It’s been a busy week here at Toolmonger.  If you’ve been spending time in the shop — you should! — and you haven’t had a chance to keep up with Toolmonger this week, we suggest you start with these posts, which our readers helped to select:

This Breadboard Doesn’t Belong In The Kitchen
A breadboard is an indispensable tool for testing circuits quickly, and since the connections aren’t permanent it’s a good platform for experimentation.  With a breadboard and jumper kit like this one from Elenco, plus a source of power and a few electronic components, you’ll be building circuits in no time.

Wiha Drive-Loc
I use these Drive-Loc sets at work for small equipment repair, and I’ve grown to like ‘em.  As with other similar drivers, you insert the bit into the handle, but Wiha’s Drive-Loc mechanism allows you to adjust the bit length as well — you get full-length, stubby, and the in-between sizes in one bit.

Swanson AlwaysSharp
A new spin on the traditional carpenters pencil, the Swanson AlwaysSharp contains eight replacement tips in the body, so you can ditch the sharpener.  When a lead wears out, just pull out a replacement and swap it with the old one.  The tips last longer, too, since they’re not ground up in the sharpener, and a plastic cap protects the tip when you’re not using it.

Cheap-Ass Tools: 6-Piece Heavy-Duty Pliers Set
You’ll probably never find a better deal on pliers than this $12 pack from Harbor Freight — it includes diagonal cutters, needle nose, lineman’s, slip joint, and groove joint pliers.  That’s a bunch of gripping capability for a small payout.

Dado Setup With No Guessing
This dado measuring gauge from Infinity Tools tells you exactly which blades and chippers to use for a given dado thickness.  Simply find the slot that matches the stock and read the combination next to it.

Help us choose next week’s Top 5!

We’d appreciate your help in choosing next week’s Top 5, which’ll be featured here, elsewhere, and in the podcast as well. While you’re reading TM this week, look out for the “Interesting Post” button at the bottom of the article:

When you see an article that piques your interest, click the button once. You’ll return to the same page, but TM’s software’ll score your click for future reference. We’ll check in on the totals before selecting next week’s Top 5.

It’s been a busy week here at Toolmonger.  If you’ve been spending time in the shop — you should! — and you haven’t had a chance to keep up with Toolmonger this week, we suggest you start with these posts, which our readers helped to select:

Pry With A Breaker Bar
If you only use a pry bar occasionally or don’t have the room for a full-out pry bar, this pry bar head attachment from OTC Tools fits onto a 3/8″-drive breaker bar or ratchet and turns it into a rolling-head pry bar.  Even though OTC specifically says ratchet, we wouldn’t risk a good one.

See You Later, Old Tire Inflator
Getting the correct pressure in your tires normally takes a few rounds of swapping between chuck, pressure gauge, and sometimes the pin on the back of the gauge to let out air because you added too much.  With an all-in-one inflator like this tool from Campbell Hausfeld, just clip the chuck on the stem and read the tire pressure — then squeeze the trigger to start adding air, or release some pressure with the relief valve.

Vacuum With Your Air Compressor
With Jet’s vacuum gun in your air tool arsenal you can vacuum with your air compressor instead of digging out the shop-vac — no electricity or extra cords required. The lightweight die-cast aluminum gun comes with an 8″ pickup tip and an 8′ hose that directs the debris into a zippered vacuum bag.

Multiple-Profile Router Bit
This multiple-profile bit from Infinity Tools allows you to reproduce dozens of classical profiles with a single bit, saving you money and drawer space — but it comes at a price.  Instead of making a single pass with a single-profile bit, you might have to make multiple passes at different cutter heights and fence positions.

The Tim Taylor Pizza Cutter
Looking to startle house guests — or impress Toolmonger friends hanging out in the kitchen instead of the shop? If so, you’re likely the target market for the possibly-vaporware Pizza-Pro 3000. And before you ask: No, it’s not motorized. (Though we imagine a little time in the shop could fix this, erm, design flaw.)

Help us choose next week’s Top 5!

We’d appreciate your help in choosing next week’s Top 5, which’ll be featured here, elsewhere, and in the podcast as well. While you’re reading TM this week, look out for the “Interesting Post” button at the bottom of the article:

When you see an article that piques your interest, click the button once. You’ll return to the same page, but TM’s software’ll score your click for future reference. We’ll check in on the totals before selecting next week’s Top 5.

It’s been a busy week here at Toolmonger.  If you’ve been spending time in the shop — you should! — and you haven’t had a chance to keep up with Toolmonger this week, we suggest you start with these posts, which our readers helped to select:

Preview: SmartGuard Electrical Box Protection
You come back to trim out a house, and you discover the drywall guys have mudded in half your boxes — now you have to spend extra time digging out joint compound when you could be doing your job.  If you’d used SmartGuard protective plates over your boxes you wouldn’t be having this problem.

Craftsman Hand Impact Driver
The Craftsman Hand Impact Driver has helped me on numerous occasions to remove stuck screws and bolts. You just combine the 1/2″ driver with an impact socket or included screwdriver bit, then hit the end of the driver with a hammer to break lose the fastener.  I used mine for removing motorcycle case and tailgate fasteners.

MaxJax Auto Lift
If you’re looking for a lift, the MaxJax two-post auto lift looks like an economical and space-saving option.  It can lift 6,000 pounds up to 45” in the air in about 30 seconds using regular household voltage of 110 or 120 volts — and when you’re finished with it, you can store the MaxJax in a space a little larger than a standard tool chest.

Preview: New Delta Unisaw
Delta’s Unisaw has been kicking around longer than most tool guys out there today.  Over the years they’ve changed it to fit the times and added a few things here and there that make it a little more pleasant to deal with — this March, Delta’s launching the latest incarnation of this famous saw system, and they’ll be accepting pre-orders in a matter of days.

Samson Field Survivor
Attention, gun buffs:  The Sampson Field Survivor contains all the basic tools you need to service your AR15 or M16 rifle, in a package that fits in the standard pistol-grip opening.

Help us choose next week’s Top 5!

We’d appreciate your help in choosing next week’s Top 5, which’ll be featured here, elsewhere, and in the podcast as well. While you’re reading TM this week, look out for the “Interesting Post” button at the bottom of the article:

When you see an article that piques your interest, click the button once. You’ll return to the same page, but TM’s software’ll score your click for future reference. We’ll check in on the totals before selecting next week’s Top 5.

It’s been a busy week here at Toolmonger.  If you’ve been spending time in the shop — you should! — and you haven’t had a chance to keep up with Toolmonger this week, we suggest you start with these posts, which our readers helped to select:

FreezeAlarm Calls You When It’s Too Cold
Do you stay awake at night while you’re on vacation wondering if your pipes are freezing or if your freezer full of beef is still frozen?  If you had the FreezeAlarm from Control Products you might sleep more soundly.

Hands-On: Striker Magnetic LED Light
We’ve heard many theories on what the Striker ball is, everything from disco ball and mini-land mine to one horrified person who dropped it immediately and scolded us for tossing them a sex toy. It’s actually an LED light with magnets stuck all over it for providing light in odd places.

Cause An Avalanche
Snow and ice dams can cause major headaches for homeowners. At least once every winter the news will show someone on their roof with a snowblower — neither Toolmonger nor the manufacturers recommend this.  Instead, you can clear that snow off your roof simply and safely with the Avalanche series of snow removal tools.

Woodworkers Height Gauge
With the Angle Wright Woodworkers Height Gauge you can measure your saw’s, router’s, or shaper’s cutting height to the 32nd of an inch.  Because of its recessed brass knobs this fine tool can operate in either the horizontal or vertical position.  It runs a bit on the pricey side, but at today’s wood prices it might pay for itself in a few missed mistakes.

Warm Feet Are Happy Feet
Whether you’re up in the deer stand or on the shop floor, when your feet get cold, life is no longer fun.  You can dress as warm as you want, but sometimes it’s not enough — that’s when it’s time to slip some Cozy Feet foot warmers into your shoes.  Powered by a few AA batteries, they’ll warm your toes in seconds.

Help us choose next week’s Top 5!

We’d appreciate your help in choosing next week’s Top 5, which’ll be featured here, elsewhere, and in the podcast as well. While you’re reading TM this week, look out for the “Interesting Post” button at the bottom of the article:

When you see an article that piques your interest, click the button once. You’ll return to the same page, but TM’s software’ll score your click for future reference. We’ll check in on the totals before selecting next week’s Top 5.

It’s been a busy week here at Toolmonger.  If you’ve been spending time in the shop — you should! — and you haven’t had a chance to keep up with Toolmonger this week, we suggest you start with these posts, which our readers helped to select:

Stubby In Spades
Used in conjunction with a right angle drill, these stubby spade bits from Milwaukee let you bore holes in the tightest of places.  Even if you don’t have a right angle drill, they’ll still let you bore holes straight into the studs where you had to angle the holes before.  Think about how much easier it’ll be to fish that Romex or PEX through the studs now.

Chisel Of Destruction
Although it looks very much like their brick set, this floor chisel from Stanley has an entirely different purpose. You use a floor chisel, sometimes called an electrician’s bolster, to remove flooring.  The long narrow blade is designed to get between floorboards, cut through tongues, and pry up the loosened boards.

Magswitch Cabinet Latches
We’ve all seen magnetic catches on cabinets — you know, the kind where if you pull hard enough you overcome the magnetic force to open the door.  But the bigger the door, the bigger the magnet needed to hold it closed and the harder you have to yank the door to get it open.  Using their switchable magnets, Magswitch has come up with a way to hold doors securely yet let them open easily without having to pull so hard.

Antiques Roadshow Can Make You Drool
If I happen to run across Antiques Roadshow playing on PBS, I almost always see some kind of tool-related item being appraised in the show somewhere. This plane/ax combo owned by some lucky bastard in Tampa is a fine example of gear you just can’t have.

Shovel Snow With The Wovel
This looks like a unicycle gone bad, but it’s actually a snow-shoveling innovation called the Wovel. The Wovel simplifies your snow-removal tasks by harnessing the powers of the lever and wheel.  It’ll also help save your back since the Wovel primarily uses your arms and legs to move the snow.

Help us choose next week’s Top 5!

We’d appreciate your help in choosing next week’s Top 5, which’ll be featured here, elsewhere, and in the podcast as well. While you’re reading TM this week, look out for the “Interesting Post” button at the bottom of the article:

When you see an article that piques your interest, click the button once. You’ll return to the same page, but TM’s software’ll score your click for future reference. We’ll check in on the totals before selecting next week’s Top 5.

It’s been a busy week here at Toolmonger.  If you’ve been spending time in the shop — you should! — and you haven’t had a chance to keep up with Toolmonger this week, we suggest you start with these posts, which our readers helped to select:

Snake Wires Under The Carpet
Sometime you have no choice but to run wires under the carpet; you might have finished rooms above and/or below where you need to run networking, speaker, or other low-voltage wiring.  You’re not going to get very far just trying to push the wire under the carpet — that’s where an under-carpet snake comes in handy.

Editorial: Bringing The Amish Heat
I have a tremendous amount of respect for the woodcrafting capabilities of the Amish. I’m sure most of them could run circles around many of us with hand tools, and the level of their craftsmanship is highly regarded in many circles. My question is what on earth made them think the Heat Surge was a good project to get involved with?

TM’s 2008 Favorites: Honorable Mention - Shop Stereo
Talk to anyone from old codger to young whippersnapper and they’ll tell you tunes are important in the shop. There’s nothing like stone-cold silence to convince you you’re working and not having a good time in the shop. Hate if you want to — the shop stereo made honorable mention.

Dial-A-Dado
Two dado blade types dominate the industry:  “wobble” dado blades, which are simple, but leave the bottom of the dado slightly concave;  and stacked dado blades, which leave a flatter bottom, but are usually more expensive and can be difficult to adjust.  Freud tries to combine the advantages of both types of dado blades with its Dial-A-Width sets.

Set Table Saw Blade Height And Tilt With One Tool
The Gauge-It lets you easily and accurately measure blade height and angle on your table saw.  It compensates for blade teeth to give you accurate measurements, and the spring-loaded armature moves with your blade, indicating the exact angle.

Help us choose next week’s Top 5!

We’d appreciate your help in choosing next week’s Top 5, which’ll be featured here, elsewhere, and in the podcast as well. While you’re reading TM this week, look out for the “Interesting Post” button at the bottom of the article:

When you see an article that piques your interest, click the button once. You’ll return to the same page, but TM’s software’ll score your click for future reference. We’ll check in on the totals before selecting next week’s Top 5.

It’s been a busy week here at Toolmonger.  If you’ve been spending time in the shop — you should! — and you haven’t had a chance to keep up with Toolmonger this week, we suggest you start with these posts, which our readers helped to select:

Dancing With The Router
As you can see from this mangled piece of trim, I recently had a router mishap. Thankfully I wasn’t injured — the only casualty was the oak trim — but it was exciting for a few minutes there, and the incident brought to mind a few things I thought I’d share.

How-To: Build A Custom Oak Bookcase
We have fun with woodworking no matter what the project is, but the most rewarding thing for us is making our own furniture.  Let’s say you wanted a solid oak bookcase but didn’t have the four to six hundred bucks a retail store would want for one. You can achieve the same effect for less than half the cost, using a bit of solid oak trim and some veneered ply.

Preview: HK1 Hydrokinetically Adjustable Wrench
We’ve seen a hundred different types of adjustable wrenches come and go here on Toolmonger;  some are stupid and some are just downright funny. For the first time in a long while we’ve stumbled upon one that’s at the very least interesting — the HK1 is a hydrokinetically adjustable wrench.

Simple Storage Space For The Attic
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.

Magnetic Gluing Jig
Figuring out how to hold small parts together while gluing can give your imagination a workout, but if you had this magnetic gluing jig from Micro-Mark, you’d no longer have to dream up wacky jigs to connect those small pieces.

Help us choose next week’s Top 5!

We’d appreciate your help in choosing next week’s Top 5, which’ll be featured here, elsewhere, and in the podcast as well. While you’re reading TM this week, look out for the “Interesting Post” button at the bottom of the article:

When you see an article that piques your interest, click the button once. You’ll return to the same page, but TM’s software’ll score your click for future reference. We’ll check in on the totals before selecting next week’s Top 5.

It’s been a busy week here at Toolmonger.  If you’ve been spending time in the shop — you should! — and you haven’t had a chance to keep up with Toolmonger this week, we suggest you start with these posts, which our readers helped to select:

TM’s 2008 Favorites: Fluke 77 Multimeter
When someone asks to borrow a tool from the Toolmonger shop, we usually don’t say, “Over our dead bodies” — unless the tool in question is our faithful Fluke 77 Multimeter.  Though it’s not the latest model out there, it still keeps pace with any meter currently on the market.

Marking Gauge Uses Actual Pencil
Marking gauges traditionally use a hardened point or an easy-to-lose graphite point to scratch a layout line, but this marking gauge from Gladstone tools instead uses a regular hexagon-shaped pencil to draw lines as far as 8″ away from the edge of your work.

Universal Clamp For Small Objects
This 6″-long clamp holds small, irregularly shaped objects with steel pins rather than flat jaws.  The pins fit in 60 hexagonally spaced holes on the face of the clamp, allowing you to clamp almost any shape as long as it’s smaller than the clamp head.

Super Stubbies: All The Grip, Half The Size
Everyone should own a few stubby screwdrivers; they fit into the tiny spaces your standard ‘drivers won’t. But what happens when you’re short on space but need to really crank down hard on a screw? Normally you’re screwed — unless you have one of these. Craftsman calls ‘em “Super Stubby” screwdrivers: a standard-sized handle with a stubby shaft and tip.

Rockler’s Low-Buck Veneer Smoothing Blade
I’m not yet an expert on veneer, but I plan on becoming one. Good hardwood veneer can make even a cheap project look great — and provides access to woods I could never afford whole. (Lacewood desk, anyone?) But I’m a little scared of the old-school hammer/animal glue method. I’m thinking of going with more modern adhesives and something like this veneer smoothing blade from Rockler.

Help us choose next week’s Top 5!

We’d appreciate your help in choosing next week’s Top 5, which’ll be featured here, elsewhere, and in the podcast as well. While you’re reading TM this week, look out for the “Interesting Post” button at the bottom of the article:

When you see an article that piques your interest, click the button once. You’ll return to the same page, but TM’s software’ll score your click for future reference. We’ll check in on the totals before selecting next week’s Top 5.

It’s been a busy week here at Toolmonger.  If you’ve been spending time in the shop — you should! — and you haven’t had a chance to keep up with Toolmonger this week, we suggest you start with these posts, which our readers helped to select:

Spend More Time Painting, Less Time Climbing
The Secure Tray paint tray clamps securely to the top of any stepladder so you don’t have to climb up and down the ladder to reload your roller.  Yes, we’ve had paint trays that attach to ladders for ages, but those trays usually just rested on the rungs of the ladder.  Plus, the Secure Tray’s airtight lid keeps your paint and roller fresh for hours.

TM’s 2008 Favorites: Elmer’s ProBond Wood Filler
Some foolish person might scoff at wood filler in a Top Ten list full of tools, but we’ve completed at least a dozen woodworking projects with Elmer’s ProBond filler this year and can honestly state for the record that our projects wouldn’t be the same without it.  The Elmer’s filler has become as much a part of our woodwork as a sander or circular saw.

Lock Up Your Switches
Quite a few products out there will prevent toggle switches from being turned on or off, but the SwitchGuard is the only one we found that allows you to easily operate the switch if need be.

Preview: Bosch’s New 4V Li-Ion Screwdriver
Sure, the new sub-compact driver class is sweet. But if all you really want is a screwdriver why should you be robbed of modern conveniences like a removable battery, comfy rubber grip, and sub-$100 price? Think of Bosch’s new 4V “Max” as the Lexus of cordless screwdrivers: It looks like a Mercedes, but it’s based on a cost-practical Toyota.

How-To: Build A Reindeer And Sleigh For $15
Many of the project sites we look at take a Julia Childs approach to their holiday wood projects — you know, using materials you don’t have, tools you can’t afford, and plans you couldn’t draw up even if you were a rocket scientist. So to combat this effect we put together a reindeer and accompanying sleigh that you can assemble with a few simple tools and under $15 worth of lumber — in under a day.

Help us choose next week’s Top 5!

We’d appreciate your help in choosing next week’s Top 5, which’ll be featured here, elsewhere, and in the podcast as well. While you’re reading TM this week, look out for the “Interesting Post” button at the bottom of the article:

When you see an article that piques your interest, click the button once. You’ll return to the same page, but TM’s software’ll score your click for future reference. We’ll check in on the totals before selecting next week’s Top 5.

It’s been a busy week here at Toolmonger.  If you’ve been spending time in the shop — you should! — and you haven’t had a chance to keep up with Toolmonger this week, we suggest you start with these posts, which our readers helped to select:

Biscuit-Shaped Knock-Down Connector
Sometimes you want projects to last, sometimes you want projects to be portable — the two don’t have to be mutually exclusive.  You can find quite a few knock-down connectors on the market, but Lamello’s Clamex lets you use your biscuit joiner to make knock-down connections in solid wood or wood composites.

Fishtail Chisels
Not every woodworker needs a set of fishtail chisels in their shop, but if you’ve ever wondered how to clean out the back corners of dovetails or other recesses, you might want to take a look at these tools.  So named for the chisel head’s similarity to a stylized fishtail, the shape allows you to get into acute corners on either side of the cutting edge.

TM’s 2008 Favorites: Bosch’s Colt Palm Router
By simply routing the edges on your projects you can propel them from mundane to super-slick.  Around two years ago I was looking for a hardcore trim and edge router and shopped around till I found the Bosch 1.0HP Colt router.  Since that time I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s completely worth the $100+ price tag — it’s one of the more solid tools in the shop.

Budget Shop Truck Build, Part 3: Building An Engine Stand
Once we’d lifted our shop truck’s motor we knew we’d have to pay some serious attention to it to get it up to ‘workhorse’ status again.  Because we’d blown our wad on parts for the motor, we decided not to spring for an engine stand but build one ourselves from a few casters and some plywood.

Clean The Oily Mess That Is Your Milling Table
How do you get that gunk out of your milling table’s T-slots?  It’s almost impossible to clean the shavings out of these oily recesses — unless you’ve got this scraper designed just for the purpose.  Its T-shaped head matches the shape of the table slots to scrape the metal debris away.

Help us choose next week’s Top 5!

We’d appreciate your help in choosing next week’s Top 5, which’ll be featured here, elsewhere, and in the podcast as well. While you’re reading TM this week, look out for the “Interesting Post” button at the bottom of the article:

When you see an article that piques your interest, click the button once. You’ll return to the same page, but TM’s software’ll score your click for future reference. We’ll check in on the totals before selecting next week’s Top 5.

It’s been a busy week here at Toolmonger.  If you’ve been spending time in the shop — you should! — and you haven’t had a chance to keep up with Toolmonger this week, we suggest you start with these posts, which our readers helped to select:

The Bow Saw That Wanted To Be A Hacksaw
Though a good bow saw comes in handy around the yard and camp, you don’t always want to carry around a full-size version. Irwin makes this little 12″ bow saw that looks like it’d be easy to pack and still useful around camp.  And it also accepts standard hacksaw blades — that’s one useful tool.

Hot or Not? Mr. Funnel
A funnel can help you put gas in your tank without spilling it all over the place — and if you’re using a funnel, why not one that filters the gas to get rid of contaminants?  That’s exactly what the fuel filters from Mr. Funnel do.

Reader Question: Tips For A First-Time Homeowner
Toolmonger reader Scott writes in with an interesting question:  “I just bought a house built in 1958;  do you have any posts on general advice for a first-time homeowner?  We’re already planning several projects including adding more insulation to the settled insulation in the attic.” Toolmongers spoke up and laid down uber-wisdom.

How-To: Install Custom Sliding Drawers
The third time I was attacked by my kitchen cabinets while trying to free a pot from the bottom cupboard, I decided to remedy the situation.  Nursing a bruised foot I went to the local big box to buy a few sliding drawer units to put in the cabinets — and I nearly popped a gasket when the size I wanted turned out to be sixty bucks a drawer.  So I built them myself.

Basin Wrench Attachment
A basin wrench will help you get at hard-to-reach nuts, especially up behind sink basins, but not everyone has the room for an extra wrench in the toolbox.  Superior Tools makes this 3/8″ drive attachment that turns your ratchet into a basin wrench — and you can make it any length you need by changing extensions.

Help us choose next week’s Top 5!

We’d appreciate your help in choosing next week’s Top 5, which’ll be featured here, elsewhere, and in the podcast as well. While you’re reading TM this week, look out for the “Interesting Post” button at the bottom of the article:

When you see an article that piques your interest, click the button once. You’ll return to the same page, but TM’s software’ll score your click for future reference. We’ll check in on the totals before selecting next week’s Top 5.

It’s been a busy week here at Toolmonger.  If you’ve been spending time in the shop — you should! — and you haven’t had a chance to keep up with Toolmonger this week, we suggest you start with these posts, which our readers helped to select:

Split The Conductors For Easy Current Measurement
If you want to monitor the power consumption of a single appliance the old-school way — with a clamp-on ammeter — try an AC line splitter like this one from Elenco. The problem is, you can’t just clamp an ammeter over a power cord and measure how much juice the appliance is taking;  you need access to a single conductor to measure the current.  That’s where this tool comes in handy — rather than ruin a power cord you can just plug in the line splitter.

Tire Chains For Your Shoes
Working outside in the winter, it’s hard enough dealing with the cold and the deep snow, and you don’t need the added pain of falling on your ass.  These MICROspikes from Kahtoola slip over your shoes or boots to give you traction on nearly any surface from ice and packed snow to concrete.

Get Perfect Miter Glue Joints With The Clam Clamp
For holding miters together while gluing, reader fred recommended the Clam Clamp as an alternative to spring miter clamps.   The Clam Clamp holds the work pieces together so securely that you can pick them up and carry them around while the glue is still wet.

Hands-On: Dremel Duo Kit — Dremel Driver
The palm-sized driver category is opening up a bit more with the addition of this pint-sized Dremel Driver.  A palm driver’s diminutive size and ease of operation appeal to people who dislike turning the occasional screw but don’t plan to pay out a ton of green for it.  Given Dremel’s experience with small power tools, we wanted to see if their new driver is out in front of the pack — or just late to the game with a “Me, too!” effort.

Tales From The Cheap Zone
“Cheap” really doesn’t describe how far I’ll stoop to avoid shelling out money.  So when my laptop fan started sounding like a small Allison aircraft engine about a year back, I was not spending the $110 to get a new fan assembly — even the $25 for a new fan wasn’t happening.  Instead I decided to treat it like any other machine in the shop:  When it squeaks, I start with giving it some oil.

Help us choose next week’s Top 5!

We’d appreciate your help in choosing next week’s Top 5, which’ll be featured here, elsewhere, and in the podcast as well. While you’re reading TM this week, look out for the “Interesting Post” button at the bottom of the article:

When you see an article that piques your interest, click the button once. You’ll return to the same page, but TM’s software’ll score your click for future reference. We’ll check in on the totals before selecting next week’s Top 5.

It’s been a busy week here at Toolmonger. If you’ve been spending time in the shop — you should! — and you haven’t had a chance to keep up with Toolmonger this week, we suggest you start with these posts, which our readers helped to select:

How-To: Mix And Grout A Tile Table
I love making tile-top projects.  However I’m pretty miserable at making grout correctly.  Maybe I don’t measure right, or I mix at the wrong intervals, but it always seems to go south by the time I’m through — always, that is, until I tried the SpectraLock grout system about two years ago.  Since then I’ve never had a problem with grouting tile, and it involves a great deal less swearing.

Let The WaterShutOff Wrench Reach For You
While the Gordon wrench will help you turn stuck shutoff valves, to reach the valve you still might have to bend like a contortionist.  Plus you probably don’t want to venture that close to the scummy area behind the toilet or under the sink.  Although the WaterShutOff wrench from Superior Tool may not let you apply as much torque on stuck valves, it can keep you 11″ farther away from all that unpleasantness that hasn’t seen the light of day in years.

Tailgate Ladder
Special projects often involve loading and unloading a lot of stuff from the back of the shop truck, and a tailgate ladder can make the whole process more pleasant.  This one’s side-mount position caught my eye — powder-coated and rated at 300 pounds, it should be durable and sturdy enough for most one-man jobs.

From Spline To Wright Spline
LOX screws are so strip-proof, you’d practically have to take a drill bit to ‘em to ruin ‘em.  The same goes for spline bolts — good luck stripping them — plus many spline wrenches are “backwards compatible” with hex, twelve-point, female Torx, and square-heads, and they’re more effective at turning 50% rounded fasteners.  Now the Wright Spline takes another step.

Liberate Your Power-Strip Outlets
Sure, you could drop the money on a new Power Squid, but if you already own serviceable power strips with a few blocked outlets, why not just buy a few Power Strip Liberator cables from Ziotek?  They’re not just for power strips — you probably have a few regular outlets blocked by power adapters somewhere in your house or shop.

Help us choose next week’s Top 5!

We’d appreciate your help in choosing next week’s Top 5, which’ll be featured here, elsewhere, and in the podcast as well. While you’re reading TM this week, look out for the “Interesting Post” button at the bottom of the article:

When you see an article that piques your interest, click the button once. You’ll return to the same page, but TM’s software’ll score your click for future reference. We’ll check in on the totals before selecting next week’s Top 5.

It’s been a busy week here at Toolmonger. If you’ve been spending time in the shop — you should! — and you haven’t had a chance to keep up with Toolmonger this week, we suggest you start with these posts, which our readers helped to select:

Industrial Moisture Checker
A woodworker’s going to feel disappointed when he sees checking or warping in a beautiful piece of furniture after he’s already finished it, but imagine seeing those flaws in an entire hardwood floor.  Flooring guys don’t have time to look at moisture readings on every piece of wood, so Delmhorst designed this contractor-grade moisture meter to tell you more than just how much moisture there is where you stick the pins.

An Expensive Alternative To A Few Scrap 2×4s
Impatient with the setup time required by drywall jacks or lifts, John V Santiago invented Free Hands drywall supports as a cheap and easy solution for wrestling sheets of drywall solo.  Free Hands also allow you to adjust and align sheets of drywall before securing them, all by yourself.

Hot or Not? Halogen Shop Heaters
We don’t experience the blood-freezing temperatures here in the South that they do further north, but it does get cold enough that we start looking for heating options in the shop during the winter.  Talk of halogen heaters starts making the rounds as soon as the first frost hits — but are they effective in the shop?  The Toolmonger readership says, “Not really.”

What’s That Funny-Shaped Piece Of Metal?
You’ve got your rectangular scraper, your curved scraper, and your gooseneck scraper.  Back up.  What’s a gooseneck scraper?  Well, you could say it looks a little like a French curve, and it serves a similar purpose.   It’s composed of many different-radius curves, so you can try to match a section of the scraper to a curve on the molding, bowl, or other curved piece you’re finishing.

The Spring Is The Thing
Add a spring to a hand tool and you’ve changed it drastically.  Take for instance, scissors:  You wouldn’t want to cut fabric or thread all day with even the best pair of scissors, because with every snip you have to reopen the scissors — literally a pain.  But a pair of spring-loaded thread nippers open themselves, so you just have to squeeze.

Help us choose next week’s Top 5!

We’d appreciate your help in choosing next week’s Top 5, which’ll be featured here, elsewhere, and in the podcast as well. While you’re reading TM this week, look out for the “Interesting Post” button at the bottom of the article:

When you see an article that piques your interest, click the button once. You’ll return to the same page, but TM’s software’ll score your click for future reference. We’ll check in on the totals before selecting next week’s Top 5.

It’s been a busy week here at Toolmonger. If you’ve been spending time in the shop — you should! — and you haven’t had a chance to keep up with Toolmonger this week, we suggest you start with these posts, which our readers helped to select:

Quick Window Insulation
Winter takes its own sweet time coming to Texas, but even here “winterizing” happens — okay, maybe just a little.  Disappearing faucet covers are a big deal because nobody seems to know what the freezeless faucets are for, and window insulation film is a mythical substance.  But if you’ve got a little time and money, these window insulation kits from 3M can save you a bundle on your heating bills.

The Frog Tool
Even though the Frog Tool comes with a belt pouch, you probably don’t want to carry this multi-tool around with you — it’s more like a tool you throw in the glovebox for emergencies.  It’s not the prettiest thing around, but at $5, at least it’s cheap.

Hands-On: Skil’s 7-1/4″ Sixty-Tooth Carbide Saw Blade
Circular saw blades fall into one of two categories:  Either they will or will not work for what you’re doing.  We needed a cheap blade to cut double-veneered 3/4″ ply and decided to find out which category Skil’s 7-1/4” sixty-tooth carbide blade fell into.  Our results were pretty positive.

The Big Squeeze(-Off Tool)
For routine maintenance or emergencies, you can simply squeeze off polyethylene (PE) pipe, instead of locating a valve upstream.  Timberline designed their TR-650 tool for squeezing off 3″ to 6″ PE pipe without completely excavating around it.  You just open up an 18″ “keyhole” or trench, and slip the 17-1/2″-wide jaws down into the keyhole.

Hands-On: Watco Danish Oil - Cherry Finish
Finishing a wood project often takes longer than building it, so it sucks when some of these difficult-to-apply finishes don’t wear well.  In the Toolmonger shop, Danish oil has become one of our favorite methods — it’s easy to apply and looks great afterward — so we decided to try Watco’s latest formulation, a cherry stain, to see if it holds up to what folks have come to expect from the line.

Help us choose next week’s Top 5!

We’d appreciate your help in choosing next week’s Top 5, which’ll be featured here, elsewhere, and in the podcast as well. While you’re reading TM this week, look out for the “Interesting Post” button at the bottom of the article:

When you see an article that piques your interest, click the button once. You’ll return to the same page, but TM’s software’ll score your click for future reference. We’ll check in on the totals before selecting next week’s Top 5.

It’s been a busy week here at Toolmonger. If you’ve been spending time in the shop — you should! — and you haven’t had a chance to keep up with Toolmonger this week, we suggest you start with these posts, which our readers helped to select:

Cigarette-Lighter Flashlight
Now that smoking isn’t politically correct, most automobiles don’t come with a cigarette lighter — the manufacturers have repurposed that hole as a power port.  Fill the empty port with the Auto LED flashlight from Coast.  You can leave it charging in your vehicle’s power port, always ready, like the lighter it replaced.

Reversible Adjustable Wrench
Bahco gave this ordinary adjustable wrench a secret double life, by adding some teeth to the unused side of its sliding jaw.  With one smooth side and one serrated side, you can use the adjustable wrench as you always have — or reverse the sliding jaw and grip some pipes.

Mechanix Vent Gloves
Every time we see Mechanix vent gloves we think of the eighties, when guys used to wear leather driving gloves with the fingers cut off.  Perhaps it’s the holes in the hand, but they always produce a chuckle.

Folding Pocket Wrench
With the Folding Pocket Wrench you can carry around an entire set of open-end wrenches in your pocket.  The double-ended wrench folds down to 5″ x 2″ x 3/4″ to fit comfortably in its included nylon belt pouch.  Its integrated spacer blades act as shims to adjust the wrench to the fastener size, rather than using a thumb wheel that needs constant adjustment.

Laserkerf II: A Better Miter Saw Guide
We’ve posted about add-on miter saw lasers that only show you one side of the blade.  Usually, if they’re off, they don’t offer any way to adjust the beam and can even cause the blade to wobble.  The blade also has to be spinning to activate the laser, and the blade guard blocks the beam until you start lowering the saw.  By mounting the Laserkerf II to the saw and not the arbor, you can eliminate all these problems.

Help us choose next week’s Top 5!

We’d appreciate your help in choosing next week’s Top 5, which’ll be featured here, elsewhere, and in the podcast as well. While you’re reading TM this week, look out for the “Interesting Post” button at the bottom of the article:

When you see an article that piques your interest, click the button once. You’ll return to the same page, but TM’s software’ll score your click for future reference. We’ll check in on the totals before selecting next week’s Top 5.

It’s been a busy week here at Toolmonger. If you’ve been spending time in the shop — you should! — and you haven’t had a chance to keep up with Toolmonger this week, we suggest you start with these posts, which our readers helped to select:

Joe Pardue Custom Knives
A few weeks ago we were chatting about how some of the most breathtaking knives aren’t made by large companies or factories, but by a skilled craftsman, one at a time — Joe Pardue is one such knife-maker.  His work integrates function and art in a stunning package.

A Die Grinder For Hard-To-Reach Areas
Get into tight corners where your old die grinder can’t reach with AirCat’s inside-corner die grinder.  With its 4″ wheel you can access angles as shallow as 30°.  The tool’s 17″ length also allows you to reach into confined spaces.

Carbon Pile Load Tester
Measuring 14 volts at your vehicle’s battery terminals doesn’t tell you squat about how your battery will perform when you actually try to start your vehicle — that’s where a variable load tester like Electronic Specialties’ #710 comes in handy.  With this tester you can test batteries rated as high as 1,000 cold-cranking amps or 160 amp hours.

Fishing With A Dart Gun
At first glance, Greenlee’s CableCaster looks like someone slapped a fishing reel on a toy dart gun — that may be exactly what they did, but the $100 list price is no joke.  The CableCaster allows you to pull cable through hard-to-reach spaces, like above a suspended ceiling or through a crawlspace.

Preview: Case XX Select 10th Anniversary Knives
Case is celebrating the tenth anniversary of their XX Select brand by releasing a few limited-edition blades, with handles made of some of the most popular materials.  Each knife features a surgical steel blade with a series-signature tang stamp and a special “XX” shield on the handle.

Help us choose next week’s Top 5!

We’d appreciate your help in choosing next week’s Top 5, which’ll be featured here, elsewhere, and in the podcast as well. While you’re reading TM this week, look out for the “Interesting Post” button at the bottom of the article:

When you see an article that piques your interest, click the button once. You’ll return to the same page, but TM’s software’ll score your click for future reference. We’ll check in on the totals before selecting next week’s Top 5.