How tools actually work, and how to choose one
Find Tool Editorial Team 
An FFP or N95 rating tells you how well a mask filters airborne particles — dust, mist and similar solid or liquid droplets — and roughly what proportion of them it is required to stop in a standard test. It says nothing about fit on your specific face, comfort, reuse, or protection from gases, vapours … Read more
A dust mask is a loose-fitting paper or fabric shield that catches larger, visible dust and offers little protection against fine particles. A respirator is a tighter-sealing device, tested and rated to filter much finer particulates, and in some forms fitted with cartridges for fumes or vapours. The difference is the seal and the rating, … Read more
Sustained noise around 85 decibels (dB(A)) or higher is the widely used threshold at which hearing protection becomes necessary, according to occupational safety bodies. Most power saws, planers, routers and shop vacuums run well past that level, so the honest rule for a home workshop is: if a tool is loud enough that you’d raise … Read more
An eye protection rating tells you what a lens or goggle has been tested to survive and how — mainly impact from flying particles, sometimes splash, dust or radiation from processes like welding. The marking on the frame (such as Z87+ in the US or EN 166 in Europe) is a shorthand for which tests … Read more
A burnt smell from a power tool usually means one of a few things: normal carbon brushes wearing down, a motor working harder than it should because of a blunt blade or bit, a workpiece scorching under too little feed speed, or a battery or gearbox running hotter than it’s designed to. Some causes are … Read more
A tool is genuinely worth repairing when the fault is specific and fixable, the parts or labour cost meaningfully less than a comparable replacement, and fixing it does not mean patching around a safety feature. If the fault is a worn motor, a cracked casing near moving parts, or unknown internal damage, replacement is usually … Read more
A blunt blade forces the motor to push much harder to get through the same material. That extra resistance shows up as higher current draw, more heat in the windings, slower cutting, and a machine that labours, stalls, or trips more easily. Over time, that strain wears the motor out faster than normal use ever … Read more
Brushed motors fail because the carbon brushes that carry power into the spinning rotor physically rub away every time the tool runs. Eventually the brushes wear too short to make good contact, the commutator surface they ride on wears unevenly, and the motor loses power, sparks heavily, or stops turning altogether. It is mechanical wear, … Read more
Storing a lithium-ion battery at full charge keeps its internal chemistry under higher voltage stress for longer, which speeds up the slow, permanent capacity loss that all these batteries experience over time. A pack left topped up on a shelf for months will typically hold less charge than one stored partly discharged. Why does full … Read more
Lithium-ion tool batteries age mainly from heat, deep discharge cycles and time spent sitting at full charge — not simply from being old. A pack used gently and stored at a partial charge in a cool place will outlast an identical pack that’s regularly run flat, charged hot, and left topped up on a shelf … Read more
About what you read here. Everything on Find Tool is general information and our own editorial opinion. We research carefully and we say when the evidence is unclear, but we can be wrong, things change, and no article can know your particular situation. Please do your own research and make your own judgement rather than treating anything here as the final word. Prices, products and specifications around tools and workshop equipment change constantly, and what suits one person will not suit another. Check current details yourself, and where a decision involves real money, safety or something you cannot undo, it is worth confirming with the manufacturer, or a qualified electrician or tradesperson before you act.