Safety cones aren’t exactly the most compact objects to carry in your trunk — sure, they stack, but they still take up a lot of space.  But a set of EZ-Stor collapsible road safety cones only take up one cubic foot of space, allowing you to pack more of the tools you need into your vehicle.

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The average DIYer won’t need to pick up a flooring nailer more than once a decade, but if you install floors for a living, you might want to check out Primatech’s heavy-duty, automatic P240.  You can strike the large head cap from any angle to set the nail, and Primatech boasts that the compact firing valve will get the tool tip 4-1/2″ closer to the end wall, saving you a lot of manual labor and time.

I found it online for $535, only a little higher than other pneumatic flooring nailers.

P240 Flooring Nailer [Primatech]
P240 Flooring Nailer [Harvester]

Amazon is selling the Leatherman Skeletool CX for $64 with free shipping — that’s at least $22 cheaper than I could find anywhere else. The CX differs from the original Skeletool by its combination straight/serrated blade and its “Tungsten DLC Coating,” whatever that is. If you want one, you’d better hurry; Amazon could raise the price any minute.

Skeletool CX [Leatherman]
Via Amazon [What’s This?] [What's This?]

Haven’t spent much time with jigsaws? Sean takes the worry out, showing you how they work, how to pick one, how to tell the difference between blade types, and — best of all — how to use ‘em.

(Thursday, May 22nd, 2008) Tonight we’ve got a new Overhaulin’ and tons of stuff you’ve seen before.

All times are central.

• Holmes on Homes: Completely Incomplete (Home, 5:00 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Radiators, Hatchery Chicks, Phyllo Dough, Cross-country Skis (Discovery, 6:00 p.m.)
• Rides: Thump (TLC, 6:00 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Electric Baseboard Heaters, Molded Pulp Containers, Chicken, Video Games (Discovery, 6:30 p.m.)
• Tank Overhaul: The Sherman (Military, 7:00 p.m.)
• Classic Tractor Show (RFD-TV, 7:00 p.m.)
• Overhaulin’: Scout’s Honor (TLC, 7:00 p.m.) NEW
• Cool Tools: Top to Bottom (DIY, 8:00 p.m.)
• American Chopper: Gander Mountain 2 (TLC, 8:00 p.m.)
• Cool Tools: Power Play (DIY, 8:30 p.m.)
• Deconstruction: Granite (DIY, 9:00 p.m.)

Enjoy.

Sears.com is offering up this slick Craftsman 95-piece mechanic’s tool set for $60 — talk about a great Father’s Day present. Normally I’d recommend in-store pickup, but with $7.50 for shipping, you’ll probably save a few bucks by not driving your gas-guzzler down to the local Sears.

The set includes 54 Easy-To-Read sockets in 1/4″ and 3/8″ drive, two open-end wrenches, three drive tools, and 36 specialty tools. The laser etching won’t chip, fade, or corrode, and the Easy-To-Read markings make identification easy, even in low light.  The set comes with a fitted, blow-molded case.

Craftsman 95-Piece Tool Set [Deal News]
Craftsman 95-Piece Tool Set [Sears]

Getting started in blacksmithing usually requires a pretty decent start-up cost. But if you want to do it on the cheap, the instructions on Zoeller Forge’s site will show you how to build a gas forge without a welder or a cutting torch. With a drill, hole saw, tap, vise grips, and a workbench, you can make your own atmospheric gas forge.

Atmospheric Gas Forge [Zoeller Forge]

The electronics geek in me got giddy when I saw this picture of Knipex’s ribbon-cable cutters. OK, so not everybody is going to get as excited about this tool, but next time you have to cut ribbon cable, you’ll remember this tool exists, and you’re going to be bummed that you don’t have one.

Knipex’s cutters cut ribbon cable up to 56mm — that’s 2.2″ for you metric-impaired readers — without crushing the conductors. The integrated fence in the base allows you to make perfectly rectangular cuts, and you can replace the blade with a conventional, trapezoidal, utility-knife blade.

Knipex makes the handle and blade mount of these 8-1/2″-long cutters from high-strength steel. A spring returns the handles to the open position when they’re released, and a locking lever keeps them closed for storage.

Look to pay anywhere between $60 and $100. If you don’t have that kind of money burning a hole in your pocket, or if your employer can pinch a penny so hard that Lincoln cries, UltraShear makes a cheaper alternative — albeit without the fence — the Superknife.

Cutter For Ribbon Cables [Knipex]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

Toolmongers know that tools don’t always perform the way we want ‘em to. Similar to Ambrose Bierce’s Devil’s Dictionary, “What a Mechanic’s Tools Do” tells the truth about what really happens with some common tools. Here are a couple of examples:

ELECTRIC HAND DRILL: Normally used for spinning steel pop rivets in their holes until you die of old age.

VISE-GRIPS: Used to round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.

These definitions got a few chuckles out of me, but I’d really like to hear Toolmongers’ takes on common tools. What definitions would you give? Tell us in comments.

Note: Thanks to Flickr member spacematters for the photo.
What a Mechanic’s Tools Do [SodWork.com]
Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

How do you create a round mortise that’s larger at the bottom than at the top, and how do you fit a similarly shaped tenon in the mortise? Most importantly, why the heck would you do such an infernally confounded thing?  To answer the last question, such a joint would be so strong, the wood would have to fail before the joint.  To answer the how-to part of it, Rockler created the  Tenon-Lok cutter. (more…)

This plumb bob level might look clunky next to a level with a bubble vial, but back in the day this may have been the only type of level you could make yourself, unless you had moderate glassblowing skills. Union Hill Antique Tools markets this particular level as “one of the great super-rare levels of the world. A Bradford Union Patented Cast Iron Inclinometer, Bradford PA. 18 inches long. Best one of 2 known.”

You can own this antique level for the price of a bulldozer, $15,000. Or, if you’re just looking for a good DIY project or a conversation piece, you could probably save a little money by making one yourself.

Bradford Level [Union Hill Antique Tools]

Brooklyn-based company Scrapile makes furniture from old offcuts and scrap pieces of wood that would otherwise be discarded. They glue and press the scraps together and run ‘em through large planers, a process that inspired me to write this post. Brand Tools Online is selling the DeWalt DW734 12-1/2″ portable thickness planer for $370, down from $690, and shipping is only $7.

Powered by a 15A, 10,000 RPM motor, this bench-top planer will plane material up to 12-1/2″ wide and up to 6″ thick, with a three-knife cutting head that makes 96 cuts per inch. The plane features a four-column carriage lock, and it comes with a dust hood and one-year warranty.

My shop is cluttered with bins full of scrap wood, and the possibility of turning that scrap into furniture totally justifies the expense of this planer. If you need more justification, check out this refurbished unit at Tool King for $290.

DW734 Planer [DeWalt]
DW734 Planer [Brand Tools Online]
Refurbished DW734 [Tool King]
Via Amazon [What’s This?] [What's This?]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

(Wednesday, May 21st, 2008) Ho-hum, there’s nothing new tonight. It appears Made In America will be moving to Saturdays at noon at the end of May. Does that seem insane to you? Who watches TV at noon on a Saturday, especially in the summertime? Way to go, Travel Channel!

All times are central.

• Holmes on Homes: Let’s Rejoist (Home, 5:00 p.m.)
• Rock Solid: Tiered Garden Walls (DIY, 5:30 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Inflatable Watercraft, Couscous, Modeling Dough, Wicker Products (Discovery, 6:00 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Wind Generators, PVC Gloves, Thermo-formed Glass, Fire Trucks (Discovery, 6:30 p.m.)
• MythBusters: Viewer Special 2 (Discovery, 8:00 p.m.)
• Build It Bigger: Floating City (Science, 8:00 p.m.)
• Under Construction: A Screw Grows in Brooklyn (DIY, 8:30 p.m.)
• Ax Men: Storm of the Century (History, 9:00 p.m.)
• MythBusters: Bullets Fired Up (Discovery, 9:00 p.m.)
• Master Blasters: Supersonic Paper Airplanes (Science, 9:00 p.m.)
• Hammered With John & Jimmy DiResta: The Copper Chimenea (DIY, 9:30 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Prepared Mustard, Violins, Nuts and Bolts, Toilet Paper (Discovery, 10:00 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Fresh Cut Flowers, Adhesive Tape, Tofu, Lottery Tickets (Discovery, 10:30 p.m.)

Enjoy.

With so many worthy belt sanders on the market, it’s hard to go wrong, but also hard to choose between them all — the choice of accessories available for a particular model can sometimes swing the purchasing decision. Both DeWalt and Bosch offer belt sanders that can be used in their traditional manner or, with the aid of accessories, converted into bench tools.

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If you want to secure a large solid item, bungees, tiedowns, straps, and rope will serve just fine, but for a plethora of little junk, go with a cargo net.  Cheap nets sell for as low as $10, and you can pick up a reasonably good net like the one pictured above for as little as $20. If you want quality and time-saving features, look for a net with adjustable straps across the middle.

And if you’re in the mood for overkill, you can get a steel net rated at 10,000 lbs. for $500.

Cargo Net [etrailer.com]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?] [What's This?]

I promised in the comments of A Label Maker For The Shop that I’d write a Dealmonger post next time the Brother P-Touch went on sale. That day came this last Sunday — Office Max discounted the Brother PT-80 to $15, 50% off the retail price. They list this deal both in their weekly circular and on their website.

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When we’re building stuff in the Toolmonger shop, whether of wood or metal, we often consult plans, and not only to make the project easier — a lot of times the plans’ll spark other ideas.  Though the plan for this shop stool is simple enough, maybe it inspires you to modify the plan to make planter stands, or a bench support, or a workpiece glide for your table saw.  If you look at enough plans, you’ll notice that most projects start from a simple box shape; where you end up is limited only by your imagination.

Shop Stool Plan [Miller]