Mother’s Day Special Part 3: Tomboy Tools
By Chuck Cage
Part 3 of our “tools for Mom” feature (Mother’s Day is May 14th — write it down) takes a look at Tomboy Tools’ range of Mom-friendly toolkits.
Tomboy Tools takes a sort of “Mary Kay” approach to selling tools, working with all-female “consultants” who sell the tools directly through “in home workshops.” Ok, stop thinking Amway or Tupperware parties for a moment and relax: you can buy some of the tools — including most of the ones you might want for Mom’s day — directly from their website.
While Barbara K! and the Little Pink Toolkit Company offered mainly home (and auto) toolkits, Tomboy gets serious offering kits for more complex projects such as dry wall, plumbing, and painting.
They do, of course, also offer an “auto kit” ($82.95) which includes a heavy canvas multi-compartment bag that comes with:
- a 6″ adjustable wrench
- a retractable screwdriver
- a digital tire gauge
- a 3×4 waterproof tarp
- an aluminum weatherproof LED flashlight
- 10 ft. 10-gauge jumper cables
- and rubber grip gloves
The hand tools (sold both separately and in the kits) seem to be of relatively similar manufacture to the other womens’ kits we’ve seen, and are priced similarly ($6.95 for a pair of long-nose pliers, for example). The price (while more expensive than some of the more generic kits) is quite reasonable considering the contents, which seem well chosen and practical.
Wading into Tomboy’s other kits reveals their desire to assist women in completing more complex home-improvement tasks.
The Beginner’s Dry Wall Kit stores in a yellow and black nylon zipper bag and contains:
- a 2″ flexible blade putty knife
- a 3″ flexible blade putty knife
- a 5″ flexible blade putty knife
- an 8″ mud knife
- a utility knife
- a wallboard saw
- a sanding block
- fiberglass mesh tape
This kit would be a great start for serious dry wall work, and would work fine for repairing holes or small damage or minor modifications.
So, if your Mom’s into really getting her hands dirty or you’d like to give her a car kit that she’ll likely use, Tomboy Tools might be your go-to shop.
Corporate Site [Tomboy Tools]
September 14th, 2006 at 7:25 pm
This is a great article - thanks! Tomboy Tools does make great gifts! Check out the Hammer Out Breast Cancer promotion with the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation!