I've been doing DIY seriously for about four years. It started during lockdown, as it did for a lot of people, with a small bookshelf that I built from reclaimed timber and a YouTube tutorial. The bookshelf was wonky. I didn't care. I was hooked.
Since then I've built raised garden beds, a storage bench for the hallway, a set of floating shelves for the kitchen, and most recently a small workbench for the garden shed that I'm now calling my workshop, which my partner finds both endearing and slightly alarming. I'm a 38-year-old graphic designer by day and an increasingly serious maker by weekend.
The thing that had been limiting me for the past year wasn't skill or confidence. It was the extension lead.
The Extension Lead Problem
My workshop is a converted garden shed about twelve metres from the house. I have a single outdoor socket on the back wall, which means every corded tool I use requires an extension lead long enough to reach the shed, routed in a way that doesn't create a trip hazard, and managed carefully so it doesn't get caught in anything I'm cutting. It's manageable, but it's friction. Every session starts with the same setup ritual and ends with the same coiling-up ritual, and the lead itself limits where in the shed I can work comfortably.
I'd been in the Ryobi ONE+ ecosystem for about eighteen months — I had a drill, a sander, and a jigsaw, all running on the same 18V batteries. The cordless experience with those tools had been so much better than their corded equivalents that I'd started looking at what else I could add to the system. The multi material saw was the obvious next step.
Why I Chose the Ryobi ONE+ Multi Material Saw
The Ryobi ONE+ Cordless Multi Material Saw was the right choice for several reasons. The ONE+ battery compatibility was the first — I already had batteries charged and ready, so the bare tool format made perfect sense. No redundant charger, no new battery to manage, just a tool that slots into the system I already use.
The multi-material capability was the second. My projects involve a mix of timber, sheet materials, and occasionally plastic trim or thin metal fixings. Having a single saw that handles all of those without requiring a blade change for every material type is a genuine practical advantage. I'd been using my jigsaw for most cutting tasks, but a jigsaw has limitations in terms of straight-line accuracy and cut depth that a dedicated saw doesn't.
The ergonomic design was also a factor. I work in the shed for two or three hours at a stretch on a good weekend, and hand fatigue from a poorly balanced tool is a real issue over that kind of duration. The Ryobi is built for comfort in a way that's immediately apparent when you hold it.
First Use: The Workbench Project
The first project I used it on was the workbench itself — cutting the timber legs and the MDF top to size. I set up in the middle of the shed, no extension lead, no cord management, just the saw and the timber. The freedom of that was immediately noticeable. I could move around the piece, approach cuts from different angles, reposition without thinking about where the cord was. The shed felt twice as big.
The cuts were clean and accurate. The saw handled the timber legs without any bogging or hesitation, and the MDF top — which can be demanding on blades — came out with smooth, splinter-free edges. I finished the workbench in a single Saturday session, which would have taken me two sessions with the setup and teardown overhead of corded tools.
The Projects Since
I've used the Ryobi multi material saw on four projects since the workbench. A set of planter boxes for the garden — pressure-treated timber, no issues. A replacement fascia board on the shed itself — the cordless format meant I could work at height on a ladder without managing a cord, which made the job significantly safer as well as easier. A small side table from reclaimed pallet wood. And most recently, some plastic conduit trimming for a cable management project in the shed.
The multi-material claim holds up in practice. The blade handles the transition between different materials without requiring adjustment or replacement for standard DIY applications. For a maker who works across a variety of materials in the same session, that versatility is genuinely valuable.
What It's Changed About How I Work
The extension lead is still in the shed. I use it for the corded tools I haven't yet replaced — the router, the bench grinder. But for the saw, which is the tool I reach for most often, it stays coiled in the corner. The Ryobi comes off the charger, goes to wherever I need it, and comes back when I'm done. No setup, no teardown, no cord management.
That sounds like a small thing. Over the course of a weekend session, it isn't. The reduction in friction — the removal of the small, repeated irritations that accumulate into a reluctance to start — means I'm in the shed more often and staying longer when I'm there. My output has increased. My enjoyment of the process has increased. The workshop feels like mine in a way it didn't quite before.
My Verdict
If you're in the Ryobi ONE+ ecosystem and you're still using a corded saw, the Ryobi ONE+ Cordless Multi Material Saw is the upgrade that changes how you work. The bare tool format means you're only paying for the saw itself, the multi-material capability covers the range of tasks most DIY makers encounter, and the cordless freedom is something you won't want to give up once you've experienced it.
The extension lead can stay in the corner.
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Nadia Thornton is a graphic designer and weekend maker based in Norwich. She builds things in a converted garden shed that she insists on calling a workshop, and is currently planning a garden gate project that will definitely be finished before winter.
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