Few things in woodworking are more satisfying than making a perfect paper-thin shaving with a well-maintained plane. If you’re using a spill plane you’re actually trying to make special shavings called spills rather than trimming wood from a work piece. A spill is a long coiled wood shaving that was used to transfer flame, such as from fireplace to candles, before the advent of matches. Before finding this spill plane from Lee Valley, as far as I was aware, you either had to buy an antique spill plane or make one yourself.

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A worthwhile addition to your vehicle’s emergency kit and safer than incendiary flares, the small (6 oz. with batteries; 4 1/4″L × 3 7/8″W × 1″D) Lite Flare has a clear high-impact polycarbonate housing, two high-intensity red (yellow is available, also) LEDs that flash about 55 times per minute with a claimed visibility range of 1 mile at night, and uses two AA batteries that will operate for “400+ hours (alkaline type).” A 3-pack (the recommended number for “optimum” visibility) costs $33. They also make a Cone Flare version that fits in the top of a traffic cone to make it more visible.

If you don’t like the directionality of the Lite Flare, other manufacturers (e.g., PowerFlare) make LED flares that emit light in all directions.

I’m sure there are even more options out there. What do you prefer for road-side emergencies?

Lite Flare [Manufacturer's Site]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

When you practice catch-and-release, every second counts. The longer you have the fish out of water, the worse its chances of survival. You grab your forceps or other hook-remover only to figure out there’s no way you’re getting the hook out without damaging the fish. So you need to waste precious seconds to grab another tool to cut the line. If you were holding a pair of Hemocuts, you’d already have the fish back in the water.

The Hemocut is a combination of the Kelly forceps and bandage scissors. It’s marketed by two different companies for two entirely different fields. EMI manufactures and markets the Hemocuts to the medical field and William Joseph markets them to fisherman, including a few modifications like an open-finger loop and a rubber coating for a better grip in wet conditions.

The medical Hemocuts start at $6, while the ones specialized for fishing run $15.

William Joseph [Corporate Site]
HemoCut [The Fire Store]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Unlike many fire starters, the BlastMatch from Ultimate Survival Technologies allows you to start fires using only one hand.  You might not think this is an important feature until you’re alone in the wilderness with an injured hand.

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Wildfires leave destruction in their wake, but you can protect all your hard work with a little insurance — Barricade fire gel.  You mix the gel with water from your garden hose, then spray it on your house and even your lawn to create an encapsulated wet blanket that’ll block fire for up to 24 hours.

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Ever wonder how divers can patch a hole in a ship in the water?  One way is the Hilti UW10.  This gun can seal a 15mm plate to the side of a ship to stop it from taking on too much water, saving both cargo and lives.

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If the regular Fubar is the schoolyard bully, the new Fire/Rescue Stanley Fubar is the guy who beats him up and steals his lunch money — it’s a bruiser, beefier and pumped up in almost every area.  First responders (police/fire/EMT’s) designed this new member of the Fubar fold for forcible entry, vehicle extrication, and extreme demolition.

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Who would’ve thought you could store thousands of gallons of water in a tank that folds up to the size of a tent and can be carried by one guy? That’s just what you get with the Rol-La-Tank from Fol-Da-Tank.

Designed to be a relay storage tank for storing liquids temporarily in remote locations, this portable tank sets up in less than two minutes with no tools. Simply unroll the tank, unfold and insert the four (or six) corners, and snap the liner into the clips — easier than most tents.

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July 4th — the firebug’s holiday — is coming, so I’m bringing up fire safety again. At the Toolmonger shop, we take safety very seriously, and although we’re not the final authority on fire safety, we run into some good information and try to get opinions from experts when we can. Whether you’re following our advice or someone else’s, make sure you’re as prepared for a fire as you can be — it could be your shop, or even a life on the line.

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In 2001 members of the Air Force’s 820th Security Forces commissioned Ryan M. Johnson to revive 18th-century battle axes with the aid of 21st-century technology — the result is the RMJ line of tactical tomahawks. RMJ forged each axe from a single piece of tool steel to provide military personnel with a tough fighting and utility axe that can be counted on.

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Automotive engineers are updating car security every year — and every year locksmiths figure out how to defeat those same security measures, because some of us are prone to locking our keys in our cars.  High Tech Tools has compiled a catalog of security defeat instructions for every make and model of car, and they also design tools to help locksmiths collect their emergency lockout fees.  Of all the interesting specialized tools in their catalog, I thought this one was especially fun: the glow-in-the-dark long-reach tool.

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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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This bad-ass combination rake/hoe, commonly called a McLeod tool, is designed to fight wildfires, but you can also garden with it.  The tines are made for raking fire lines, the sharp hoe edge cuts sod or branches, and the head can also be used to tamp and compact. Whether you’re a firefighter or a weekend gardener, you can appreciate the tool’s versatility.

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When you absolutely positively need to be inside a building two minutes ago, you need a Mini Pro-Bar. Fire and rescue crews commonly reach for this Halligan-type tool as a one-stop multi-tool for forcing entry into a building.

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Recently in Massachusetts, a semi driver was critically burned and later died after the tanker he was driving flipped, igniting over 9,000 gallons of gasoline. Bystanders valiantly tried to rescue him, but the flames and a stuck seatbelt prevented him from being rescued in time. A half-sharpened penknife could have made it possible to release him sooner, and that might have changed the outcome of this tragic story. For whatever reason, no one at the scene carried a knife or rescue tool — and it made me wonder why.

I once received detention for accidentally (I swear) bringing my giant SwissChamp to high school. Upon learning this, my father was surprised — because in his uphill-both-ways school days he was required to bring a knife to school. Pencil sharpeners weren’t available, and everyone carried a knife.

What do you all think? If you carry a knife or pocket tool with a blade, what issues have you come across? If you don’t carry one, why not? Tell us in the comments.

When firemen or other rescue personnel need to get inside a structure, every second counts. The Inforcer rescue training aide provides valuable practice in breaching all kinds of doors and lock configurations. Finding doors that can be cut, pried, or otherwise abused can be tough for your local fire department, so the Inforcer’s replaceable locks, hinges, and padlock loops make multiple training runs a lot easier to perform.

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With their 6-in-1 rescue tool, Channellock has beefed up a pair of linesman pliers to specialize ‘em for rescue work. The extra-coarse texture of the pliers provides a stronger grip, and hardened cutters will cut through almost any wire. A hardened steel point on the tip of one handle will shatter safety glass, and a spanner wrench allows you to tighten or loosen standard hose couplings. The other handle functions as a pry bar and as a wrench that’ll fit over standard gas valves.

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