Hot or Not: The Speed Rocker Drywall Knife
By Sean O'Hara
The Speed Rocker drywall knife adds a “tape hook” on the thumb rest so you can hold a measuring tape and make a score mark at the same time, and some drywall guys love the fact that there’s a fold-out drywall saw hidden in the handle. But at $20, it’s a bit expensive for some people’s taste.
It’s solidly built — nice and heavy-feeling in your hand — and one side of the handle is also a drywall rasp for truing up edges, though we wonder if you’d still want to grab it after filing down drywall with the handle.
We’ve seen this knife a couple of times in the toolbelts of professional drywall workers, but we’re still a little held up on the price — and its specific combination of features. What do you think? Let us know in comments.
Speed Rocker [CH Hanson]
Street Pricing [Froogle]
Via Amazon
April 16th, 2007 at 11:47 am
Oh yes, it’s the hotness. I just finished doing a major remodel/sheetrock hanging in my studio and I hated having to reach for three different tools to get the job done. I was constantly misplacing either the hole saw or the blade. $20? About the same cost as all three purchased separately. A bargain even before you consider the time saving.
The only thing I’d be careful about is that the razor blade could do a number on your hand if you forget to retract it before you use the hole saw.
Jason
April 16th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
Nice. I have never seen one of these. I just finished a drywall project as well, and I can definately see how this could be handy. I would have to work with it a bit to see if it is actually useful, or just a gimmick. At a glance, I would say HOT.
KJ
April 16th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
If I did a lot of sheetrock work (thank God I don’t), I’d have one of these in a second. HOT!
April 16th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
I wish I would have known about this tool about three months ago. If I do more drywalling, I will get one. I’ll give it a sight unseen Hot.
April 16th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
Hot. Only about twice the cost of a decent knife, plus you get the integral saw. Nice find.
April 16th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Awesome. I have some drywall to do in the future, and I will have to get one of these.
The tape hook alone makes it hot in my book.
April 16th, 2007 at 8:20 pm
I could see datacomm guys, who’re too cheap for a Paladin Powerplay or who already own a separate punchdown tool, picking one of these up. A sharp regular blade is good for stripping cable and general tasks, and the fold-out drywall saw is always handy. Twenty bucks is a bit steep for a utility knife, since they tend to grow legs, but if that’s not a concern, I’d rate it Hot.
April 16th, 2007 at 11:51 pm
More info on this at:
http://www.chhanson.com/PDF_Files/2005/SpeedRocker_lowres.pdf
April 19th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
Hot. I’m going to go buy this the next time I have to do any drywall. Hell, maybe a patch of drywall would warrant it.
Now you have all three basic tools in your back pocket instead of wearing a pouch or stuffing your rasp into one of the pockets on your pants that’s just a little too small.
I can’t see it replacing a real rasp though.
May 22nd, 2007 at 8:31 pm
Hmmm… I’d like to see a response from someone who had used it, but I have to say that I’d be inclined to try this if I were facing a bunch of drywall work - which I admit I hope doesn’t happen soon.
August 27th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
NOT! this product has one major design flaw which I found the hard way.
If you are using the saw portion to make long cuts the razor blade can sometimes come out and then get lodged in your hand, this happened to meduring a bathroom remodel. For the price I would buy the items seperately in the future
August 28th, 2007 at 9:39 am
The blade would not extend from the channel unless the blade was not properly installed in the blade carrier.
There is a locking mechanism that prohibits both the keyhole saw and the blade to be retracted from the unit at the same time if one or the other is fully extended.
Once the release is set and the blade carrier moves forward, the saw is prevented from extending from the main housing.
Additionally, once the keyhole saw is fully extended, the blade is prohibited from being released and thus, extending past the housing.
January 29th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Bought one yesterday…have a 10 000 sq ft of board to hang……the knife is good….feels good in the hand…..lots of weight….and well balanced……the blade changeout is easy and fast……it takes some time to get the hang of attaching your tape end to the holder …..it makes a steep angle when holding the tape in the holder….your tape ends up about 1 1/2 inches above the cut itself…..the rasp is good…..due to the softness of the rasp edges, it’s tough to take off any real amount of material as it won’t rasp down the paper very well ( but the knife can trim it fine )……due to the design as well, it comes up about 1/2 - 3/4 inch short of getting right into a 90 degree corner cut-out……the saw is the only weak part of the unit…..it is good for small cut outs….a few inches or so, but if you have to cut 30 inches into a pice of rock, I ended up going back to my Stanley….faster cut….easier pull…..overall rating is a 7 out of 10….definately handy….good feel….strong blade….decent price…..only downside was the saw……
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:40 pm
NOT IN A MILLION YEARS!
Combines a lousy saw, a cumbersome knife and the worst rasp possible. FYI: You don’t need a thumbrest to score a line with a knife, you pinch the blade beside the tape hook. No pro would use this POS.
July 26th, 2008 at 9:19 am
I’m a PRO and this knife is the best possible knife for drywall, acoustical ceiling, insulation board, wonder board, and many many others. The saw is very sharp and is very easy to stick right into the drywall to begin your cut.
The rasp is good.The slot where you put the tape measure end hook into is about the best feature because its nice to NOT HAVE TO HOLD BOTH TOGETHER AT THE SAME TIME AND CUT YOUR SELF.
Buy one and see for your self that this tool is superb for contractors and the DIYer!
Don’t forget to buy the new Speedrocker-SS that is available at Amazon or All-Wall tools. It’s the fixed blade version!