With Milwaukee’s 8″ Metal-Cutting Saw you can cut 10-gauge sheet and 1/4″ plate steel all day long, with the convenience of cold-cutting and metal-shaving collection. With proper cutting techniques, Milwaukee claims that the saw can cut 3/4″ steel plate.
If you can’t quite justify buying the contortionist or the masseuse of reciprocating saws, because you already own a more mundane model, you can at least make your life a little easier by adding a double-sided blade with a plunge tip. Though the demonstration video isn’t much to look at, it does demonstrate how easily this blade’ll start a cut, even in the middle of a sheet.
New blades may not give you the same “new tool” fix, but at $19 for a three-pack of the 10″ blades — and less for the smaller blades — it won’t break the bank either.
Boar Blades [Corporate Site]
Your drill is a Bosch, your reciprocating saw a Milkwaukee, your router a DeWalt, and that’s just your tools — the rest of your crew also owns a widely mixed set of cordless tools. You could, and routinely do, fill a bench with chargers. With the Crew Charge from 10C Technologies you can charge up to four different-style batteries at the same time.
Core drills can put big, precise holes in concrete and stone, without the vibration of a hammer drill which could damage the area around the hole. This wet core drill from Flex also helps to contain the mess, provides cooling, and advances faster.
Street pricing starts at $785, so unless you need to drill a lot of holes in really pretty stone, you might want to rent — especially since bits, which come in sizes upwards of 10″, run $50 or more for the small ones.
Wet Core Drill BHW 812 VV [Flex]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Before “cordless power tools” we just burned gasoline to get the job done, and gas is still the easiest power source for remote locations where you need to draw heavy power. For instance, a big, gas-powered wet/dry vacuum can prove indispensable for lots of applications, like prospecting, archaeology, and prairie dog eviction — but I couldn’t find a gas-powered vacuum easily! However, I did find this DIY plan for one.
You start with a gas blower and a five-gallon bucket, and you end up with a big vacuum that recharges at the pump. With gas prices going up you might prefer a cheaper alternative — but if you really need the right tool for the job there may not be a substitute.
GasVac [Minin' Gold]
Giant Sucking Sound [CNN]
When I think of tire-inflation testing, my mind boggles with scenes of massive blowouts — breaking S#!$ is so much fun! I’m sure the tire-retreading industry keeps spectacular failures to a minimum, but the shielding on the machine tells me they’re not impossible.
Here you’re looking at the car-tire-inflation tester — the truck-tire version is a bit *heftier*. Despite my love of destruction, I find it reassuring to think that retread tires might actually be tested before they get reused on the highway, driving alongside my car.
Tire-Inflation Tester [Matteuzzi]
I dedicate this find to reader eschoendorff who thought the collapsible wheelbarrow was less than manly. Now you can replace your puny wheelbarrow with the Muck-truck, a four-wheel-drive, hand-driven dump truck with all-terrain tires that can handle any surface you throw at it, including snow, mud, and sand.
The Rockwell label has popped up on an entire line of power tools lately. This half-inch, 18V drill caught our eye and made us wonder how many folks have taken a chance on the new tools with the old name.
Like other drills in its class it features a 24-position torque collar, magnetic fastener tray, bubble level, and a two-finger trigger. With a hefty two-speed motor, it boasts big torque numbers to the tune of 485 in/lbs of grunt. But how will it fare against a sea of competitors who have the jump on it?
To answer that question you could take the Zen master approach: “Only time well tell.” But we don’t have much Zen in us, so we want to know what you think. Are the new Rockwell tools going to find a place in the shop soon, or will they make their way to the bargain table first? Let us know in comments.
18V NiCad Cordless Drill [Rockwell]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
In the comments section of a recent post someone asked for advice on removing a broken screw at the bottom of his pool. Though the simplest answer seemed to be a hand-cranked drill brace with a left-hand drill bit, other readers suggested a pneumatic drill or a cordless electric drill. This piqued my curiosity about the underwater tool industry, which I knew little about — so I went looking to discover what’s out there.
Is it still a saw if it only has one tooth? Lenox avoids the issue by calling this tool a hole cutter, and its design evidently offers some really cool advantages over normal hole saws. For one thing, the cutter works best with low torque and high speed. And it’ll cut holes that aren’t perpendicular to the workpiece!
Rockler has announced a release date for their One Plate universal router base plate, a 1/4″ thick circular aluminum ring that will accept Rockler’s Inter-Loc inserts. The inserts will let you change the baseplate opening to fit your router bit or to work with standard guide bushings — somewhat like the inserts on a router table base plate. Their new whirlwind dust port will also attach directly to the One Plate.
This Craftsman 10″ sliding compound miter saw normally sells for $250, bur right now Sears is listing it for $190. It weighs in at a modest 52-lbs, and it comes with a 10″ carbide blade. Powered by a 3 HP motor, the saw can cut boards up to 12 inches wide, and you can adjust the blade for both bevel and miter cuts. Two retractable extension wings with stop clamps provide extra support for the workpiece. And a laser helps you align your workpiece before you cut.
Craftsman Sliding Miter Saw [Sears]
The Tiger Claw reciprocating saw features a “3-D” joint that rotates at two different points, making it extremely flexible. It allows you to get at your work more easily, even if it’s between or behind a bunch of studs, pipes, or cables. It’s made by a company called Flex Power Tools, so what else would you expect?
You might want to change the chuck on your drill for any number of reasons. If you own an older drill, you may want to add a keyless chuck for convenience or replace a broken or rusted chuck. If you have a newer drill, you could add a keyed chuck for extra bit-gripping strength. These guidelines’ll help you replace your drill chuck.
For lawns too big for the Yard Butler that still need plug-style aeration, this Craftsman Lawn Aerator will do the trick. Several readers commented that lawn moisture conditions had to be just right for their other aerators to work — the pics on Sears.com show a more open design of the coring points on this aerator, which should allow the plugs to fall out more easily, wet or dry.
The tool has garnered all positive reviews on Sears.com — it retails for $180.
Lawn Aerator [Craftsman]
Lawn Aerator [Sears]
If you’ve got a yard with lots of “trash” trees or big old trees that drop lots of branches, you may not need an ark-sized chipper that costs a bundle. For as little as $175 you can get one of these garden-gnome-sized McCulloch electric shredders. It’ll handle the stuff not worth cutting up, and the rest goes on the woodpile for the winter. It’s not a beast, but it might be the right tool for the job — and maybe it won’t bring back unpleasant memories of that scene from Fargo.
Electric Shredders [McCulloch]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?] [What's This?]
I enjoy painting my house about as much as having my teeth removed with rusty pliers — but at least I can take some pleasure in buying a new tool for the job. Amazon is selling this Porter Cable abrasive paint remover for $202 with free shipping. Powered by an 8A motor, with gear-driven, all ball-bearing construction and a variable-speed dial which sets the speed from 3,300 to 4,500 RPM, the tool’s tungsten carbide discs remove paint faster and easier than more traditional methods. The paint remover comes with a side handle, a wrench, a disc, an allen wrench, and a one-year warranty.
Paint Remover [Porter Cable]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon
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