For us, one of the most important tools this time of year is the BBQ lighter. It has a great way of kicking off most of the important activities that will be going on this Saturday — fireworks and steaks. Around our home town, you notice two things that mark the 4th of July season: lighters of all shapes and sizes are marked down and available everywhere (even places they aren’t normally for sale), and metal-clad stands spontaneously spring from the ground and start selling legal black-powder products.

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Here’s a free chance for anyone in the Wayne, NJ, area to drool and paw over Lie Nielsen’s finest hand tools and planes on June 26 & 27, 2009. Oh, and there’s interactive stuff there too. Did we mention the Lie-Nielson hand tools?

The LN folks have demos going all day at two interactive stations designed to help you learn sharpening and hand plane techniques while playing with the very best tools they have to offer — which as hand planes go, aren’t shabby at all. We find these demos are a great place to learn a few quick skills and pick the brains of the people in the know. It also goes without saying that at the show you will be able to purchase almost anything Lie-Nielsen makes.

Admission to the event is free, but be careful — these shows are a lot like a ghetto-style crack dealer. They entice you with the free product samples and no cover because they know once tool fanatics smell new tools they gotcha. Stay strong or leave the plastic at home if you’re weak/broke like me. 

Check the site for details and directions.

Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event [Site Details]

Milwaukee is currently offering a free tool with the purchase of some of the combo kits in their M12, M18, and V28 power tool lines. Depending on availability and the tool line you’re purchasing from, you can choose from such freebies as extra batteries, add-on wet/dry vacs, a Sawzall, and many more items.

This special rebate offer runs through June 30, 2009, and you can find more details on Milwaukee’s website.

Offer Details [Milwaukee]

Matco is running an online sweepstakes to promote their new line of service carts, and the grand prize is a MSC11 service cart with top chest add-on.  You can enter the sweepstakes for free — just fill out the online form and you’re entered!  Judging from the pictures on the website this cart looks pretty sweet, and it would go great in an auto shop.

Contest Info [Matco Tools]

Now until June 30, Makita is hosting an online Feel Innovation sweepstakes — the grand prize is a combo of motorcycles and quads, and first prize is an 18V fifteen-piece combo kit including every tool in Makita’s LXT Li-Ion line.

Just fill out the online form and you’re good to go. I didn’t see a clause that said you can only enter once, so it might be an enter-as-often-as-you-like affair.  Then again, I didn’t really spend a lot of time poring over the huge wall of sweeps rules.

Check out Makita’s site for the entry form.

Entry Form [Makita]

The SHOT Show is one of the world’s largest showcases of hunting and outdoor products and firearms — if not the largest. If you want to know what’s going to be on the shelves of gun and sporting goods shops in the coming year, you want to attend this show.  Especially exciting to me, Case Knives will be releasing their new lineup.

New Case patterns like the Humpback Stockman and the Case Desk Knife will be on display for everyone to paw at and take home with them, so it should be a good time.  This year’s SHOT Show happens January 15-18, 2009 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL.  Check the site for details.

SHOT Show [Website]
Case [Website]

It’s officially “that time.”  If you’re reading this early enough:  Go, now, before the throng of people in the above image forms at every nearby shopping location and the carnage begins.  Today, chain stores all over the place mark down the gear you want to prices you can pull the trigger on.  It’s Black Friday.

On this day and this day only, old ladies and small children alike are imbued with superhuman strength, the ability to stiff-arm their fellow man without regard for their well-being, and an all-out sixth sense for marked-down goods.  You know — the holiday spirit.

Kidding aside, if there are any cheapskates –- like me -– out there, post up a pic or two in the Flickr pool, or let us know you scored in comments.  We always love to hear the word on the street.

Lie-Nielsen fans are going to be stoked about the upcoming Hand Tool Event that’s going down December 5-6, 2008 at the Sturbridge Host Hotel in Sturbridge, MA.  You can get your hands on some Lie-Nielsen gear and hone your skills at some of the activities they’ll have going throughout the event.

The Lie-Nielsen site says there’ll be a ton of different types of hand tools you can play with, and most likely you’ll be able to purchase anything you have your heart set on — it is a show, after all.  Even if you don’t take home a new tool, the demos and interactive stations’ll help you learn techniques to save time and build better projects, which isn’t a bad deal either.

2008 Show Schedule [Lie-Nielsen]

When most shop guys talk about Stanley tools, they’re talking about the kind you find at the local big box — some folks have never heard of the Stanley Proto industrial line of tools.  Seeing them in a picture doesn’t do them justice, either.  You need to see ‘em up close to fully appreciate their grandeur.

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Another lesson I learned out at the race track was why aluminum jacks are a big deal.  I’ve always maintained that nobody carries around a floor jack, so why does it need to be super-light or have a bunch of handles on it?  This is why.

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Stanley hosted a popular event at their booth at the Dickies 500 this year:  lug nut racing.  Even the most cocky guys that went up against the clock wouldn’t make it in the NASCAR pit.  The best time we saw all day was eighteen seconds for one wheel.

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Stanley invited us out to the Dickies 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway this past weekend, and since we rarely turn down an excuse to check out a major auto event, we accepted.  We had a fun time, and Stanley arranged a few pit tours that we also graciously accepted.

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You won’t become a master woodworker overnight just because you bought the latest gear or learned a good technique at the WoodWorking Show.  However, all those tips and tricks and shiny tools do help you along a bit — plus, shows are a great place to hang with like-minded crafters.

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If you’re in Pennsylvania this November, check out the WoodWorks show.  At this and other expos, you can build knowledge of difficult-to-master yet popular skills — plus it’s a great excuse to meet other woodcrafters and talk shop with folks who don’t get glazed-over eyes and start drooling every time you want to yak about glued vs. mechanical-lock joints.

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If you happen to be in the Atlanta area today through the 23rd, head down to the International Woodworking Fair at the Georgia World Congress Center and check out all the good material and gear on display and ready to buy.

For those who don’t know, the IWF is one of the largest trade shows for the furniture manufacturing, architectural woodworking, and custom and general woodworking industries. If you’re a buyer, or you’ve just got some cash to spend, you can check out tons of the latest woodworking tools on display and do a bit of woodcraft sightseeing.

This year’s guest roster sports names like Norm Abrams and Don Russell who’re doing multiple demos throughout the show. Admission costs around $15 per person.

IWF Tool Show [Website]

Just a reminder: Toolmonger will be at Make Magazine’s 2008 Bay Area Maker Faire this weekend, and we’d love to meet you and talk tools — and maybe spend some time working with you, too.

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Learning how to weld can be a bit intimidating for some, but the best way to learn is to study with folks who know how to teach it. The Lincoln Electric Welding School in Cleveland has been doing just that since 1917 — if you want to sign up, they’ve just announced the 2008 schedule.

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