This is my favorite time of year. For two reasons only.

1. I get to spend even more time with my family.
2. My holiday wish list is dominated by tools I couldn’t justify to purchase during the year.

The stuff listed here is in use, everyday, in the Dadand Garage compound. We buy and use this stuff for real. We like it.

JH Williams 100P-8MD 8-Piece Premium Mixed Screwdriver Set

I have two drawers-worth of absolutely crap screwdrivers. I’ve tried just about every brand you can buy off the shelf. The tips bend, round off or just don’t fit the fastener very well.

But I do own one single “go to” Philips-head screwdriver. It’s a yellow-handled Snap-On #2—a purchase off the tool truck many years ago. It’s perfection as far as I’m concerned. So now that I decided to dump the drawers and get something more worthy to fill them, I found the JH Williams 8-piece Premium Screwdriver set.

Apparently this brand is the industrial brand from Snap-On…or they make the Snap-On versions—or something like that. All I know is that they are virtually identical to my favorite Philips and they are like 1/3 of the cost of the tool truck set.

Fill half a drawer with these and throw out the rest.

Under $50.

[amazon_link id=”B002NH5F30″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Buy on Amazon.[/amazon_link]

Kobalt Metal Garage Cabinets

Speakin’ of drawers…check out some Kobalt garage cabinets. Dadand just outfitted our R&D department with some of these wall and multipurpose floor cabinets. All metal construction and easy assembly means they’ll certainly outlast those saggy particleboard units you have now. And don’t even get me started on plastic cabinets.

The wall units install easy on a rail system or bolt ‘em right up to some studs, while the floor cabinet has two drawers, doors on the top for larger power tools and leveling feet to keep your projects at bay while you work on the top. All of them lock up pretty tight.

So turn your garage into a jewelbox, as you’ll want to open the door and show these gems off to the neighbors. Then throw out the plastic costume jewelry.

Starts at $136.

Buy at Lowe’s.

Kobalt 4-Tool 20-Volt Lithium Ion Cordless Combo Kit

Since I’m talkin’ Kobalt, how about a well-rounded set of cordless tools? With 20 volt long-life batteries, Dads can drive 4” deck screws until they’re blue in the face.

Honestly, we’ve got a lot of cordless tools. We’ve got red ones, yellow ones…blue and green ones.  And this Kobalt kit seems to stand up with the best of them. I can say the batteries last longer than any other cordless brand I own.

The kicker is that the batteries have a 3-year warranty and the tools have a 5-year “hassle-free” warranty.

Get some and put them in your Kobalt cabinets.

$299 for set shown.

Buy at Lowe’s

Chamberlain Garage Power Station

I just threw away my bicycle pump. One, because it was old and broken—and two, because Chamberlain outfitted Dadand North and Dadand South with their new Chamberlain Garage Power Station.

Gone are the days of lugging the portable compressor and an extension cord down the driveway to pump up your tires.

So go ahead and throw away the extension cord too…and a work light while you’re at it—‘cause this thing has all three built in.

100psi of inflation technology (with a dial gauge) along with a 10A outlet and a LED work light all at the end of a 25 foot wire/hose…thing.  They even threw in two more overhead lights (100W) so you can see where you kicked your bitchin’ blue-anodized valve caps across the garage floor.

Seriously Chamberlain? No bottle opener? That idea is free, my friends.

About $99.

[amazon_link id=”B00GEFDG9M” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Buy at Amazon.[/amazon_link]

Shop Fox Track Saw

Cutting down a 4’x8’ sheet of ply by yourself can be a daunting task. Unless you have a massive table saw setup with outfeed tables and a $1200 fence, you often end up with some pretty crappy cuts. I know you thrifty commenters will say it only takes a solid straightedge and a circular saw, but I’ll put my rips and crosscuts up against yours any day now that I have this Shop Fox Track saw.

Until now, track saws were in the $500-$1000 range and way out of my budget. Even with these dad blogger deep pockets.

Enter Shop Fox with an affordable offering that does the avid DIYer good.

And for those of you that made it this far and are like…”what is this track saw apparatus you speak of?” It’s a spring-loaded circular saw that plunges into the wood while riding on an extruded aluminum track, giving you accurate, straight cuts on whatever you clamp it to. Cleaner than a circular saw, faster than a router and easier to manage than a full sheet of ply on your contractor’s table saw.

Now time to build that dollhouse.

About $260. (saw, tracks and clamps sold separately. Get them all, but you’ll need two 55” tracks to rip a full sheet of ply).

[amazon_link id=”B00CHHNB7S” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Buy at Amazon.[/amazon_link]