ok dude (and I do realize from your tag that you are a girl dude) I have about 8 huge gardens on my lot and a half and I was laboriously raking things out yesterday (while accidentally hitting some poor little sprouts) and getting pretty much nowhere. It was then that my husband came up behind me started up the leaf blower and proceeded to blow out all my gardens in about an hour and a half. I did have to loosen up the mulch and leaves a little but I agree; leafblowers rock!! at first I was a little embarassed by how loud it was and just the idea of it but now my gardens are spic and span. I also worried about the little annual seeds I threw in last fall but I cant imagine they are much more disturbed than by the raking.....

You listed two distinct types of woodworking that need different types of tools. The main tool for trim carpenters is a miter saw. Table saws are too large for the portability necessary. It is possible to use a TS, but it requires a LOT of trips back and forth. The width of the crown you want to use dictates the size and type of miter saw you will need. 4" and wider crown means a sliding miter saw is required. Good sliders start at $500. The slider can be used for anything, so buying one is not necessarily overkill. I cope cut inside trim joints. A coping saw and a couple cabinetmakers double files are the basic tools after the saw. You will need a nailer and/or a compressor, depending on the nailer you select. Pneumatic nailers are less expensive to buy and use. Cordless nailers are a bit easier to use since there are no hoses. But, cordless are larger, heavier, and require more maintenance and you have to buy fuel. Many folks use 15 gauge finish nailers for trim. I preferred a 16 gauge model that will shoot nails from 1" long to 2&1/2" long. To install molding and even cabinets alone, a Third Hand tool is necessary. Those are basically an adjustable stick used to support the far end of a piece of trim as you start installing. Shelf making can be done with a circular saw and straight edge. Or a table saw. The circ. saw and guide is a great tool for sizing plywood without having to muscle it onto a table saw. You simply precut pieces close to the required size with the circ'saw/guide and finish the sizing on a TS. Basic woodworking shop tools are: table saw, router/table, band saw, and a drill press. That gives you the tools to do almost anything with plywood or other sheet goods. To be able to buy inexpensive sawmill wood(versus the much more expensive finished dimensional wood) you will need to add a jointer and planer. You first need to educate yourself on the proper use of all those tools and how to safely use each tool. Woodcraft is a woodworking supply store chain that offers classes in basic and advanced formes of woodworking. There are lots of books easily available. Joining a woodworking website also allows you access to advice and tips. WoodNet and Saw Mill Creek are two with which I am familiar. You can sometimes get instant feedback and usually answers in minutes. There are no 'best' tools for any job. There are good ones and not so good ones and cheap ones versus expensive ones, as mentioned above. I have a Skil Mag77 circular saw because I needed that big ol honker for construction. That along with a 9' straight edge I have no idea from where it came and two clamps, allow me to break down sheet goods instead of using a table saw. Total cost-$180. Festool makes a circular saw system to do the same thing. Cost-over $900. But, that includes a sawdust collection system. Is the Festool better? Probably. Is it faster. Probably. Is it safer? Yes. Do I want one? No. Table saws got a lot safer with the invention of the SawStop brand saw line. But, they also cost more. But, it is darn near impossible to get more than a slight nick if a finger hits the spinning blade. That safety costs more. Do I have one? No. Do I want one? No. I am perfectly happy with my contractor saw. Using woodworking tools means generating sawdust. Outside, so what? Inside---that is a whole different colored horse! The reason I mention that is because contractor saws are terrible saws for collecting dust. Cabinet models(much heavier and contained) do a better job, but cost more. New cabinet saws start at $800 or so for a base model and there are a LOT bof really cool and useful addons that hike the prices up to over $1500 really quickly. Brands popular are Delta(Unisaw---the granddaddy of table saws), Grizzly, SawStop, Jet, and Powermatic are the familiar brands. You might look at hybrid table saws. They are similar to cabinet saws in looks and dust/chip collection, but comparable to contractor saws in price. Craftsman, DeWalt, Grizzly, Jet, Rigid, and others make this relatively new style.

I've owned a variable speed router for years and can't remember a time when I ran at less than full speed. If a table saw could speak this is what it would say: Don't worry about my blade. Keep your eyes and hand on the fence at all times. My blade isn't going anywhere, unlike the piece you're pushing through. If you let the piece drift from my fence, my blade will pick it up and throw it at your guts and my blade is doing about 200 miles per hour. It will leave purple and yellow bruises just above Mr. Happy if you're 5'9" tall. It makes a "rrreh" noise that all the other guys in the shop know they aren't supposed to be hearing. While I've got you doubled over, you may as well hit my "stop" button, pull yourself up, and walk it off like nothing happened. Unlike your wife who may take you back if you don't follow her rules, I issue non-negotiable life sentences every time.

Timely article. Like some others I normally wait for spring to clean up but only in some areas. My front bed, i like to do some to neaten it up. I leave a back area away from the house, intact for the winter. I still trim by hand with pruners or heavy duty scissors. I dislike hedge trimmers I've used due to the condition of the branch after the cut. They always seem to make a mess. And how do you sharpen those too? At least with the electric saw, you just replace the blade. I got rid of hedges so I wouldn't have to use them. [g] We still have Taxus and Hollies, but I prefer to do those by hand. Maybe I should try using the electric saw on them now. We do have a small reciprocating electric saw tha we seem to use as a last resort when pruning shrubs. I haven't tried that on perennials or grasses. Like Babs, we find vibration and weight an issue after long periods of time using it. I have golden thyme growing as a ground cover around the ends of my raised veggie beds and it is a real chore to get that trimmed back in the spring. It has become a large patch and it is carefree once it is trimmed for the season. It blooms and is great for pollinators, it is tough and you can walk on it and treat it like grass. A few weeks ago I had the brainstorm to mow it with the mower. Why didn't I think of that long ago? [g] It worked very well. It did cut it back to bare branches in some places which is not a problem. I set the mower on the lowest setting. It was not pleasing to look at for a couple of weeks, but it's growing well again. So next year, I will wait until the season is just about over to do it, or I could wait for the spring to do it too. I did still have to take the scissors to the edges that meet the wooden beds where the mower couldn't get that close. It was much quicker and easier and I think it does just as good a job.