A Cordless Blower Is the Overlooked Tool You Definitely Need

Once you start getting into DIY, you’ll quickly realize that any time you wish someone had created a tool to meet a specific goal, someone probably has, no matter how narrow the use case. Concrete example: the cordless blower/inflator.

This tool is exactly what it sounds like. Shaped like a power drill, it simply blows air (although much like a handheld leaf blower, these tools usually come with a range of nozzles to give you a bit of precision with the flow of your forced air). You might think this sounds like a tool you’ll never need because you have lungs. But I’m here to convince you that you’re wrong: a cordless blower is sure to be one of the most useful tools you’ll ever acquire.

Handheld blowers have many uses that make every DIY job you do a little easier and faster:

• Cleaning. Probably the most common use case for a blower is quickly cleaning a work area by blowing away dust, sawdust, clippings, shavings, and other small debris. You can use a blower to quickly clean a workbench, blow dust from keyboards, motors or elsewhere. This is also very useful if you have a tight spot where you can’t fit a tool: the blower can clean it in a jiffy. It is also useful for quick cleaning of outdoor furniture or even my terrace. Although you may want a real leaf blower for large-scale cleaning of your yard, a handheld blower can do adequate and quick cleaning on demand.

• Reduced drying times. If you’re waiting for something to dry before you can move on to the next step in your project, a blower can significantly speed up that drying time.

• Cool other tools. There’s nothing more irritating than an overheating tool that forces you to stop and wait for it to return to a safe operating temperature. A fan can speed up this process, acting as a high-powered fan with a narrow, very precise blast of air to cool hot components.

• Redirect dust and debris. When working indoors, you often want to use a vacuum cleaner to collect dust as you work, but outdoors, a small handheld blower may be more convenient. Using it to redirect dust and debris away from you as you work can keep dust out of your eyes and your workspace clean as you go.

• Inflate things. These blowers come with accessories that not only allow you to be as narrow or wide with your airflow as needed, but also fit standard nozzles. Need to inflate an air mattress, billiard ball or something else? The blower will make short work of it.

Once I started using a blower while I worked, I found myself constantly reaching for it just to keep my workspace dust-free, and then I started reaching for it literally every time a blast of air seemed useful. You might not think you need a blower in your toolbox, but you probably do.

Choosing a blower

Most cordless blowers are similar in form and function. The two major brands you’ll encounter most are the Milwaukee M18 18V Brushless Cordless Precision Blower and the Makita 18V LXT Brushless Cordless High Speed ​​Blower/Inflator. They’re both solid tools, but I prefer the Makita because, in my experience, its battery life is much better (the Milwaukee has a bit more power, but I’ve never had a scenario where I needed more power). The Makita tends to last 45 minutes to an hour on a single charge, but when I borrowed a Milwaukee it died about a half hour into the job. Obviously this will depend on many variables, including what you use it for, but the Makita wins for me because every time I reached for it, there was enough charge left to finish the job.