Cooper Lighting’s Might-D-Light (a.k.a. model LED130) is an 80-LED rechargeable worklight. It comes with both AC and DC chargers, folds for easy storage, and, for hands-free use, has built-in neodymium magnets and a nylon swivel hook. Fully charged, its NiMH batteries should last two hours. As you can see in the top picture above, it also has reflective strips on the back. You can pick one up for around $39.

Might-D-Light [Manufacturer's Site]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

You don’t own a boat or a trailer and you’re wondering what to do with your vehicle’s receiver hitch, so why not mount a grill? The Margaritaville from Freedom Grill sits on a heavy-duty swing arm that mounts in any 2″ receiver.

The grill’s 20,000 BTU stainless steel burner heats its 352 square-inch cooking surface using a 1 lb. propane tank or, with an optional adapter, a 20 lb. propane tank. The grill features fold-out side tables, a fold-down condiment tray, and even has carrying handles if you don’t feel comfortable with open flames near your gas tank.

You’ll pay about $400 for the Margaritaville Tailgating Grill.

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

Following the more-is-better philosophy, the Bosch GPL5 uses five beams to project plumb, level, and square points. It also self-levels (up to 5°). Available for around $200, the 1 lb. unit is 4.125″ × 3.125″ × 1.625″, and can be secured using its 1/4-40 or 5/8-11 threaded mounts, or via straps or magnets with its multipurpose attachment. It can be easily re-calibrated in the field (and comes with a wrench for just that purpose). Its accuracy is ± ¼” @ 100′. Three AA batteries supply power.

If you’re not into multi-axis laser leveling, maybe you could modify the GPL5 for use as a garage/shop intruder alarm.

Bosch GPL5 [Manufacturer's Site]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Bosch GPL5 Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Anybody with kids or grandkids has gone through the childproofing stage. You find yourself crawling around on all fours, permanently damaging your nice cabinets (and maybe your knees) by installing safety latches to keep the wee ones out of unfriendly places like cleaning cupboards. Then after a few weeks you find yourself walking halfway across the house to throw something away in your bedroom rather than fuss with opening the latch to the kitchen garbage.

Kidco’s magnetic child locks could solve some of the potential pitfalls of installing child safety latches.  First they attach with adhesives, possibly saving your cabinets from damage. Second they open simply with the touch of a magnetic key in the proper location. They claim the key will release the latch through over one inch of solid wood.

The best pricing we could find was $20 shipped for a pack of three locks with one key and key holder. Now if it only had a targeting laser…

Magnetic Child Locks [Kidco]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Leatherman multi-tools and accessories have been a popular topic on TM (3/4/08, 5/22/08, 3/18/09, 7/7/09 and 7/24/09 to list a few). Well, their “original super-duty Leatherman is back.” The Super Tool® 300, 4.5″ long (closed) and weighing in at 9.6 oz. with stainless steel handles and body has 19 tools “for the working man.” The 300’s tools include “larger” regular and needle-nose pliers — which are really just different sections on the same jaws, but I guess you have to count everything to get up to 19 tools — file, saw, straight-edge knife, serrated knife, bottle opener, can opener, awl, and wire cutter for both regular and hard wires (the small notch at the base of the wire-cutting area is the hard-wire cutter). The wire cutters are removable so you can sharpen, perhaps with the 300’s own file, or replace it if needed. (more…)

All-Spec is having a 50% off sale on over 30 different Bucket Boss® tool organizers (tool bags, tool rolls, aprons, etc.). Three examples are pictured above: (from left to right) the Bucket Boss 56-pocket tool organizer for $14.43; the Pro GateMouth Jr. tool bag for $14.59; and the 22-pocket duckwear tool roll for $7.35. I suppose it has to be noted: the tools, buckets, etc. shown in the pictures are not included in the sale — tool organizers only.

Prices are good until December 31, 2009, so this might be a good opportunity to pick up some Christmas gifts, or drop some hints for your wish list.

50% Off Bucket Boss [All-Spec]
Bucket Boss [Manufacturer's Site]
Pro GateMouth Jr. Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Instead of adjusting the air flow at the compressor, Astro Pneumatics’ digital flow regulator screws right onto your spray gun or other air tool to precisely control the flow of air. Love it or hate it, instead of a analog gauge it uses a digital readout.

Constructed with a mirror-plated finish, the regulator’s electronics are sealed and the display is behind impact-proof glass. Unfortunately this also means the battery’s not replaceable, but the display shuts off 45 seconds after you press the button to give the battery a life expectancy of 5,000 readings.

(more…)

Part of the fun of doing TM posts is the discovery of tools I’d never seen or used. The Ideal 9-in-1 Ratch-A-Nut Screwdriver is one such beast. It’s a ratcheting screwdriver with 1/4″ and 3/16″ slotted bits, #1 and #2 Phillips bits, 1/4″, 5/16″, and 7/16″ nutdrivers on one end, plus a ratcheting wire nut wrench on the back end that can handle a variety of wire connectors. The typical price runs around $19, but True Value has it for a bit over $9.

Ratch-A-Nut [Manufacturer's Site]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Ratch-A-Nut Via Amazon [What’s This?]

The CobraHead® Weeder and Cultivator (modestly called “The Best Tool In Earth®”) can apparently do almost everything “with ease”: weeding, cultivating, scalping (?), edging, digging, furrowing, planting, transplanting, de-thatching, and harvesting. Its “steel fingernail®” blade works in almost any soil, and is easily used by either the left or the right hand.

It comes in two sizes: the short handle for $25, and the long handle (48″, 54″, or 60″) for $60. Prices include shipping to the USA or Canada.

It certainly sounds good, and all the reviews on Amazon are positive. Have any Toolmongers used the CobraHead? What’s your impression?

CobraHead [Manufacturer's Site]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
CobraHead Via Amazon [What’s This?]

You wire your shop for electricity and run ducting for your dust collection system, so why not outfit your shop with compressed air outlets where you’ll need them rather than dragging the air hose around?

RapidAir makes running air lines throughout the shop as easy as running PEX water line. You don’t have to cut and thread pipe or mess with pipe dope at the fittings. The system can handle pressures up to 150 PSI using just flexible 1/2″ nylon tubing and simple push-on fittings.

Pricing for the master kit starts at $140; it includes one compressor manifold, two outlets, and 100′ of 1/2″ blue nylon tubing. Outlets, tubing, and fittings are also available separately.

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

Necessary Numbers: An Everyday Guide to Sizes, Measures, and More by Mary Blocksma may not make you the “Cliff Clavin” of your local pub, but it will give you a broad overview of all types of numbers. An expanded version of her earlier book Reading the Numbers: A Survival Guide to the Measurements, Numbers, and Sizes Encountered in Everyday Life, this one covers a variety of diverse numbers including zip codes, highway route numbers, pencil leads, bar codes, SS numbers, clothing sizes, and — as the title says — “more.”

A new paperback costs $12, but you can find used copies for around $4, or “swap” for the earlier version.

Necessary Numbers [Barnes & Noble]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]
Reading The Numbers [PaperBackSwap]

You’re rolling down the road and the sound of your own trailer’s driving you crazy. That unholy racket could be caused by the hitch bar being loose in the receiver. Luckily there are a few ready-made solutions that’ll dampen that clanking.

Just slip Valley’s anti-rattle hitch bracket over the hitch bar and tighten the bar against the receiver with a single bolt. Made from steel, the bracket fits most 2″ square receiver hitches. If Valley’s anti-rattle hitch bracket just doesn’t get the job done, there’s always the Eliminator from Surco. This beefy anti-sway bracket slips over the 2″ hitch bars and clamps down on both the bar and the hitch with 16 points of contact on all four sides! Surco coats the steel bracket with a rust-resistant black powder coat.

If Valley’s anti-rattle bracket will work for you it’ll only set you back $20; otherwise you’ll need fifty bucks from that “friend” of yours to buy the Eliminator.

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

I always heard this saying applied to your melon when talking about, say, riding a motorcycle. In this case, it’s something almost as important: your ears. You can pick up a pack of 200 Howard Leight LL1 Laser Lite cordless earplugs at Amazon for $20. Made of expandable foam and resembling stylish red-and-yellow rocket ships (hey, it’s cool), it’s worth 20 cents a pair for long-term hearing protection.

(more…)

TM had a preview of the Milwaukee SwitchBlade Selfeed bits on 7/9/2008. Tools of the Trade recently published a test of these replaceable-blade self-feeding bits by John Mytle, an owner of a plumbing and heating business. He concluded that “Milwaukee has come up with a welcome revolution in quicker and easier maintenance of these expensive bits.” As an online bonus, John also gives a short tutorial on his method of sharpening self-feeding drill bits.

Milwaukee SwitchBlade Selfeed bits [Manufacturer's Site]
First Test: Milwaukee SwitchBlade Bits [Tools of the Trade]
Milwaukee 1-½” SwitchBlade Selfeed Bit Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Want to fasten your fall climbing plants or keep your indoor herb garden from exploding outward like a Tina Turner wig? Soft Ties are simply aluminum wire core covered in soft rubber, which means it can easily be cut with scissors. You can use them for supporting climbing plants or anywhere wire or nylon ties might cause damage.

AeroGarden sells the Soft Tie wire in a 25-foot spool for about $13. When the growing season is over you can save the ties and reuse them for many years.

Soft Tie [AeroGarden]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

You can use bar clamps, parallel clamps, or a vertical clamping system like Hawk’s to glue up a flat panel from several small pieces, but you have to watch out for the panel warping or cupping. The Plano glue press ensures flat panels by exerting force on both the edges and the top and bottom of the panel.

Advanced Machinery claims that by using their system you don’t need other alignment methods like dowels or biscuits, and the panels come out flat so there’s no additional planing or sanding required to get a flat surface. The clamps mount vertically on a 39″ rail to save space, which also supposedly reduces drying time. You can make panels up to 5″ thick and can expand the system to make almost any length of panel, but they recommend one clamp at least every 12″.

(more…)

The Smart-Holder holds log firmly off the ground so you can safely saw them without rolling, bending, or burying your chainsaw blade in the dirt.

AMGA in Sweden designed the Smart-Holder to assemble and break down quickly. Once it’s set up you just push the end of log through the swinging jaw of the Smart-Holder and push down on the log to wedge it in place.

The 27 pound Smart-Holder measures 47″ long by 15″ wide and will hold any log 1/2″ to 9″ thick.  When it’s set up it stands 38″ tall and when it collapses it’s just 2″ high. Stihl and Remington also market the Smart-Holder under their own branding. No matter which company sells it, pricing starts at $100.

Smart Holder [Corporate Site]
Smart Holder [Remington]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]