Starrett combines two tools that you’d think were incompatible: a hammer and a magnifying glass. They say they integrate a magnifying lens into their No. 815 toolmakers’ hammer so you don’t have to look away from your work to find either tool.

Starrett hardens both the flat and ball-peen heads, and they chromium-plate the entire hammer for protection and an attractive finish.  A rubber mounting protects the lens from the impact of hammering.  The steel hammer weighs 133 grams, and Starrett will personalize it with a message, if you’re giving it as a gift.

Street pricing starts around $50.

Toolmakers’ Hammer [Starrett]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

This weekend I watched part of DIY’s Project Treehouse, which covered the construction of a treehouse from start to finish. During the show, they used a piece of hardware that caught my interest: the Garnier Limb (GL). Michael Garnier operates a treehouse bed and breakfast in Oregon, and he designed the Garnier Limb — a piece of hardware that can be threaded into a tree — to be a mounting point in the construction of tree structures.

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I’ll admit that most of what I know about chimney sweeping I learned from Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. Dick wielded a series of flexible rods and brushes, the basic tools of the chimneysweep’s trade. Though these basic tools are still in use today, they can’t always handle modern fireplaces, with their smaller chimneys and sharper bends. Tools like the Viper GFX exist to deal with these modern chimneys.

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Time is money in every trade. If the trade requires setting up scaffolding, you waste time and money every time you have to get down, move the scaffold six feet, and then remount. The Crawler can potentially save hundreds of hours every year by allowing you to move the scaffolding without getting down.

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It doesn’t get much simpler than magnets on a string, but that’s essentially what HandyMagnets are — a series of nine plastic-encapsulated rare-earth magnets. They’ll keep a map stuck to the hood of your car while you figure out where you are, or they’ll attach your tools to any ferrous object in your shop. This Australian product doesn’t seem to have made it to U.S. shores yet, but I look forward to when it does.

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Are you tired of lifting and pouring five-gallon pails all day? Morse’s Model 83 Pail Handler might be the answer to your aching back. This 125-pound machine can lift a five-gallon pail that weighs up to 150 lbs. We’re not exactly sure what material weighs 30 lbs per gallon, but maybe you need to move a pail of iron filings.

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Kneeling will really take a toll on you, especially if you have to do it all day. Normal knee pads, though they can do a lot to ease the discomfort, don’t help you get around on the ground. But Knee Blades protect your knees and keep you moving.

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Driving around the countryside, you see a lot of fencing hung on T-posts — they’re economical posts for wire fences. Well, don’t you wish there was an easy way to get over ‘em? Lobo Products grants that wish, with the T-Post Stepper.

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These days it seems everyone has a nail gun, no matter how few nails they need to drive — even someone who’s never hefted a hammer can pick up a nailer/compressor package for the simplest of projects. But when it comes to getting nails out of lumber, we all seem to resort to the same simple tools: wrecking bars, cat’s paws, FUBARs, and brute force. Now the Nail Kicker gives you a way to reclaim lumber, without relying on just hand tools.

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The Diametape by Pyramid has probably become the perfect go-to tool for anyone who measures o-rings and rubber belts to any level of precision.  For the average Toolmonger it just looks like an incredibly simple and useful tool — the kind that makes you want to measure o-rings and rubber belts.

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This does seem a little strange, but the multi-angle drill attachment adjusts (and locks) at any angle between 180 and 90 degrees so you can drill in all sorts of odd locations.  At least that’s the idea — it looks cumbersome and unwieldy to us, though.

The site says you just hook this thing to your drill like any other attachment, and off you go drilling holes at funny angles. However, even in the picture here, you clearly could’ve drilled that hole at that angle without the use of the funky contraption. Still, if you must have one, it runs about $38 from Garrett Wade. As luck would have it, they’re in stock and on sale.

Multi-Angle Drill Attachment [Garrett Wade]

If you’ve ever tried to cut heavy-pile carpet with a utility knife, you know the results aren’t so pretty. Robert’s pro-quality loop pile cutter will cut any kind of carpet without damaging that luscious shag.

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The other night while half-watching a Modern Marvels episode about the Pacific Coast Highway, I happened to look up and see a worker spraying molten zinc onto the underside of a concrete bridge. Two of my favorite things, liquid metal and high voltage, combined in a way I’d never considered before! It’s moments like this that let you know you’re a tool geek.

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Microlux, maker of miniature tools, has come out with a filing machine. It won’t help with your taxes, but it’ll take the tedium out of filing metal, resin, plastic, or wood.

Though filing machines are usually heavy dudes, Microlux has made one for the serious hobbyist. The tool works like an inverted jigsaw, but with a file instead of a blade. The machine cuts only on the pull stroke and only on stock up to 3/8″ thick.   Just clamp it to the edge of your bench and begin filing.

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Now you can drain toilets or fill a fountain with your drill — and Jabsco’s drill-powered pump. You simply attach the built-in 1/4″ diameter shaft to your portable drill, and pull the trigger. The self-priming pump does the rest. Jabsco’s pump can move 3-1/2 gallons per minute, and it even comes with 3/4″ garden hose adapters.

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Although at first look this tool might seem like a Rube Goldberg design, on closer inspection you appreciate the ingenuity of its designer.  I can’t attest to how well it actually works, but it definitely looks cool.

Strike the top of this 8″ tool like you would a chisel to get the narrow 5/32″ jaws underneath the nail head. When you attach your hammer to either the top or side of the puller and lever against the fulcrum, the spring loaded jaws close to grip the nail.

Add this nail puller to your collection of eccentric tools for $15.

Forged Nail Puller [Lee Valley]

If you think a chain mortiser looks like a cross between a chainsaw and a drill press, you’ve just about pegged it. These tools speed up post and beam construction, and they look bad-ass.

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