You’re probably not going to have a set of break-over torque wrenches in your garage, but that doesn’t mean they’re not handy tools in a production environment where you need to repeatedly torque the exact same fastener or set of fasteners. The name comes from the fact that the wrench breaks over at 90° when the preset torque is applied — supposedly the break-over mechanism minimizes the shock to the fastener.

These interchangeable-head, break-over torque wrenches from Mountz come in torque ranges from 25 ozf.in to 50 lbf.in. and can hold the torque setting to ±6%. The aluminum handles help make the wrenches lightweight, are small enough to be used in confined spaces, and come in six different colors so you can color code specific torque settings. (more…)

To borrow a phrase from Dirty Harry, “Do I feel lucky?” While a caulk gun can’t do as much damage as a .44 Magnum, you might think so after hearing a homeowner scream as you leave gobs of caulk on the new carpet. With the FastCap Caulked N’ Ready holster you’ll always have your caulk gun at the ready and won’t depend on luck to contain the mess.

Made in the USA from high-impact plastic, the Caulked N’ Ready measures 17″ long and has an inside diameter of 2-3/8″. When you slide the caulk gun into the holster a spike enters the tube tip, plugging it closed. A reservoir around the spike holds the excess caulk that inevitably seeps out of the tip, keeping it off hard-to-clean surfaces.

Cutouts in the top of the holster capture the caulk gun trigger so the gun won’t spin around, and a 6″ adjustable wire clip allows you to hang the holder from your pants, belt, five-gallon bucket, workbench, ladder, or wherever else you decide to dangle it.

Right now the only place we can find the Caulked N’ Ready holster online is McFeely’s for $12.

Caulked N’ Ready [FastCap]
Caulked N’ Ready [McFeely's]

Do we really need more stuff in our pockets?  We already have keys, cell phones, knives, multi-tools, wallets, change, and even Pocket Chisels.  So now FastCap recently introduced yet another tool we can stuff into our bulging pants: a pocket diamond sharpener.  This double-sided 300 and 600 grit diamond sharpener sports the same folding handle FastCap uses on their pocket chisels.

Even if you don’t have room in your pocket, the folding handles do serve another purpose. They fold over the diamond stone on heavy-duty stainless steel pins to protect it from unintentional wear or, possibly, to protect everything else in your pants, pouch, or toolbox from the diamond stone.

Fastcap makes the Pocket Diamond Sharpener in the USA and claims it’ll last a lifetime. It’ll run you about $25, or you can buy it with a set of four pocket chisels for about $80.

Pocket Diamond Sharpener [FastCap]
Street Pricing [Google]
Sharpener only Via Amazon [What’s This?]
Pocket set Via Amazon [What’s This?]

We like to discover tools from around the world and to try and figure out what they’re used for — even common items like a wrench might look different somewhere else.  Reader Noel found this Lithuanian spanner on eBay.  Even though we’re not sure exactly what it was designed for, a spanner is a spanner no matter where in the world it comes from.

The maker’s mark is in Russian, so unless someone can read it or recognizes the brand, Noel may never know its origin.  He says it swings to adjust to the proper size, then stays tight as you use it, which makes sense since we don’t see any other mechanism.

Nice find, Noel — we’re always suckers for strange, old tools ourselves.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

While they’re no replacement for a torque wrench, torque sticks are a pretty cool alternative.  When used with an impact wrench dialed to the appropriate setting, they start flexing when the desired torque is reached, absorbing the impact rather than transferring it to the fastener.  Because of the way they operate, you can’t just use one as an extension to your ratchet — they’ll only work with impact wrenches.

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You might not need a small ratchet like the Midget every day, but there are times when they’re indispensable — like when you’re lying on the floor of your vehicle trying to remove the fan speed resistor or another part that’s tucked up under the dash.

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Bent nail through a dowel, you better look out — Sport Mate is selling a product to replace you.  If you’ve ever gone rollerblading or ice skating, you may have used a homemade lace puller to get your laces tight, but who wants to carry around a bent nail in their pocket?

The Lace Puller is a pulling hook that folds into an aluminum carabiner clip for storage.  It comes in either red or blue and retails for $6.  If you can’t find it locally, you’ll probably pay as much again for shipping.

Lace Puller [Sport Mate]
Street Pricing [Google]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Modular tool-storage systems have become more common in the past few years, and recently some companies have expanded this “modular” trend to the tools themselves, allowing customers to piece together large sets, all at once, with only the tools they need.

Many tool brands are trying out this marketing approach — Snap-on, Stanley, MAC, and Craftsman, to name a few — but they all seem to offer the same, pretty standard types of modules, sold individually so you’re only buying the tools you want.  Craftsman offers about 20 different modules like the ones pictured, including wrenches, sockets, impact sets, and brake kits, and they’re designed to fit into their portable tool boxes and stationary tool chests, making it easy to mix and match the sets as needed from job to job.

So is this new modular setup a faster, simpler, easier way to buy tools, or just another attempt to rope in the less intelligent consumer?  Let us know in comments.

Craftsman Modular Tool Sets [Sears]

We’ve covered hammers that allow you to start nails without holding ‘em with your other hand, here and here.  Olympia Tool’s new nail-holding hammer stands out because it’s not an “As seen on TV” product and you won’t have to take out a small home improvement loan to buy one.

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Marshalltown designed the Rapid Rasp to be a low-cost tool for shaving foam insulation and EIFS (Exterior Insulation Finishing System) to size.

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I saw this image in the photo pool and had to know more. These badass-looking planes are the work of Steve Knight — apparently he’s been professionally crafting wooden planes for close to ten years now. As soon as I started looking around a little, I came across lots of praise for his handmade planes, and looking at these examples I can understand why.

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You can’t swing a hammer to save your life — is a bigger head going to help?  Stanley claims the larger sweet spot on their new hammer will reduce the number of misses and deliver more power to the blows that do hit the nail on the head.

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Noel Hankamer has built up a badass collection of wrenches, and it seems the Alvin Historical Museum agrees — they’ve put a portion of Noel’s collection on display for the next few months.

Just looking at the pics he loaded up is impressive, and we encourage anyone in the Houston area to go check out the exhibit.  From what we can tell, the large case holds dozens of monkey, pipe, bicycle, and alligator wrenches.

All of ‘em look pretty old but well taken care of.  Hats off to Noel for collecting these treasures, which the uninformed might incorrectly call “junk,” and for being gracious enough to loan them out to the Alvin Historical Museum, who had the good sense to put them on display.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]
Alvin Historical Museum [Blog]

Warner calls this tool a drywall edge cutter, but perhaps a better name would be drywall strip cutter.  That’s because when you run this tool along the edge of a sheet of drywall, it scores both sides, allowing you to snap a strip of drywall off the edge of the sheet.

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If you can’t get enough reach with your ratchet you can just add an extension, but what’re you supposed to do with drivers?  A standard-sized blade, about 6″ or so, gets me through most jobs, but recently I was adjusting my headlights, and I needed a longer, thinner blade — GearWrench created their Long-Reach Torx Drivers for jobs just like this.

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A few months ago we covered Striker’s drywall tool, but we overlooked their new carbide utility score. The two tools are very similar in design except that instead of a blade, Striker gives the utility score a carbide tip for scoring materials like fiber cement siding, concrete backer board, laminates, and glass.

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I hate trying to balance a fastener on the end of a hex or Torx wrench — the fastener inevitably falls off, and with my luck it’s never seen again.  Manufacturers have tried different ways of holding fasteners on the end, like rubber gaskets and flared ends, but Armstrong finally brings some common sense to the industry with their BE Magnetic Hex and Torx Wrench sets.

Sears sells a 22-piece set for $40 and a 31-piece set for $50.  Both sets include standard and metric hex sizes as well as Torx sizes, and they come with a holder.

Armstrong [Corporate Site]
Street Pricing [Google]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]