Archive for the 'Cooper Tools' Category

Wiss Lightweight Aluminum Tin Snips

Thursday, April 24th, 2008
Leightweight Aluminum Snips

If your tin snips start feeling a little heavy, check out a pair of Wiss lightweight aluminum snips. They’ll make straight or curved cuts in light metal, flash, vinyl siding, or rubber. The 3-1/2″ rust-resistant blades will handle materials as tough as 23-gauge, low-carbon steel.

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Posted in Hand Tools, Metalworking, Amazon, Cooper Tools, Ace Hardware | 2 Comments »

Bolt Cutters For Household Use

Friday, November 2nd, 2007

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We’ve sung the praises of owning a set of bolt cutters before, but let us re-iterate: from custom-sizing wire shelving to shortening bicycle brake and shifter cables, you’ll find dozens of household uses for bolt cutters — even if you’re not a scofflaw. In additon to their namesake, bolt cutters can be used for any task which is too abusive for ordinary wire cutters and tin snips.

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Posted in Hand Tools, Cooper Tools | 4 Comments »

Finds: Crescent RapidSlide Adjustable Wrenches

Thursday, October 19th, 2006

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It’s easy to forget that the adjustment part of adjustable wrenches don’t require much force; All that’s required is that you adjust the wrench’s jaws to fit the bolt — not crush it.  Thankfully some manufacturers haven’t forgotten this simple fact, and have come out with some cool alternatives to the standard thumb-wheel adjuster.  To adjust the RapidSlide, for example, you simply move the slide-button mechanism back and forth.

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Posted in Hand Tools, Cooper Tools, Crescent | 5 Comments »

Finds: A Good Set of Bolt Cutters

Tuesday, October 17th, 2006
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We keep a set of 24″ bolt cutters around the shop for all sorts of reasons.  Besides cutting bolts, they’ll also cut any kind of rounded material — even very hard cable and such.  Of course, you can also use them to cut many locks, so be aware that carrying these around in your car may bring you second looks from members of the law enforcement community.  But when you need to cut something big, they’re just the ticket.

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Posted in Hand Tools, Cooper Tools | 5 Comments »

Crescent’s R2 RapidRench Adjustable Ratcheting Socket Wrench

Friday, May 19th, 2006

post-crescent.jpgWe grew up calling adjustable wrenches “Crescent wrenches,” though for what it’s worth we also grew up calling sodas “Cokes” and facial tissue “Kleenex.”  So there you go.

Anyway, with Crescent being such an established brand, we’re stunned that we missed this product release a while back.  Crescent’s R2 RapidRench has two angle-toothed jaws that can be adjusted in and out to grab pretty much any bolt (or other similar object) between 1/4″ and 7/8″ in size.  Once they’re adjusted in, they act pretty much like the standard ratchet in your socket set now.  Crescent describes it as “38 sockets and more in a single tool.”

We figure you’ll have to use the same caution using this tool as you would in using an adjustable (er, Crescent) wrench — rounded-off bolts are bad news — but it looks like a great tool to own.

The Crescent R2 RapidRench [Crescent/Cooper Hand Tools]

Posted in Hand Tools, Manufacturers, Cooper Tools | No Comments »