Many of you have requested an easy way to subscribe to Toolmonger’s two podcasts so you receive them directly from iTunes without having to keep track of ‘em here, and we finally found a little time this weekend to hook you up, so to speak.

You’ll notice this graphic in the right sidebar underneath the listing of each podcast:

If you click it — and you have iTunes installed — iTunes will open and you’ll find yourself (after a few moments) sitting on the podcast’s page.  You can then click the “subscribe” button in iTunes and you’re all set.  If you want to subscribe to both Tool Talk and One Beer Projects, you’ll need to follow this procedure for each.

Thanks for all the interest in the ‘casts.  Tool Talk releases weekly on Monday, and though One Beer Projects isn’t technically on a schedule, we’ve been pretty steadily releasing them two-a-week on Wednesdays and Fridays.  Enjoy!

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]

We’d like to welcome Stephen Cooke to the Toolmonger family.  He’s signed on to serve as our resident Dealmonger, ferreting out and posting all the best tool deals on a regular basis. 

Welcome, Stephen!

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]

We just wanted to take a moment to thank our sponsors who make it possible for us to continue bringing you tool content.  Specifically, their recent financial contributions have made it possible for us to bring you additional tool testing — like the tests you’re seeing as part of “Hands-On Week.”

This week’s sponsor: Equipment Insurance International.

If you get a chance, keep an eye on the right sidebar for our sponsors, and check ‘em out if their line of business meets any of your needs.

Happy Monday, and welcome to Hands-On week.  Today we’re looking at a really slick drill from Black & Decker.  Look for it in the next hour or so.

We’d also like to see your favorite tools.  If you’ve got a moment today, drop us a line via our contact form with a link to a photo of you with your favorite tool.  Tell us a little bit about it and why you like it so much.  We’ll share your photo and story with Toolmonger readers.

Sizod writes: “Here’s proof that Toolmongering started with chimps’ ancestors.”  From Archaeology News/SFGate.com:

“Archaeologists working in the rain forest of West Africa’s Ivory Coast say they have found a site where prehistoric families of cimpanzees fashioned crude stone hammers to crack open nuts for their food.”

This reminds me of something I learned from Sean: never hit something (or someone) with any part of your body when there’s something else available for the task.  Apparently neither he – nor his martial-arts instructor — was the first to come to that conclusion.

The rest of the article’s an interesting read as well.

Excavators Say They’ve Found Tools Made by Chimps [Archaeology News]

A number of you wrote in to asking when Toolmonger’s two podcasts would be available via iTunes, and I’m happy to let you know that they’re both listed now:

Note: If you have iTunes installed, the links below should take you directly to the podcasts.  You can also find them yourself in iTunes by searching on the podcast names, or by “toolmonger.com” to see ‘em all.

Tool Talk: Our weekly podcast (releasing on Mondays) where we run down the top five posts from the last week and answer your phoned-in questions.  We also generally bring a guest on each week.

One Beer Projects: Here we walk you through simple projects that you can accomplish in about the time it takes to drink a beer — you know, all that stuff you should be doing.  This week we explained how to install a ceiling fan and how to patch up those cheap-ass fences new home builders stick you with.

Coming Next Week

On Tool Talk we’re visited by Ray Robinson, an experienced blacksmith who shares some of his stories about getting starting in blacksmithing and learning the art.  Ray’s a great guy who really exemplifies the kind of cameraderie to be found in the tool community.  Watch for this ‘cast Monday morning.

We’ve also got a fun One Beer Project for you: not geting f%#*@# at the car repair shop.  Even if you’re a seasoned pro, you’ll want to check this out as we’ll walk you though some high-tech methods you may not have thought of.  Watch for this one on Wednesday.

As of this morning we’ve selected a winner in the RIDGID MaxSelect Giveaway and we’ve notifed the individual by email.  We’ll give ‘em a week to respond, then if we haven’t heard back we’ll select another.  As soon as we hear back, we’ll let you know who won.

We hope you enjoyed the giveaway as much as we did, and I’m sure we’ll do something similar in the future.

A few happenings here at TM we want to share: 

Hands On Week 

For those of you who love tool tests — and who doesn’t? — you’re going to love next week.  We’re designating next week “Hands-On Week” with a new hands-on post each day for seven days starting on Monday.

(Now you know why we’ve been spending so much time out in the shop testing tools.)

Some of the tools scheduled: an angle grinder that doesn’t slow down much under load, a kick-ass tap and die set, an affordable air compressor complete with air tools, and a drill off the pages of GQ.

Show Us Your Shop

We’re seeking more pictures of reader shops.  You’ve seen our shop — now show us yours!  Send us a link to your photos via the contact us page.

New Podcasts

If you haven’t noticed yet, Toolmonger’s podcasts are back in a big way with new episodes of Tool Talk and One Beer Projects out this week and every week.  This week our friend Joe Brown from Wired magazine joined us in Tool Talk to cover the “top five” (as selected by you) and we cover ceiling fan installation in 1BP.

We’re seeking someone to assist us in finding the best tool deals on the web.  So, if you’re a master at rooting out the best pricing opportunites around — and you don’t mind working for lousy pay (and, of course, the respect of your fellow Toolmongers), drop us a line via the contact form for more details.  Be sure to include your contact information.

The town of Montverde, Florida is selling one of their “big” firetrucks.  Apparently the town of just 1,200 residents and 617 homes bought a little more firetruck than they need.  From WFTV.com:

The two fire engines were bought about a year apart.  In 2004, a $250,000 grant paid for one, but the town council agreed to buy the other one after a former Montverde firefighter argued that lives could be lost without it.  [...] But now the town is stuck with a $14,000 annual payment after putting $30,000 down.  Chief Sette wants the town to buy a smaller, more mobile, far less expensive truck.”

If you’ve ever dreamed of owning a firetruck — who here hasn’t? — and happen to have $14k/mo. of disposable income, Chief Sette has a deal for you.  “It’s an ‘04.  It’s basically brand new,” he told WFTV.

Town May Sell Barely-Used Big, Red Fire Truck [WFTV.com]

This article gives us all yet another reason not to alienate your neighbors.  Apparently an 85-year-old man named Paul Smith enjoys woodworking — in the form of making dominoes — in his Naples, FL home shop.  From NaplesNews.com:

The Homeowners Association had said that Smith was running a business, which is against association rules, because he sold the dominoes for $40 after purchasing his materials and investing 19 hours of labor into creating them.  Smith maintained he made the dominoes at cost and therefore had a hobby, which is allowed under association rules.

While the article is actually a follow up indicating that the association will likely rule in favor of Smith’s hobby, one has to wonder how something like this came up in the first place.  Granted, it could be a simple case of nosy, retired neighbors turning him in after bridge one night, but it’s been my experience that this kind of thing is generally a symptom more often than the real problem.

And it’s something we should all take a few minutes to learn from.

When I was a kid, my father had a full machine shop and wood shop in our two-car garage.  I remember it as being packed tight, and that’s the memory of an eight-year-old; it must have been incredibly tight.  He did quite a bit of commercial work from there, ranging from repairing 25 metal lathes (in exchange for keeping two, one of which he sold to pay for repairs to the other, landing him a free lathe) to fixing lawn mowers for extra cash.  But our neighbors never seemed to complain.  Why?  It’s simple: they all knew that if they needed help it was there. 

(more…)

Before you laugh, check out the rest of the story.  From the Daytona Beach News-Journal:

“Sarah inherited AAA Welding & Railing in DeLand after her father, Dan McAllister, died almost two years ago.  Her mother, Billie McAllister stepped in to run the business for her until she is 18.

[...]

On the Friday before Father’s Day in 2005, Billie McAllister took Sarah shopping for a gift for Dan McAlliser.  He died that night of a massive heart attack at age 39.  After Dan McAllister’s death, Billie McAllister discovered the business was failing.  The lawyers and accountants advised she walk away from it ‘while the walking was good,’ she said.  But Sarah begged her mother to hang on, saying it was all they had ever known.  Sarah had grown up in the welding shop.”

According to the article, Sarah convinced the shop’s 40 employees to stick it out with her and the business has now “grown to 83 employees.”

This is a really heartwarming story — especially to anyone who’s spent years putting together a business from scratch.

Atlantic Cheerleader, 14, Owns Welding Firm [News-JournalOnline.com]

We’re happy to announce that we’ll be sponsoring and attending Make’s awesome Maker Faire 2007 at the San Mateo Fairgrounds in California on May 19th and 20th.  We’re working out the details, but it looks like this is going to coincide perfectly with our upcoming “cordless drill shootout.”  Our plan is to bring all the drills out to the event so you can help us evaluate ‘em in person.

It’ll also be a great opportunity for us to meet any of you close enough to the Bay Area to make the trip out.  Hell, we’ll excited just to meet all the cool Makers that’ll be there.  We drooled over last year’s event since we couldn’t make it out.

Obviously we’ll bring you a lot of coverage of the even as well with cool tools, projects, and the people who make them.

All the recent discussion about flooring and fixtures has us wondering what some of your shops look like.  We hear about your successes — and some of your projects — in comments, but we’d like to see ‘em, too.

If you get a chance, drop us a photo of your shop or work area.  You can email photos to me directly at ccage [at] toolmonger.com.  (You know the anti-spam drill — replace the [at] and spaces with the appropriate symbol.)  We’ll publish some of the pictures here for everyone to check out, and hopefully we’ll all come up with some new ideas for how to improve the place we enjoy spending our time.

PS: Don’t spend a lot of time resizing images, but our perfect photo is 450 pixels wide.  Larger is better than smaller, but don’t bother with extreme high-res as we’re not doing any print work.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Last week we added a new feature to Toolmonger — the “Interesting Post” link:

There’s been a little confusion about how this link works.  Here’s the skinny.

Whenver you read a post on Toolmonger that catches your interest, just click the link.  It’s not a “voting system” per se — where you’d vote for a single post out of a specific group, but rather a way for you to indicate any article which catches your interest.

We use your clicks in a couple of ways.  First, we take them into account when selecting the “top 5″ posts for feature in the week-ending “Week in Tools post” — which is distributed to some other websites and will be featured in our new podcast.  We’ll also use your clicks to get an idea of what kind of posts you enjoy most so we can increase our coverage in that area.

So, to review: Whenever you see a post that’s interesting, just click on the “Interesting Post” button.  And if you’re reading this via RSS, we’d sure appreciate it if you’d take the time to click through and click the button if you come across something interesting as well.

We appreciate your feedback!