Sean and I will be at Maker Faire in Austin this weekend (October 20th and 21st), and we hope to see you there. There are lots of reasons to go — check out Make’s site for information on all the great Makers who’ll be there showing off their projects and ideas — but here are a few special reasons for Toolmongers to attend:

1. We’ll be testing tools!

Swing by the Toolmonger area to help us test the ergonomics and fit of mechanic’s tools. We’ve got a big special scheduled for early November, and we need your help to find the best tools for the price.

2. Stanley’s joining us, and the two of us will be giving away tools all weekend.

Stanley’s co-sponsoring the event with us, and they’ve brought out a truck full of tools to give away — all sorts of fun stuff. It’ll be a great time.

3. You can meet Jimmy Addison.

You’re not really a tool guy (or gal) until you’ve met Jimmy. He works for Stanley’s Discovery Team and is easily one of the most knowledgable guys we’ve met in the business. Got a question about Stanley? He can probably answer it. And he’s a hoot to hang out with, too.

4. We’re gonna break s#!%!

That’s right. Next week is Break S#!% week, and we’re gonna kick it off right at Maker Faire. With Stanley’s help, we’re gonna demolish a small building — with hand tools. Register your guess on how long it’ll take us to flatten it, and you might win some larger tools. (You can score smaller ones regardless. Really!)

And if you need any more reasons to show up, check out our coverage of Maker Faire’s last stop in San Francisco. Think of Maker Faire as a big party for people just like you.

We’ll see you there. Of course, if you’re stuck in Alaska, your next best bet is to check back here for our live blogging of the event all weekend.

Maker Faire Austin [Make]

Do you love working on your car? Are you the type of person who can’t leave stock alone? If so, you’ll probably want to know that our sister blog, FullOnCustom, is currently seeking bloggers who have a passion for cars and all things custom.

If you’ve got what it takes to join the PostLab Media blogging team, drop us a line at jobs (at) postlabmedia.com with the subject line “PostLab Writer Search.” In the body, give us your name, your three favorite car mods, and two original, unpublished posts of around 50 to 200 words in the FullOnCustom style.

A few notes: We delete all emails with attachments, so include all your text in the email body itself. And if you’re not the world’s best writer, don’t worry. If you’re great at finding interesting car products and stories, we might be able to help. Our biggest requirements are that you’re interested and that you’re committed.

Good luck! And if you haven’t had a chance to check out FullOnCustom yet, there’s no time like the present.

FullOnCustom.com [PostLab Media]

We took this weekend off from posting to install some software-based upgrades to all PostLab Media sites — including Toolmonger, of course! — to support recent increases in traffic. We’re sorry for the delay, but the upshot is that your Toolmonger fix will now come on schedule for some time to come.

Thanks for your patience. We now return to your regularly-scheduled tools.

This morning our parent company PostLab Media launched a new blog — FullOnCustom.com — dedicated to automobile modification of all types.  From their first post:

Welcome to the first full day of FullOnCustom, an original blog covering all aspects of automobile customization. Over the following days, weeks, and years, we aim to entertain and inform you by point out products, trends, and news of interest — whether you’re looking to juice up what’s under your hood, add some sound, tweak that body to your liking, or anything else to make your ride yours and yours alone.

But what’s really exciting is that they’re following Toolmonger’s lead in offering a comment-based giveaway.  In their case, it’s a Pioneer AVIC-D3 double-DIN in-dash DVD/nav system.  Just like our past giveaways, in December they’re going to select a random valid comment from all the comments on FullOnCustom and send ‘em the gear. 

We thought we’d tip you off since as there’s not a lot of traffic over at FullOnCustom yet, you’d have an excellent chance of winning. 

And don’t worry: nothing’s changing here at Toolmonger.  We’ll continue to bring you more new tools and all things TM every day!

FullOnCustom.com [New Blog!]
Pioneer AVIC-D3 Giveaway Details [FullOnCustom]

When I visited my local Rockler shop this weekend, I noticed Festool products randomly littered through the store.  Then I saw a very large half-assembled Festool display case.  So I asked the sales guy about it, and he confirmed that on September 11th, Rockler will start selling Festool Power Tools in their retail stores.

(more…)

If you had trouble submitting your writing samples in the last few days, it’s probably our fault.  As Toolmonger grows, we moved to a new email system and introduced a problem with the email account below.  We’ve resolved the issue, so we thought we’d drop another copy of the post in case any of you missed out.

(Note: If you’ve already submitted and it didn’t bounce, we’ve received it and there’s no need to re-submit.  We’ll begin to notify those selected starting next week.)

We’re on the prowl for bloggers who have a passion for tools and all things Toolmonger.  If you’ve got what it takes to join the Toolmonger team, drop us a line at jobs (at) toolmonger.com with the subject line “Toolmonger Writer Search.”  In the body give us your name, your three favorite tools, and two original, unpublished posts of around 50 to 200 words in the Toolmonger style.

A few notes: We’ll delete all emails with attachments, so include all your text in the email body itself.  Not the world’s best writer?  If you’re the world’s best tool finder, we might be able to help.  Our biggest requirements are that you’re interested and that you’re committed.

Good luck!

We’re stuck in the office today and tomorrow, which means no shop time for us.  We’re always down in the dumps when we don’t get our shop fix, so how ’bout sharing a bit of yours by posting some new pics to the photo pool?

We’d love to see an unboxing of your latest tool, some pics of your latest project, or even an artsy shot of the scrap metal piled out back.  Yep, we’re geeks that way.

Signing up for Flickr is free, as is joining the Toolmonger group.  We’ll be watching!

Toolmonger’s Photo Pool [Flickr]

PS: Ooh!  Someone send in another pic of your car stuffed full of lumber.  I swear I’ll post it.

Yesterday Jalopnik reported that Bob Nardelli — famous to Toolmongers as the guy who got rid of all the good help at your local Home Depot, replacing them with home-office-controlled automotons — was named the new CEO of Chrysler.

Is this a good thing?  Your guess is as good as mine.  Maybe I’m just bitter because during Nardelli’s reign I had a hell of a time finding anyone at the ‘Depot who knew more than the average Joe about hardware.

[via]

We’re on the prowl for bloggers who have a passion for tools and all things Toolmonger.  If you’ve got what it takes to join the Toolmonger team, drop us a line at jobs (at) toolmonger.com with the subject line “Toolmonger Writer Search.”  In the body give us your name, your three favorite tools, and two original, unpublished posts of around 50 to 200 words in the Toolmonger style.

A few notes: We’ll delete all emails with attachments, so include all your text in the email body itself.  Not the world’s best writer?  If you’re the world’s best tool finder, we might be able to help.  Our biggest requirements are that you’re interested and that you’re committed.

Good luck!

Just a quick bit of Toolmonger news: over the weekend we installed some back-office upgrades to help Toolmonger handle the additional traffic we’ve received over the last few months.  So, if you’ve experienced slow loading or other such issues with Toolmonger recently, you should see an improvement.  Now back to the important stuff: tools!

This is just a reminder to everyone that we tablulate the weekly Top 5 votes tomorrow, so if you haven’t yet made your feelings known, now’s the time.

And if you haven’t voted in a while, you should start!  This is how we select the material for the Tool Talk podcast as well as posts we send out to a number of other blogs.  Let your opinions be heard!

For latecomers (or those who’ve forgotten):

Help us choose this 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 each 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.

Even More Information for The Curious [Toolmonger]

PS: If you don’t already subscribe, be sure to check out our free Tool Talk podcast where you can hear Sean and me run down the top five in person.  We also bring in guests from time to time and answer any questions you call in.

Some MIT students converted a formerly-old-and-uninteresting Porsche 914 into a full electric, garnering them some press from everything-blog BoingBoing and eco-friendly Treehugger – and the envy of Prius owners everywhere.  It turns out that the simple Volkswagen-like transaxle makes for a conversion so easy that numerous kits are available.

The most interesting note in this symphony of green is the fact that they used “lithium phosphate rechargable batteries.”  From what we hear, this is the technology that — once it gets cheap enough for Joe Everyman to afford — will let the big three deliver practical plug-in hybrids.

In the meantime, they claim the electrified German will top out at around 100 mph and travel 100 miles on a charge.  We’ll see.

(Thanks for the tip, nrChris!)

MIT Students Convert Porsche 914 To Electric [Treehugger]

This is just a reminder to everyone that we tablulate the weekly Top 5 votes tomorrow, so if you haven’t yet made your feelings known, now’s the time.  For latecomers (or those who’ve forgotten):

Help us choose this 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 each 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.

Even More Information for The Curious [Toolmonger]

PS: If you don’t already subscribe, be sure to check out our free Tool Talk podcast where you can hear Sean and me run down the top five in person.  We also bring in guests from time to time and answer any questions you call in.

Monday morning we challenged our friends at This Old House magazines “The Hardware Aisle” blog to a challenge: we’d each post all the “patriotic gear” we could find over the next few days, then let you vote on your favorite item today, July 4th.

The winner receives… well, not much: a piece of autographed memorabilia and the pride of winning.  But no matter who wins, we had a great time posting some tools that we wouldn’t normally focus on, and the whole project really got us in the holiday mood.

So if you can, take a minute and vote for your favorite (click on the name to see the full post):

For those of you who’ve emailed to let us know you’re more interested in tools than flag-covered tools, don’t worry: while you’ll see a lot of July 4th-related gear today and tomorrow, you’ll note that we’re posting these items in addition to our normal load of normal, practical tools.

Don’t worry — we won’t forget about the good stuff!  And thanks for letting us know you’re reading.

Update: Thanks as well for the emails supporting our mini July 4th blitz.  We’re proud of our colors, too!

This is just a reminder to everyone that we tablulate the weekly Top 5 votes tomorrow, so if you haven’t yet made your feelings known, now’s the time.  For latecomers (or those who’ve forgotten):

Help us choose this 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 each 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.

Even More Information for The Curious [Toolmonger]

PS: If you don’t already subscribe, be sure to check out our free Tool Talk podcast where you can hear Sean and me run down the top five in person.  We also bring in guests from time to time and answer any questions you call in.

This is just a reminder to everyone that we tablulate the weekly Top 5 votes tomorrow, so if you haven’t yet made your feelings known, now’s the time.  For latecomers (or those who’ve forgotten):

Help us choose this 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 each 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.

Even More Information for The Curious [Toolmonger]

PS: If you don’t already subscribe, be sure to check out our free Tool Talk podcast where you can hear Sean and me run down the top five in person.  We also bring in guests from time to time and answer any questions you call in.