Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day the DeWalt 20V Angle Grinder “Renewed”.  These are in stock right now as “renewed” items in a decent enough quantity that I can run them as an item of the day.  Last time they were in this price range they had 7 in stock.  I bought one and texted a few friends and they were gone in a few hours.

I have already written at length about the renewed program so I won’t rehash it here.  Read the article if you want to know more but the short version is there is no “renewed”, it is a made up marketing term.  These items are returns that are like new and Amazon is good at marketing.

This item really is for existing DeWalt users that don’t have an angle grinder yet.  Mostly because it is a bare tool, meaning no batteries or charger included.  Most of us own a lot of chargers and batteries already so bare tool options save money.

This tool if bought new is on sale today for $116.00 which is a damn decent deal itself as it retails at $139.  But the renewed (like new in box) version is $99.99), 40 bucks off retail and 17 off the sale price of a new one.  And you may think hell, I may as well buy a new one.  If you want to go ahead, but if you want to know what Jack would do if he didn’t already own one, I would buy the renewed.  If you don’t, bluntly you hate money.

As to the tool itself an angle grinder is the tool you didn’t know you needed until you have one.  It does so many things well and so many things that nothing else will really do.  One thing I found it to do even better than tools made for the job is cutting say 1/4 inch hardware cloth when building chicken tractors or our aviary.

The reality is an angle grinder is a very versatile tool because it can use many different disks, they break down into three main categories…

• Cutting
• Grinding
• Polishing

From there the uses tend to be endless and include tasks like…

• Paint removal
• Rust removal
• Cutting ceramic tile
• Removing mortar
• Stone cutting
• Cleaning metal
• Cutting metal
• Polishing metal
• Tool sharpening
• Carving wood
• Planing wood
• Sanding wood

The truth is this tool is one of those tools that you really want to have around.  Yet, honestly unless you have tasks you do a lot that require one you won’t use it any where near as often as say a good drill or reciprocating saw.  It is why I have pushed folks to build up their cordless tool sets (regardless of brand) around a 4 tool core of

• A drill
• A driver
• A circular saw
• A reciprocating saw

Then build from there.  With those four most homesteaders are in good shape.  After you have those, I recommend getting the following based on your needs and what will do the most for you, as in this is not a set order of priority here…

• A nail gun
• An angle grinder
• A second drill (can be lesser quality)
• A jig saw

From there tools like Oscillating Multi-Tools, Lawn Tools, Specialized Cutters, Impact Tools, etc are things that are very individual in whether you need/want them or not.  In fact I used an angle grinder so little in the past I recommended that people just buy a 25 dollar plug in Black & Decker for when you really need one, then bring the stock to your shop or deal with running an extension cord.

It is still a viable option for some, especially if you are an “urban homesteader” that can easily reach a power cord to any part of your property you’d be working on.  For me though that theory died the day this thing went on sale and I went ahead and bought one.   The minute that pain in the ass of a cord goes away you are so much quicker to grab and use a grinder.  In fact I am planning to do a show on building out a cordless tool set for homestead projects after Thanksgiving and will be moving the angle grinder from the secondary list to the primary one.

So if you are a DeWalt user this is a great deal.  If you are reading this in the future and the renewed option is not available and you are ready to add this tool to your kit, don’t hesitate to buy the new one if you need it.  The price on the bare tool even at retail, is very reasonable.

Again though ALWAYS especially with premium brands and more expensive items check the renewed store first.  It can save anything from 20 bucks to 200 or more.  I have saved thousands over the years using it, again read my article to understand why any ideas you have that “renewed” means a returned broken being rebuilt in some Amazon Warehouse is nothing but pure fantasy.

Remember you can always find all of our reviews at TspAz.com