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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The other day at my local hardware store, I ran across a Stanley tool I’d never seen before — the Stanley MaxDrive 15-piece Locking-Flex Ratchet System. Apparently Stanley released this tool in April 2006, but we’ve yet to cover it on Toolmonger.

With interchangeable heads you can convert the MaxDrive from a socket driver to a bit driver and back again as easily as changing sockets on a ratchet. The flexible head swings 180° and can be locked into 15 different positions. For about $25, the system comes with the flexible-head handle, a 3/8″ socket driver head, a 1/4″ bit driver head, and 12 driver bits.

The flexible head can reach places other ratchets and bit drivers can’t touch, and you can get a lot of torque on a screw by turning the driver head 90°.  So, is this the next gotta-have tool? Or would you rather carry a separate bit driver and flexible head ratchet in your toolbox? Let us know in the comments.

MaxDrive [Stanley]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

A friend of mine had a leaky upstairs toilet, and he didn’t find the problem until it had caused $40,000 in damage to his home. The water destroyed flooring, sheet-rock, and some framing. Zircon’s Leak Alert electronic water detector could’ve saved my friend some grief — you simply place it near sinks, toilets, sump pumps, fish tanks, water heaters, or any other appliances that use water, and the Leak Alert does the rest.

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Sanding drywall has got to rank up there as one of the messiest construction jobs. Even if you’re only sanding a small patch, you create a dust cloud that eventually leaves a layer of dust on everything in the area. Now USG sells Sheetrock lightweight joint compound with dust control. Sanding the dust-control joint compound creates “heavy dust” that falls straight to the floor. It stays put and doesn’t enter the air. Our only question is: why the hell didn’t somebody think of this sooner?!

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Last week we wrote about The Screw Up, but the “As Seen On TV” vibe it emanated soured the post. After looking around for a better option, we found the Wolfcraft hook driver. The hook driver can drive almost any kind of hook, including screw hooks, eyelet screws, and L-hooks.

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Next time you have to bundle boards, pipes, siding, or whatever, don’t reach for tape or rope or twine — grab your roll of Stretch Wrap Flat Twine. If it’s good enough to withstand shipping by UPS, it’s good enough for Toolmongers.

Unlike tape, Flat Twine only sticks to itself, so there are no knots to remember — wrapping the Flat Twine over itself is sufficient. Since it stretches, you can bundle your stuff tighter than with rope or twine. And when you need to separate the materials, just unwrap the flat twine; no knots to untie, no sticky mess left behind.

Pricing starts at $4 for a 2″ x 178′ roll with dispenser. If you can find a rope that length for cheaper, I wouldn’t trust it.

Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

When stacking oversize materials against the cab of your truck, it might be a good idea to protect the roof from scratches and dents. Wouldn’t you rather spend $30 for the Cab Pad than pay a lot more to fix the dents in your truck’s roof or touch up the paint job?

The flexible rubber Cab Pad conforms to the roof, and non-slip suction cups on the underside hold it in position without marring your truck’s finish. Besides protecting the cab, the side wings also help to keep the load in place under weather conditions ranging from Minnesota winter to Arizona summer.

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Sadly, Ace has closed most of their hardware stores near us over the last few years, so we don’t get into the stores much.  (We miss them, too.)  That’s why it tool TM reader Todd’s email to clue us in to this interesting practice: Ace carries Snap-on branded flashlights and gloves, but Todd says the tools don’t appear to carry Snap-on’s “Made in the USA” logos or Snap-on’s legendary warranty.

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Roscoe writes: “Ace has this Makita 18V 1/2″ hammerdrill/flashlight kit for $99.  It includes two batteries, a charger, and a case.  This is a great starter set for someone needing a deal.  I wish I had one.”

The only bad news: There’s a $50 mail-in rebate included in the deal.  So if you’re ok with waiting for the cash back, I’d agree it’s a good way to get started.

Makita 18V Hammerdrill/Flashlight [Ace Hardware]

ACE Hardware’ll give you 20% off (almost) anything you can fit inside one of their 17″ x 11-3/4″ bags this Saturday.  As you might imagine, there are some restrictions.  Here’s the small print:

“Power tools and small appliances qualify for a 10% discount.  Offer valid Feb. 17, 2007.  Discount applies to the regular price of in-stock merchandise that can fit inside the 17″ x 11-3/4″ bag at one time.  Individual items can be up to twice the bag height (34″), however multiple stacked items cannot exceed the height of the bag (17″).  Merchandise placed in the bag must retain its original packaging.  Excludes Best Buys, sale items, city stickers, gift cards, on-line purchases and other items that each participating store may designate.  Discount does not apply to phone orders, special orders or store charge accounts.  No rain checks will be given.  Limit one bag and one offer redemption per customer while supplies last.  Void where prohibited.”

This, my friends, is what happens when you take a very cool idea — a “bag sale” — and run it past a pack of lawyers.  Wouldn’t it just be easier to take the loss on the one sale where some guy stuffs a ladder in the bag and won’t back down — this is probably, by the way, the same asshole who tapes a refrigerator to his suitcase at the airport and calls it “carry-on” – and take the huge windfall of people who aren’t dicks but might skip the sale because the item they’re interested in might be one of the ones your participating store may designate?

Whining aside, if you’re planning on buying something reasonably small in size from ACE, Saturday might not be a bad day to do it.

ACE Hardware [Corporate Site]

Think that local hardware store could run more smoothly?  Ace wants to give you a shot to try running it yourself.  From their press release:

“The selection process for the Dream Ace contest begins with an online entry form, including an entrepreneurial quiz and three essay questions, which will be reviewed by third-party judges to identify the top contestant from each state. Contest entries will be accepted from January 1 through January 31 at 11:59 p.m. (PST). Throughout February, the 50 state finalist contestants will be narrowed down through a series of contest-related interviews, presentations and other skill-based tests taking place in New York City and Chicago. All contest activities will be judged by qualified Ace retailers or independent third parties and the Dream Ace Grand Prize Winner will be selected at the Ace Hardware convention in Las Vegas on March 15.

“The culmination of the Dream Ace contest is the grand opening, on June 30 and July 1, of the winner’s store, which will be located in Houston or an alternate location at Ace’s discretion. The store prize is valued at approximately $1 million, and includes opening stock inventory, fixtures, décor and technology. Additionally, the winner and his/her staff will receive extensive training and support from Ace similar to the assistance the cooperative provides its new investors.”

There you go: The fast way to owning your own hardware store.

Official Contest Site [Ace Hardware]
Press Release [PR Newswire]