If you are in the market for tools, in particular power tools, now seems to be a good time to buy.

We’ve been looking for an inexpensive, but decent, miter saw for the shop. One project I’m working on in particular needs nice accurate cuts, and I couldn’t do them properly with my small circular saw. (As usual, I am vexed by simple tasks. I can make complicated plunge cuts in a big piece of lumber, but I can’t cut a 2×4 accurately if my life depended on it. Go figure.)

We went to Lowe’s yesterday to pick up more lumber and saw blades, and Evelyn spotted a good deal on a Skil miter saw — $99 for a 10″ model. It’s not the biggest, most powerful, saw out there. But it was a good deal for our small-scale (non-production) work. It was a breeze to set up, isn’t too heavy, and did exactly what I needed it to do. Horray!

Today I received an e-mail from Amazon with sales on routers, another device we’ve been needing for a while. I was able to pick up a small Milwaukee router, with fixed and plunge base, with a case, for $126 shipped. Again, it’s not a big powerful router, but it’s perfect for the work that we do.

We’ve been seeing quite a bit of this trend: Good introductory power tools at very reasonable prices. It’s actually kind of shocking, since we’re getting good deals on new power tools, while on the other hand our local thrift shops have gotten MORE expensive! Explain that to me.

Now I just need more bench space.