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.

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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″.

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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?]

Malco’s “The Sider” helps you measure and mark pieces of vinyl siding quickly and accurately. Made from 18 gauge stainless steel, the Sider has precisely spaced holes staggered vertically every 1/8″. To draw or score perfect horizontal lines, stick a pencil or knife blade into a hole and slide the tool along the siding.

Malco sells five different varieties of the Sider to work with most siding styles: the 4″ double, the 5″ double, the 4-1/2″ Dutchlap, the 5″ Dutchlap, and the 3″ triple. Any of these versions of the Sider will run you somewhere between $11 and $21 before shipping or tax.

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

Sure, you can use a calculator or even your head to find the circumference of a round duct by measuring its diameter, but with the Cooper Tool Tinner’s Circumference Rule all you need to measure is the diameter — the ruler will read the circumference.

The tempered medium-weight steel rule measures in inches by 1/16″ on the top edge and circumference inches by 1/8″ on the bottom edge. The black markings are easy to read, and on the reverse side Cooper has printed relevant formulas and tables for easy reference.

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Nailing up hidden gutter hangers can be a challenge. One reason they’re called “hidden” is they are fastened to the fascia under the lip of the shingles and inside the gutter where there ain’t much room to swing a hammer. To solve this problem, Malco’s Gutter Nail Driver both holds the nail and transfers the striking surface outside the gutter where you can get a good swing. (more…)

Malco’s duct folding tool doesn’t look like much, but it allows you to evenly fold sheet metal for forming various duct parts. It’s simply two steel plates joined together at the center. You insert the sheet metal in the gap between the plates until you see it through the diamond site holes, then twist the tool to form the bend.

Malco sells five versions of the folding tool: 8″ and 12″ long folding tools that make 3/8″ and 1/2″ bends and 12″, 18″, and 24″ tools that make 3/8″ and 1″ bends. The longer the tool the more uniform the fold; the 24″ version can even be used as a mini brake for flashing and siding.

You can pick up one of these folding tools for between $10 and $15.

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

A few day ago some commenters expressed concerns about how you’d load and unload the Fatmax Portable Truck Box if all 42 gallons of stage space was filled with tools. One way would be to use a lift cart like this one from Northern Tool.

This lift cart will raise 300 lbs from 8-1/4″ to 28-3/4″ by pumping a foot pedal. To lower the load there’s a handle-mounted pressure release. The platform measures 27-1/2″ by 17-3/4″ and is 1-3/8″ thick.

Northern has several inexpensive hydraulic table carts that can handle from 300 to 1000 lbs in the $200 to $300 price range. The pictured lift cart runs about $190, but it’ll cost you $75 to ship so I’d recommend going to one of Northern’s brick and mortar stores if there’s one close to you or find a different source.

Lift Cart [Northern Tools]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Little Giant’s work platform can be used with any of their ladders. It fits over any rung and folds out of the way while you’re climbing up and down the ladder. When you do need it, you can just move it into position with with your foot.

Made from aluminum, the platform will support up to 300 lbs. It runs about $40.

Work Platform [Little Giant]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

You’ve used a pole saw to trim a branch, but it’s still stuck in the tree — now what? Using a tool like Wolf Garten’s Tree Hook you can grab the branch from the ground rather than climbing into the tree to get it down. You can also use it to shake fruit tree branches or hang Christmas lights in trees.

The S-shaped hook works with any Wolf Interlocken handles, the cheapest of which run $12. The Tree Hook itself runs $16.

Branch Hook [Wolf Garten]
Via Amazon

Halloween is coming up fast; it’s time to scarify your lawn in more than one way. Fertilizing, aerating, de-thatching, and raking are some of the tasks you can do in the fall to get your lawn ready for winter. Wolf Garten’s new Scarifier Rolling Rake will at least help you de-thatch and break up the topsoil.

As you pull the rake toward you the sharp blades move in an oscillating motion. They are hardened so they don’t require resharpening. The wheels keep the rake at a consistent height while you work over a 11.8″ swath.

Pricing for the Wolf Garten Scarifier Rolling Rake starts at around $50. However it comes without a handle (that’s scary too) so you’ll need to purchase one separately.

Scarifier Roller Rake [Wolf Garten]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

While delving into some metal working sites I came across these cool-looking tools for forming sheet metal: forming stakes. The above catalog picture shows some of the many shaped heads that are available for creating different shapes.

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Do you hear the theme from Raiders of the Lost Ark when trying to navigate your workbench, shelves, or cabinets? Whether it’s the garage or shop, chances are you’re running out of storage space. An under-shelf organizer like this one from Grayline Housewares might be one way to reclaim some unused space in your otherwise-packed storage areas.

While the picture shows the basket holding towels in a closet, we envision using it to hold sheets of sandpaper, boxes of nails, or other stuff that usually clutters the top of workbenches.

This model measures 12″ long by 10″ wide by 6-1/4″ high and is made from wire coated with white vinyl. There are a ton of different sizes available from different manufacturers, both online and in brick and mortar stores starting at $6. Just watch out for the giant rolling ball when you do the installation.

Under Shelf Storage Basket [Grayline Housewares]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Why use a brass pin punch? Well, for one brass doesn’t spark, so if you ever need to drive out a pin in a flammable environment, you’d probably want one. Secondly, they are less likely to leave a mark on steel surfaces.

This brass pin punch set by Solid includes a 6″ center punch and pin punches sized 3/32″ x 4-1/4″, 1/8″ x 4-3/4″, 5/32″ x 5″, 3/16″ x 5-1/4″ and 1/4″ x 5-3/4″.  It runs about $26 shipped.

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