This little hobby metal bender from Groz can shape hinges, brackets, wrought iron, chain links, hooks, clamps, and much more. It handles flat bar up to 40mm wide and 4mm thick, thin-walled tubing up to 10mm in diameter, and solid bar stock up to 6mm thick.

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The Stinger allows you to evacuate the refrigerant, whether liquid or vapor, from your A/C or refrigeration units.  DIY Toolmongers’ll probably want to check the local equipment rental shops before shelling out for this tool — after all, how often do you need to mess with your refrigerant before it’s completely leaked out? More importantly, how much fun is it when you tell people that you’re renting a Stinger? (Rental places always carry cool stuff — why not missiles?)

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This chairmaker’s router will help you cut decorative grooves in chair seats — and it works equally well for cutting grooves in any straight or curved work. The fence adjusts so you can vary the location of the groove, plus it reverses to handle either straight or curved work. You can adjust the U-shaped cutter to change the amount of material it removes, and by simply reversing the cutter you can cut in the opposite direction — no need to adjust the fence.

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Don’t stand in the bucket of your front-end loader to trim trees! With this tool, you’ll never have to worry about ending up in one of our Doh! posts again, at least not for light tree trimming work… The 68-lb. LimbHog attaches quickly to the auxiliary hydraulics of your front-end loader, offering an eight-foot reach from the bucket and a chain speed of 5,000 RPM. This’ll trim a lot of trees in a hurry.

You’ll probably find this most useful if you manage an orchard or tree farm. But if you just want to open up the jungle on your property to the point you could call it a grove or even a clearing, the LimbHog could make it easier — so could a front-end loader!

Amazon lists the LimbHog for $2,500.

LimbHog [Corporate Site]
Via Amazon [What’s This?] [What's This?]

Mark points without having to measure or draw perpendicular lines — and do it more accurately — with Incra’s 6″ x 3″ precision XY Marker.

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Talk about everything having lasers! These lasers are for your garage,  to help you park, of course — at least they get some cool points for looking like turrets from a B-movie spaceship.  The motion detector spots you pulling into the garage, and this little unit zaps your car with a point of laser light to let you know whether you’ve pulled in sideways, again.

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(Tuesday, July 29th, 2008) A new shark-o-centric Dirty Jobs looks for the mysterious, elusive, and, frankly, boring Greenland Shark.

All times are central.

• Under Construction: Palanca Knows Best (DIY, 5:00 p.m.)
• Robocars (Science, 5:00 p.m.)
• Machinery of the Past (RFD-TV, 5:00 p.m.)
• Rock Solid: Manufactured Stone Fireplace (DIY, 5:30 p.m.)
• Dirty Jobs: Greenland Shark Quest (Discovery, 8:00 p.m.) NEW
• Rock Solid: Coverings Show in Chicago (DIY, 8:30 p.m.)

Enjoy.

You want to create a backyard paradise that’s the envy of all the neighbors, and a sweet, eye-popping deck will be a prominent element in that picture-perfect space — the challenge is getting it to look less Frankenstein and more Better Homes and Gardens. Here’s a not-so-obvious secret the pros use: Build curves into the design. To help you get there Skil’s site features a nice how-to guide, complete with pictures and exploded diagrams.

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Once a month, for all of 2008 — oops — Steinel is giving away an Ultimate Butane Kit to a randomly selected website registrant. You don’t even already have to own a winch! You will of course have to surrender the normal contact information and receive promotional materials and junk forever, but there’s a lot of great stuff in the kit.

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Reader tmib_seattle and his scout troop have been hard at work, and they have the pictures to prove it. These tomahawks are an awesome example of the things you can crank out when you learn to play with fire. I must say, tmib is a lot more humble about his handiwork than I’d be:

Throwing tomahawks I made for the mountain man expedition. Handles from Crazy Crow Trading post. For the heads, I wrapped A36 steel around a carbon-steel bit and forge welded them.

I’d spin it much like something from Lord of the Rings: “After summoning the fires of Mt. Trogdor the troop and their fire master did forge three axes to arm the mountain expedition.”  Then I’d find a way to work that into every conversation I had. I might also fashion a small shield and Viking helm to go with them and start conversations with a whooping war chant.

It’s probably best I don’t have a forge.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

Even with a sprinkler system, your lawn might sport some brown patches — especially in places where water runs off before the grass can absorb it. A soaker hose over the area would probably work, providing a slower rate of water flow over a longer period of time, but runoff could still be a problem. Watering crystals would work, but according to most experts they need to be tilled into the soil, and tearing up your yard will make things worse before they get better. A grass root irrigator is probably the best tool for the job.

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Last week’s post about my ordeal with customer service, just to order a drive belt for my sander, turned out to be a hot button — and here’s a follow-up to it. I’ve installed the new drive belt, and the sander is ready to go again.

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Keep your fleet of cars, trucks, bicycles, ATVs, tractors, and wheelbarrows moving with a deluxe tire repair kit from Slime!  The kit includes everything except the tires, inner tubes, and air — at least I don’t see anything missing, unless you want to count an equalizer.

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Micro-Mark is lowering the price on their 2-1/2 X Optivisor Binocular Magnifier — and while $35 isn’t that great a discount over the regular price of $39, they’ve sweetened the pot by including a 1-3/4 X extra lens.

The Optivisor allows you to do hands-free close-up detail work — no need to hold a magnifying glass — and it flips up out of the way when not needed.

Optivisor Binocular Magnifier With Extra Lens [Micro-Mark]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?] [What's This?]

(Monday, July 28th, 2008) We’re really miffed that TLC isn’t running a Shark Week episode of John and Kate minus Eight…  Oh, and there’s a new Top Gear tonight to make up for the distinct lack of non-shark entertainment.

All times are central.

• Rock Solid: Granite Countertops (DIY, 5:30 p.m.)
• Top Gear: Episode 3 (BBC America, 7:00 p.m.) NEW
• Top Gear: Episode 2 (BBC America, 8:00 p.m.)
• How Do They Do It?: Passenger Airplanes; Lightweight Chainsaws (Science, 8:00 p.m.)
• How Do They Do It?: Transporting Giant Oil Rigs, Electric Shavers (Science, 8:30 p.m.)
• Robocars (Science, 9:00 p.m.)

Enjoy.

(Sunday, July 27th, 2008) We’ll avoid making any “sharks with laser beams” references, but Shark Week has begun…

All times are central.

• Cool Tools: Out of Reach (DIY, 5:00 p.m.)
• Ice Road Truckers: Lost on the Ice (History, 5:00 p.m.)
• Ice Road Truckers: Hundred Ton Haul (History, 6:00 p.m.)
• MythBusters: Jaws Special (Discovery, 6:00 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Steel Safes, False Teeth, Airplanes, Maple Syrup (Science, 6:00 p.m.)
• How It’s Made: Gummies, Ball Bearings, Fish Farming, Bronze Sculptures (Science, 6:30 p.m.)
• Ice Road Truckers: Man Down (History, 7:00 p.m.)
• MythBusters: Jaws Special (Discovery, 7:00 p.m.)
• Ice Road Truckers: A Trucker’s Farewell (History, 8:00 p.m.) NEW
• MythBusters: Shark Special (Discovery, 8:00 p.m.)
• Cool Tools: Speciality (DIY, 8:30 p.m.)
• Classic Tractors (RFD-TV, 8:30 p.m.)
• Under Construction: A Stained Relationship (DIY, 9:00 p.m.)

Enjoy.

(Saturday, July 26th, 2008) The Soap Box Derby is about as American as apple pie, but it would probably be better to get into the shop and make one tonight.

All times are central.

• Cool Tools: Innovators (DIY, 5:00 p.m.)
• Soap Box Derby (ESPNC 5:00 p.m.)
• MythBusters: Walking on Water (Discovery, 6:00 p.m.)
• MythBusters: Western Myths (Discovery, 7:00 p.m.)
• New Yankee Workshop: Cigar Chair (DIY, 8:00 p.m.)
• MythBusters: Shooting Fish in a Barrel (Discovery, 8:00 p.m.)
• Wood Works: Garden Gate with Copper Panel (DIY, 8:30 p.m.)
• Wood Works: Hall Table with Leaf Inlay (DIY, 9:00 p.m.)
• MythBusters: Airplane on a Conveyor Belt (Discovery, 9:00 p.m.)
• Holmes on Homes: Showing the Cracks (TLC, 9:00 p.m.)
• Hammered With John & Jimmy DiResta: Old-School Fishing Boat (DIY, 9:30 p.m.)

Enjoy.