You know a tool’s good when the only place you can buy it is from the online corporate store. The Flexiwrench Plus smart tool system is so hot, they can’t keep it in stock anywhere else. Yes, I’m being sarcastic. The system features two different handles, each with a 3/8″ socket that accepts different wrench or socket heads, similar to the Stanley MaxDrive.  One handle sports two pivot points for snaking the wrench into hard-to-reach places, and the other handle functions like an articulated screwdriver.

In addition to the handles, the 19-piece Flexiwrench Plus set includes 3/8″, 7/16″, 1/2″, 9/16″, and 5/8″ open-end, box, and socket heads; a universal socket adapter for using standard 3/8″ sockets; and a generic looking case.

We can’t vouch for how well this tool works, but we’re pretty sure it isn’t the tool set we’d choose if we crashed our boat into a desert island. Can anybody take this tool seriously considering the Comic Sans-like font they chose for the case?

It’s a little late for Mother’s Day, but only $20 buys the Flexiwrench Plus 19-piece set for the father that has everything — if you really want to disappoint your father.

Flexiwrench Plus [Corporate Site]

If you’re stumped for a Mother’s Day idea for your mom, don’t go the standard route and send flowers or candy. It shouldn’t be a surprise that Toolmonger recommends giving mom a set of tools to help around the house. You don’t have to shell out for a new Snap-on rolling tool chest filled with ten grand worth of shiny chrome — though that would be cool — but a nice set of sturdy gear makes a great gift for anyone, including mom.

Before you rush off to the Net to get the latest in pink fashion tools, stop and think about that. You wouldn’t want a set of pink tools that aren’t up to shop-quality, so why would she? Think decent and functional, the types of tools anyone could use around the house. If you can’t find a set that fits the bill, make one yourself, especially if you have a clue what she might need or what she’ll use ‘em for.

Here’s where you get to channel all your creative tool-buying knowledge gleaned from hard research and firsthand experience, and put it to work. Does she like to hang pictures? Then perhaps your mom’s kit should include a tack hammer and a box of angled picture hooks that hold 5, 10, and 25 lbs. apiece.

The best part: you’ll get to explain why you got her the items you did, showing her, through your selection, that you were really thinking about her and about how to make her life a bit easier. What would you get mom? Let us know in comments.

Street Pricing [Google Products]

It’s hard to get a job done without the right tools, but I’ve often found it close to impossible to get even simple tasks done with no tools. So what do you do if you find yourself faced with a job that requires a few hand tools, and you’re stuck with no tools? Believe it or not, your local grocery store might be able to help you out when you’re in a bind.

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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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Since the advent of mechanization in the paper industry, there’s not as much call anymore for the pulp hook. Traditionally used to catch the ends of four-foot pulpwood sticks for stacking, the pulp hook features more commonly today in spooky campfire stories.

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This stylish new carpenter’s bracelet…um, this set of carpenter’s brass knuckles…OK, this carpenter’s circular rasp sells for $10 at Woodcraft. The rasp, originally used by staircase makers to smooth curved handrails, shapes tightly curved or concave areas where a straight rasp won’t work.

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Watch what happens when non-Toolmongers audition for a home shopping network by trying to sell a camouflaged drill set. I laughed so hard when I saw this — what a great item to weed out the bad salesmen. Not only do they concentrate on the least important feature, the camouflage, but they have no idea what they’re talking about. My favorite quote: “Maybe you wanna lay in the grass and drill.”

With the Rotate-A-Blade utility knife you can rotate a standard notched blade to different angles, so it can function as a knife, scraper, or ripper — no need to buy multiple knives with different blades. The knife also features blade storage and a nifty hex bit driver. It looks like they might need to work out a few kinks, but let’s hope we see this bad-boy on store shelves soon. I’ll buy one.

If you work construction or renovation, you often need to straighten a twisted stud or joist.  Tools such as Stanley’s Fubar will do the trick, but what if you don’t want to carry a separate tool to get the job done?  Estwing adds board-tweaking ability to a tool already in your hand: the hammer.  The patented Hammertooth hammer can straighten any 2x board — just place the tooth and claw on either side of a board, and twist.

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In response to this recent post, Toolmongers have come out strongly in favor of pocket knives. Almost everyone agrees that pocket knives come in handy all the time, even if you don’t always have the right tool for a given situation. But if your pockets are big enough to carry this 87-tool Swiss Army knife, you will always have the right tool for the situation.

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Sharpen those shears, ’cause this Harbor Freight coupon expires today. You can check out their other coupons, too, but this knockout punch kit makes the top of my list. It allows you to cut perfect holes in 10-gauge mild steel, aluminum, and fiberglass. The kit includes dies sized 1/2″, 3/4″, 1″, and 1-1/4″, and hole punches sized 7/8″, 1-3/32″, 1-11/32″, and 1-11/16″, all made from heat-treated, high-carbon steel. You’ll also get driving screws and a mold-blown plastic case to hold it all. After today, the price reverts back to $15.

Knockout Punch Kit [Harbor Freight]
Coupons [Harbor Freight]

How do you make the world’s smallest violin? With the world’s smallest plane, of course. Herdim claims this diminutive plane is “the smallest functional plane in the world ever to be manufactured in a series.” Despite its ridiculously small size, Herdim actually makes this plane for violin makers to hollow small surfaces.

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Sometimes you need a thin wrench, sometimes you need an adjustable wrench, and sometimes you need a wrench that’s both thin and adjustable.  The jaws of the adjustable Smart Wrench from Engineer measure just 1/16″ thick — thin enough to slip into all but the tightest locations. The 6″ long adjustable wrench can accommodate nuts as large as 3/4″.

Grab one Smart Wrench for $28 at Garrett Wade, or two for $50.

Smart Wrench [Engineer]
Smart Wrench [Garrett Wade]

Through this Thursday, Sears is discounting both their standard and metric 4-in-1 wrench sets by 50%. Normally $30, right now you can pick up a set for $15. Each set includes two 12-point box-end wrenches with reversible ratcheting sockets that fit two different sizes. That means each wrench can tighten and loosen four different sized fasteners.

The two-wrench standard set includes one wrench that fits 5/16″, 3/8″, 7/16″, and 1/2″ sizes, and a second wrench that fits 9/16″, 5/8″, 11/16″, and 3/4″ sizes.

The two-wrench metric set includes one wrench that fits 8mm, 10mm, 12mm, and 13mm sizes, and a second wrench that fits 16mm, 17mm, 18mm, and 19mm sizes.

Craftsman heat-treats the handles and plates them with nickel-chrome — they also heat-treat the box-end sockets and finish them in black oxide.

The deal expires May 1, 2008.

Craftsman 4-in-1 Standard Wrench Set [Sears]
Craftsman 4-in-1 Metric Wrench Set [Sears]

Around 17 or 18, the age when most kids trade in their model cars for real ones, they also put away their hobby knives in exchange for shiny mechanic’s tools. But if you ever want to rejoin the model crafting ranks, you can grab a full set of hobby knives for less than you’d pay for one of the old Revel models you used to put together with ‘em.

Northern Tools sells this 35-piece set of hobby knives and blade attachments in a nice wooden box for $10. The set includes three different handles, two saw blades, six shaping blades, 17 cutting blades, three awl points, an edge trim guide, tweezers, a mini-planer, and a sanding block — you know, all that stuff you used to ignore when building models as a kid.

35-Piece Hobby Knife Kit [Northern Tools]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

A chisel is a useful hand tool or bench tool, but you don’t want to carry it around in your pocket.  You risk cutting your pocket and yourself, unless you can keep track of the plastic caps that sometimes come with them. FastCap has come up with a solution in their new Pocket Chisel.

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This set probably won’t replace any of your other tools, but it’s definitely worth grabbing one to keep in the trunk or on the boat. The set includes a universal ratchet driver, 12 SAE drive sockets, 12 metric drive sockets, 20 hex drive sockets, 17 slotted drive bits, seven star drive bits, four pozi drive bits, four Phillips drive bits, four square drive bits, a 42-piece picture-hanging kit, and a carrying case.

You can get it from ToolsNow, via Amazon, for $5 — add $7 for shipping and handling, for a total of $12.

130-Piece Screwdriver Set [DealNews]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]