishing old furniture (despite my impatience for sanding) and generally making old things new again, making simple but functional furniture, and fixing things around the house. These sorts of jobs require more than wrenches. Sometimes you need tools for cutting, sanding, and various other activities.

I've already featured my drill/driver in the first post of this series, so I won't write about it here even though it would be legit to reprise it. Here, I will mention three of my other Ryobi tools that I use quite often.

Let's start with the circular saw in the center. Back in June of 2020 (the year that everybody wants to forget), one of my COVID-time DIY jobs was to repair and paint my shed in the back yard (I really miss that shed--or just having a shed at all). Aside from the lumber shortage and the paint shortage that inflated the price of everything😞, it was a lot of fun to work on. I had to repair a number of things on the shed, but the major thing was completely rebuilding the doors (I also rebuilt the ramp up into the shed). Immediately, the circular saw became an invaluable tool. In fact, my sister helped me get the lumber from our local Lowe's. She just has a small pickup, and some of the lumber was too long to ride safely in the back of her pickup. So, I did exactly what Dad would have done: I pulled out the Ryobi circular saw, and right there in the Lowe's parking lot, I cut the pieces that were too long down to the size I needed! Then, of course, the saw more than paid for itself on the remainder of the project. I've used it on a number of other projects since then, like a little patio table I made for my sister and her husband. It's certainly handy to have.

To the left of the circular saw is my sander. I am not a patient sander. In fact, the truth is, I hate sanding. But sometimes you simply have to sand and you have to do it right. This was certainly true on the coffee table refurbishing job that I mentioned above, as well as the finishing out the desktop for the homemade standing desk that my son and I made together. In the case of the standing desk, I wanted to make sure the desktop was done right and well. After all, the wood is red oak from the Dvorak farm in Iowa, so it's a meaningful piece to me. I don't claim to have made it to Tom Silva standards, but it turned out quite well, I think, and the Ryobi sander played a huge role in getting it smooth and ready for stain.

Finally, to the right of the circular saw in the photo is my Ryobi oscillating multitool. I LOVE this little thing, and I have used it for everything from sanding smaller objects to cutting grout around tiles prior to removing the tiles to trimming wood trim boards. One of the more unique DIY jobs for which I used it was cutting off wooden golf tees that I used to repair stripped out screw holes, both on a door hinge and a on a piano. I was easily able to make a flush cut using this tool. I am super glad that my family got me this tool for Father's Day a while back!

Each of these tools has and continues to serve me well. That said, since we've moved to the Great White North, I haven't had a project where I've needed to put these tools to work again. Perhaps this coming spring or summer, I'll have an opportunity to do so!