As battery technology advances, stores have to push the old systems off the shelves to make room for the new kings of cordless tools.  Often a vigilant hunter can find sweet deals on perfectly good batteries and even a few chargers.

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I love it when signs save me money and make me feel smart.  Of course, everyone’s had spell check do a number on their work — we’ve had a couple funny ones here at Toolmonger — but it’s amusing to see it happen to other folks, too.

Most people won’t read anything past “50 percent off” anyway, so “register” being misspelled way at the bottom will hardly be a stumbling block amid the pillaging going on at the table it’s attached to.  I had two tools in my hand before I stopped to read the sign fully myself.

Lowe’s [Website]

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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Trailing the Home Depot site by a few months, Lowe’s has revamped their web presence to net themselves a fresher look.  In the course of our Toolmongering we hit the site a few times during the last couple days — and while it’s a bit slow to load, the search function seems improved.

Lowe’s site never bothered us as bad as the Home Depot’s “No Items Returned” search-and-annoy feature, but the Lowe’s engine did require some special knowledge to word your searches to find what you needed. We hope the uber-slow load times are just a result of bugs being worked out — but if the search continues to return what we ask for, we’ll cope with load times.

Lowes.com [Website]

Last week’s post about my ordeal with customer service, just to order a drive belt for my sander, turned out to be a hot button — and here’s a follow-up to it. I’ve installed the new drive belt, and the sander is ready to go again.

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Modern customer-support lines are the butt of countless jokes, and rightly so. These stories, the stuff of myth and legend, are often just folks venting, saying to their friends what they couldn’t say to a live person on the other end of the phone. I recently did battle with a few of the seasoned vets at the Lowe’s help desk and came away — like many other support callers — with a few new scars and an overwhelming desire to torch the product in question.

After hundreds of hours of hard use, my Task Force belt/disc sander snapped its primary drive belt. For those of you who can’t picture it, it’s the drive belt that connects the motor to the large sanding belt on the top of the unit. Without it, only the disc spins. So when it snapped it rendered the sander largely useless, and I needed a new one.

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Dasco added this Target Guard to their mason chisel, concrete chisel, and brick set, to keep us from mashing our hands with large hammers.  Now, a professional probably isn’t going to miss the mark unless he’s got  a massive hangover, so I’m guessing they’re marketing this to the DIYers.  Street pricing starts at $10 for the concrete chisel.  It looks like a good idea to me, but it also looks bulky — the space and shape could be awkward.

Does anybody out there use one of these tools all the time? Is this a waste of space or a nice feature? Let us know in comments.

Mason’s Chisel With Target Guard [Lowe's]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

The Task Force jigsaw we have here in the shop died last week. We’d like to be upset about it, but we’re actually amazed it lasted this long. The Task Force cost us $19 brand new — and though it was never a looker, it did work for a little over a year.

When you break it down, our saw cost us a little over a dollar a month during its time here. We’d have liked it to hold on another year, but the non-stop action in the shop of hard knocks didn’t exactly prolong its service life.

In the end we’re left with this question: Is it better to pay up for a longer-lasting tool, or to take the disposable tool for all it’s worth and see what you get out of it? Looking back over the life of the saw this last year, we’re inclined to think we got our money’s worth out of it. What do you think? Is this a bad deal or a great way to get some work done cheap? Let us know in comments.

Task Force Orbital Action Jigsaw [Lowe's]

Big box stores and credit cards are some necessary evils in life — well, my life anyway. This coupon, the result of a partnership between Visa and Lowe’s, saves you $10 on a purchase of $25 or more.  The catch: you have to use your Visa card to get the discount, and there are some exceptions, like products that are exempt from the deal. To get your coupon, just enter your name and email address on the link provided. The offer expires July 30th.

Life Takes Visa [Visa]
Lowe’s $10 Coupon [Lowe's]

These sockets work where deep sockets just aren’t deep enough. Kobalt’s Thru-Ratchet sockets and ratchets are hollow down the center, so they can fit over any length of bolt.  In a lot of cases you could get the same performance out of your ratcheting wrenches, but this system allows you to get into deep recesses that would otherwise be inaccessible.

Thru-Ratchet sockets plug right in to the ratchet handle, instead of attaching to a square drive. Integrating into the handle reduces overall height by up to fifty percent over a standard ratchet and socket — which is good for areas with low clearance.

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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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Lowe’s has placed the Gardner Bender Circuit Alert wire stripper on clearance. This little gem of a wire stripper packs an AC current detector in the handle. Its clearance price of $12 brings it down to the price range of more frugal Toolmongers such as myself.

Check out your local Lowe’s to see if you can snatch one up before they’re all gone.

Store Locater [Lowe's]

If you or your children are interested in crafting small derby cars, head to Lowe’s on Tuesday for a free demonstration. After they show you how to make a derby car faster and more aerodynamic, your kids’ll get an attendance badge, and you’ll receive a coupon for 10% off Dremel products. See more details after the jump.

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If the new year finds you looking for Energy Star compliant appliances, Lowe’s is offering a 10 percent discount on “select” models and brands, i.e. last year’s models over $400. You get the discount at the register, so at least you don’t have to sweat cutting UPCs and mailing them to a P.O. box in China somewhere.

It’s not like they’re slashing prices to the bone here, but it would be handy if you have to go buy a dishwasher this weekend. You can get the offer from 1/17  to 1/21.

Energy Star Sale [Lowe's]

As part of their end-of-the-year sale, Lowe’s is slashing 20% off the price on all Kobalt tool chests. With gas-spring supported lids, sturdy ball bearing slides, spacious load-bearing drawers, and a sharp finish, these chests store your tools in style. As a bonus, each well-constructed unit includes no-slip drawer liners and a dust cover.

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According to Lowe’s website today, they’re willing to give you a $10 “project starter coupon” if you’ll spend at least $50 in the store or online between now and Dec. 31st. As always, there’s a ton of small print, but hey — it’s pretty damn easy to spend $50 at Lowe’s. I spent $50 there on light bulbs the other day.

Spend $50/Get $10 Promo [Lowe's]

Most cordless drills come with on-tool storage for one or two bits, but sometimes one or two bits just isn’t enough.  That’s why Kobalt created a weird-looking bit strap: to keep you working instead of climbing. Of course, unless this bit strap gets you coffee or cleans up after you, we suspect it won’t “change the way your work.” Read on past the jump for a massive picture, plus lots more information.

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