(Friday, March 28th, 2008) No need to write a description — you know how the Friday lineup looks by now!

All times are central.

• Holmes on Homes: Country Kitchen (Home, 5:00 p.m.)
• Build It Bigger: Sakhalin Oil and Ice (Science, 5:00 p.m.)
• Today Show Tips: Fast Furniture Fixes (DIY, 5:30 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Fiberglass Boat, Clothes Dryers, Bubble Gum, Fireworks (Discovery, 6:00 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Diamond Cutting, Wood Doors, Paintballs, Newspapers (Discovery, 6:30 p.m.)
• Toolbelt Diva: This Show Is Fan-tastic (Home, 7:00 p.m.)
• Take Home Handyman: Getting Plastered: Hunter and Will (Home, 7:30 p.m.)
• Hammered With John & Jimmy DiResta: The Copper Chimenea (DIY, 8:00 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: magnets, cooked ham, silver-plated teapots, crash-test dummies (Science, 8:00 p.m.)
• Holmes on Homes: Pasadena 911 (Home, 8:00 p.m.)
• Wood Works: European Dish-Rack (DIY, 8:30 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Curling Stones, Refrigerators, Alumnium Baseball Bats, Opalescent Glass (Science, 8:30 p.m.)
• Wood Works: Game Board (DIY, 9:00 p.m.)
• Build It Bigger: Turbo-Charged Boats (Science, 9:00 p.m.)
• New Yankee Workshop: Jigs (DIY, 9:30 p.m.)
• MythBusters: Killer Whirlpool (Discovery, 10:00 p.m.)
• How Do They Do It?: Episode 13, passenger airplanes and manufacture lightweight chainsaws (Science, 10:00 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Alkaline Batteries, Wheelchairs, Flutes, Cowboy Boots (Science, 10:30 p.m.)
• Forge and Anvil (RFD-TV, 10:30 p.m.)

Enjoy.

It doesn’t get much simpler than magnets on a string, but that’s essentially what HandyMagnets are — a series of nine plastic-encapsulated rare-earth magnets. They’ll keep a map stuck to the hood of your car while you figure out where you are, or they’ll attach your tools to any ferrous object in your shop. This Australian product doesn’t seem to have made it to U.S. shores yet, but I look forward to when it does.

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Sanding drywall has got to rank up there as one of the messiest construction jobs. Even if you’re only sanding a small patch, you create a dust cloud that eventually leaves a layer of dust on everything in the area. Now USG sells Sheetrock lightweight joint compound with dust control. Sanding the dust-control joint compound creates “heavy dust” that falls straight to the floor. It stays put and doesn’t enter the air. Our only question is: why the hell didn’t somebody think of this sooner?!

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Double-stick tape can be a third hand when you’re doing assembly projects. While it holds the pieces, you can work on creating a permanent attachment. 3M’s VHB tapes comes in a variety of double stick flavors, and they can help you out as a third hand — what makes ‘em cool, though, is the bond is so strong on VHB tapes, you may not need anything else

VHB stands for “Very High Bond.” You use it in applications where other attachment methods could distort or damage surfaces, and it’s especially suited for attaching to metal and glass. For instance, people stick on their car tags and rearview mirrors with VHB tape. It can create a strong bond in a small area without using hardware. VHB also holds things together in the construction of outdoor signs, appliances, and windows.

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While cordless screwdrivers rock at home, cords still rule in the industrial world. Why? Because they can spin like the devil — up to 2,850 RPM for the new Metabo — and they never run out of juice. Metabo also claims the SE2800’s shape plus its relatively-light 2.64 pound weight makes it easy on your hands, while that crazy-looking chuck allows you to remove and replace a driver bit without screwing up your depth stop settings.

If you need more spin, Metabo also offers the SE4000, which cranks up to 3,950 RPM, delivering slightly less torque as a trade. (Don’t read anything into that statement: all electric motors deliver less torque as RPM increases. The fact that Metabo rates the SE4000 as 71 in-lbs instead of the SE2800’s 106 in-lbs just means they’re being honest instead of simply measuring at a different RPM to make them match.)

Street pricing starts around $125 for both models, and they appear to be shipping now.

SE2800/SE4000 Corded Screwdriver [Metabo]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

The orange and black Harley-Davidson logo has made its rounds to nearly every product capable of being printed or stitched on, so we weren’t surprised to see a Harley hard hat. Some might raise an eyebrow or laugh, but we look at it like this: As long as it meets safety code, anything you want to put on your hat is fair game.

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Drool…. What else can you say about something that contains ten 10″, 600W, subwoofer speakers and could quite possibly cause the DIYer in all of us to choke on the geometry? For more info on the remarkable properties of the Dodecasub speaker cabinet, check out this video.

Buying the Dodecasub will set you back $2,500, and building it could fry your nerves — but the fact that it’ll let you crank the bass in your shop, without your neighbors calling the cops, might be worth it.

Dodecasub [Elemental Designs]

What could be better then a set of vise-grips? How about two pairs of knockoff vise-grips as helping hands? This welding jig from Pittsburgh bolts to your workbench and allows you to clamp pieces in position with two 10″ locking pliers.

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(Thursday, March 27th, 2008) Learn how it’s known, done, and made tonight. You can also catch reruns on TLC’s motorhead lineup.

All times are central.

• Build It Bigger: Mega Tunnel (Science, 5:00 p.m.)
• Holmes on Homes: Wheelchair Bathroom (Home, 5:00 p.m.)
• Today Show Tips: All About Patios (DIY, 5:30 p.m.)
• Rides: Summer School (TLC, 6:00 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Ice Cream Cones, Tent Trailers, Shoe Polish, and Pliers (Discovery, 7:00 p.m.)
• Tank Overhaul: The Hellcat (Military, 7:00 p.m.)
• Classic Tractor Show (RFD-TV, 7:00 p.m.)
• American Chopper: Viega Corporation (TLC, 7:00 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Bacon, Snowblowers, Luxury Cars (Discovery, 7:30 p.m.)
• Cool Tools: Paint It (DIY, 8:00 p.m.)
• MythBusters: Viewer Special (Discovery, 8:00 p.m.)
• Who Knew? With Marshall Brain: Car, Airbag, Money (National Geographic, 8:00 p.m.)
• American Chopper: Michigan Bike/My Name is Earl 1 (TLC, 8:00 p.m.)
• Deconstruction (DIY, 8:30 p.m.)
• Smash Lab: Runaway Trailer (Discovery, 9:00 p.m.)
• How Do They Do It?: Episode 17, high speed trains and manufacturing durable jeans (Science, 9:00 p.m.)
• How Do They Do It?: Episode 16, wool carpeting and Legos children’s toys (Science, 9:30 p.m.)
• Ax Men: Storm Season Strikes (History, 10:00 p.m.)

Enjoy.

The first time I saw this photo, I thought someone had taken a picture of my shop and posted it to the Flickr pool. I use this same setup, including the Irwin clamps and the Delta drill press, in my shop at home.

It actually works pretty well, all things considered. Just clamp wood in position, as shown here, and off you go. Sometimes I clamp another piece of wood on the other side of the table for added bracing — but in any case, it was funny to see someone else performing the same acts of “make do with what you got” that I do.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

Are you tired of lifting and pouring five-gallon pails all day? Morse’s Model 83 Pail Handler might be the answer to your aching back. This 125-pound machine can lift a five-gallon pail that weighs up to 150 lbs. We’re not exactly sure what material weighs 30 lbs per gallon, but maybe you need to move a pail of iron filings.

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Kneeling will really take a toll on you, especially if you have to do it all day. Normal knee pads, though they can do a lot to ease the discomfort, don’t help you get around on the ground. But Knee Blades protect your knees and keep you moving.

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Last week we wrote about The Screw Up, but the “As Seen On TV” vibe it emanated soured the post. After looking around for a better option, we found the Wolfcraft hook driver. The hook driver can drive almost any kind of hook, including screw hooks, eyelet screws, and L-hooks.

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After a particularly dust-laden weekend in the Toolmonger shop, we must say that the sight of Dugbee’s collection system choked us up a bit. Of course it could’ve been the quarter pound of oak particles, or the ever-floating mist of dust in the shop — but who knows?

Not only is this shop in good working order, but Dugbee has laid out his gear in a handy row so the dust collection system can capture debris from all the major offenders in the shop. Well done.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

Enlarging a hole can present a tricky problem, whether it’s an existing hole that needs enlarging, or somebody made an “oops” and used the wrong size hole saw. How do you center the hole saw at the same location and keep it from wandering? This question drove the engineers at Starrett to develop the Oops Arbor.

As long as the new hole is 3/16″ larger than the old hole, you can use the Oops Arbor to pilot the larger hole saw with a second hole saw the size of the original hole. The Oops Arbor’s 1/4″ shank replaces the normal pilot bit for most hole saw mandrels and accepts both 1/2″ and 5/8″ threaded cutters.

You can get the Oops Arbor for as little as $6.  What’s it worth to be the hero next time somebody makes an Oops?

Oops Arbor [Starret]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Sean posted about Bench Dog’s ProMax Cabinet back in 2006, and now in 2008, for a limited time, Amazon is listing the Bench Dog ProMax Complete Router Table System with free shipping for $970. This “system” — really the whole kit and kaboodle for routing — includes the ProMax cabinet, ProMax router table, ProFence, cast iron end cap, Porter Cable router, and four Cab-Loc casters.

The cabinet features integrated router bit storage, pull-out shelves and flip-up doors, and a lower cubby for router storage. Bench Dog makes the cabinet with bolt and cross dowel construction, birch plywood side panels, and steel hardware for vibration dampening.

Promax Complete [Bench Dog]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

(Wednesday, March 26th, 2008) A new Smash Lab tries another wildly impractical scheme, as usual. Otherwise it’s a night of reruns. The curling stones segment of How It’s Made is awesome to watch again. As always, if you’re a firearms enthusiast, Outdoor channel has their “Wednesday Night at the Range” programming.

All times are central.

• Holmes on Homes: Pasadena 911 (Home, 5:00 p.m.)
• Build It Bigger: Biggest Warship (Science, 5:00 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Steel Shipping Drums, Police Whistles, Miniature Train Cars, and Glass Blocks (Discovery, 6:00 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Curling Stones, Refrigerators, Alumnium Baseball Bats, Opalescent Glass (Discovery, 6:30 p.m.)
• Tank Overhaul: The Sherman (Military, 7:00 p.m.)
• MythBusters: Shooting Fish in a Barrel (Discovery, 8:00 p.m.)
• Master Blasters: Supersonic Paper Airplanes (Science, 8:00 p.m.)
• Smash Lab: CO2 Cop Car (Discovery, 9:00 p.m.) NEW
• Master Blasters: A Very Master Blasters Christmas (Science, 9:00 p.m.)
• Rock Solid: Interlocking Block Wall (DIY, 9:00 p.m.)
• Hammered With John & Jimmy DiResta: The Pool Table (DIY, 9:30 p.m.)
• MythBusters: Jet Pack (Discovery, 10:00 p.m.)

Enjoy.