(TV Tonight, Thursday, January 29th, 2009)  Thursday night disappoints again.  Remember when it was a night of custom building?  Sigh.

All times are central.

• Ask This Old House (DIY, 5:00 pm)
• This Old House (DIY, 5:30 pm)
• How It’s Made: Individual Transporters, Cedar Canoes, Electric Guitars (Discovery, 6:00 pm)
• Motorcycle Mania (TLC, 6:00 pm)
• Rock Solid: Rock Garden (DIY, 6:30 pm)
• How It’s Made: Microphones, Hot Tubs, Artificial Turf, Beer Steins (Discovery, 6:30 pm)
• Overhaulin: That’s All Volks (TLC, 7:00 pm)
• Ask This Old House (DIY, 7:30 pm)
• Cool Tools: Better Basics (DIY, 8:00 pm)
• World’s Toughest Fixes: Giant Telescope (National Geographic, 8:00 pm)
• Cool Tools: Paint (DIY, 8:30 pm)
• Classic Tractors (RFD-TV, 8:30 pm)
• Wrecked: Dominating the Market (Speed, 9:00 pm)
• Wrecked: Accidents Happen (Speed, 9:30 pm)

Enjoy.

If it’s good enough for a nuclear power plant it must be good enough for you.  3M designed its Performance Plus Duct Tape to meet the low leechable-halogen-and-sulfur requirements of nuclear power plants.  What does this mean to you?  Besides sounding cool, not much — but the tape has other advantages as well.

You can use the tape permanently or temporarily either indoor or out and for temperatures up to 200°F.  The tape removes cleanly from most opaque surfaces for up to six months, and it’s UV and sunlight resistant up to one year, which means the backing won’t deteriorate or delaminate.  The surface is also writable if you need to mark or label it.

3M uses polyethylene film over cloth scrim for the waterproof backing and a mixture of natural and synthetic rubber for the adhesive.  You can purchase the tape in slate blue or red.   A 60-yard roll of nuclear-grade duct tape will run you about $15.

Nuclear-Grade Duct Tape [3M]
Street Pricing [Google]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

These 2×4-and-plywood shelves are as common in woodshops as milk is in grocery stores.  Some folks get crazy and put doors on the front of them, while others like reader resq47 go for the bare-bones style pictured above — but large or small they’ll find their way into a corner somewhere no matter how hard you fight it.

We dig this type of shelving because it’s cheap, reliable, and built to any size.  Anyone considering buying storage really ought to attempt this first — if you don’t like ‘em or find they’re not necessary at some point, just knock ‘em apart and build something else with the leftover lumber.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

Most firearm owners will recognize this nylon bristle brush, especially if they’ve been in the service — the brush is included as standard issue with all M16s in the military.  One end is a normal toothbrush and the other end has a very thin version of the same brush. This narrow brush will enter most of those smaller areas to get them squeaky clean.

I personally keep two of these brushes in the shop:  one in the parts washer and another in the toolbox. The brush is made by many manufacturers, but I believe the Kleen-Bore is the most popular commercial version.

Street pricing starts at $2.

Gun Brush [Kleen-Bore]
Street Pricing [Google]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

The Wedge Alarm provides a quick way to make yourself feel more secure either at home or on the road. Don’t have a bathroom lock?  Place the wedge behind the door and warn anyone trying to enter that the john is occupied.  Worried about the maids walking in on you even when the “Do Not Disturb” sign is out?  Make them rethink that decision.

The Wedge Alarm emits a piercing 110dB alarm for five seconds when it’s tripped.  The hook-and-loop adhesive pad keeps the wedge in place on carpets, hard floors, windows, or wherever you decide to place it. It’s powered by an included 12V battery.

Pricing for the Wedge Alarm ranges widely, from $4 to $16.

The Wedge Alarm [Reliance Controls]
Street Pricing [Google]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Striker designed their new folding multi-blade to help drywall guys perform the normal steps for slicing up drywall without grabbing extra tools.  Striker thinks it’ll save some time on the jobsite — we’re not sure, but it certainly looks cool.

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With this Craftsman Master Rethreader Set you can easily recondition those dirty, gummed, nicked, and just-plain-nasty old fasteners. The rethreader works slowly down the threads and cleans them, and it’ll also help correct those crossed threads, but it won’t cut new threads — you’ll need a regular cutting tap and die set for that.

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All2ools.com is selling this Stanley precision screwdriver set for $3.45, but it’s available almost everywhere so you can probably save shipping by buying at your favorite local store.

I bought this set for my six-year-old son, expecting that he’d destroy ‘em (they are made in China) as fast as the sets you can buy at the Everything’s-A-Dollar Store — but they held up so well, I bought another set for myself!  The well-made tools come in a handy folding case.

Stanley Precision Screwdriver Set [All2ools.com]
Street Pricing [Google]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

(TV Tonight, Wednesday, January 28th, 2009) We’re starting to give up any hope of new shows appearing that relate to our tool obsession. DIY seems to have fallen into some sort of deep depression, trading on their purchase of back episodes of This Old House, and the Discovery networks are only airing reality shows about blowing stuff up.

All times are central.

• Ask This Old House (DIY, 5:00 pm)
• This Old House (DIY, 5:30 pm)
• Modern Marvels: Magnets (History, 6:00 pm)
• How It’s Made: Fiberglass Insulation, Wooden Ducks, Gumball Machines, Exhaust Systems (Discovery, 6:00 pm)
• Weapon Masters: Blowpipe (Military, 6:00 pm)
• Rock Solid: Manufactured Stone Fireplace (DIY, 6:30 pm)
• How It’s Made: Induction Cooktops, Truck Scales, TetraPak Containers, Harmonicas (Discovery, 6:30 pm)
• Ask This Old House (DIY, 7:30 pm)
• Deconstruction: Metal Working (DIY, 8:00 pm)
• MythBusters: Motorcycle Flip (Discovery, 8:00 pm)
• Wrecked: Off-Roading in Chicago (Speed, 9:00 pm)
• Wrecked: Keep on Trucking (Speed, 9:30 pm)
• MythBusters: Hindenburg Mystery (Discovery, 10:00 pm)

Enjoy.

For some folks the mere mention of a Super Bowl party is enough to whip them into a frenzy of epic proportions as they begin planning the ultimate shindig ever. Others just head to the local sports bar to down some beers with the guys and watch the game.

We’re curious:  Are y’all planning to set up badass BBQ rigs, beer coolers, or TV projection systems for the big game — or is the road to football happiness just paved with chips, dip, and a few rowdy friends?  Let us know in comments.

Also, if you’re building something crazy for the game, post up some pics to the forum.

Put the claw on your bike just like good old Baron von Raschke.  The Gladiator Claw securely holds your bike off the floor, reducing the clutter in your garage. Yeah, you could use a hook, but trying to wrestle a 50lb bike onto a hook above your head is harder in practice than it sounds on paper.

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Snap-on’s new specialty funnel, for certain Honda, Acura, Nissan, Dodge Cummins, and Ford Diesel vehicles, features threads so you can screw it into the oil filler inlet.   They advertise the funnel as one you “fill with oil and walk away from” — if you’re willing to pay through the nose for it.

The Snap-on funnel sells for $30, so you’d need to perform quite a few oil changes to make this one pay for itself.  As a shadetree mechanic I can just wait the 30 seconds.

Threaded Oil Filler (PDF) [Snap-on]

Every so often we come across an image in the photo pool that makes us sit bolt upright and proclaim, “I need that!” This nail gun cabinet from Toolmonger reader 1200tec is just such a photo.

This cabinet is not only a good design but it’s cheap, simple to build, and great-looking — if you’ve been following along with our building policies, you know that this is all four food groups.  He even topped it off with a healthy dose of exactly-the-right-size-for-your-gear.  We take our hats off and raise a glass to your worthy project, sir.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

Have you been burned by the power going out in the middle of the night and screwing up your alarm clock?  Yeah, most alarm clocks have a battery backup, but in my experience it’s always dead when you need it.  Plug the PowerOUT! from Reliance Controls into a spare outlet and when the power fails you’ll know it by the 86dB alarm and bright safety light.

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If you’re not a professional transmission shop and don’t have the money for a full-time transmission jack, you might appreciate this more economical solution, Harbor Freight’s Transmission Adapter.  The adapter is meant to work with a Harbor Freight jack with a 1-1/4″ saddle, but mine fit on my Craftsman two-and-a-half-ton floor jack — and no parallel universes opened when the two tools met.

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Scale Hobbyist is selling this Zona 8″ Back Saw for $5.69 — great for doing dovetails on fine woodworking projects or anywhere a small, fine, and stiff blade is required.

Zona 35-380 8″ Back Saw [Scale Hobbyist]
Street Pricing [Google]

(TV Tonight, Tuesday, January 27th, 2009) It’s a great Tuesday with new episodes of Dirty Jobs and Wreckreation Nation.

All times are central.

• Ask This Old House (DIY, 5:00 pm)
• Machinery of the Past (RFD-TV, 5:00 pm)
• This Old House (DIY, 5:30 pm)
• How It’s Made: Kitchen Knives, Mannequins, Socks, Hypodermic Needles (Discovery, 6:00 pm)
• Rock Solid: Granite Countertops (DIY, 6:30 pm)
• How It’s Made: Heated Skate Blades, Gliders, Hand Bells, Fire Hoses (Discovery, 6:30 pm)
• Dirty Jobs: Abandoned Mine Plugger (Discovery, 7:00 pm)
• Ask This Old House (DIY, 7:30 pm)
• Dirty Jobs: Goose Down Plucker (Discovery, 8:00 pm) NEW
• Deconstructed: Quartz Watch, Vacuum Cleaner, Microphone, MP3 Player (Science, 8:00 pm)
• Deconstructed: car battery, an echo locator, incandescent light bulbs, and a telescope (Science, 8:30 pm)
• Extreme Trains: Freight Train (History, 9:00 pm)
• Wreckreation Nation: Figure-Eight Races (Discovery, 9:00 pm) NEW
• Weapon Masters: Blowpipe (Military, 9:00 pm)
• Deconstruction: Pressure-Treated Wood (DIY, 9:30 pm)
• Wreckreation Nation: Lawn Mower Racing (Discovery, 10:00 pm)

Enjoy.