Creative Enterprises believes that the best way to make weeding less time consuming and difficult is to flatten and sharpen the the head of a garden hoe and make it into a delta shaped wing, then extend the handle and sharpen it for easy cutting power during gardening. 

They call the result of all this the Winged Weeder — a labor saving tool that replaces the common hoe and other gardening tools. Its features and the tasks it can perform hint at the thought behind the shape and construction.  They claim it:

• reduces back pain from hacking and chopping
• aerates soil and cuts weeds at the same time
• makes clean, straight furrows and cuvers seeds
• makes a superb ice scraper, where its sharp, thin blade cuts beneath the ice and loosens it for easy removal
• keeps you off your hands and knees with its long handle

Creative Enterprises has an entire line of these multipurpose specailty tools for use around the home garden. They can be found at most hardware stores and the web for prices starting around $18. 

The Winged Weeder [Creative Enterprises]

JessEm seeks to take the sliding cross cut table to the next level with the introduction of their Mast-R-Slide 7500 featuring a guide mechanism gliding on 30 double-sealed precision bearings staggered “to provide constant contact contact to the guide rails through its travel.”

Measuring 28″ closed and extending for a maximum measured cut of 48″, the Mast-R-Slide requires no suppore legs and is designed to fir right- or left-tilt table saws while being used on the saw’s left side.  However, JessEm indicates that the table saw must have a solid cast iron top 27″ to 28″ deep and the front and rear fence rails will require modification.  (This eliminates most bench-top or portable contractor saws.)

Street pricing starts around $550.

The Mast-R-Slide 7500 Precision Sliding Cross-Cut Table [JessEm]
Street Pricing [Froogle]

Each year the INPEX new invention trade show offers inventors the opportunity to pitch their inventions to businesses seeking the “next big thing” in their respective industries.  This year’s INPEX show — June 7th -10th, 2006 in Pittsburgh, PA. – will include Bosch, Dremel, Skil, and RotoZip, as well as a number of non-tool manufacturers. 

Bosch specifically seeks new products that fall into these catagories: 

• Rotary tool attachments and accessories for hobby/craft/DIY, and also for professionals
• Application ideas for power tools and rotary tools
• Power tool products and accessories
• Power tool gift giving ideas and concepts (Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Christmas, etc.)
• Yard care, gardening and cleaning tools

If you have a tool invention to show or if you’d just like to get a preview of what’s to come in the tool industry, the Inpex website still has an entry form available for exhibitors and attendees.

And since we can’t make it, if you see something exciting there don’t forget to drop us a line and tell us about it.

INPEX: The Invention Show [inventionshow.com]
June 2006 Tradeshow Entry/Info form [INPEX]

We have magnetic lights in a number of places in our shop, but none this large or with this many features.  The Craftsman magnetic base project light combines the standard magnetic mount and gooseneck arm with a bright twin-tube fluorescent light as well as two power outlets with a resettable circuit breaker.

A dual power switch lets you set the light to full or half brightness, and an acrylic lens protects the light’s tubes from accidental breakage.

At $34.99, it’s probably best to think of it more as an alternative to a ceiling-mounted fluorescent task light than just another magenetic base light.

Craftsman Magnetic Base Project Light [Sears]

The next generation of sandpaper sands 9 times faster and lasts 30 times longer than conventional sandpaper. The twist: it’s not paper at all, but steel. Microplane’s new Stainless Steel Sandpaper, made from 400 Series Stainless, cuts a razor thin layer of wood instead of scraping like the traditional method.

The 5” stainless steel disc mounts to a traditional disc sander with hook and loop velcro style backing and cuts a thin layer of wood with many small razor sharp teeth, which provides a smoother finish as well as a quicker overall sand time. Since the teeth are cutting instead of scraping, the new sanding system requires less pressure and delivers more precision, with a wider effective sanding area.

Currently it appears that the system is intended exclusively for hardwoods as clogging issues arise with sap-heavy wood such as pine. Microplane says, however, that the next design release will solve this issue and allow use on softer woods as well.

Microplane’s stainless sanding system is widley available in course, medium, and fine grit in 2 packs, 10 packs, or contractor packs starting at $9.99.

Stainless Steel Sandpaper [Microplane.com]

When you think of craft tools, you can’t help but think of Dremel.  (And if you don’t already own one of their rotary tools, now’s the time.)  But were you aware that they make a glue gun?

Featuring dual temperature settings, a work light, an on-off switch (don’t laugh — look for one on your cheapie glue gun), LED indicator lights to indicate “on” and “ready” status, a soft-grip handle, a built-in kickstand, and a silicon tip (as opposed to metal in order to prevent accidental burns), Dremel’s glue gun may just be the most feature-laden glue gun on the market.

It starts at around $25 (street), so just think of it as the buying the Cadillac of glue guns for $15 more than the Yugo.

Glue Gun [Dremel]
Street Pricing [Froogle]

When you line up a cut with your circular saw, you’re always trying to eye exactly where the blade’s going to cut.  And if you use a guide, you have to be sure of the exact distance between the saw’s guide and the blade. 

The Pro-Cut is a simple plastic guide, but what makes it really slick is that when you make your first cut with it, you trim away the edge of the tool instantly aligning it permanently with your specific saw.  From then on, making a 90 crosscut is as simple as placing the edge of the tool using your measuring tape (its multiple guides automatically align it to 90 degrees on various common-dimensioned lumber) and cut away.

It also includes a built-in 6″ ruler and 45 degree triangle for measuring and layout work.  Street pricing starts around $15, and some distributors offer multi-packs.

Pro-Cut Portable Saw Guide [Bench Dog, Inc.]
Street Pricing [Froogle]

We know that among our readership, the choice between doing it yourself and hiring it out is an easy one: DIY.  Why should that be any different with a wired home network?  Network wiring issues can be difficult to track down, though, unless you have a network cable tester.

The bad news is that most cable testers cost well over $70, which can be a bit much if you’re only rarely dragging cable.  Today we ran across a unit on techbuys.net for $22.95.

The TLT-NT005 doesn’t include features like as an internal circuit breaker or slimline form factor, but it does close the gap between wondering if a cable is bad and knowing it’s bad.

TLT-NT005 Network Cable Tester [techbuys.com]

When Sears ran this promotion a while back we used it to pick up a new cordless drill, a tap and die set, and a circular saw.  (Sorry we didn’t post it then.  We didn’t hear about it until the last minute.)

The promotion is only for items purchased online at Sears.com — as opposed to in the stores — but most items can be selected for pickup at your local store on the same or next day.  (That’s what we did.)  There are some exception items, but almost all the items in the tools section, including a number of tools that are already on sale, are included.

The discount will appear in your shopping cart during checkout when shopping during the 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. period.

Sears.com [Sears]

Cutting cable is rarely ever a fun or easy task, but the PowerBlade makes it a bit simpler by using gear reduction to multiply the torque from your cordless drill and drive pincers to cut cable with the drill’s muscle instead of yours.

The PowerBlade unit mounts to almost any 3/8 inch portable power drill — a tool we suspect can be found in almost any shop. Once mounted it provides the needed force to cleanly slice through up to 750 MCM hard-drawn copper cables or up to 1,000 MCM aluminum cable with minimal cable distortion.

The minimum requirement for this cutting attachment is a 12-volt drill system when using it with a cordless drill.  (You can use it with corded drills as well.)  However, as we have found in our cordless drill comparison article, not all cordless drills are created equal. So your results may vary with lower torque drills.

Price plays a factor with the PowerBlade as well. Its sticker price of $562.50 at mytoolstore.com (the lowest price we found) might keep the PowerBlade Cable Cutter out of a few toolboxes.

PowerBlade Drill-Powered Cable Cutter [Ideal Industries]
PowerBlade Drill-Powered Cable Cutter [mytoolstore.com]
Selecting Your Next Cordless Drill [Toolmonger]

We’d forgotten about this handy item (which we received for Christmas last year) until a power outage last night caused us to pull it out of the nightstand drawer for use.  The Dynamo requires no batteries and provides 30 minutes of light from its three (very bright) LEDs with a one minute crank of its internal generator.

Maybe more importantly, ours still had enough charge to light the room up when the last time we’d cranked it we were sitting in front of the Christmas tree.  Wow.

Though we don’t know where our (thoughtful) gift giver purchased it — and we’re too polite to ask — we did find it listed for $20 on Shopping.com.  There are a number of similar lights available from a variety of sources, and they can easily be found with a quick Google search.

The Lentek FD01C Dynamo Tri-LED Flashlight [Shopping.com]

Designed primarily for 4×4 enthusiasts, the Max Ax is a composite axe handle with multiple fittings allowing it to be quickly converted to a pick, hoe, shovel, mattock, rake, or (of course) axe.  According to Forrest Tool (its manufacturer), the Max Ax:

…is the ultimate emergency preparedness tool to be carried as standard equipment on four wheel drive and off road vehicles and pickups.  It incorporates seven basic hand tools into one compact and versatile unit based on a 3-1/2 pound Hudson Bay-style ax with a virtually unbreakable 36″ composite polyglass handle.

It ships with a cordura case to hold all its various implements, and it can be mounted to several locations inside or outside your 4×4, or it can be carried on a pack or belt when hiking.  Forrest Tool suggests that the Ax is also useful for sportsmen, campers, search and rescue teams, law enforcement, fire fighters, and even contractors.

The Max Ax is available for $189.95 individually, or $179.95 each in orders of two or more direct.

The Max Ax [Forrest Tool Company]

German tool company Fein offers this unusual tool which they claim can cut, grind, raso, sand, plunge, and scrape. 

Our first thought was that this looks very much like any other detail sander notwithstanding the addition of some pretty creative attachments.  Indeed, in the Fein website’s FAQ they admit that the MultiMaster evolved from their detail sander and that the new attachments will retrofit to the older sander.

As skeptical as we are, we were surprised to find a number of positive reviews PDFed up for download at the Fein site.  A number of reputable publications have found applications for the tool, and spoke well of it.

The MultiMaster comes in five variations:

1. the MultiMaster XL — the largest kit with “most popular accessories,” including a carbide rasp, polishing pad, profile sanding kit, grout blade, segment saw blade, universal E-cut blade, scraper blade, hook & loop sanding pad, metal carrying case, and screw set, which lists for $436
2. the MultiMaster RS — a smaller set which deletes the polishing pad and profile sanding kit and lists for $326
3. the MultiMaster Start - a smaller set yet which further deletes the carbide rasp, grout blade, and segment saw, listing for $227
4. the Cordless MultiMaster – a cordless version of the “Start” kit powered by a 9.6v NiCd battery and listing for $499
5. and the Pneumatic MultiMaster — an air-powered version including the hook & loop sanding pad, segment saw blade, and scraper blade, listing for $291

(A detailed product comparison is available here.)

A quick jaunt over to Froogle showed that street pricing for the MultiMaster is a bit lower than list with the Start kit leading off around $165, yet this still seems awfully expensive for what it is. 

The MultiMaster [Fein]

With a thinner head, the “Flathead” lets you bring air ratchet goodness to projects where you’d normally be stuck wearing out your arms wrenching because your standard air ratchet simply won’t fit.

A composite grip separates your hand from the chill of compressed air, and the Flathead’s titanium head makes it one of the lightest and most balanced air ratchets around.  Ingersoll Rand also says that moving the forward/reverse switch off the head has the added benefit of easing one-handed use.

The 1215Ti Titanium Flathead Air Ratchet [Ingersoll Rand]

Update: It looks like Craftsman makes a similar ratchet, too, called the Craftsman Professional 3/8-inch Rapid Reverse Ratchet.  It’s $149.99 in the latest catalog.

According to the online shop where we found these, the Lowe-Scheren miter cutter is “similar to a garden shear,” but a “built-in fence allows you to cut miter joints quickly, easily, and with accuracy.”

They’re handy if you’re looking to do some home picture framing or if you need to cut miters in small moldings often.  The fence makes 45-degree cuts easy, and the base has markings for 15, 30, and 90-degree cuts as well.

They’re also a bit pricey at $45.95, but we have yet to find a set available elsewhere.  (If you’ve come across a less costly set, please let us know.)

Lowe-Scheren Miter Cutter [MikesTools.com]

We give a hearty thumbs-up to LiftMaster for publishing this great little garage door safety coloring book on their website.  Almost everyone has a garage door opener, yet we often forget that when used incorrectly they can hurt children, pets, and, yes, your car.

Some of the points made in the coloring book:

• “Garages are for cars… not for kids.”
• “When you play, stay out of the way.”
• “Grownups park in the garage… Kids play in the yard.”
• and most importantly of all, “You can’t win a race with the garage door.”

Thanks to LiftMaster for thinking of kids and pets.  Now who’ll step up to make a garage door safety drinking game to keep adults from closing the door on their Hummers?

Seriously, though, if you have kids and a garage door opener, you might want to grab a copy.  They’re free.

TomCat Discovers Garage Door Opener Safety [PDF: LiftMaster]

Here’s a great idea we came across when doing some plumbing work this weekend and thought we’d share: cast aluminum pipe wrenches.  They’re 40% lighter than the cast iron wrenches you’ve used forever, which is great when you’re weilding one above your head.

The one we saw was the Vise-Grip (read: Irwin) model, which comes in 10″ to 48″ sizes and starts around $30.  However, numerous companies make them.  That’s about twice as expensive as an old iron model, but then again we’re only talking about $15 or so (in common sizes).  It’s worth a look.

Vise-Grip Cast Aluminum Pipe Wrenches [Irwin]
Aluminum Pipe Wrenches [Froogle]