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]

When you’re setting posts for a deck or fence, you need either an extra set of hands or some jury-rigged bracing to keep the post plumb until the concrete sets. But with Cepco’s Post-Pod, you can set up and hold posts without the extra helpers.

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Your shop-vac may not be the most efficient dust collector, but you can turn it into a two-stage dust-collection system with the Mini Cyclone Separator from Woodstock International. You’ll change the bag or clean the filter less often, because larger chips will drop out into the attached five-gallon bucket.

Woodstock molds their Mini Cyclone Separator from ABS. It sits on top of a standard five-gallon bucket, where it accepts two 2-1/2″ hoses. To empty the bucket, simply lift off the separator.

Look to pay anywhere from $17 to $24 for the Mini Cyclone Separator. You’ll have to supply your own five-gallon pail. If you have 2-1/4″ hoses, you can get a reducer for about $5.

Mini Cyclone Separator [Woodstock International]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon(B0000223XZ) [What’s This?]

With Harbor Freight’s micro die grinder, you can grind or sand in hard to reach places, carve something intricate, or just polish the scratches out of your iPod.  The 1/8″ collet will accept most Dremel bits for all sorts of jobs. It’s definitely worth grabbing one, even if you only use it a couple times a year to sand down the burs on your safety glasses.

The variable-speed micro grinder can spin up to 56,000 RPM, which is 20,000 RPM higher than your average Dremel. Rear exhaust keeps the air out of your work. The grinder set includes a 47″ air hose, inline oiler, brass coupler, and two collet wrenches. It all comes in a crappy nice plastic case, too.

If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times: keep your cheap-ass HF pneumatic tools oiled, and they’ll last you a long time.  Pick one up at Harbor Freight for $15.

Micro Die Grinder [Harbor Freight]

On average, lightning strikes kill 62 people each year in the US. You’ll probably never be struck, but if you work on a job site that’s prone to strikes, you might want a little insurance. The pager-sized StrikeAlert warns of lightning strikes within 40 miles, giving you advanced warning and extra time to get to cover.

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This stylish new carpenter’s bracelet…um, this set of carpenter’s brass knuckles…OK, this carpenter’s circular rasp sells for $10 at Woodcraft. The rasp, originally used by staircase makers to smooth curved handrails, shapes tightly curved or concave areas where a straight rasp won’t work.

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This is the best type of coupon: you don’t need to cut anything out or mail anything in. Simply copy and paste “SPRING21″ when you check out at Home Depot’s website, and instantly receive a $5 discount on your purchase of $50 or more. But read the fine print — some items are excluded. You can save with the code through May 11, 2008.

Tools [Home Depot]

When you need to measure the diameter of a hole or the width of a slot, reach for a taper gauge. Named for their tapered shape, taper gauges measure hole and slot sizes quickly and accurately. With the Starrett No. 267 taper gauge, you can measure hole and slot sizes from 1/16″ to 1-1/16″, to the nearest 1/64″.

Made from spring-tempered steel and measuring 1″ wide by 5-1/4″ long, the gauge features four different leafs for measuring progressively larger dimensions. Look to pay between $90 and $110.

Taper Gauge [Starrett]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon(B0006J4DSK) [What’s This?]

Reading a tape measure upside-down is a good way to make errors, so FastCap makes a tape measure in their ProCarpenter line that reads both left-to-right and right-to-left — you don’t have to twist your neck to read the scale.

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Remember that time you asked your algebra teacher when you’d ever need to solve for X in real life? There’s a good chance you still haven’t found a use for your higher math skills, but Toolmongers will likely encounter plenty of practical math issues during a project. This handy book’ll show you how to calculate roof pitch, lay out stairs, make sense of a scientific calculator, and lots of other stuff.

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The nail gun revolutionized carpentry, but at the expense of tying the carpenter to a stationary compressor. Companies have devised some ingenious solutions to this problem — but battery-powered or battery-and-gas-powered nail guns can be heavy, awkward, and costly; and CO2-powered belt packs can only drive so many nails before you have to buy a new canister. Palmgren devised another solution: a portable, tank-less compressor that weighs just 6.6 lbs including the battery, so you can carry it easily over the shoulder or around the waist.

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If you work construction or renovation, you often need to straighten a twisted stud or joist.  Tools such as Stanley’s Fubar will do the trick, but what if you don’t want to carry a separate tool to get the job done?  Estwing adds board-tweaking ability to a tool already in your hand: the hammer.  The patented Hammertooth hammer can straighten any 2x board — just place the tooth and claw on either side of a board, and twist.

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If you want to make full use of your drill press or milling machine table, Palmgren makes a kit with just about everything you’d ever need, including a steel storage rack to neatly organize all the pieces.

Here’s the complete list of what’s included:

• Four 9⁄16″ T-slot nuts
• Four 5⁄8″ T-slot nuts
• Six flange nuts
• Four coupling nuts
• Six step block pairs
• Six step clamps
• 24 studs — four each 3″, 4″, 5″, 6″, 7″, and 8″ lengths
• Two 1-3⁄4″ wide U-clamp sets — each U-clamp set contains a 5″ stud, a flange nut, a ball joint, a U-clamp, and a 9⁄16″ T-slot nut
• Steel storage rack

At $140, this kit isn’t cheap, and it weighs 28 lbs, so shipping will definitely cost you — but you’ll never be lacking for ways to hold down your work.  Sears sells what appears to be the identical kit, rebranded as Craftsman, for $100.

Clamping Kit [Palmgren]
Clamping Kit [Grainger]
Clamping Kit [Sears]
Via Amazon(B0007ZFK0S) [What’s This?]

Sharpen those shears, ’cause this Harbor Freight coupon expires today. You can check out their other coupons, too, but this knockout punch kit makes the top of my list. It allows you to cut perfect holes in 10-gauge mild steel, aluminum, and fiberglass. The kit includes dies sized 1/2″, 3/4″, 1″, and 1-1/4″, and hole punches sized 7/8″, 1-3/32″, 1-11/32″, and 1-11/16″, all made from heat-treated, high-carbon steel. You’ll also get driving screws and a mold-blown plastic case to hold it all. After today, the price reverts back to $15.

Knockout Punch Kit [Harbor Freight]
Coupons [Harbor Freight]

Through this Thursday, Sears is discounting both their standard and metric 4-in-1 wrench sets by 50%. Normally $30, right now you can pick up a set for $15. Each set includes two 12-point box-end wrenches with reversible ratcheting sockets that fit two different sizes. That means each wrench can tighten and loosen four different sized fasteners.

The two-wrench standard set includes one wrench that fits 5/16″, 3/8″, 7/16″, and 1/2″ sizes, and a second wrench that fits 9/16″, 5/8″, 11/16″, and 3/4″ sizes.

The two-wrench metric set includes one wrench that fits 8mm, 10mm, 12mm, and 13mm sizes, and a second wrench that fits 16mm, 17mm, 18mm, and 19mm sizes.

Craftsman heat-treats the handles and plates them with nickel-chrome — they also heat-treat the box-end sockets and finish them in black oxide.

The deal expires May 1, 2008.

Craftsman 4-in-1 Standard Wrench Set [Sears]
Craftsman 4-in-1 Metric Wrench Set [Sears]

To drill angled holes, you can tilt your drill press table, but sometimes it’s easier and more precise to use a cradle-style angle vise instead. The head of this particular vise from Palmgren locks at preset stops every 15° from 0° to 90°, simply by inserting an alignment pin.  Set any other angle by removing the alignment pin and hand-tightening the locking mechanism.

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These aren’t my X-rays, but last night, while working with my Craftsman nail gun, I had the pleasure of shooting a 2″ nail into my thumb. The nail passed cleanly through without doing any real harm. On the positive side, I came up with a new combination of swear words, I now have a great deal more respect for air tools — and I’ve started taking safety a little more seriously.

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