To me, this is a thing of beauty. It’s not too heavy, has a comfortable grip, charges up quickly and is plenty powerful. Since when did I turn into Tim from Home Improvement?

Growing up, I was someone who could do major damage with a simple screw driver or hammer (unintentionally). In shops classes, I never did excel in the use of any power tools (although I had a blast with welding torches). At home, my help usually consisted of holding objects to stabilize them, leaving the real work to some one else (ANY one else). My father was the one who could make anything, fix anything, work with any tool, tackle any problem and actually enjoy, yes, enjoy working with his tools. I didn’t understand that as a kid. But, I guess some of that DNA found its way to me.

As I grew up, I did buy the odd tool here and there, but nothing elaborate. I learned how to do a few repair jobs but with a family full of expertise and experience, I often did very little (more of that ‘holding’). Similarly, when I moved to Japan I bought the odd tool here and there and did some repair work here and there.

That all changed when we started building the house. My father-in-law realized what basic tools I need and provided me with the basics, for which I will forever be grateful. One of those tools was the simple power screwdriver. With that one tool I built a good portion of our house. I’ve built items outside of the house and fixed what needs fixing. It did a great job over all these years.

Lately, it’s not been working as great. There are the odd puffs of smoke that came out from the back. The batteries would only work for short periods of time and the power has been lacking of late. It owes me no apologies. I bow in thanks for all the help it gave.

And now, it’s a new era. The time of the Bosch power driver. It’s been in the house less than a week, and already it’s been useful. Various housing projects await its help. Let the fun begin!