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Welcome to The Splinter Report, where I gather the assorted interesting and amusing things I’ve seen in the woodworking world. This week we’re looking at a ton of new tool news, and uh, not much else.
Tool News Quick Bites
Wagner Offers Moisture Meter Trade-Ins: I’m not sure I’ve seen a tool manufacturer do this before, actually. Wagner has essentially created a Cash for Clunkers but with moisture meters instead of cars. The way it works is that you purchase a new Orion moisture meter from Wagner, and once it arrives, you ship the old one back and receive a $75 credit.
New Batteries and more from Makita: At World of Concrete, Makita pulled the wraps off their new 40V max XGT® 8.0Ah High Power Battery (BL4080H). The battery delivers a claimed 35% more power thanks to new tabless cell technology. Tabless cells essentially deliver power like a flat cell battery, but in a form factor more similar to traditional battery cells. They also announced some new charging and storage cases for batteries that are more aimed at the professional market.
Bosch Preparing to Launch L-Boxx Contractor System in the US: Bosch has been playing second fiddle in the United States in the modular tool storage space for a while now. Their existing L-Boxx system is, well, just not as nice as similar systems from DeWalt, ToughBuilt, and of course, Milwaukee. The new Contractor series aims to change that, and they’ve recently started to share more information on the roll-out here. One thing not revealed yet is the price — converting the European prices to US dollars puts them at a large premium vs the aforementioned competitors. It’s quite probable that Bosch will sacrifice margins for competitive pricing though.
Kobalt Joins the USB Battery Charging Movement: I’ve written previously about SKIL adding USB bidirectional charging functionality to their 20V system, and now Kobalt is starting to include the functionality as well. Like I’ve said before, this is a no-brainer, especially if the batteries can still be charged in traditional dock-style chargers.
Limited Edition Blackout Tools Coming from Ryobi: I’ve been a long defender of the oft-maligned Ryobi brand. I’m hard-pressed to think of any other power tool manufacturer that threads the needle of affordability and quality so well. It’s the brand I recommend to all my friends who are light-DIYers or homeowners. Which is a really roundabout way of saying that I think the new blackout tools they’re releasing are really cool.
I’m sure to catch some grief from Logan for this, but I’m really digging the blackout aesthetic. I actually own the non-blackout version and it’s a fantastic drill. I will say, nothing about these tools has been announced through official channels yet, though you can oddly enough purchase it on Amazon (at a price premium). So shh, don’t tell Ryobi I’m spoiling their releases.
Noteworthy News: Updates Coming to the PW Site
Normally, I report on stuff happening in the outside world, but this time the call is coming from inside the house. We’re very lucky here that editors past had the foresight to get Popular Woodworking online before a lot of other magazine brands. What’s less lucky is that in the past 25+ years we’ve created a bit of Ship of Theseus situation with the way the site is put together. Parts have been built and rebuilt and replaced and added to over the years. We somehow lost a ton of photos during the bankruptcy period. There was a several-year period where no one knew how to correctly publish new articles to the homepage.
The site circa 1998.
One of our big 2026 projects is going to be fixing a lot of old issues. We’re developing a new universal login system that reduces the number of passwords you need to remember. There are a ton of performance and stability issues we’re working to address. There’s going to be some short-term pain: comments will be going away for a while, and we will require a password reset for the new login system.
During this process, we want your feedback on what you love about the site, or things you wish we could improve. We’re also probably going to break some things by accident, and any bug reporting is helpful as well. As usual, any comments or complaints can be sent to me directly at cknoff@aimmedia.com.
Out of Context Christopher Schwarz Quote
Video of the Week: Relatable Situation
When I’m working on big projects for the magazine, I travel to Des Moines to Logan’s fancy shop. It has all the tools, all the space, and a great dust collection system. At home though, it’s a bit different. I’m working out of a two-car garage, with a setup that is modular and mobile. I use a dust extractor with a Mullet instead of a full dust collector. And honestly, that’s how most of our readers work as well. Youtuber Shane Bailey is in the same boat, and made this short, useful video about creating a better dust collection hookup for his planer. And while yes, you might not want to use PVC piping in an industrial setup, it’s more than durable enough for the CFM generated by a standard dust extractor.
Anything interesting I missed this week, or that you want me to highlight in a future Splinter Report? Let me know on social media or drop me an email at cknoff@aimmedia.com.
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