30 Secret Tool Tips for DIYers

A standard saw blade chews up vinyl siding, leaving a chipped-and-ripped edge. For a clean cut, put the blade in backward.

You don't need a jigsaw or a band saw to create rounded corners. Just mark the curve, cut away the waste with a circular or miter saw, and then round off the curve with a belt or finishing sander.

Label all of your tool drawers so you (and others) can find a tool when you need it. You'll be amazed at how much time those labels save—far more than the time you'll spend making them. Label makers like this one are available at office and discount stores.

Recip saw blades don't have to go in with the teeth pointing down. You can reverse the blade for flush cuts—like after wall framing, when you cut sill plates out of doorways.

To bore a perfectly perpendicular hole, you need either a drill press or a couple of scraps of wood screwed together. The corner created by the scraps will steer the bit straight in every time. But if you're looking for an excuse to buy a drill press, forget you ever saw this tip.

Cordless tools are the greatest advance in human history. Well, at least for some of us. But they've also brought charger chaos. We recommend herding all your chargers into one place and plugging them into a power strip. You'll get organization, surge protection and an instant way to switch them all off after the batteries are charged.

A belt sander is a great tool for sending boards flying across your shop. If you don't want that to happen, clamp a stop block to your workbench. A block of the same thickness as your board will also prevent the sander from tipping down and tapering the end of your workpiece.

Even the sharpest bit tends to skate across hard materials like tile, metal or glass, leaving loopy scratches behind. To steady a wandering bit, give it a softer place to start. Thin cardboard (the stuff cereal boxes are made from), taped firmly in place, works perfectly.

Struggling to pry the plug out of a hole saw might make you mutter, 'Aw, screw it.' And that is indeed the correct approach. Drive a long screw into the plug. When the screw hits the back of the hole saw, keep driving and the screw will magically pull out the plug. If the plug is really stubborn, you might have to add a second screw on the other side of the drill bit. Then alternate between the screws, turning one and then the other until the plug is out.

Once upon a time, a man built a house using a lying level, so his floors were not level and his walls were not plumb. And all of the interior work, from installing cabinets to hanging doors, was a real nightmare. If you want to live happily ever after, give your level a 60-second checkup. Set it on your workbench and slip a shim under the low end until the bubble is centered. Then flip the level around, positioning the other end on exactly the same point on the shim. If the bubble isn't centered, the level is a horizontal liar. To check vertical accuracy, follow the same steps against a wall.