Lost the keys to the garage in the snow last night, there have been some thefts in the area so didn't want to leave it unlocked overnight, figured getting a locksmith to come out at 8 PM on a Saturday night was going to cost more than it was worth, thus is was down to Home Despot for a new lock. The old one was some brand I'd never heard of, got a new Schlage.
Lock went in fine, but the opening in the old strike plate was too narrow for the Schlage deadbolt, so went to put the Schlage strike plate in. Needed to open up the mortise a little and deepen it. Was going to go down to the basement and get the chisels, then I noticed the ten buck Harbor Freight "pencil grinder"
Well, I'm a believer. Compared to that little ten buck air grinder, Dremels are crap. It never bogged down once, got cooler instead of warmer, never gave any sign of strain, cut through the jummywood of the door frame with just the right amount of resistance to give me real control, it's light and really well balanced compared to the Dremel--it handles like a pencil, not like a power tool. In short it works the way I _expected_ a Dremel was going to work before I used one, but the Dremel never really worked that way. And to top it off, once the strike plate was in I had to adjust it a little as well, and the air grinder with the carbide cutter sliced through that with no more fuss than with the wood.
Been toying with the idea of a flex shaft but see no need for one of those either--with the air grinder I'm not tied to a few feet of shaft--I can use it anywhere I can run an air hose--and it turns over
50,000 RPM.Designed so that the air exhausts out the back with a long sleeve so that it exhausts far from the work piece so no problem with oil contamination either.
They've got a 1/4 inch die grinder for ten bucks as well--next time I'm over there I think I'm going to get one of those.
Downside is that it needs a compressor of course.