Think of ”gaffer’s tape” as the Cadillac of general purpose tapes — the king of half-assed repairs. (Duct tape is the “queen.”) “Gaff” tape — as the pros call it – is a cloth-backed tape often used in cinematic and theatrical productions. It outshines regular duct tape in both tensile and adhesion strength — without leaving as much nasty residue as duct tape.
This kit was designed for those in earthquake prone areas who find that after even the most minimal tremor, their wall-mounted picture and poster frames are in need of some re-alignment. (Hell, I’m always straightening out my collection of prints, and I don’t even live in California.) With the kit’s magnetic insertion tool, you attach tiny double-ended nails to the back of the frame. Then you press the nailed frame into the wall once it’s level. This holds the frame in place – even during an earthquake.
Remember playing with Tinker Toys? Maybe they weren’t as cool as Legos or Erector, but they sure beat the crap out of Lincoln Logs. As an adult, you don’t have to secretly pine for your old play gear: check out these structural pipe fittings. They’re usually expensive enough to be deemed “Tool Pr0n,” but now that Harbor Freight carries them, you can pick some up without selling your car.
Wrecking a bolt stinks, especially if you don’t have a spare handy. But who carries a whole set of dies with them? That’s when having a ThreadMate in your toolbox could be a life saver. As you rotate it around the damaged bolt, the undamaged threads guide the cutting blade to repair the rest.
Stanley-Bostich’s Hurriquake nail incorporates features that enhance its ability to resist both the side-to-side shearing action of earthquakes and the uplift caused by high winds during hurricanes. But designing stronger nails is easy. Bostitch’s real engineering feat is designing stronger nails that still fit in any modern nail gun.
Thankfully, today’s railroad workers don’t have to drive spikes John Henry style. Tools like this dual railroad clip installer save time — and help prevent repetitive stress injuries — by automatically driving in clips to hold rails in place on modern concrete ties. It takes an incredible amount of force to install these clips quickly, which this device receives from a separate hydraulic power unit. The power units come in electric, diesel, and gas-powered versions.
Cobra claims that their Triple Grip anchors — with dual claws, a split core, and locking wings — can hold a maximum pull load of 70 pounds in 5/8” drywall or a whopping 275 pounds in concrete. These aren’t your ordinary everyday plastic anchors.
When adhesives – my go-to solution for attaching things to thin panels – aren’t an option, here’s a great alternative: plastic hollow door anchors. They pop through thin panels, then spread outwards – just like metal toggles, but with less chance of damaging the panel.
TM reader Frank writes: “I found a really cool store: nutsandbolts.com. I just bought their largest assortment of grade eight nuts and bolts, and it’s awesome. Now I’ve got a better selection of grade eight hardware than my local Lowe’s.”
Your arm power pushes this “sewing awl” through even heavy materials — like canvas and leather — to make lockstitches just like a sewing machine. Except unlike a machine, the ‘Stitcher is portable and really, really cheap.
Need a King Dick? (Take you mind out of the gutter people! I’m referring to the British tool manufacturer.) British Tools & Fasteners has a plethora of tools — made in England, of course — as well as fasteners in all Brit flavors such as British Standard Fine, British Standard Whitworth, British Standard Taper Pipe, Cycle Engineers Institute, and British Standard Brass to name just a few.
If own old British cars (like me), then you know all about trying to find correct fasteners state side. Bookmark this site!
British Tools & Fasteners [Corporate Site]
While we were watching thousands of people drive (and strip) zillions of screws at Maker Faire, one attendee stopped by to suggest that we’d have had better luck with Deck Mate screws. Actually, a couple of different people suggested them, which drove us to the Deck Mate website for a look.
Apparently the secret to Deck Mate’s screws is a set of “Anti-Camout Ribs” (ACRs) that match up with a set of ribs on Deck Mate’s special driver bits. The difference between Deck Mates and other specialty screws (like LOX) is that you can drive Deck Mates with a standard #2 Phillips bit. The special bits engage the ACRs and are less likely to strip, but if you need to drive ‘em with a standard bit, you can.
At any rate, with that many pros recommending them, they’re probably worth a look. We’ll see about picking up some for testing when we can.
Deck Mate Screws [Corporate Site]
Pros call these “hooker hooks” or just “hookers” for short; they’re little Tetris-piece-looking hooks that hold a section of countertop in place while you’re cutting it out. Without ‘em, the piece would fall through and jack up your cut. With ‘em, you’re golden.
When we find ourselves in need of an imperial crapton of fasteners — thousands, not tens — we always seem to find our way to The Fastener Superstore. They have almost all garden variety fasteners in stock and ready to ship at a moments notice. We like that, because generally when we need an imperial crapton of fasteners, we need them ASAP.
These cable anchors from Greenlee help you get the job done fast while keeping cables tight and organized — and looking good in the process. With one nail and a little yellow anchor, a savvy pro (that’s you) can secure up to eight power (or voice, data, or video) cables to studs or plates.
The nail holds the anchor to the wall, and cables simply press into the slots.
Some months back when Chuck mentioned a Storehouse brand assortment of crimp terminals, I commented that this was one place you really didn’t want to skimp on quality. We all agreed this would be a good subject to test emperically, and I finally found the time to jump in and give it a shot.
What follows is a test of three brands: Calterm (found at the local auto parts store), Storehouse (the Harbor Freight house brand), and some ETC terminals (which I can’t seem to find online) that I had in my toolbox from a previous job.
The conclusion won’t surprise you, but there’s a twist that might. Read past the jump for the skinny – plus oodles of pictures.
As you may have noticed we’re have been in the throes of an F150 heater core replacement. It’s not a fun job (by any definition of those words), however it has taught us a few lessons. For example, after facing the pinch-apart-style clamps located at the back of the firewall — and after quite a few miles, often facing the firewall, too — we now prefer the screw-type hose clamps. Really prefer them.
We’re sure there be disagreements, but after laying across the engine bay struggling with a backwards-facing pinch-type on one of the heater hoses (that seemed cemented into place by years of grime and road dirt), the word clamp became a four letter word.
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