Recently I was shopping for a drill press, and I probably could’ve gotten away with a benchtop model if it was just for woodworking, but I also do metal fabrication so I wanted a stationary model that stands on the floor. I wound up going with this Ridgid drill press.

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In setting up a woodshop, I always thought I’d end up with the standard Norm setup — a belt/disk sander combo and a separate oscillating spindle sander — but I’ve read that the motors on the lower-end spindle units can stall out when sanding, and I can’t afford the $1,000+ high-end shop sanders.  I read the reviews of this Ridgid oscillating edge belt/spindle sander and I had doubts about the belt sander part, but I figured at worst I’d end up with an affordable oscillating spindle sander.

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Makita’s compact driver set includes a two-speed drill driver, an impact driver, two lithium-ion batteries, and a 50-minute charger, all packed in a hard case.  The impact driver can deliver 800 inch-pounds of torque at up to 3,000 impacts per minute, and the two-speed drill driver spins up to 350 RPM at the lower speed setting and up to 1,300 RPM on the higher speed setting.

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A while back I thought about posting on the Wheaton tread template linked below, but the tool looked like more trouble than it was worth.  Then the other day I saw the above tread template on Hometime and thought, “Now this is something I can post.”

Why do you need a tread template?  If you’re carpeting the stairs or have an open staircase, you probably don’t have to scribe both sides of the tread to fit in place — but if you’re working on an enclosed staircase, you either need to take a bunch of measurements, make a cardboard template, or use a tread template like this one, because you know there ain’t ever been a wall built perfectly straight.

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Depending on your climate, covering your attic insulation may lead to moisture problems.  But Metro Products’ Attic Dek allows the insulation to breathe while still providing solid and durable decking to store your boxes and other junk.

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Here we see our Ridgid twin-tank aluminum air compressor in its native environment — its central position right under the miter saw is no accident.  This compressor is a slightly dusty star of the show, and the shop wouldn’t be able to function correctly without it.

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The 12V sub-compact-drill category is growing — literally.  As you can see with this 3/8” chuck on the Ridgid R82007, the basic sub-compact shape may still be there, but manufacturers are finding ways to stuff the old into the new.

Ridgid’s new snub-nosed drill may look a bit odd for a “small drill” — it measures around 5″ from front to back and boasts 120 inch-pounds of torque — but the addition of a 3/8” chuck on the sub-compact platform seems to be a lethal combination.  With its slightly bloated dimensions, this is a great half-step between a normal-sized rig and a sub.

Its $100 price point puts it in contention with the subs for those guys who want a small drill but don’t want to give up a 3/8” chuck.  Yes, it’s a bit on the chunky side, but the versatility of the 3/8” drive might win out in the end.

R82007 3/8″ Drill [Home Depot]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

An interesting thing occurs around the time of the first freeze:  Before the Weather Channel guy can say, “The temperature’s going to drop below freezing tonight,” all the faucet covers everywhere disappear around you.  The picture above shows a rare full box of them — not often seen in the wild.

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Home Depot is offering $10 off any $100 order placed online at homedepot.com.  Yeah, it’s not much more than lunch on the way back to the shop — but if you’re spending anyway, you get enough gas to make it home.

The offer expires November 1, so this is a quick-turn type of thing.  Enter code FALLSAVE1 at checkout to redeem.

Home Depot [Official Site]

Home Depot has dropped the price on this RIDGID 3/8″ drill to $79, through August 25, 2008. The cordless drill features a 24-position clutch, variable-speed 12V motor with High and Low settings, and the Rapid Max Charger which charges the battery in 20 minutes. The offer’s available online only, with shipping costs running around $7.

3/8″ Drill [Home Depot]
3/8″ Drill [RIDGID]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

Once upon a time, when pneumatic nailers were all the same — to me at least — this fine tool would’ve escaped my attention. This is a multi-blow nailer, which means there’s no depth adjustment; you simply hold the actuator until the nail is driven to the depth desired.  If you hit a knot, just hold the actuator longer.

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Budgets are tight lately, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get some decent deals on tools if you’re willing to look. A quick glance at the Depot’s site led me to a section for reconditioned tools. Though this is a loaded topic on either side, the fact remains you can get tools for around forty percent off if you pull the trigger on the right deal.

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Love ‘em or hate ‘em, companies keep coming out with multi-use tools. Some multi-use tools, like the combination square and the layout square, have stood the test of time and have found their way into just about every handyman’s pouch. Does the Universal Square fit into this category, or is it yet another tool doomed to be forgotten?

D-Unique, the makers of the Universal Square, designed this 12oz aluminum tool for framers, but they claim other tradesmen such as iron workers, electricians, carpenters, and cabinet builders will find it useful too.

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Edge routing can be tricky if your router doesn’t have a large enough base. The router’s center of gravity hangs over the edge of the workpiece, making it easy to accidentally tip the router and ruin your crisp profile. An offset router base gives you more leverage to keep the router from tipping.

Milescraft offers an affordable 13″-long offset base made of clear polycarbonate. It sports an oversized knob to make the base easy to grab, and the scratch-resistant surface helps ensure the base’s transparency.

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The Snozzle cove-base adhesive nozzle attaches to your cove-base applicator — or “caulk gun” to the layman. It saves you time by covering more surface area in one pass, and it evenly distributes the glue for a well-bonded installation.

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The Depot is rolling into summer with a deal: for the next week or so they’re discounting “select” ceiling fans by 40 percent. You’ll have to go online for some of them, but most are discounted and in your local store now.  Though we’re a bit surprised to see a deal on fans at the outset of summer, it’s a welcome break.

We’re always leery when we see “select” in the fine print.  As we suspected, some of the fans on sale are models from years gone by that didn’t move or were too strange-looking to install in the living room. But the nice-looking Hampton Bay 52″ Leland is selling for $53 instead of $90 — it’s worth consideration.

40% Off Ceiling Fan Sale [Home Depot]

Chisels can cause injury in a lot of different ways: flying metal fragments can damage unprotected eyes; striking the chisel causes pinging noises that can damage hearing; vibration and kickback can cause joint trauma; and don’t forget missing the chisel altogether and hitting your hand. Hard Cap has set out to build a safer chisel, and they’ve addressed all these modes of injury.

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