This pair of small Klein cutters has been with me since I left home and stole them from my father’s tool bag — with his permission, of course. The thing about good hand tools is they don’t quit easily. This pair has been through hell stripping and cutting wires and now serves another function entirely.

In the last few years these rugged little cutters have been clipping 18-gauge brad nails when they pop through from a badly-placed nail gun shot. The Klein is just small enough to wedge in at strange angles and clip the ends of the brads, and has been doing so with steady regularity for the last two years.

They are also the designated stuff-cutters for the shop and spend most of their time on the pegboard hanger above the workbench. It’s a rare and valuable tool that can’t be put away due to usefulness, and these cutters are it.

Small Insulated Cutter [Klein Tools]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

Wiha recently introduced their line of insulated Inomic Pliers and Cutters. The supposed ergonomic design resembles the pistol grip of the Grip-On ErgoGrip locking pliers we previously covered. The “optimal” 23° offset design supposedly reduces hand fatigue and injury risk because the pistol-style grip is a more “natural” alignment for your wrist.

The 23° offset confused me for a minute until I realized that for some reason they measured angle of the heads from a line perpendicular to the handle, rather than from where the heads should be — parallel to the handle.

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I would imagine for those poor souls still punching staples in their roofs at holiday time, the Nail Hunter is a welcome comfort. This oddly shaped pair of pliers has been around for a little while and we’ve seen it show up here and there. This new video tells us why.

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Here’s a great idea I wish GearWrench had thought of years ago: Instead of making all ratcheting wrenches combinations, why not produce some that combine a ratchet with a standard box-end? Besides the fact that it lends itself well to a really slick and marketable name, it’s also super handy when you really don’t want to slip — you know, when you need a standard wrench instead of the ratchet because you’re gonna pull hard on it.

GearWrench currently offers two sets: a 12-piece metric and a 9-piece SAE. Besides the double box-end configuration, these are essentially the same ratcheting wrenches you’ve come to love. Street pricing starts around $125, or about $18/wrench separately.

Gearbox [GearWrench]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

I make no secret that I am a sucker for real wood on tools. Better yet, I love the ones I feel like I can actually use instead of the kind that’d make you feel bad if it were banged up a little. These Sheffield gift sets from Lowe’s are headed in the right direction.

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I saw this kit Saturday at our local Costco, marked down to $80 from $100. While I didn’t look super close because I have more hand tools than I know what to do with, it did occur to me that this might make a pretty decent gift for a friend that doesn’t have any tools at all. It looks like a surprisingly good selection, and I’m particularly happy they chose to include an adjustable wrench. You’d be surprised how many basic sets forget one, leaving poor buyers screwed if they run across a nut or bolt outside the range of the included sockets and wrenches.

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The gimmicky tools are out in force this time of year. The Gator Grip driver system is one of those gimmicky rigs that sounds a lot better than it performs most of the time. However, it does work some of the time, and as we’ve said in the past it only takes once to make a tool handy.

The big selling point here is that the Gator pin system will remove rusted or damaged nuts and bolts and will fit funky shapes such as wing nuts, hooks, or other oddball hardware. It utilizes 54 spring loaded steel pins arranged in a 3/4″ diameter socket to adjust to any shape. There are two real drawbacks; the first is that the pins tend to bend or move out the way on smaller bolts/high torque applications. Second, to use the big handle here you need a lot of top clearance to get the beefy bastard in place — which can be tough since stuck bolts normally live in hard-to-get-to spots.

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I tried to stop myself, I really did, but in the end I couldn’t resist and just had to put the BernzOmatic® QUICKFIRE® Torch in the Hot-Or-Not category. The recently-released and patent-pending QUICKFIRE® claims a 40% height reduction (compared to “standard” cylinder hand torches), and 30% faster soldering time (via the Ultra Swirl nozzle and the Max Power Propylene fuel in the QUICK-CONNECT gas cylinder). It has a trigger ignitor switch with lock button and adjustable flame control. The QUICK-CONNECT gas cylinder, with its Max Power fuel capable of producing a 3,600° F flame, will also fit all Propylene and MAPP gas hand torches on the market that use a CGA600 thread connection.

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I love this wrench posted by Toolmonger reader Whiteforge because it reminds us that we’ve been trying to come up with bigger and better wrenches for a long time. If the caption on the image is correct, this ”Any Angle Wrench” was designed in 1916.

So for the better part of a hundred years, we haven’t come very far in adjustable wrench innovation. Folks tinkering around the shop the same time WWI was going on wouldn’t have any trouble identifying wrenches of today. I find that fascinating. Nice find, Whiteforge.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

Take a Picquic® multi-bit screwdriver, change the logo, make a few cosmetic adjustments, and — voilà — you have the “new” Stanley® Push-N-Pick™ multi-bit screwdriver (model 69-193). Like the Picquic, the Stanley has seven 3″ long CrV 1/4″ hex bits (according to Stanley’s website you get Phillips #0, #1, #2, and #3, and slotted 3/16″, 5/32″, and 1/4″; but the picture seems to show two slotted, two Phillips, and three square, or Robertson, bits) that are stored in the handle. The bit in the shaft (which has a hex bolster for additional torque) is used to push out the bit you pick from the handle. The Stanley Push-N-Pick® costs around $11.

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Fixittools has the Malco NHP-1 Nail Hole Slot Punch right now for $25.42.

The NHP-1 is a handy tool for siding installation. If the hole in the siding doesn’t line up with a stud or nailer, you can use the punch to turn the hole into a slot or add a new slot, allowing the nail to be positioned correctly. Seems like a good way to solve an annoying problem, and one that if not addressed could cause a poor installation of an important element of your house. The NHP-1 is also available from Amazon directly for $29.90, but with free super saver shipping.

Malco NHP-1 [fixittoolsstore.com]
Via Amazon

To folks who aren’t woodworkers, this is a “pile of old tools.” To a craftsman this is a pile of old gold — and in some cases it costs as much, too. These planes on display in a booth at the Southwest Tool Collectors Association Tool Meet in Houston are a fine example of you-never-know-what-you-might-find.

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Tapping threads straight can sometimes be a challenge. A lathe, drill press, or a lot of practice help the process — or you could use a tool like Big Gator Tools’ V-Tap Guide. A series of graduated holes in the V-Tap Guide keep the tap aligned perpendicular to the surface.

Big Gator Tools makes the V-Tap Guide from nickel alloyed steel, heat treats it, grinds the bottom flat, and chrome plates it. They also cut a V-groove into the bottom, which both gives the tool its name and allows you tap perpendicular holes on corners and round stock in addition to flat surfaces.

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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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The FISKARS® model 0232 Multi-Snip, with its stainless steel blades (serrated on one side, as shown above, to help hold items), easily cuts a variety of materials in the shop, home, and garden including cable, cloth, carpet, cardboard, leather, linoleum, branches, “and more.” I have also found it also does a great job opening those sealed !*%@# clamshell packages that enclose so many products. The joint tension is adjustable, the molded handles are spring-loaded, and the blades can lock closed until you pull the orange-tipped thumb-release lever. All in all, it’s a very handy and small-sized snip that will only cost you around $10.

Fiskars, by the way, is celebrating their 360th anniversary.

Fiskars [Corporate Site]
Fiskars Multi-Snip Via Amazon [What’s This?]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

As I mentioned recently in my Kitchen Tool Drawer post, the Easydriver is back (”and it’s IMPROVED”). The $29.95 Easydriver gift set (shown on the left in the picture) has the Easydriver ball with three shaft lengths (3″, 5-½”, and 7″), the Mini-Easydriver ball (shown in use on the right in the above picture) with 3-¼” shaft, and six standard ¼” hex bits (two #1 Phillips, two 3/16″ slotted, one #2 Phillips, and one ¼” slotted). As with most other standard ¼” hex bit holders, I’m assuming you can use these without bits as ¼” nut drivers. Each ball is a ratchet driver that you simply flip over to reverse the action. The tools are American made and have a lifetime warranty.

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Unused hog rings kinda look like rounded staples. When you squeeze them with hog ringer pliers they form a ring capturing whatever happens to be in the center. They’re used in all sorts of applications, like fencing, landscaping, mattress and automobile seat construction, and even holding sausage casings closed.

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