The method, up front

Every number on this site comes with its receipt.

Precious Handyman is a buying reference for garage, garden, welding and power tools. It is built on one rule: no claim ships without a source you can check. We don't run a test lab, and we won't pretend to. Every figure traces to a manufacturer spec sheet, a published safety standard, or a named independent test — and the trace is printed on the page, right where the claim is made.

How that works — including the four evidence grades we stamp on every claim — is spelled out on the How We Source page.

The evidence grades

• Standard A binding safety standard — OSHA rule text, an ANSI or IEC standard — linked to the rule itself.
• Spec A figure the manufacturer publishes for its own product, cited to the spec sheet or manual.
• Tested A named independent test, linked, with who ran it and how.
• Inference Our arithmetic from the grades above, with the working shown.

Published guides

• Angle Grinders: The Numbers That Keep the Wheel Together
  Why rim speed, not RPM, is the number that keeps the wheel in one piece; the 4-1/2 in. / 11,000 RPM class read off the catalog plate; the corded-vs-cordless arithmetic, shown; and what OSHA and ANSI B7.1 actually require. Cites 3 safety standards, 5 manufacturer documents, and 1 named independent test series.
• Choosing a TIG Welder: An Audit of the Specs That Matter
  The AC/DC fork that sorts the whole market before price does; amperage by material thickness; duty cycle read the way IEC 60974-1 defines it; AC balance, AC frequency, argon flow; and the OSHA shade chart. Cites 2 safety standards, 9 spec and settings sources, 11 ledger entries.
• How to Choose a String Trimmer: The Evidence, Audited
  The line-diameter classes that decide the purchase before any brand does; swath traded against power; battery vs gas after CARB's Model Year 2024 rule; and the injury numbers — including which body part the emergency-room data says to protect first. Cites 4 standards & rules, 2 injury datasets, 3 named independent testers, 12 ledger entries.
• Air Ratchets: What the Spec Sheets Say Before You Buy
  Why the compressor, not the ratchet, is the real purchase: the Ingersoll Rand 107XPA data plate read line by line, the CFM arithmetic against small compressors, the air-vs-cordless total-cost fork, and what OSHA and NIOSH say about a 94.4 dBA tool. Cites 2 safety standards, 1 manufacturer spec sheet, 2 trade write-ups, 6 ledger entries.
• The First-Home Toolbox, Bought in the Right Order
  Buy for the repair that arrives first, not the project you imagine: the day-one hand-tool layer, the boxed-kit piece count audited by the piece, the rent-don't-buy division shown from published rates, and the ladder numbers nobody reads. Cites 2 safety standards, 1 peer-reviewed injury study, 2 named independent testers, 12 ledger entries.
• Picking a Cordless Battery Platform: The Lock-In Audit
  The $99 drill kit that is really a decade-long contract: the four big 18V-class systems read from their own catalog counts and warranty documents; amp-hours turned into watt-hours and dollars per watt-hour; and a switching-cost worksheet that puts a number on lock-in. Cites 1 safety-standard series, 10 manufacturer documents, 17 ledger entries.
• Brushless vs Brushed: What the Premium Actually Buys
  What the word on the box actually means — one rubbing contact removed, one controller added; the engineering efficiency and service-life figures graded for what they are; a same-brand catalog price pair read honestly; and a use-frequency × failure-cost rule instead of a verdict. Cites 2 engineering references, 4 manufacturer spec pages, 10 ledger entries.
• Drill, Impact Driver, or Impact Wrench: Which Job Is in Front of You?
  Three mechanisms, not three sizes: why the drill's 1,400 in-lb and the driver's 2,000 in-lb measure different things, the fastener map by interface, the ten-to-one wrench arithmetic shown, and the final-torque rule that finishes every spec'd fastener by hand. Cites 1 safety standard, 4 manufacturer documents, 2 named independent testers, 13 ledger entries.
• Sizing a Generator: The Wattage Arithmetic, Shown
  Running watts, starting watts, and the sum worked in the open from the published worksheets; inverter vs conventional read off the spec sheets; the fuel fork in Btu and hours; and the carbon monoxide file — the 20-foot rule, the CO shut-off standard, and the cord that kills linemen. Cites 1 federal safety publication, 1 ANSI standard, 6 manufacturer and industry documents, 9 ledger entries.
• Where Hand-Tool Craft Is Still Taught
  The Craft feature: America's folk schools and ABANA's blacksmithing network read from their own published curricula, the Cooroora Institute in Queensland as the case study, and what sharpening, heat-treat and fit training change about buying tools at all. Cites 10 school and association documents, 2 archived sources, 15 ledger entries.

Guides in preparation

The site is being rebuilt guide by guide. With the first ten guides now published, next up are guides on shop vacuums and dust extraction, the first-year apprentice tool list priced three ways, and the rent-or-buy cost-per-use rule. Each one follows the same anatomy: the job in front of you, the fork that decides the purchase, an evidence table with a source column, the safety file, and a numbered sources ledger.

Until a guide ships, its address stays dark. We would rather publish nothing than publish a page without its receipts.

What this site is not

An older site at this domain was an affiliate review blog. This one isn't. There are no affiliate links here, no sponsored placements, and no "top 5" lists ranked by feel. Verdicts are conditional — there is no best, only the fork that decides it for your situation — and every recommendation states its downside. Who publishes it and why is on the About page.