There’s more than one way to increase horsepower on an internal-combustion engine.  While the previous guy chose forced induction, this guy decided adding nitrous was the answer.

As over-the-top as the whole setup looks, the only time you can really tell anything different is happening is when he blows the vents.  Hmmm…  Why not do this to a rider and measure speed instead?

Guy with too much time on his hands + lawn mower + T04 turbocharger = one unstable lawn-mowing machine.

Phillip writes: “Only the biggest Toolmongers have a set of these.”  And he’s correct.  Seriously — the three piece (single place setting) set above is made of 18/10 “drop forged” stainless steel and comes in a blow-molded “heavy duty” ABS plastic box.

Hey — you could put it right next to your Craftsman bottle cap wrench.

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This isn’t exactly a new idea — converting a power tool to drive a little toy car — but what makes this clip so funny is the dialogue at around the 45 second point. 

Somethin’ makes me think this kid’s ass is gettin’ whooped.

This photo’s been making the rounds today.  Since we’ve been covering a number of different multitools recently, we thought you’d enjoy it.

Update: Whoops.  Saw this on Digg this morning, then noticed that SuperJdynamite (a relatively regular commenter here on TM) submitted it as well.  Thanks SJD!

This video should really be titled, “Lock up your tools so your teenage kids can get at them when you’re gone, ever.”

Laugh if you will, but you know damn well that this kind of thing has happened to you before.  Maybe you didn’t hit yourself in the face with the drill, but how many of you haven’t whacked your hand on something because a drill bit grabbed tight?  And don’t even get me started about pneumatic wrenches…

I suppose this was coming.  On the game side of things, the classic Monopoly game’s been bent to cover every sort of -opoly imaginable from sports teams to food.  And John Deere’s brand is quickly following Harley Davidson in terms of becoming more valuable than the product itself — to the corporation, anyway.

So here it is: John Deere Monopoly.  I kid you not.

And no, I didn’t even find this in TSC or such.  I found it in JC Penney’s when I was shopping for day-after-Christmas deals on lights and ornaments.

Street Pricing [Froogle]

According to this column by Twin-Falls Idaho Times-News columnist Steve Crump, the vast majority of tools are simply toys.  He cites a “back-to-basics, simplify-your-life nonprofit organization” (his words) that polled “home improvement experts” about the tools actually needed to maintain a typical 2,000 sq. ft. home on a quarter-acre lot.

“Technically, anything more in your significant other’s toolbox [he's talking to women, apparently, whom he feels don't need tools at all] has to be classified as purely recreational,” he writes.  Read on past the jump to see the tools he and his “nonprofit organizations’ home improvement experts” feel you need.

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A beautiful blanket of fluffy white snow over your neighborhood is just one of the perks of living up North.  Thankfully we miss out on that down here in Texas, because otherwise we might need a two-stage snow thrower like the one pictured above.  They’ll rid your walkway of the white stuff, but you still get blow back from the thrower all over you — and that’s almost worse than the cold itself.  This snow thrower cab seems like the ticket to not freezing your extremities off.

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While catching the tail end of Rides the other day the annoying TV announcer voice came on – you know, the one with the blue screen at the end saying things like “for a limited time only” and “but wait, there’s more!”  He was singing the praises of yet another “once in a life time opportunity, the Flitz system.”

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For some reason, we can’t stop looking at awesometools.com.  Don’t assume this is a good thing; Whenever we visit the site, we feel kinda like we’re rubbernecking at a traffic accident.  Their latest offering is the ThumbSaver — a device that holds a nail for you so you can’t accidentally whack your thumb.

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This one set off our BS alarm, so we thought we’d post it and see if any of you have any experience with these.  They’re essentially pieces of bent wire that you stick through the wall for use as picture hangers.

We can’t help but strongly doubt infomercial host Billy Mays’ claim that these pieces of bent wire’ll hold up to 150 lbs.

C’mon — throw us a bone and save us the trouble of spending $15 to order a set just to satisfy our curiosity.  Have you — or someone you know — tried ‘em? 

Hercules Hook [Informercial]

We saw this when we were at Lowe’s picking up some materials:

We just received the latest circular from Harbor Freight, and (as usual) it’s a hoot.

We generally look for three things in these mailers: the loss leader (the item that’s way underpriced — even in Harbor Freight terms — that’ll be gone in the first 10 seconds after the mailer hits), the interesting deals (tools you might buy just to use-and-abuse or tools so cheap you could take them apart for parts), and the what-the-hell-is-this-doing-in-a-tool-flyer tools. 

Read on for some great entertainment courtesy of HF.

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The Handle Saver claims to be your answer to your mis-swing blues. The concept here is to compensate for all the times that you over-shoot your mark when swinging a hammer, breaking the hammer or delivering shock force to your arm. 

The Handle Saver is basically a large rubber collar that slides right under the head onto most standard hand tool handles. Theoretically, the rubber will absorb the impact shock and possibly a broken handle.  We haven’t yet seen one of these in person, but it looks to us more like the rubber will use the force of the swing and pop the tool back at the user and/or in an unknown direction possibly causing other damage.

Our first thought was perhaps a few practice sessions might help your swing more than a bit of rubber.  Of course, if you’re looking for this kind of thing, it can be had for around $5 plus shipping through the Awesome Tools website.  And hey, if you have one of these and think we’re out in left field on this one, let us know.

The Handle Saver [AwesomeTools]

We received the latest Harbor Freight catalog in the mail today, and we were surprised to find a couple of items therein that we didn’t imagine would show up even at the good ‘ole HF:

From page 11, the Smiling Frog Solar Light

This solar powered light will make a charming addition to your water or plant garden.  Warm amber colored light eminates from the belly of the frog.  $9.99

From page 14, the Ranch-Style Mini Windmill

Add a touch of notalgia to your yard with this 55″ ranch style windmill.  Easy to assemble.  The spinning wheel creates a focal point and tells you which way the wind is blowing.  $15.99

So, if you’re one of those sad, sad, focal-point-less-yard-having people or your water garden is dark in that way that can only be remedied by a glowing frog belly, you won’t want to miss this opportunity to pick up these items while they’re on half-price sale.  Seriously, who could resist a windmill that looks like it was built from plans drawn by Spinal Tap?  And that frog would be perfect to replace the one your aunt sent you that “ribbits” every time you walk by.  What ever happened to that thing anyway?

Of course, if you’ve got $2.99 left over, there’s always the electronic fly swatter on page 1.