Your shop-vac may not be the most efficient dust collector, but you can turn it into a two-stage dust-collection system with the Mini Cyclone Separator from Woodstock International. You’ll change the bag or clean the filter less often, because larger chips will drop out into the attached five-gallon bucket.

Woodstock molds their Mini Cyclone Separator from ABS. It sits on top of a standard five-gallon bucket, where it accepts two 2-1/2″ hoses. To empty the bucket, simply lift off the separator.

Look to pay anywhere from $17 to $24 for the Mini Cyclone Separator. You’ll have to supply your own five-gallon pail. If you have 2-1/4″ hoses, you can get a reducer for about $5.

Mini Cyclone Separator [Woodstock International]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon(B0000223XZ) [What’s This?]

With Harbor Freight’s micro die grinder, you can grind or sand in hard to reach places, carve something intricate, or just polish the scratches out of your iPod.  The 1/8″ collet will accept most Dremel bits for all sorts of jobs. It’s definitely worth grabbing one, even if you only use it a couple times a year to sand down the burs on your safety glasses.

The variable-speed micro grinder can spin up to 56,000 RPM, which is 20,000 RPM higher than your average Dremel. Rear exhaust keeps the air out of your work. The grinder set includes a 47″ air hose, inline oiler, brass coupler, and two collet wrenches. It all comes in a crappy nice plastic case, too.

If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times: keep your cheap-ass HF pneumatic tools oiled, and they’ll last you a long time.  Pick one up at Harbor Freight for $15.

Micro Die Grinder [Harbor Freight]

When you hear the name Winchester, it generally calls up images of lever-action rifles and ammunition, but if you run in certain circles it can also mean pocket knives. These may not be fancy affairs that’ll gain value with time, but an honest work knife like this pakka-handled Stockman will get you through the day.

You can find these knives for around $12 at almost any local sporting goods store, but don’t let the lack of budget-killing price tags put you off — we use this type of rig around the Toolmonger shop quite a bit. This solid work knife measures around 3-7/8” closed, which is more than big enough for daily tasks like cutting up boxes, rope, or wire.

Street Pricing [Google Products]

Around 17 or 18, the age when most kids trade in their model cars for real ones, they also put away their hobby knives in exchange for shiny mechanic’s tools. But if you ever want to rejoin the model crafting ranks, you can grab a full set of hobby knives for less than you’d pay for one of the old Revel models you used to put together with ‘em.

Northern Tools sells this 35-piece set of hobby knives and blade attachments in a nice wooden box for $10. The set includes three different handles, two saw blades, six shaping blades, 17 cutting blades, three awl points, an edge trim guide, tweezers, a mini-planer, and a sanding block — you know, all that stuff you used to ignore when building models as a kid.

35-Piece Hobby Knife Kit [Northern Tools]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

If you’re new to pneumatic tools, you might assume that these tools are going to separate you from a bunch of your hard-earned green — but that’s not necessarily so. The 18-gauge Central Pneumatic is a fine example of an honest, hard-working nailer, and at $20, it won’t murder your budget.

Is this going to become a treasured family heirloom?  No.  But as long as you treat it with reasonable care, it’ll get the job done long enough for you to save up for a better rig a year down the road. In the meantime, for less than the cost of renting one, you can continue on your woodworking way.

Central Pneumatic Nailer [Harbor Freight]

If you’ve ever had to ask for an extra hand while using a tape measure, check out this deal: Black & Decker’s AutoTape for $10 — marked down from $20 — with FREE shipping from homedepot.com. The offer’s good though April 30.

Black & Decker AutoTape [Home Depot]

What could be better then a set of vise-grips? How about two pairs of knockoff vise-grips as helping hands? This welding jig from Pittsburgh bolts to your workbench and allows you to clamp pieces in position with two 10″ locking pliers.

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The first time I saw this photo, I thought someone had taken a picture of my shop and posted it to the Flickr pool. I use this same setup, including the Irwin clamps and the Delta drill press, in my shop at home.

It actually works pretty well, all things considered. Just clamp wood in position, as shown here, and off you go. Sometimes I clamp another piece of wood on the other side of the table for added bracing — but in any case, it was funny to see someone else performing the same acts of “make do with what you got” that I do.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

Who needs a Rotozip, when your cordless drill will work just as well? Grizzly’s Beaver saw-drill can cut a starting hole with its tip and rip through material with its tooth-covered shank. Chuck this bit up into any drill with a 1/4″ chuck or larger, and you’re ready to cut drywall, paneling, and a slew of other materials

For drilling the initial pilot hole, the first 5/8″ of the Beaver saw-drill’s tip resembles a common, 135°, split-point drill bit. The saw portion — with 90 sharp, side-cutting teeth — makes up the next 1-3/4″. For faster cutting and longer life, both the drilling and cutting portions are precision-ground and coated with titanium nitride. Grizzly makes the entire bit from M2 high-speed steel.

Made in USA, the Beaver saw drill will only run you $4 at Amazon — a heck of a lot cheaper than a Rotozip, and one less power tool to lug around.

Beaver Saw-Drill [Grizzly]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Instead of disassembling an obstruction to get behind it, sometimes you can get around it with an indexable ratchet. The ratchet head on this 1/2″ drive model from Pittsburgh swivels 360° and locks into various positions allowing you access to locations otherwise impossible to reach. This might not be a tool for every day, but when you need it you’ll be glad you have it.

Pittsburgh makes the reversible ratchet from heavy-duty chrome vanadium with a polished chrome finish. The ratchet measures 12-13/16″ long, and the handle features an ergonomic rubber grip.

On special, I’ve seen this ratchet go for as low as $13.  Sure, you can buy quality indexable ratchets from respected companies like Stanley Proto and MAC — but unless you use it regularly, you might be better off with this economical version.

Indexable 1/2″ Ratchet [Harbor Freight]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

If you find yourself hanging a lot of drywall, you might look into buying this cheap-ass drywall lift. It’ll hoist and position sheets of drywall precisely where you need them, so you can hang drywall by yourself. Even though you can rent lifts for $100 or less a day, for $160 you could own your very own.

This model can lift drywall to 11 feet horizontally for ceilings and 15 feet vertically for walls. It can handle a sheet of drywall up to 4 x 16 feet and 150lbs. The three large 5″ casters make it easy to roll the lift where you need to, even when fully loaded. You can assemble and disassemble it easily without tools.

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Sure, it’s not the quality of a Bosch. But hey — for $10 you can own your own heat gun. This cheapie from Harbor Freight works great for shrinking tubing or removing glued-on emblems from vehicles. (Just take your time and don’t melt the paint.)

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Everyone wants that curb-and-gutter finished look for their driveways, but most of us are afraid to ask what it’d cost. Here’s a possibility of doing it on the cheap: you could buy Harbor Freight’s Curb Machine. The Curb Machine includes three different curb molds – flat mower style, curb style, and slant style. This 42″ x 19″ by 34″ machine runs on standard 115V power, so get out your extension cords if you have a long driveway.

Apparently, this same machine is sold nationally for $2,995, but since we’re talking Harbor Freight the price is a slightly lower $600. If you are the intrepid do-it-yourselfer, how can you pass up this deal?

Curb Machine [Harbor Freight]

Making mortises by hand takes patience and a lot of practice, and dedicated mortising machines cost hundreds (or thousands) of dollars and take up valuable shop real estate. Luckily, there is a middle ground: if you already own a drill press you can buy an attachment to convert it into a mortising machine. Northern Industrial Tools will sell you a kit with everything you need to get started making mortises on your drill press for $40.

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For those of us who live in the northern climates, winter is fast approaching and so is the time to think about putting the lawnmower away for the season. But (since your Toolmonger activities don’t cease for winter) throwing your lawnmower back in the corner of the garage will expose it to sawdust, metal, and plastic shavings and other debris you generate. That’s why you need a lawnmower cover, like this one from Classic Accessories.

It’ll protect your mowing investment from dust, and its heavy-duty water-resistant fabric will protect it against rain, bird droppings, and tree sap if you’re forced to leave it outdoors.

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This is the perfect saw if you have a little do-it-yourselfer between the ages of four and eight in your house. The “My First Craftsman” Circular Saw is available for $2 (and $5 for shipping) over at KB Toys. The saw features realistic sounds, a motorized plastic “blade”, a simulated laser guidem, and to start good safety habits early, a set of safety glasses.

If only the real “grown up” toys were as inexpensive.

My First Craftsman Circular Saw [KB Toys]

Over at Buy.com you’ll find this 31-piece screwdriver set on sale for $10 — shipping included. So what types of cheap-ass, importedm no-name-branded screwdrivers do you get for your crisp Hamilton?

• Six precision (miniature) drivers
• Ten 1″ bits
• Bit driver for 1″ bits, probably magnetic
• One pick and one hook
• Four slotted drivers
• Four philips drivers
• Two star drivers

Don’t worry – I only counted 29 tools as well. There’s a discrepancy between Buy.com’s description and the photos; it looks like there’s a 4-piece hook and loop set included instead of the two pieces advertised. The color coded handles on the full-size drivers make them ideal for toolbag storage – perfect for your vehiicle’s emergency tool kit.

31 Piece Screwdriver Set [Buy.com]