Irwin’s 25′ Strait-Line tape measure features a pencil-less, quick-marking tip. Simply measure out your distance, press the bottom of the tape against your material, and mark your line. I wouldn’t recommend using this for precision work, but for rough marks I’d use it all day long.
Cable ties belong in the esteemed category of tools that includes gaffer’s tape, super glue, and locking pliers — they’re almost infinitely useful, and if you’ve got some, you’re halfway to fixing nearly anything. However, if you’ve ever spent time bundling up a bunch of cables just right, only to have to snip apart all your hard work when you notice what you did wrong, you owe yourself a big bag of releasable cable ties.
The Task Force jigsaw we have here in the shop died last week. We’d like to be upset about it, but we’re actually amazed it lasted this long. The Task Force cost us $19 brand new — and though it was never a looker, it did work for a little over a year.
When you break it down, our saw cost us a little over a dollar a month during its time here. We’d have liked it to hold on another year, but the non-stop action in the shop of hard knocks didn’t exactly prolong its service life.
In the end we’re left with this question: Is it better to pay up for a longer-lasting tool, or to take the disposable tool for all it’s worth and see what you get out of it? Looking back over the life of the saw this last year, we’re inclined to think we got our money’s worth out of it. What do you think? Is this a bad deal or a great way to get some work done cheap? Let us know in comments.
Task Force Orbital Action Jigsaw [Lowe’s]
Cortec corrosion inhibitors sold at Lee Valley will protect your rust-prone tools for up to two years. Instead of coating your tools with sticky, greasy, or oily substances, just throw one of these anti-corrosion emitters into any enclosed box, cabinet, or drawer where you store your tools.
When you absolutely positively need to be inside a building two minutes ago, you need a Mini Pro-Bar. Fire and rescue crews commonly reach for this Halligan-type tool as a one-stop multi-tool for forcing entry into a building.
Spring arrived a few weeks ago, so if you haven’t already, it’s time to pull the hoses out of storage. If you’d stored ‘em in this fingered hose holder, you’d be watering tangle-free now instead of trying to unravel a kinked mess. Mount the holder next to the hose bib, and your hoses’ll always be ready to go.
When you need to measure the diameter of a hole or the width of a slot, reach for a taper gauge. Named for their tapered shape, taper gauges measure hole and slot sizes quickly and accurately. With the Starrett No. 267 taper gauge, you can measure hole and slot sizes from 1/16″ to 1-1/16″, to the nearest 1/64″.
Made from spring-tempered steel and measuring 1″ wide by 5-1/4″ long, the gauge features four different leafs for measuring progressively larger dimensions. Look to pay between $90 and $110.
Taper Gauge [Starrett]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon(B0006J4DSK) [What’s This?]
Reading a tape measure upside-down is a good way to make errors, so FastCap makes a tape measure in their ProCarpenter line that reads both left-to-right and right-to-left — you don’t have to twist your neck to read the scale.
Our illustrious leader Chuck Cage wrote about his hands-on experience with the iRobot Dirt Dog back in December 2006 — yet how many of us are still working in a shop with a dirty floor? Both my hands are up. Now Fry’s is selling the Dirt Dog for just $100, so there’s no excuse for a dirty floor. iRobot designed the Dirt Dog for workshops and basements, with specially designed counter-rotating brushes that spin at almost 1,000 RPM to pick up dirt and debris that clings to rough surfaces. The Dirt Dog comes with a 14.4V rechargeable NiMH battery and a power supply.
Dirt Dog [iRobot]
Dirt Dog [Fry’s]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Removing a stripped screw or a drywall screw that missed the stud can be a trial — you try to back the screw out with a screwdriver, you almost get it, but it slips back into the hole again. Sometimes you can grab the deviant screw with your fingers or a set of pliers, but Lee Valley sells a tool designed especially for removing stripped screws.
If you work construction or renovation, you often need to straighten a twisted stud or joist. Tools such as Stanley’s Fubar will do the trick, but what if you don’t want to carry a separate tool to get the job done? Estwing adds board-tweaking ability to a tool already in your hand: the hammer. The patented Hammertooth hammer can straighten any 2x board — just place the tooth and claw on either side of a board, and twist.
In response to this recent post, Toolmongers have come out strongly in favor of pocket knives. Almost everyone agrees that pocket knives come in handy all the time, even if you don’t always have the right tool for a given situation. But if your pockets are big enough to carry this 87-tool Swiss Army knife, you will always have the right tool for the situation.
Recently, one of the mechanics at my local shop got himself a brand new Snap-on box with a top hutch, and I got a little jealous — ok, a lot jealous. It’s big, blue, shiny, and completely lust-worthy.
The five thousand dollar buy-in is steep for most, but you’re really buying the Snap-on name and quality. A box like this will last through many moves from house to house, from shop to shop — and all the while it’ll hold a ton of tools without sagging or faltering like a few department store toolboxes might. Plus, you can always expand or adapt this versatile box to suit your circumstances.
Only the buyer can say whether the Snap-on box is worth the uber price difference. But most of us can agree, this box is mighty good looking — even with all the drool stains on it.
Rolling Toolbox And Top Hutch [Snap-on]
Through this Thursday, Sears is discounting both their standard and metric 4-in-1 wrench sets by 50%. Normally $30, right now you can pick up a set for $15. Each set includes two 12-point box-end wrenches with reversible ratcheting sockets that fit two different sizes. That means each wrench can tighten and loosen four different sized fasteners.
The two-wrench standard set includes one wrench that fits 5/16″, 3/8″, 7/16″, and 1/2″ sizes, and a second wrench that fits 9/16″, 5/8″, 11/16″, and 3/4″ sizes.
The two-wrench metric set includes one wrench that fits 8mm, 10mm, 12mm, and 13mm sizes, and a second wrench that fits 16mm, 17mm, 18mm, and 19mm sizes.
Craftsman heat-treats the handles and plates them with nickel-chrome — they also heat-treat the box-end sockets and finish them in black oxide.
The deal expires May 1, 2008.
Craftsman 4-in-1 Standard Wrench Set [Sears]
Craftsman 4-in-1 Metric Wrench Set [Sears]
As featured recently on Toolmonger, the SawStop table saw features a safety system that starts by inducing an electrical signal onto the blade. If your fingers (or any other part of your body) come in contact with the blade, the signal changes and the blade retracts within milliseconds, leaving your fingers with only a scratch. SawStop currently offers only one product, the table saw, but they’re working on some other stuff. These two quick videos give a first look at future SawStop products.
Note to viewers: imagine that the hot dog is your favorite finger.
SawStop [Corporate Site]
A chisel is a useful hand tool or bench tool, but you don’t want to carry it around in your pocket. You risk cutting your pocket and yourself, unless you can keep track of the plastic caps that sometimes come with them. FastCap has come up with a solution in their new Pocket Chisel.
These aren’t my X-rays, but last night, while working with my Craftsman nail gun, I had the pleasure of shooting a 2″ nail into my thumb. The nail passed cleanly through without doing any real harm. On the positive side, I came up with a new combination of swear words, I now have a great deal more respect for air tools — and I’ve started taking safety a little more seriously.
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