After years of writing about tools and the tool lifestyle, we believe that everyone — man, woman, homeowner, apartment(/bar)-dweller, college student, everyone – should own a few basic tools and the accessories needed to make them useful. So we decided to throw together a list along with some recommendations for where to find ‘em, how much you should pay for ‘em, and what you can do with ‘em.

We don’t intend this as an exhaustive list of every tool you could (and should) possibly own. Instead, we’re targeting the gear you’ll find useful day in and day out — and that occasionally may pull your ass out of the fire when you’ve done a great job of lighting it up.

Of course this wouldn’t be Toolmonger without your feedback. Think no one really needs a utility knife? Wonder why we’re not going to include a scroll saw? Speak up! As you see the each post in the list (starting today), feel free to let us — and more importantly other readers — know what you think. And if you’re reading to assemble your first toolkit, do what we do: Pay attention to comments. There’s as much useful info there as you’ll get from us. Toolmonger readers are sharp, like your pocket knife better be, too.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not sure where I left the blade guard/splitter for my table saw, and frankly I don’t really care; it’s a real pain to remove and replace and it gets in the way of at least half of the operations I perform. Now, I really like the idea of a built-in riving knife that moves with the blade, so maybe on my next saw — but for now this removable splitter from Micro Jig has caught my eye.

Not only does the MJ Splitter keep the workpiece from pinching the blade, it also can act as a mini-featherboard to keep the workpiece against the fence after it exits the blade — something that’s not easy to do any other way. By choosing one of the four sides of the two included splitters, you can adjust the amount of pressure the splitters apply by changing how much it is offset from the blade in increments of .003″.

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Esslinger currently has the GRS Benchmate Basic Package on sale for $185.00.

The GRS Benchmate is a mounted ring holder that allows ergonomic positioning of a ring clamp for setting stones, engraving and other operations. The basis of the system is a tapered dovetail plate that is attached to the front of a jewelers bench. The mount slips on and locks in place in seconds. The height is somewhat adjustable and the ring clamp is fully adjustable so it can be mounted plumb or at an angle. The ring clamp swivels in the holder as well allowing access to every side of the ring settings.

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(TV Tonight, Tuesday, February 9th, 2010) A new Dirty Jobs retrospective also brings us to what promises to be truly nasty visit to a bone black, or bone charcoal, factory. There’s also a new Howe & Howe.

All times are central

• Deconstruction: Lumber (Discovery, 5:00 pm)
• Holmes on Homes: Frozen Assets (HGTV, 5:00 pm)
• Tank Overhaul: The Sherman (Military, 5:00 pm)
• Machinery of the Past (RFD-TV, 5:00 pm)
• Dirty Jobs: Turkey Inseminator (Discovery, 6:00 pm)
• Tank Overhaul: The Hellcat (Military, 6:00 pm)
• Ask This Old House: Mature Tree, Noisy Heating System (DIY, 6:30 pm)
• Ask This Old House: Water Saving Toilet, In-Ground Sprinkler System (DIY, 7:00 pm)
• Dirty Jobs: Concrete Finisher (Discovery, 7:00 pm)
• Dirty Jobs: Bone Black (Discovery, 8:00 pm) NEW
• Howe & Howe Tech: Badger Resurrection (Discovery, 9:00 pm) NEW

First of all, let me thank you for all your kind comments on my “We Want Your Input!” post last week. Your thoughtful and insightful responses remind all of us here in the Toolmonger office just how awesome our readers are. And let me also tell you this: We’ve listened. We’re working on some changes to Toolmonger based on your input. Read on past the jump for a preview of what’s to come:

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The Make blog used the above picture to point to mtneer_man’s Flickr page with 47 photos of the different workbenches he’s had. It’s quite an assortment, and very nicely organized (although I do wonder about that little bench or desk elevated by concrete blocks on the right). A geo-physicist, he lives in rural Oklahoma, has four — !!! — workshops, several workbenches (”…dirty work, clean work, electronics work, photography, automotive…”), and even sub-workbenches — would those be sous-benches? — for “sharpening, grinding, glueing…” There are many more picture sets on his Flikr page documenting some of his other projects (e.g., workshop building, shelves, tools…) and travels.

Time for a little workshop and workbench envy?

Workbench [Flickr: mtneer_man]

I received an email from a complete stranger asking if I could help source some replacement knockdown hardware for a “Scandinavian bed.” She has 4 of the 8 sets she needs to put it back together but couldn’t find replacements anywhere. The store she bought it from over a decade ago moved and threw out all their paperwork and older hardware (boo on them!).

This is the picture she sent me. She said in her email: “The longest piece is 1 3/4 inches long, the threaded portion of which is 1/4″ diameter. The wide, ribbed piece is stamped “BREV N B38420″ on the top. That piece has a threaded hole, 3/8″ in diameter, drilled through its bottom. The short, stubby threaded piece, also 3/8″ diameter, fits that hole.”

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My wife uses a small, cheap, cast iron anvil for hammering our wire jewelry. After a while, being unhardened, the anvil surface ends up horribly dinged. Yes, I’ve begged her to use a steel bench block, but she claims this is what works for her and I’m not going to argue. I haven’t found a quality anvil in this form factor.

So it was off to my beater of a Boyar-Schultz 612 surface grinder. I bought it for $250 at an auction, and as you can see, most of the precision has leaked out of it. For simple surfacing jobs it works well. I ground the surface of the magnetic chuck in place so it’s parallel to the travel of the x-axis slide. Read the rest of this entry »

The latest Motorcycle Consumer News (MCN Volume 41, Number 3, March 2010) has a short article on Oetiker ear clamps and installation tools. TM has covered the ClampTite tool before (TM 12/24/06), and its use for making hose clamps. The MCN article indicates that neither the ClampTite nor worm-drive hose clamps may be suitable for high-pressure fuel-injection hoses, and that the Oetiker ear clamps are a better choice in this situation.

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What makes this hatchet from Stanley a carpenter’s hatchet? Probably the fact it has a hammer head rather than a flat for striking and a notch in the blade for pulling nails, but it’s still primarily designed for cutting wood and driving stakes.

Forged from one piece of steel and rim-tempered to prevent chipping, this 13″, 28oz. hatchet uses a tuning fork design to dampen vibrations, and the grip is covered with rubber to further cushion your hands.

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Looking for a great weekend project to tackle with your kids? Look no further than Toolmonger schnaars‘ awesome “suburban siege” trebuchet. Unsatisfied with their original Lego and Connex models, he and his son switched to pine 1×2s and angle steel to build something a bit, well, more powerful.

From his kick-ass writeup in the Flickr pool:

It’s just a base and an A-frame with a bolt going through it. I used two bungee cords for the power, and you have to adjust them a bit to get the right amount of tension to throw something, but not so much it destroys the thing. The whole thing took about an hour to bang out. [...] I put two holes in the arm: one to give it a high arc throw and one to give it a line drive.

Does it work? Hells, yeah: “The nerf baseball on the bench goes about 75′ on both settings. Golf balls go about 100′ and roll forever.”

(Thanks to schnaars for the great CC-licensed photo — and sweet project!)

(TV Tonight, Monday, February 8th, 2010) We get a new Top Gear tonight, with cheap cars and Rally driving legend Ken Block.

All times are central

• Deconstruction: Down the Drain (DIY, 5:00 pm)
• Trains & Locomotives (RFD-TV, 5:00 pm)
• MythBusters: Underwater Car (Discovery, 6:00 pm)
• Ask This Old House: Collapsing Garage Roof; Installing a Dry Well (DIY, 6:30 pm)
• Top Gear: Season 13 Ep. 3 (BBC America, 7:00 pm) NEW
• Ask This Old House: Special Projects for Kids: Building a Vegetable Garden; Constructing a Mini-Golf (DIY, 7:00 pm)
• MythBusters: Crash and Burn (Discovery, 7:00 pm)
• American Chopper: Jr/Sr Military Tribute Bikes 1 (Military, 7:00 pm)
• Top Gear: Season 13 Ep. 2 (BBC America, 8:00 pm)
• MythBusters: Dumpster Diving (Discovery, 8:00 pm)
• American Chopper: Jr/Sr Military Tribute Bikes 2 (Military, 8:00 pm)
• MythBusters: Seesaw Saga (Discovery, 9:00 pm)
• American Chopper: Jet Bike (Military, 9:00 pm)

(TV Tonight, Sunday, February 7th, 2010) Apparently there’s some sort of popular sporting event happening today. So what you get are reruns of thematic rearrangements of How It’s Made.

All times are central

• How It’s Made: Remix: Drinks (Science, 5:00 pm)
• American Chopper: Iowa Farm Bureau Bike 1 (Green, 5:00 pm)
• How It’s Made: Remix: Breakfast (Science, 5:30 pm)
• How It’s Made: Remix: Green (Science, 6:00 pm)
• How It’s Made: Remix: Musical Instruments (Science, 6:30 pm)
• How It’s Made: Remix: Automotive (Science, 7:00 pm)
• How It’s Made: Remix: Boats (Science, 7:30 pm)
• How It’s Made: Remix: Chores (Science, 8:00 pm)
• How It’s Made: Remix: Road Work (Science, 8:30 pm)
• How It’s Made: Remix: Garage (Science, 9:00 pm)
• Successful Farming Machinery Show (RFD-TV, 9:00 pm)
• How It’s Made: Remix: Weapons (Science, 9:30 pm)
• Holmes on Homes: Kitchen Coleslaw (HGTV, 10:00 pm)

(TV Tonight, Saturday, February 6th, 2010) An incredibly minimal Saturday, but you guys have better things to do than watch TV anyway.

All times are central

• Top Gear: Season 13 Ep. 1 (BBC America, 7:00 pm)
• Dirty Jobs: Snake Researcher (Discovery, 5:00 pm)
• Dirty Jobs: Alpaca Shearer (Discovery, 6:00 pm)

When pros need to drill seriously gaping holes in masonry, they put the hammerdrill back in the truck and reach for a rotary hammer. And Hitachi recently updated their 1-1/2″ spline-shank hammer, shaving off just shy of three pounds of weight while retaining an 8.4 amp motor that delivers a whopping 5.9 ft-lbs of impact energy and an impact rate of 2,800 BPM.

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Gizmodo recently mentioned a different type of log cabin. Piet Hein Eek built this variation as a recording studio for his friend and musician Hans Liberg. The log facade, as shown above, covers a plastic and steel frame. It’s not very clear from the picture, but the cabin is on wheels, has a hitch, and can be towed. Currently located in Hilversum, Netherlands, the log cabin houses a modern recording studio in its surprisingly bright interior. You can glimpse a bit of this in the picture below, where the top-hinged windows are opened. Read the rest of this entry »

Given the state of 2x lumber you get nowadays, why wouldn’t you use steel in non-structural applications? Why screw around trying to use warped, twisted, and cupped studs when you can use uniform steel studs? The metal studs even have pre-cut holes to run most plumbing and electrical, unless you need to need to run something like 2″ water, vent, or waste pipes. In that case you’ll need a tool like Greenlee’s 713 stud punch. Think of it as the big-ass version of a paper hole puncher — only for steel studs.

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