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Tools (and your work) will only get better if you give them quality parts.

People were stuck at home or needed a project to take their mind off of problems. Either way, the pandemic kicked off a construction boom both among professionals and homeowners. The two groups went to town building brand new structures (such as houses and sheds) or modifying existing ones. One of the most useful tools for doing those is the circular saw. And our tests indicate that this is about as close to an all-purpose circular saw blade as you can find. It quickly and cleanly cuts every typical construction lumber, from Doug fir and hem fir to pressure-treated and engineered wood. Its 24 carbide teeth provide a surprisingly smooth cut, while not being rated specifically for smoothness; see the other blades that we tested for that. Each of the teeth has a tip shaped like a spear, with bevels on the sides and on the front. The geometry produces a drag-reducing shearing action at each tooth, particularly important for cordless saws, which need all the help they can get, but also yields performance benefits in corded saws. Our tests show that it’s a clean and effective cutter in both.

We’ve made a lot of cuts with circular saws, and these blades provide as clean a slice as any we’ve seen. Consider them smooth and smoother; the 60-tooth 13018 delivers a glass-like surface and the 40-tooth 13007 nearly so. Those teeth are ground to what’s called an alternate top-bevel profile, which reduces splintering and back pressure by providing room for chips and sawdust to fall free.

These bits quickly, cleanly, and accurately bore holes in plastic and metal up to 1⁄8 inch. Still, we tried them in steel a touch thicker than that, and they did fine. The split-point tip fights the tendency to skid off the starting point.

This 23-piece set—sizes 1⁄16-inch to 3⁄8-inch—proved its mettle in our testing. Each bit is ground with a sophisticated and thick twist and tip geometry for an accurate start, speedy chip removal, and a clean hole.

Braze nine carbide teeth per inch to a flexible reciprocating saw blade and grind them to a wave profile. That’s what Diablo did, and now you can cut hard steel alloys and cast iron up to a thickness of 9⁄16 inch. These blades are tough, but you need an equally hardy saw.

For a slightly less aggressive and smoother cut than the blades mentioned nearby, these (10-teeth-per-inch) U.S.-made Lenox blades are a fine alternative. They’re also equipped with carbide teeth and a unique geometry that gives them 50 times the life of an ordinary steel blade, says their manufacturer. We can’t verify that yet, but we can say these are extraordinarily tough blades in metal up to half an inch thick.

This ToughBuilt consists of a padded 3 1⁄2-inch-wide belt, through which passes a strip of webbing to provide structural support for tool bags, each of which clicks on and off the belt. The system is clever, tough, and comfortable.

Carhartt riffed on its Classic R01 bib overall (which it still offers) to make this garment from 12-ounce duck. A key modification is an elastic gusset where the legs and back panel meet to provide stretch. Lack of give has been a common sticking point with overalls, and the redesign helps you better tuck in a hoodie or insulated work shirt. Carhartt also doubled the material at the cuffs for durability. And pockets? Fourteen. Rivets? It’s got more than your average passenger plane.