If you’re a Toolmonger, chances are you had an Erector set when you were a kid. 80/20 — yes, that’s the name of the company – now offers a product that they call the “Industrial Erector Set.” It’s a complete system of extruded aluminum T-slot pieces that attach via standardized components to become all sorts of usefull stuff — like a bike rack.

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This time of year there’s a nip in the air that makes a roaring fire that much more satisfying. But like all worthwhile tasks, you need the proper tool to do it right: the Wild Bill Fire Poker. It’s excellent for campfire management, and beats the hell out of searching the yard or camp site for the perfect stick.

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Home Depot is offering a 10% coupon for online purchases through October 24, 2007. Simply enter the code FALLSAVINGS221 at checkout to receive the discount. There are a few exclusions – such as home electronics – so be sure to check out the discount details.

Home Depot [Corporate Site]

(Friday, October 19th, 2007) Tonight you get a new How It’s Made on Science, and the usual boatload of reruns, including what may be a schedule shift on DIY. We once attended an auction at a pedal steel factory, the machining should be very interesting.

All times are central.

• How It’s Made: Episode 2, wood burning stoves, orthoses, ballet slippers, mad buses (Discovery, 5:00 p.m.)
• Holmes on Homes: Unfinished Business (Home, 5:00 p.m.)
• Build it Bigger: Biggest Warship (Science, 5:00 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Episode 4, Hockey gloves, snack cakes, remolded tires, and wastewater treatment plants (Discovery, 5:30 p.m.)
• Toolbelt Diva: Attic Access (Home, 7:00 p.m.)
• How Do They Do It?: Empire State Building, Extracting Copper (Science, 7:00 p.m.)
• Take Home Handyman: Totally Floored: Natalie & Alex (Home, 7:30 p.m.)
• How It’s Made, Season 3: Episode 15, springs, pavers, and pianos (Science, 7:30 p.m.)
• New Yankee Workshop: Garden Armchair (DIY, 7:30 p.m.)
• Holmes on Homes: Sunnyside Down (Home, 8:00 p.m.)
• How It’s Made 4: Episode 7, Racing Shells, Stainless Steel Sinks, Leather, Pedal Steel Guitars (Science, 8:00 p.m.)
• New Yankee Workshop: Workshop Hutch (DIY, 8:00 p.m.)
• How It’s Made 4: Episode 6, Padlocks, Hair Clippers, Wooden Shoes, Synthetic Leather (Science, 8:30 p.m.)
• Wood Works: Asian-Inspired Open Bookcase (DIY, 8:30 p.m.)
• Build It Bigger: Floating City (Science, 9:00 p.m.)

Enjoy.

Yep — you heard right. Next week is Break S#!$ Week here at Toolmonger, and we’re gearing up to deliver tons of demolition-related material for your destructive pleasures. We have demolition tool finds, demolition TM Dohs, demolition hands-ons, and even some demolition projects planned for you.

So come let your inner demons out, and put ‘em to work. And if you can, join us this weekend at Maker Faire Austin where we’re kicking Break S#!$ week off early with some help from Stanley. We plan on demolishing a small building completely with hand tools, and we’re giving away tools — real ones, by the way, not BS little trinkets — throughout the weekend. See you there!

Maker Faire Austin [Make]

Echo’s PB-755 leaf blower looks pretty bad-ass from the spec sheet. It can blow leaves at up to 205 MPH yet weighs in at only 26 pounds. And with its five-year consumer warranty, this thing really blows. (Come on: I couldn’t resist)

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I took picture you see above today when I stopped in to Target to pick up a few things. I know the picture’s crappy and blurry, but the picture’s not important — it’s what’s in the picture that’s important: these are freakin’ rocket engines, and they’re available in a plain ‘ole department store.

Model rocketry is incredible fun, and educational at all sorts of levels. But for years stores have been scared silly to carry the black powder engines because of lawsuit-happy parents of undermonitored children. Thank God everyone’s decided that rockets really are for kids again.

I worked as a camp counselor for a few years in college, and I build easily well over 1,000 rockets — most of ‘em two-stagers — with kids. During the entire time, not one child was injured. Not one. Even most of the counselors who built foolish designs and launched them in unsafe manners (after hours, of course) never got hurt.

Anyway, who knows what future rocket scientists will find their love of rocketry at Target. Granted, they didn’t offer much of a selection of rockets — mainly the pre-built type with the not-gonna-fail-no-matter-what plastic fins — but still, it’s a start.

Toolmonger’s Photo Pool [Flickr]

Whether you have a huge garage workshop or just the corner of a room, adding mobile bases to your tools can help you maximize your usable space by moving cumbersome stationary tools out of the way for projects. HTC’s universal bases are particularly desirable since you can adjusted them to fit a wide variety of tool sizes, and they offer incredible weight-handling capacities.

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A enormous trade deficit with china has left the United States with a glut of shipping containers stacked up so high that neighborhoods near Long Beach harbor experience sundown an hour earlier than the surrounding area. But the news isn’t all bad: these standardized 40′ X 8′ X 8-1/2′ boxes are being repurposed by people all around the world into low cost housing, internet hubs, and even workshops.

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Tired of cleaning the muck from your gutters? iRobot claims their Looj 120 robot makes the job a lot less painful. The Looj is waterproof up to one foot and will clean standard K-Style gutters with a 500-rpm 3-stage auger system that breaks up clogs, lifts out debris and brushes the gutter clean. And it’s on sale right now for $100.

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When I came across this video, I watched it a second time to count the luthier’s fingers. Holy crap! He’s resawing a board using a table saw blade mounted horizontally on what looks to be a shaper. With such carelessness, I’m surprised that he had all his digits at the time of the video. For resawing wood, your best bet is a table saw or bandsaw.

(Thursday, October 18th, 2007) New episodes of American Corn Chopper and Street Customs tonight, as well as a heavy dose of reruns.

All times are central.

• How It’s Made: Episode 10, holograms, package printing, skin cultures and canned corn (Discovery, 5:00 p.m.)
• Holmes on Homes: Hullaba-Loo (Home, 5:00 p.m.)
• Build it Bigger: Big Easy Rebuild (Science, 5:00 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Episode 6, alkaline batteries, wheelchairs, flutes, cowboy boots (Discovery, 5:30 p.m.)
• Overhaulin’: LeMama’s Boy (TLC, 6:00 p.m.)
• Ultimate Factories: Peterbilt (National Geographic, 6:00 p.m.)
• Modern Marvels: Heavy Metals (History, 6:00 p.m.)
• Dirty Jobs: Skull Cleaner (Discovery, 7:00 p.m.)
• How Do They Do It?: Spacesuit, Diesel Engines, Neon Signs (Science, 7:00 p.m.)
• Ultimate Factories: Apache Helicopter (National Geographic, 7:00 p.m.)
• Classic Tractor Specials (RFD-TV, 7:00 p.m.)
• How It’s Made, Season 3: Episode 14, three-wheeled vehicles, T-rex vehicles, baseball bats, artificial bonsais, and trombones (Science, 7:30 p.m.)
• American Chopper: Iowa Farm Bureau Bike 2 (TLC, 8:00 p.m.)
• Street Customs: The Royal Rover (TLC, 9:00 p.m.)
• Dirty Jobs: Hot Tar Roofer (Discovery, 10:00 p.m.)
• Don’t Sweat It: Kitchen Face-Lift (HGTV, 10:30 p.m.)

Enjoy.

Sean and I will be at Maker Faire in Austin this weekend (October 20th and 21st), and we hope to see you there. There are lots of reasons to go — check out Make’s site for information on all the great Makers who’ll be there showing off their projects and ideas — but here are a few special reasons for Toolmongers to attend:

1. We’ll be testing tools!

Swing by the Toolmonger area to help us test the ergonomics and fit of mechanic’s tools. We’ve got a big special scheduled for early November, and we need your help to find the best tools for the price.

2. Stanley’s joining us, and the two of us will be giving away tools all weekend.

Stanley’s co-sponsoring the event with us, and they’ve brought out a truck full of tools to give away — all sorts of fun stuff. It’ll be a great time.

3. You can meet Jimmy Addison.

You’re not really a tool guy (or gal) until you’ve met Jimmy. He works for Stanley’s Discovery Team and is easily one of the most knowledgable guys we’ve met in the business. Got a question about Stanley? He can probably answer it. And he’s a hoot to hang out with, too.

4. We’re gonna break s#!%!

That’s right. Next week is Break S#!% week, and we’re gonna kick it off right at Maker Faire. With Stanley’s help, we’re gonna demolish a small building — with hand tools. Register your guess on how long it’ll take us to flatten it, and you might win some larger tools. (You can score smaller ones regardless. Really!)

And if you need any more reasons to show up, check out our coverage of Maker Faire’s last stop in San Francisco. Think of Maker Faire as a big party for people just like you.

We’ll see you there. Of course, if you’re stuck in Alaska, your next best bet is to check back here for our live blogging of the event all weekend.

Maker Faire Austin [Make]

To make your living on a roof, you need two things: super-human ankles and traction. You’re on your own for the former, but Cougar Paws can help in the grip department! A dense, fibrous-mat sole is exactly what you want for a sure-footed grab on granular shingles, but the material wears out quickly. Cougar Paws have an elegant solution to the problem — Velcro! When you wear a sole out. just peel it off and stick a new one on.
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Batteries.com is currently offering a 500 pack (!) of batteries which contains 400 AA’s and 100 AAA’s for just $49.99. That’s 10 cents a battery! But if you add the coupon code “GGL15″ the price drops to $42.49. Shipping is around $11 to most areas.

500 Alkaline Batteries [Batteries.com]

We just had to give a pair of free gloves to TM reader and photo pool member danamight for posting the above pic of his tool alarm system — and best friend. Is this not in the finest Toolmonger spirit?

Toolmonger’s Photo Pool [Flickr]

Looking for a new charger for that obsolete Black & Decker multi-tool? Did you take your Dewalt vacuum apart and can’t get it back together now? Dewalt Service Net can help. If you own any Black & Decker, Dewalt, Porter Cable, or Delta Power tools you should bookmark this site. Services available include instruction manuals, product explosion drawings, parts lists and ordering, and service center locations.

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