As much as we tout the Dremel as a tool for projects big and small, it’s easy to forget that the Dremel rotaries are slammin’ for tiny jobs — and when we say tiny, we mean it. A word from miniaturist Jim Pridham lets you in on just how much TLC goes into his work.

I am an artist of the old school. Inspired by the maritime history and novel architecture of the San Francisco Bay Area, where I’ve lived for over fifty years, I work through an old and universally popular art form: creating in miniature.

I combine extreme detail and realism to sculpt fictional environments. Like a Victorian neighborhood set in San Francisco and coastal villages similar to those I’ve been to. But I leave out the people and animals. I want people to see my work and use their imaginations to create their own characters and tales within my dioramas. Take a look at Maritime Life & Traditions to see some of my work.

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Think your old woody was the last car that meshed woodgrain style with an automobile? Think again. The Splinter, a 600 HP mid-engine supercar, incorporates wooden components wherever possible, including the chassis, body, and large percentages of the suspension components and wheels.

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Drool…. What else can you say about something that contains ten 10″, 600W, subwoofer speakers and could quite possibly cause the DIYer in all of us to choke on the geometry? For more info on the remarkable properties of the Dodecasub speaker cabinet, check out this video.

Buying the Dodecasub will set you back $2,500, and building it could fry your nerves — but the fact that it’ll let you crank the bass in your shop, without your neighbors calling the cops, might be worth it.

Dodecasub [Elemental Designs]

A few months ago a coworker held up the item pictured above and said, “This is called a cheeseborough.” I didn’t believe him, nor could I see any particular use for the tool. Later, I found out he wasn’t making up the term, and that all a cheeseborough does is clamp onto 1-1/4″ to 1-1/2″ pipe. And a few days ago I found out what makes this odd tool so cool.

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Cryogenics — as if freezing people to wake them up later wasn’t weird enough, now you can freeze your tools. If you saw this post on Milwaukee’s “Ice Edge” recip saw blades, you might have thought a cryogenic heat-treatment process was an oddity. But cryogenic deep-freezing of metals is becoming common, and not just because it can cut production costs. Something good happens to metal at -300 Fahrenheit — testing shows better wear, greater flexibility, and increased durability.

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We love that independent spirit that tools guys have. This Toolmonger decided his tractor could look as good as, or better than, his car. Then he backed it up with some creative time with a welder and a little elbow grease, and voila! — a daily driver with more pull than your work truck.

Of course, we’re sure the top end on this honey is pretty low — but the sheer time it took to build has got to be worth a little sacrifice in the speed department. We’re betting no one at the local Dairy Queen has bigger dubs than this guy.

Big Yellow Tractor Car [Hawkes Haven]

Throwing water balloons is for children.  Adults launch them, usually with a rig based on surgical tubing. But for true Toolmonger overkill, you’ll need the Balloon Bazooka: a pneumatic launcher that can loft a balloon over 300 feet — or launch up to twelve balloons at once.

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For all you Klein fans out there, Klein makes an insulated beverage holder inspired by their distinctive cushion grip. With its 24-oz capacity, it’ll hold about four cups of joe.

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An alert Toolmonger is always on the prowl for good deals, wherever they might be. Reader Brad found his latest score at the local pawn shop for super cheap. He writes:

No need for bartering with this one though. Almost brand new, I paid $10, thats no typo, ten! Some pawn shop employees have no idea what tools are worth, this is the case with this tool.

Made by Ryobi and compared to the Ryobi scroll saw, it is the exact same. Motor, molded plastic, metal parts, all the exact same.

We have to admire Brad’s killer deal instincts. Not only did he make the score, but he managed to not start laughing until he got it to the truck. Now that’s style — our hats off to you, sir!

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

Think you could handle an old-fashioned barn-raising? Photo pool member Rembreto thought so, and it looks like he’s right. After sinking a few hefty posts in the ground, he and his crew of family and friends started the rim joints and roof of this monster.

The project’s obviously not finished yet, but it’s looking good so far. We can’t wait to see the final project — we hope Rembreto’ll keep us updated. Sweet build, man!

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

This massive power hammer comes to us courtesy of photo pool member tmib_seattle. Pictures like this one always put a smile on our face. This hammer’s the type of tool that gets a name in most shops — stuff like Mongo, Beast, or Thor. We’re also guessing that people the next block over can feel this thing crank up for action. The noise and power must be overwhelming — we must have one.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

The other night while half-watching a Modern Marvels episode about the Pacific Coast Highway, I happened to look up and see a worker spraying molten zinc onto the underside of a concrete bridge. Two of my favorite things, liquid metal and high voltage, combined in a way I’d never considered before! It’s moments like this that let you know you’re a tool geek.

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It’s always interesting to know how people who came before you created the tools they needed to go about their lives. What tools did they need? How did they construct them and for what purpose? The folks at Davistown Museum are interested in these questions as well. On their cool website you can check out really old-school tools, like the 18th century bill hook pictured here.

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Imagine a world without wires. Konarka’s Power Plastic converts light energy into electricity for your portable devices, so you never have to plug them in to a wall socket. The light-weight plastic technology offers a cheaper alternative to the current silicon-based cells which currently dominate the solar energy market.

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Forget those glass blocks! Don’t you wish you had a building material with the structural integrity of concrete and the light transmitting ability of glass? Litracon wins major cool points by putting fiber-optic strands in concrete blocks to achieve results like the ones above. Even cooler: Light can travel 20 meters through the fiber optics before losing brightness.

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If you think a chain mortiser looks like a cross between a chainsaw and a drill press, you’ve just about pegged it. These tools speed up post and beam construction, and they look bad-ass.

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Along with building and demolishing things with tools, one of our favorite things is power tool drag racing. The competitors build their cars out of power tools and other stuff — then they race ‘em down a plywood track. After looking at last year’s entries for the Silverline races, we’re seeing those old drills in the corner in a different light.

Check out the site for some sweet build tips and race pics. Be warned: it’s infectious. If you wind up tearing into the power saw you got for Christmas two years ago, don’t blame us.

Power Tool Drag Racing [Silverline]