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]

I’ve been looking for a solution to help me move around smooth granite tiles while installing them. The Anver Hand Suction Cup that we reviewed previously might work, but I’m way too Toolmonger-cheap to spend $40 for it. But these mini-suction cup handles from Hawk might do the trick. They’re small (at 2-1/4”), but they’re strong enough to hang on to 50 pounds of tile or glass. 

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Want a toe-kick saw like the Crain No. 795 featured yesterday, but don’t want to shell out serious dough?  For the hobbyist who may only use it once or twice over the course of a kitchen and/or bath remodel, the Harbor Freight model might work great — especially since (as reader Evan pointed out) it’s marked down to $40 right now.

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This is probably the cheapest you’ll ever find a 5″ hardwood hand screw — just $2 from Harbor Freight right now.  And before you say it in comments, we know these are probably cheap in both common uses of the word.  Still, who could pass up having a few of these around the shop for this kind of pocket change?

Note: When I saw these on sale, I also saw some split-leather work gloves for $1 a pair.  If you don’t already have a set of “clean gloves” in the shop, these would work great.

5″ Genuine Hardwood Hand Screw [Harbor Freight]

We’ll say it again: you can’t own too many clamps.  That’s why I’m tempted to throw a twenty down just to see how many of these sub-$2 6″ bar clamps actually arrive and how long they last.  Even if you only get one use out of each clamp it’s almost worth the money.

Yeah, these F-clamps are what 50s commercials referred to as “Brand-X” (read: made in China).  But hey – even if they used lead-based paint, you know better than to suck on them, right?  It’s good to be an adult.

6″ Bar Clamp [National Wholesale Tools]

With all the talk about rechargable shoplights and LED flashlights, I almost forgot what most of us really need around the shop: a good ‘ole cheap-ass flashlight with a little shock resistance and an old-fashioned bulb.  Thanks to the people in annoying-pink-bunny-land, I didn’t have to look very far to find one.

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TM reader John writes: “I’m a stagehand, so I like to always have a small, bright flashlight on me tucked in my hip pocket.  But I was tired of losing my preferred (and expensive) Surefire Executive.  I took a chance on the Cree on eBay and it ROCKS. Smaller, brighter than the Surefire, LED, and CHEAP — $23 instead of $80! Construction is excellent - already dropped it a few times, no problem.”

I’ll admit that I’m skeptical — you gotta love when eBay sellers keep their IDs private.  Maybe it’s coated in lead-based black paint.  Anyway, while I’ve been happy with numerous cheap LED flashlights, I’ve yet to find a really bright one under the $40 mark.  But I’m a sucker for stuff like this.  Do any of you have experience with it?

Cree Cheap-Ass LED Flashlight [eBay]

Still looking for a cheap-ass polisher for safe-and-easy knot-cup-brush use?  Here’s one similar to the one I have, and it’s $30 right now at Harbor Freight.  As I’ve said before, I like these for knot-cup brush use because they spin slow enough to keep the wire in the brush — and out of your belly/arms/etc. 

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For our Toolmongers to the North: Princess Auto is currently offering this 1,000-pound-rated furniture dolly for just $25 Canadian.  It measures 30″ x 18″ and weighs just 15.3 pounds.  Remember: having a furniture dolly is lots better than not having one.  Sure, you can build a better one on your own.  But why bother at this price?

We’re sorry, by the way, for the spy-camera photo.  Princess Auto is big on discounts, but not big on photos.

1,000 Lb. Platform Dolly [Princess Auto]

I actually own one of these 1/4″ pneumatic die grinders from Harbor Freight, and it’s not too bad.  It spins at 22,000 rpm when provided a steady stream of 90 psi air, and does its job quite reasonably. 

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This $6 bit set from Harbor Freight includes many of the crazy bits you only rarely use – like hollow hex, Pozi, hollow-tip Torx, and splined — but have to have when the need arises.  As far as I’m concerned, that’s one of the prime applications for cheap-ass tools.

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This inexpensive powder coat oven from Harbor Freight might be a good alternative to that “recovered” oven you’ve been thinking about installing in the shop.  Why?  It runs on 110V so you don’t have to drop 220V, it’s a lot more compact, and you need a range top in the garage like you need an extra hole in your head.

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Harbor Freight is currently listing this four-piece set of locking pliers for $5 — cheap enough that you could lose them or foul them while welding and not worry much.  And before you comment, understand that I’m fully aware that these are nowhere near the quality of a set of Vise-Grips or other quality locking pliers.  But I know two things about locking pliers:

1) They’re easy to lose and foul, and

2) When you need more than two of them, you often need a lot of them.

This is especially true of welding clamps, which HF also sells.  I have a drawer full of ‘em.

As far as these go, you get a 4-3/4″ needle-nosed set, a 4″ straight-jaw set, and two 5″ C-clamp sets.  Maximum jaw openings are 1-1/2″, 1-3/4″, 1″, and 2″.

4-Piece Mini Locking Pliers Set [Harbor Freight]

I’m not sure I’d want to bet my ass on this — like hauling my Jeep up out of a ravine while I’m in it – but I can think of any number of projects that’d benefit from this tool.  And it’d beat the living hell out of a come-along for loading a car up a relatively shallow ramp.

Features include a 1.5 HP 12V motor, and remote control with a 9′ cord, and 50′ of 5/32″ aircraft cable.  But the best feature of all is the price: $49.99 at Harbor Freight right now.

2,000 Lb. Capacity Utility Winch [Harbor Freight]