You don’t own a boat or a trailer and you’re wondering what to do with your vehicle’s receiver hitch, so why not mount a grill? The Margaritaville from Freedom Grill sits on a heavy-duty swing arm that mounts in any 2″ receiver.

The grill’s 20,000 BTU stainless steel burner heats its 352 square-inch cooking surface using a 1 lb. propane tank or, with an optional adapter, a 20 lb. propane tank. The grill features fold-out side tables, a fold-down condiment tray, and even has carrying handles if you don’t feel comfortable with open flames near your gas tank.

You’ll pay about $400 for the Margaritaville Tailgating Grill.

Margaritaville [Freedom Grill]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Putting up Halloween decorations today reminded me it won’t be long before I’ll be struggling with hanging the Christmas lights. I’m always looking for a better way to hang lights, and I think these stainless-steel loop hooks from Lee Valley look promising — a lot more promising than plastic gutter S-hooks that can pinch your cold fingers.

Think of an eye hook — now bend the tag end perpendicularly away from the shaft and squish the loop so the tag end overlaps the loop. The hook that’s left completely captures the wire, yet you can easily remove the it without backing the entire string through the eye. The loop hook can accommodate wires up to 5/16″ in diameter.

A package of 20 loop hooks will run you $13 before shipping.

Loop Hooks [Lee Valley]

The Smart-Holder holds log firmly off the ground so you can safely saw them without rolling, bending, or burying your chainsaw blade in the dirt.

AMGA in Sweden designed the Smart-Holder to assemble and break down quickly. Once it’s set up you just push the end of log through the swinging jaw of the Smart-Holder and push down on the log to wedge it in place.

The 27 pound Smart-Holder measures 47″ long by 15″ wide and will hold any log 1/2″ to 9″ thick.  When it’s set up it stands 38″ tall and when it collapses it’s just 2″ high. Stihl and Remington also market the Smart-Holder under their own branding. No matter which company sells it, pricing starts at $100.

Smart Holder [Corporate Site]
Smart Holder [Remington]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

OK, so I poo-pooed hand stretchers previously, but they do have their place. These chain link tensioners from Malco can be used to stretch fabric and then hold it in place while you fasten the chain link to the post. They work with either T-section or round posts.

A set of two tensioners runs about $43 before shipping.

Fence Tensioning Claws [Malco]
Fence Tensioning Claws [1st Source Products]

If you’re looking for a camp shovel, rather than buying the folding variety, check out this Special Forces Shovel from Cold Steel. Sure, you can use it to dig, but you can also use it as a hatchet, an axe, a cleaver, a machete, a hammer, a paddle, and if you get bored you can throw it!

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If you’re going to carry a walking stick in the winter, why not carry one that doubles as a pick adz?  While you probably won’t be climbing any glaciers, the pick adz can come in handy chipping ice from walkways and steps.

The handle on the Japan Woodworker’s Hickory walking stick is actually a stainless steel pick adz covered in leather sheath that also serves as a cushioned hand grip. The walking stick also sports a stainless steel tip which digs in and helps you maintain your balance on icy surfaces.

The Japan Woodworkers Mr. Trekky walking stick runs $120 plus $9 shipping.

Walking Stick [Japan Woodworker]

When you practice catch-and-release, every second counts. The longer you have the fish out of water, the worse its chances of survival. You grab your forceps or other hook-remover only to figure out there’s no way you’re getting the hook out without damaging the fish. So you need to waste precious seconds to grab another tool to cut the line. If you were holding a pair of Hemocuts, you’d already have the fish back in the water.

The Hemocut is a combination of the Kelly forceps and bandage scissors. It’s marketed by two different companies for two entirely different fields. EMI manufactures and markets the Hemocuts to the medical field and William Joseph markets them to fisherman, including a few modifications like an open-finger loop and a rubber coating for a better grip in wet conditions.

The medical Hemocuts start at $6, while the ones specialized for fishing run $15.

William Joseph [Corporate Site]
HemoCut [The Fire Store]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

If you need to take some quick tree core samples to determine the rate of growth last year, one tool you could use is this Swedish-made increment hammer from Haglof. To take a sample, all you do is strike the tree perpendicular to the trunk and and pull the hammer out. You then eject the core with the steel plunger.

Made from high-quality hardened Swedish steel, the 11-1/2″ hammer takes a 0.157″ (4mm) diameter by 3/4″ long sample from either hard or soft wood trees. A 2″ graduated scale on the shaft of the hammer is graduated in increments in 1/20″ or in millimeters for taking a quick reading in the field.

With an investment of $80 you can start taking some core samples. The ejector and the hollowed tip are replaceable if you damage them and cost $18 and $20 respectively.

Increment Hammer [Haglof]
Increment Hammer [EJ Motiwalla]
Increment Hammer [BenMeadows.com]

If you just have a lawn mower, a Gas Caddy like the one pictured above might be a little overkill — but if you maintain a bunch of gas-powered equipment, you might appreciate this simple solution for transferring and storing all that fuel.

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Soon all new cars will come with tire pressure monitoring systems, and a lot of vehicles have ‘em already. Maintaining another computer and mechanical system will bring another set of challenges to professional and backyard mechanics — four sets of wireless, battery-powered sensors all spinning at highway speeds sounds like problems in the making.  GearWrench’s Tire Pressure Monitoring Kit will help you with these maintenance tasks.

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If you cringe at the price of wood at the lumber mills or, even worse, the big box stores, you might be searching for other options.  I checked out some portable sawmills;  most of these are large units where you put a log in a cradle and a manual or power bandsaw slices up the wood, and they start at about $3,000 and go up to the tens of thousands.  I’m not looking to start a one-man sawmill operation, just trying to save a few sawbucks, so I was glad to find this mill made by the Granberg Company — it works off a regular chainsaw.

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I cut my own wood, and I’ve tried splitting logs with the metal wedges, but after two of the wedges stuck in some old maple — and after some aggravation with the chain saw getting them back — saw splitting has become my preferred method.  This Ryobi Electric Log Splitter boasts four tons of splitting power, and it can split logs up to 20″ long and 12″ in diameter.

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The rare occasion that I’ve kept fish I didn’t fillet or gut, I’ve just used a spoon to scale the fish — it works, but it’s not very fast. Evidently there’s a better tool to use than a spoon: a traditional Japanese fish scaler like this one from the Japan Woodworker.

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You’re hundreds of feet above the ground or miles deep into a cave and you need to drill a hole in solid rock for an anchor — what are you going to use?  Petzl made the RocPec SDS drill holder for just these situations.

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Snow and ice dams can cause major headaches for homeowners. At least once every winter the news will show someone on their roof with a snowblower — neither Toolmonger nor the manufacturers recommend this.  Instead, you can clear that snow off your roof simply and safely with the Avalanche series of snow removal tools.

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Whether you’re up in the deer stand or on the shop floor, when your feet get cold, life is no longer fun.  You can dress as warm as you want, but sometimes it’s not enough — that’s when it’s time to slip some Cozy Feet foot warmers into your shoes.  Powered by a few AA batteries, they’ll warm your toes in seconds.

The low-voltage insert is shockproof and reaches a safe maximum temperature of 98°F.  The one-size-fits-all insert measures 4-1/2″ long by 2-7/8″ wide by 6 mils thick.

A set of inserts runs $25.

Cozy Feet [Cozy Products]
Street Pricing [Google]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

This looks like a unicycle gone bad, but it’s actually a snow-shoveling innovation called the Wovel. The Wovel simplifies your snow-removal tasks by harnessing the powers of the lever and wheel.  It’ll also help save your back since the Wovel primarily uses your arms and legs to move the snow.

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