Electric jacks are an interesting idea: Have your car jack itself up so you can save some sweat and knuckle busting. We’ve seen a few on the market that advertise a two ton lift capacity, and they plug right into your 12V power outlet.

To be honest, we haven’t heard any horror stories about electric jacks that crapped out and left the motorist digging for the stock jack — we also haven’t heard any stories of the powered version saving the day with it’s wondrous motorized lifting action.

So what do you Toolmonger readers think? Is the motorized car jack destined to become standard equipment on motor vehicles, or is it just a passing fad of little interest? Let us know in comments.

Street Pricing [Google Products]

Ridgid Tools starts the year off with an interesting promotion for cleaning your pipes — a “buy one, get one” deal with products at multiple price points. At the bottom end, when you buy a sink machine for around $300, you get a free toilet auger with a street price of around $50. If you’re in the trade, you might want to invest in some of the pricier items — buy a $4,000 water jetter and you get a free SeeSnake micro inspection camera, with a street price of around $200. With so many choices, your pipes will gleam in 2008.

2008 Spring Fling Drain Cleaning Promo [Ridgid]

(Thursday, January 24th, 2008) A new American Chopper continues with military hijinks, and a new How Do They Do It takes us on a trip to the Peterbilt factory.

All times are central.

• Holmes on Homes: Gone to Pot (Home, 5:00 p.m.)
• Build It Bigger: Super Fast Warship (Science, 5:00 p.m.)
• Cool Tools: Cut Above (DIY, 5:00 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Episode 24, aluminum pots and pans, artificial limbs, peanut butter, and high intensity light bulbs (Discovery, 6:00 p.m.)
• Rides: Bad Check (TLC, 6:00 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Episode 2, wood burning stoves, orthoses, ballet slippers, and buses (Discovery, 6:30 p.m.)
• American Chopper: FANtasy Bike - Susan Morisset (TLC, 7:00 p.m.)
• Classic Tractors (RFD-TV, 7:00 p.m.)
• American Chopper: Army National Guard 2 (TLC, 8:00 p.m.) NEW
• Cool Tools: Wood Work (DIY, 8:00 p.m.)
• Cool Tools: Get a Grip (DIY, 8:30 p.m.)
• How Do They Do It?: Episode 9, mega cargo ships and Peterbilt vehicles (Science, 9:00 p.m.) NEW
• How Do They Do It?: Episode 7, weather forecasting and hovercraft vehicles (Science, 9:30 p.m.)
• MythBusters: Lightning Strikes/Tongue Piercing (Discovery, 10:00 p.m.)

Enjoy.

Wiha makes excellent precision screwdrivers, but their full-sized drivers deserve the same praise. The ribbed tips on Wiha’s Anti-Cam-Out screwdrivers prevent the tool from slipping off of fasteners, which prevents damaged fasteners and personal injury. Their comfortable and contoured no-roll handles, durable tips, and low cost make Wiha’s A.C.O. and 3K screwdrivers great tools.

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It’s obvious from the rest of the photo set posted in the Flickr pool that butterjug2000 doesn’t actually live this way, but this photo reminds us of that first apartment project many of us had. No appliances, no dishware, no furniture, and a ten thousand dollar home-built stereo system.

We dig the finish on the boxes, which sounds rather like a recipe for baking rock the way the creator describes it:

So the finish goes like this:
1) 75% thinned 3lb cut amber shellac tinted with Transtint Red Mahogany dye
2) Dark wood grain/pore filler
3) Raw umber glaze
4) Formby’s tung oil finish
5) Carnuba wax

Step 6: Pump out AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” as loud as they’ll go for warm-ups, and finish with the metal anthem of your choice. Rock on, Butterjug.

Toolmonger’s Flickr Pool [Flickr]

You have to replace shop vacuum bags frequently to keep the vacuum working at peak efficiency. And different tasks require different filters, e.g. a paper filter for drywall dust and a foam filter for cleaning up after a leaky drain. CleanStream offers a reusable shop vacuum filter that can be used wet or dry. You can remove dirt and dust with a few firm taps on a hard surface (outside!), or you can clean it more thoroughly by rinsing the filter out under the tap.

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This Skillers tool vest looks like a cross between a cameraman’s vest and a tool belt. A Swedish electrician designed it because he couldn’t find any practical workwear solutions, and he ended up founding one of the top workwear companies in Europe.

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Drilling holes in ceilings really, really sucks — dust gets in your eyes, which both stings and makes it difficult to see what you’re doing. You could wear uncomfortable chemical safety goggles or a whole face shield — or you could try Hole Pro’s solution: the Power X series twin blade hole cutters.

A high-impact ABS plastic shield encompasses the hole saw to capture all the dust and debris. Not only does it capture dust and debris when you’re drilling above your head, it also makes cleanup a snap when drilling into walls. (more…)

You can now get the 2008 Craftsman Club calendar at most Sears locations nationwide. Along with the joy of a free calendar, you get 24 coupons, two per month — some great, others lousy, but for the price, one can hardly complain.

Some of the better coupons offer $5 off $25 purchases, $10 off $50 purchases, 25% off a regular-priced stick tool (whatever that may be), and $25 off any tool storage combo, regular or sale-priced. If you’re a Craftsman Club member, you can collect your calendar for free. Non-members can either pay $10 or find a cashier who’ll punch in their numbers for you.

You’ve probably seen these hammer/screwdriver combination tools — maybe in your junk drawer, or by the cash register at your local hardware store. Drillspot.com is running a deal that gets you a dozen of these things for less than $2 each, complete with a fancy “Art Nouveau” finish.

The claw hammer serves mostly as decoration — it’s a bit hard too swing. The screwdrivers only come in progressively tinier sizes. That being said, think of the satisfaction of being able to lend these out, and not being sad if they don’t come back. They’re perfect for giving away for IKEA furniture assembly, or to some poor tool-less soul.

Hammer/Screwdriver Combo [Drillspot.com]

(Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008) Tonight we get new episodes of Mythbusters, with some lead sheet origami, and Smash Lab.

Also, Wednesday night is “Midway USA’s Wednesday Night At The Range” on the Outdoor channel, a block of programs from 3:00 to 10:00 CT. Often they show segments on gunsmithing and tours of manufacturing facilities, in between the predictable “blam! blam! blam!”. Firearms enthusiasts will find it worth watching.

All times are central.

• Holmes on Homes: Stone Walled (Home, 5:00 p.m.)
• Build It Bigger: Mountain of Steel (Science, 5:00 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Episode 7, racing shells, stainless steel sinks, leather, and pedal steel guitars (Discovery, 6:00 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Episode 8, swords, pontoons, grandfather clocks, and fuses (Discovery, 6:30 p.m.)
• MythBusters: Cell Phones on Planes (Discovery, 7:00 p.m.)
• MythBusters: Lead Balloon (Discovery, 8:00 p.m.) NEW
• Smash Lab: Hurricane Proof House (Discovery, 9:00 p.m.) NEW
• Rock Solid: Concrete Vanity (DIY, 9:00 p.m.)
• Hammered With John and Jimmy DiResta: The Dining Room Table (DIY, 9:30 p.m.)
• MythBusters: Border Slingshot (Discovery, 10:00 p.m.)

Enjoy.

You see glass bead reflective paint on everything from fire hydrants to street curbs — it’s a staple of town and city DPW departments. If you want to make your mailbox or house numbers highly visible at night, you can paint them with Liquidreflector, a water-based acrylic paint that’s impregnated with mica and uses the same glass bead reflectors as the industrial paint.

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With this mobile tool workcenter, you can keep your Dremel (or other mini rotary tool) close at hand, along with accessories, work space, and extra storage. You can even sketch out ideas on a whiteboard on the box’s lid. The website mentions an “integrated vacuum hose port” but doesn’t provide much information about it — it looks like the unoccupied bench-dog holes might function as a downdraft table for dust control. Do any of you Milescraft MobileX1 workcenter owners care to fill us in on the details?

MSRP on this little beauty is $75, and street pricing is a pretty uniform $60, but I ran across it at All Electronics for $45, with shipping in the $7 range.

Milescraft Portable Hobbyist’s Workcenter [Digimode10]
Rotary Tool Workcenter [All Electronics]
Via Amazon [What’s This?] (B000KIASXG) [What's This?]

If you or your children are interested in crafting small derby cars, head to Lowe’s on Tuesday for a free demonstration. After they show you how to make a derby car faster and more aerodynamic, your kids’ll get an attendance badge, and you’ll receive a coupon for 10% off Dremel products. See more details after the jump.

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Silky makes some of the sharpest and most convenient folding pull saws you can buy, for anything from yard work to trim carpentry. My bleeding thumb can attest to the sharpness of at least one of their saws, the general purpose Gomboy 210.

Silky impulse-hardens their blades’ teeth to create a point that’s harder than a file without reducing the flexibility of the saw’s back. And to prevent binding, they grind down the saw back to be less thick than the teeth. One downside: you can’t resharpen the blades, but replacement blades are readily available.

The saw cuts aggressively, but smoothly. With the rubber-coated handle, you can draw the blade without much effort, even one-handed. Silky treats all the metal surfaces for rust resistance, and they package the knife with a plastic case to protect it from the elements.

Street pricing on the Gomboy 210 is about $30. Check out Silky’s corporate site to see the variety of different styles — just watch your fingers.

Silky [Corporate Site]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?] (B000658GXC) [What's This?]

You’re trying to pull some wire through a hole with wire from a previous installation, but the hole just isn’t large enough. How the heck do you enlarge the hole without pushing the wire back through and losing it in the wall? The Rebore-Zit comes to the rescue. From the makers of the previously posted Base-Boar-Zit and other various -Zit products, the Rebore-Zit’s free-spinning swivel-eyelet allows you to keep the wire attached to the drill bit while you ream out the hole. (more…)

Many of you base your tool purchases on firmly established brand preferences. What if, all of a sudden, those biases were gone, and you were left clueless and in need of many new tools? Would you trust someone else to select your new tool brands for you, or would you endure the time and cost of trying out different brands to rediscover your preferences?

Quite a few vendors, such as McMaster Carr, thoroughly describe certain products, but they exclude the brand information. In these cases, although you may know the country of origin, you won’t know who manufactures the product until it’s purchased and received.

Many people would never entertain such an indirect selection process, while others don’t care who makes their tools as long as it’s a US-based facility. We want to know what you guys think. Is “blind” tool selection hot, or not? For example, if you didn’t know your Craftsman from your SK or Snap-On, what would you do? Let us know in comments!

On a personal note, there are at least half a dozen excellent brands that I never would have known about if not for “blind” purchasing. So, we’ll start things off with one tally for a “Hot” vote.

(Thanks to my wife for patiently posing for the photo.)