My grandfather bought a Gerstner tool chest to hold his archery arrow-making supplies over 50 years ago.  It now resides at my lucky-ass uncle’s house, and while it’s a bit dusty, the last time I saw the old chest it looked exactly the same – except for an awesome patina that the wood had taken on from years of finger oil. 

These chests are all made with solid kiln-dried red oak drawers and feature felt liners, carefully fitted drawers and panels, tongue and groove joinery, hand rubbed lacquer finish, steel reinforced corner protectors, locking pins and latches, and a lockable front panel.  But what makes ‘em really cool is that you’ll for sure end up passing them on to future generations.

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When I was a kid, my Dad took me to the flea market pretty regularly, and we used to paw through hundreds of boxes of tools searching for stuff that’d work well at home.  In fact, my first Craftsman toolkit came entirely from the flea market.  Sure, you can take ‘em back for replacement, but for some reason I’ve never needed to. 

On a recent trip to the “dirt mall” here in the Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX area, I discovered that most of the vendors now want premium money (read: new price) for any “lifetime warranty” tools, and subsequently their selection seems to be pretty stifled.  I do, however, have a Porter Cable PortaBand that came from the flea market.

I know some of you are shrewd bargain seekers.  What do you look for at the flea market now, tool-wise?

The Woodworking Shows convention, which has been making its way around the country, will stop in Overland Park, KS this weekend, Feb. 2nd to 4th.  The show’ll feature master clinics on shop machinery, power tools, and finishing, and offers a variety of seminars on various topics.

Admission is $8 a person for a three-day pass, with parking priced at an additional $5.  Semiars start at $55 and are sold separated.  Check before you go.  Children under 12 are free with a paid admission — and they take cash only.

Check out the links below for additional information, and if you’d like to hear what some other Toolmongers thought of previous show stops, check out the last link.

The WoodWorking Shows - Kansas City [Ticket Sales]
The WoodWorking Shows - Kansas City [Main]
Reader Comments: Ohio Stop [Toolmonger]

Update: You can obtain a “$2 off admission and bring your spouse free” coupon here. (Thanks, Gene!)

If you’ve made the decision to go the hand operated route vis a vis shrubbery surgery, some heavy duty gear is in order, like Fiskars’ gear-driven lopper — the PowerGear. 

The handles on the big lopper are nylon-fiberglass composite that Fiskars calls “Nyglass,”  which they also claim is extremely difficult to break.  The blade is good ‘ole hardened steel with an innovative non-stick coating and connects to a gear mechanism that Fiskars says reduces the force required to operate the tool by half.

Oh yeah, and it looks like a medieval torture device.  I think that fits in great with trimming hedges, which I think of as torture anyway. (more…)

When I run across someone who can do crazy-cool things with wood or metal, I’m impressed.  But whenever I hear about someone going out of their way to share their knowledge with others — often simply because they wish to perpetuate the art — that person instantly has my respect.

I came across this article in the Register-Mail Online today about Robert Loving — a 65-year-old retired food safety specialist who makes his living carving figurines (selling for $5 to $500) but takes time out to teach carving classes to adults.

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Sizod writes: “This is absolutely the best tool for installing and removing six and twelve point fittings on hose and hard tubing connections.  It’s also useful for hex head bolts in tight locations.”

This is essentially a ratcheting box-end wrench that opens up to surround the fastener — so you don’t have to worry about slipping off it.  Think of it as a “super-flare-wrench.”

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You know this guy’s looking for a job right now — and not in the construction/demolition industry. 

If you watch closely, though, you can see a little jump in the video.  Think maybe they set this one up for the camera?  Or maybe they just cut out the boring part before the, um, exciting part.

As the level feature wars heat up, the EM71 represents Empire’s latest shot.  Empire’s “E” series levels are a very identifiable blue aluminum with a blue tint on the bubble glass. 

The EM71 is as the name would suggest that the new level’s a lot like the venerable E70.  In fact, as far as we can tell it is the E70 with two magnets added on the underside of the box beam.  So, if you already have its predecessor (or another magnetic big bubble box beam level), this one probably isn’t worth going nuts over.  But if you’re in the market for a magnetic level, it’s worth a look. 

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You may have noticed Nate’s comment on our Princess Auto mention yesterday in which he described this awesome cheap-ass tool: TempGun.com’s PE Mini — a $15 (!) infrared thermometer.  At that price, no one should be without one of these.

It features a response time of one second and an accuracy of 2.5-degrees.  It’ll report (via its LCD) in both Fahrenheit and Celsius, and it runs for quite a while on two 1.5V batteries.  Best of all, it’s about the size of a keychain.

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(Monday, January 29th, 2007) Words cannot express how lame Mondays have become.  I guess Monday is our new shop night.  (And Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday…)

All times are central.

• Trains and Locomotives: “SteamFest: Part 2 – SP&S 700.” (RFD-TV, 5:00 p.m.)
• Dirty Jobs: Mule Logger (Discovery, 8:00 p.m.)
• Unique Whips: Old School (Speed, 10:00 p.m.)
• MythBusters: Underwater Car (Discovery, 11:00 p.m.)

Enjoy.

When it comes to dress-up kits and such, what looks cool or personal preference rules.  But internal engine work is all about precision and accurate measuring. Valve spring heights aren’t an exception to that rule, and guesstimating won’t cut it.  You need a valve spring micrometer. 

When it’s inserted over the valve between the spring seat and retainer (as if it were a spring) the threaded members provide sufficient axial pressure (just like a spring would) to enable an accurate measurement of critical valve spring heights to and accuracy of thousandths of an inch.

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I’ve posted links to a bunch of crazy articles lately where clueless people write knowledgably about tools.  Here’s one that’s not so bad.

Maureen Gilmer of DIY Network apparently contributed this bit, titled “Forget Diamonds, Get Women Quality Tools.”  A good start, yeah?  She then goes on:

Whether it’s knitting needles or a carving knife, women use more tools every day than most men. And yet women are most often overlooked by toolmakers. When they do make tools for women, they either give them bright color or downsize them for smaller hands, neither of which does much to help you get the job done.

Women don’t gloat over their tool collection like men do. Girls want just a few good tools that do what needs to get done. Oddly enough, the two best garden tools for girls have guy names: Leatherman and Pocketboy. Both are rarely found in stores and best bought online.

Let me start by saying that the rest of the article boils down to a great review of the Leatherman and Pocketboy, which is a must-read for anyone who does a lot of pruning — hence the “A+ for content.” 

But what’s this about women not “gloating over their tool collection like men do?”  Huh?  I enjoy my tool collection.  I even use it from time to time.  But I’m not so sure I gloat over it. 

Why does ever writer seem to feel the compelling need to condemn sexism in tool writing by perpetuating it?  Here’s my advice to everyone out there who’s planning on writing about tools for women: Do men and women a favor and just talk about the tool.  Skip the stereotypes and stick to the facts — like the rest of this well-written tool review.

Forget Diamonds, Get Women Quality Tools [FortWayne.com] 

HILTI markets its tools to “professionals,” which essentially means that most of their tools are sold by contract to commercial customers.  While the tools themselves often don’t seem that distinguished from their primarily-big-box-retailer-targeted cousins, HILTI does offer an extensive range of parts and service options for their tools.  So it’s interesting to see what they’re offering from time to time — especially when Home Depot seems to carry it.

Like, for example, this 24V cordless reciprocating saw.  The form factor’s a bit of a departure from most manufacturer’s idea of ideal, but it should offer a relatively low center of gravity which might contribute to ergonomics.

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We’ve decided to extend our Submit a Tool, Win a Tool offer, and we’re offering up some of the smaller post-test tools hanging around the office.  This week we’re going to send one to our favorite tool submission.  If you’ve got a minute, drop us a line using the Submit a Tool form and let us know what’s in your shop that we should have in ours.

Submit a Tool [Toolmonger, of course]

Dan writes: “For anyone up here in Canada, Princess Auto is the Canadian version of Harbour Freight — a lot of cheap-but-sketchy tools (22-piece screwdriver set, $8.88!) and genuinely good prices for tarps, wheels, surplus.  It’s a great place to buy big 500-piece sets of c-clips, cotter pins, etc, so you’ll always have the size you need.  Oh, and, yes, it’s a dangerous place to get browsing…”

I love hearing about tools and tool shops from other countries, especially our neighbors to the North.  On each of my two visits to Canada I was surprised by how similar and how different simple things were from my home in Texas.

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Ever blow the gasket on your exhaust manifold?  We’re not admitting why we know this can happen — and rest assured it doesn’t involve fracturing the speed limit –  but it can happen.  Theoretically.  And if when it does, you might find that the manifold has warped and the holes don’t line up anymore.  That’s when you need a manifold spreader. 

A manifold spreader helps you expand a warped manifold so that all the bolt holes are accurately aligned.  This helps to prevent cross-threading of manifold bolts, which believe us isn’t something you want to deal with.  Just position the tool between two pipes and crank the center with an opened wrench. The tips will expand and push the pipes into place.

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Friend of Toolmonger (and sometimes contributor) Lorenzo sent us a link to this crazy piece of news and accompanying photo.  If you look carefully at the above photo, you’ll notice that inside the yellow circle is a full-size bulldozer. 

Apparently the operators cranked up this monster to move it without first locating and securing all the bulldozers.  The digger picked it up like a toy and ran it right through the system.  Look past the jump for a close-up photo.

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