Full disclosure: I know very little about TIG welding. I’m okay with a MIG rig, and I can stick weld well enough to hook things together, but I’ve never handled a TIG torch. So when I received a press release from Weldcraft indicating that they’d expanded their gas lens line a bit, I had to hit the ‘net to discover that a gas lens is simply a fitting that re-directs the gas normally emitted from the torch, focusing it to provide more even coverage and flow for a given welding situation.

It makes sense to me, then, why Weldcraft would be proud of offering a relatively wide range of lenses in standard size, large diameter, and stubby to fit just about all their air and water-cooled TIG torches.

Gas Lenses Improve TIG Welding Performance [Weldcraft]

Everybody’s trying to come up with the next gotta-have-it multi-tool like the try-square. Great Neck Saw’s attempt packs 10 measuring tools in one device. The Mayes Squangle is basically a square with an extra adjustable arm that swings from 45° to 90° and locks with two thumbscrews. To increase their tool count, they threw in a bubble vial.

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Specialty tools for a given engine family drive me nuts. Is it really that difficult to design something which works with thousands of preexisting tools? Unfortunately, General Motors didn’t do that with their Ecotec engines’ oil filter caps, which are so common that nearly every mechanic is going to run into one at some point. Ecotecs have an unusual cartridge-style filter design. Instead of a paper filter element contained in a disposable metal casing, there’s an aluminum housing cast into the block which accepts a standalone paper filter, and it’s covered by a plastic cap with unusual artillery-pattern threads and a 32mm male hex on top.

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Deep.See.Bits™ are bits with marking bands every ½” (in the Imperial-sized bits; 10mm in the metric-sized bits). They look like they could be a reasonable alternative to plastic or metal depth stops and the ever-popular masking tape. I recently tried to drill some shallow holes in plywood using a metal depth stop, and the drill flutes kept getting clogged because the depth stop prevented the drill from clearing. M.POWER®, from Wiltshire, England, makes Deep.See.Bits™ as HSS twist bits for hardwoods, metal, and plastics, or as carbon steel brad points specifically for woodworking. All bits are available in both metric and Imperial sizes. Japan Woodworker carries an eight-piece brad-point set (1/8″, 5/32″, 3/16″, 1/4″, 9/32″, 5/16″, 11/32″, and 3/8″) for $19.75, but it can be found online for $12.63.

Deep.See.Bits™ [Manufacturer's Site]
Etched-Index 8 Piece Bradpoint Drill Set [Japan Woodworker]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

Our old friend Harry Sawyer wrote a piece a few weeks back for Popular Mechanics imagining five (funny) fake products that could result from the Stanley/Black & Decker merger. Harry’s mashup of Black & Decker’s campiest holiday gags and Stanley’s popular products result in flights of fantasy like the AutoFat tape measure and the AlligatorVibe AntiLopper — great for yuk value.

But what if you mash up these corporate giants’ home runs? Read on past the jump for five serious results we’d like to see from the merger.

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Few things in woodworking are more satisfying than making a perfect paper-thin shaving with a well-maintained plane. If you’re using a spill plane you’re actually trying to make special shavings called spills rather than trimming wood from a work piece. A spill is a long coiled wood shaving that was used to transfer flame, such as from fireplace to candles, before the advent of matches. Before finding this spill plane from Lee Valley, as far as I was aware, you either had to buy an antique spill plane or make one yourself.

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It may look like just another angle grinder, and the motor spec certainly looks similar. But this tool’s designed with one purpose in mind: cutting through masonry in a nice straight line. Fitted with a 5″ segmented diamond blade, it’ll cut up to 1-1/4″ deep — perfect for trimming up concrete, brick, or tile.

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OK, so it’s actually called the Black & Decker V-3 Million Power Series rechargeable spotlight. But after a good 10 months of carting this sucker out for late-night grilling, hooking up trailer hitches in the dark, and finding a lost hitch pin in deep grass, we just call it the “vampire light.” It’s incredibly bright. In fact, it’s so bright it has a trigger guard to keep you from blinding yourself.

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This might make the perfect gift for a brand-conscious tool friend this holiday season. This flashlight and knife kit (on sale at Costco this weekend) includes all the necessities: an aluminum barreled, xenon-bulbed two-AA light, a miniature AAA model, and an aluminum-bodied folding knife — and, of course, the Snap-on brand prominently on display.

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For those of you who have — or lust after (e.g., like Sean, see TM 1/29/07) — a Gerstner tool chest, you might be interested in the Gerstner PORTA-DRAWER™. It’s a flip-up handle that installs in the bottom drawer of most current and older-model Gerstner chests, and it turns the drawer into a portable tray for carrying your tools or other items.

The install-it-yourself accessory (which comes with mounting screws, a drilling template, and full instructions) stores permanently inside the drawer when in its down position, and then can hinge up to become a handle, making the drawer a tool tray. When it’s in the up position, small slots in the side brackets help to center the handle and keep the drawer level. And it’s only $29.95, which, considering the price of Gerstner chests, is a real bargain.

PORTA-DRAWER™ [Manufacturer's Site]

Imagine bending the stock of your carpenter’s square so that the tongue sat flat on the workpiece while you held it square to the edge. Now imagine going to the hardware store to buy a new square because you wrecked your old one by bending it. If you had a flexible Japanese square from Lee Valley you wouldn’t be giving your imagination such a workout.

The 3-1/3 oz. stainless steel square is thick and rigid at the corner, but it quickly tapers to a thin and flexible beveled profile on the 20-1/2″ stock and 10-1/2″ tongue. Lee Valley claims it’s square to within 0.1 mm in 100 mm. One side of the square is graduated in inches and the other metric; both sides have numbers etched and filled black.

To buy the Japanese square sold at Lee Valley you’ll pay $33 before shipping. The Japan Woodworker also has a similar, but smaller, square they sell for $40.

Japanese Square [Lee Valley]
Japanese Square [Japan Wodworker]

The FISKARS® model 0232 Multi-Snip, with its stainless steel blades (serrated on one side, as shown above, to help hold items), easily cuts a variety of materials in the shop, home, and garden including cable, cloth, carpet, cardboard, leather, linoleum, branches, “and more.” I have also found it also does a great job opening those sealed !*%@# clamshell packages that enclose so many products. The joint tension is adjustable, the molded handles are spring-loaded, and the blades can lock closed until you pull the orange-tipped thumb-release lever. All in all, it’s a very handy and small-sized snip that will only cost you around $10.

Fiskars, by the way, is celebrating their 360th anniversary.

Fiskars [Corporate Site]
Fiskars Multi-Snip Via Amazon [What’s This?]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

I’ll admit that most heat guns look the same. This one makes hot air (adjustable from 120 to 1100 degrees F) and offers a nice nozzle protector to keep the heat on the project and off your hands. You can also kind of see at the bottom a swing-out hook that makes the gun easier to store hanging up. But what really caught my eye is this: for this model DeWalt separated some of the internal components “to allow maintenance on both the motor and heating element.”

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One of the biggest complaints I hear when the word “Shopsmith” is brought up is cost. It’s true SS products can be a little on the pricey side, but being the cheap bastard I am I can’t bring myself to send the cash down the $80-a-pop hole that is the Shopsmith saw blade product line. That’s where the 5/8” Saw Arbor comes in.

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Laugh if you like; it looks like a holiday gimmick. We yukked it up when we received an early sample last year. But after a few weeks in the shop the truth came out: We argued over the sample and ended up heading to the store so we could each have one. This hydra-headed flashlight actually works — and simplifies work tasks by putting light where you need it.

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After all the prepping and painting is over, you still have to clean your equipment. Ryobi is looking to make that last step a little easier with its paint brush cleaner. Plug in the cleaner, fill it with water or thinner, and it’ll supposedly clean any brush up to 3″ wide in a few seconds.

What’s more, they claim the cleaner will make your brushes last longer and perform better. Soft brushes rotate at 950RPM to “gently” clean the inserted paint brush. The 10″ x 11″ x 12″ cleaner weighs 4 lbs. and can hold up to 1 gallon of cleaning fluid.

The paint brush cleaner only seems to be available online at Home Depot for $30, but at least it looks like there’s free shipping.

Paint Brush Cleaner [Ryobi]
Paint Brush Cleaner [Home Depot]

The Black & Decker Mastercart (model 17330605) is a slightly redesigned version of the Keter Mastercart that I bought several years ago at either Kmart or Walmart (mostly different colored trim: mine is gray, and the B&D’s is orange). Mine has held up well, although I have not abused it much: it mainly holds the tools, cords, wires, and so on that I use when working on computers or electronics around the house. The B&D is 18″ × 10.6″ × 24.4″ with a fold-down handle. The upper tool box, which detaches from the lower tool box, has a removable organizer on its front and two lidded compartments on its top. Both the upper and lower boxes have removable trays.

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