Whether you’re an aircraft mechanic, auto mechanic, welder, or DIYer, you’ll eventually need to grind or sand some metal. But what happens when your angle grinder doesn’t offer the finesse you need for a small, intricate job? What happens when you need to get into a hard-to-reach area? Here’s a solution that takes advantage of a tool you already have — 3M’s Roloc drill-mounted grinding/sanding/finishing system.

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If you hate cleaning up between coats, or if the thought of disposable trays and rollers turns you green, then the SealPro might interest you. This sealable roller tray will keep your paint and roller from drying out for weeks.

The SealPro tray holds up to a gallon of paint, so you spend more time rolling and less time refilling the tray. An integrated magnet on the side of the tray holds a ferrous-ferruled brush, keeping it handy for cutting in. For those moments when you just have to stop painting for a few minutes, the tray lid also doubles as a roller holder.

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As as strange as it sounds, ScrapeRite manufactures plastic razor blades. Why on earth would you want a plastic razor blade? Designed for the automotive detailing industry, these blades can remove most stuck-on paints, adhesives, or other muck without damaging the surface like harder steel razor blades.

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You see glass bead reflective paint on everything from fire hydrants to street curbs — it’s a staple of town and city DPW departments. If you want to make your mailbox or house numbers highly visible at night, you can paint them with Liquidreflector, a water-based acrylic paint that’s impregnated with mica and uses the same glass bead reflectors as the industrial paint.

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Rollers make your paint job go faster, but the clean-up afterward takes just as long as with regular brushes — the paint tray and rollers collect paint, and you have to scrub ‘em if you ever want to use them again. Now Shur-Line offers a five-piece set that’s covered in Teflon for easy clean up. Shur-Line claims that dried paint will peel right off!

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I recently used Minwax’s “one-step” Polyshade finishing product on a project in the Toolmonger shop. Right off the bat I was excited about the fact that it creates a progressively darker color with each coat. I was also stoked about not having to add a polyurethane coat afterwards. After four coats — and more hassle than I ever expected — I came to the conclusion that it would have been faster to use oil-based stain, then poly it and even wax the sonofabitch afterward.

Polyshades advertises a one-step process that requires no extra products. What the label doesn’t tell you is that in order to get the color you’re looking for – in our case a deep red Bombay Mahogany – you need to use four coats of the stuff, which completely negates any time saved by skipping the poly/wax aftercoat. Also since Polyshades isn’t a straight stain or poly product, it has a very odd “sticky milk” consistency that’s harder to work with than either stain or poly individually.

Our question: do any of you Toolmongers out there have a different experience? Is this stuff actually as evil as it seems, or did we just not have our head on straight? Let us know in comments.

Polyshades [Minwax]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

Yep, the LagPull is just a stupid bucket handle. But if you deal with buckets and pails all day long, your hands will thank you for taking the time to learn about this product. Manufactured from a durable polyethylene plastic, the Lagpull 4-in-1 Bucket Tool makes carrying one to five gallon cans and buckets more comfortable, and the stainless steel lid-lifter tool lifts the tabs on five gallon plastic buckets and opens pour spouts.

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So your humidity indicator says there’s moisture present in your air source. Now Once you’ve identified it, you need to remove it don’t you? DeVilbiss has you covered there, too. Their desiccant snake installs in-line — just like the indicator — and will remove the humidity. It also has built-in dirt and oil aerosol filters as well. And it’s compatible with HVLP and conventional systems.

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Whether you’re applying a finish to an old rod you’re restoring, or spraying some poly on a newly-built cocobolo desk, humidity in your air lines is a huge liability; it can ruin and otherwise flawless execution. Like a pregnancy test for your compressor, DeVilbiss’s humidity indicator changes color to indicate the presence of moisture — so you can take action before attempting a one-chance-only finishing process.

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Most people ruin an otherwise-professional-looking caulk job by trying to finish it with a finger.  News flash: moistening your finger with spit, applying dish soap, and taping off the area are “old contractor tales” that’ll leave you with a big mess.  But before you give up and pay somebody to correct your mess, you might want to give Homax’s Perfect Bead caulk finisher a try.

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Painting can be a messy and time consuming chore, but it’s easier with the right tools — like a dedicated paint pail.  With a magnetic brush holder and a scraper rim, they kick the crap out of a plain ‘ole bucket.

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Nothing sucks more than stripping paint off a house.  Nothing.  That’s why we’re always writing about anything that might make the job easier.  But this sucker, sent in by TM reader PutnamEco, looks like it might be the final solution.  Its motor spins a set of carbide blades to rip the paint right off, and a paint collection attachment captures the paint in a shop vac.

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TM reader BlindTreeFrog directed our attention to a site where the owner of the above-pictured Corvair — who knew he’d never have the cash to give his ride a real paint job — describes (in detail with photos) his $50 paint job applied via a technique borrowed from a net-renowned Moparts.com forum thread.

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TM reader Nathan writes: “I’m interesting in what Toolmongers think af paint roller cleaners.  I work in a theater scene shop and we paint all the time.  The worst job is cleaning out the rollers.  I’ve seen advertisements for gizmos that you attach to the faucet to wash all the paint out, but I really have no idea how well they work.  So are they Hot or Not?”

Let us know in comments.

Paint Roller Cleaners [Google Products]

Think of Wagner’s “PaintEater” as a rotary sander designed specially to handle large abrasive discs for removing paint.  Wagner claims that it’s “hard on paint / easy on siding,” but one thing’s certain: it looks a whole lot faster than rubbing and scraping.

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Capitalizing on their experience with previous powered-painter efforts, Black & Decker announced the release of a new “pro” model today that includes some slick new features: adjustable paint flow (6 ounces to 20 ounces per minute), a system that connects directly to gallon paint cans, and a “roller keeper” that lets you store the paint roller overnight then “just pull it out and start painting again” in the morning.

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Latex paint is known for its low odor, quick dry time, and flowing coverage.  Rattle-can painting is known for its simplicity — and messy clean-ups.  What if the two met Reese’s-PB-and-chocolate-car-accident style?  The result: Krylon’s new H2O spray-can latex — complete with all the benefits of water-based latex paint and rattle-can application plus overspray that cleans up with soap and water.

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