(TV Tonight, Saturday, November 7th, 2009) Tonight we get a Dirty Jobs marathon of mostly recent episodes, should you have missed them.

All times are central

• Top Gear: Season 10 Ep. 1 (BBC America, 5:00 pm)
• Dirty Jobs: Billboard Installer (Discovery, 5:00 pm)
• Dirty Jobs: Egg Farm (Discovery, 6:00 pm)
• Dirty Jobs: Mattress Recycler (Discovery, 7:00 pm)
• Dirty Jobs: High-Rise Window Washer (Discovery, 8:00 pm)
• Under Construction: Too Many Projects, Too Little Time (DIY, 9:00 pm)
• Dirty Jobs: Toilet Crusher (Discovery, 9:00 pm)
• Under Construction: The Mystery of Phantom Leak (DIY, 9:30 pm)

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: Portable Solar Power
Maverick of Maverick Solar put the IkePak together to help his son after Hurricane Ike. He did not spend time doing extensive calculations, but just used what was readily available — he runs a solar energy company, so he probably has a few relevant things available — or easily obtained at the local WalMart.

Our Favorite Flashlights, No. 4: The 4D Maglite
Everyone needs a flashlight. Seriously. If it’s dark, you need light to see. And we see tons of flashlights here in the Toolmonger offices, lights in almost every flavor ranging from candy coated (gimmicky) to chicken (simple and useful for everything). Over the last year or so we’ve discovered a few favorites and thought we’d share. Here’s our fourth favorite: the four-cell Maglite.

Stanley Acquiring Black & Decker
Those of you who happened to catch the Washington Business Journal a few days ago probably did the same spit-take we did: “Power tool maker Black & Decker Corp. will be acquired by hand tool maker Stanley Works in an all-stock merger valued at $4.5 billion.”

Bosch GPL5 5-Point Self-Leveling Alignment Laser
Following the more-is-better philosophy, the Bosch GPL5 uses five beams to project plumb, level, and square points. It also self-levels (up to 5°). Available for around $200, the 1 lb. unit is 4.125″ × 3.125″ × 1.625″, and can be secured using its 1/4-40 or 5/8-11 threaded mounts, or via straps or magnets with its multipurpose attachment.

Projects: Rebirth Of A Dresser
This old dresser has been handed down through two generations of my family before I had it. It’s close to 50 years old and has been reworked more than once. It has no particular value save its clothes-holding properties. It has been in my bedroom for close to 30 years and it’s time for a change – preferably to something a little less Sgt. Pepper.

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.

The dresser rebuild is finally done. The finish work always feels like it takes forever but the outcome is normally worth the trouble. In this case almost anything would have looked better than what I started with.

I opted for Red Mahogany Danish oil for the stain and achieved the color I was looking for with one good coat and a light touch-up coat. A few days after the first coat went on it was time to start with the poly. I applied three coats of clear gloss poly to soften the color up a little and pop the grain. It produced a nice, soft shine and a good protective coat the piece never had in its painted days.

When it came time for the hardware I just couldn’t bring myself to put a bunch of handles on it again, so I went for the minimalist approach. The top drawer got two handles because in my experience top drawers collect junk, which makes them heavier, and a heavier drawer means more handles.

The whole project came out looking great and is set to go another few decades. The total bill for the project came out at about $55. I had a few pieces in the shop already and that helped some; however a renovation like this straight up would have only been about $30 more so it’s not too steep. On to the next project.

Cooper Lighting’s Might-D-Light (a.k.a. model LED130) is an 80-LED rechargeable worklight. It comes with both AC and DC chargers, folds for easy storage, and, for hands-free use, has built-in neodymium magnets and a nylon swivel hook. Fully charged, its NiMH batteries should last two hours. As you can see in the top picture above, it also has reflective strips on the back. You can pick one up for around $39.

Might-D-Light [Manufacturer's Site]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Midway has a whopping 2% off of list price on the Dem Bart starter checkering kits, $44.99. That’s the best discount we’ve found! I’m listing it anyway as a caveat: these checkering tools are reasonably priced at retail. I made the mistake of thinking I was getting a good buy at the flea market last week, buying a single tool for $10.00. Turns out I paid close to retail! I couldn’t believe that a specialty tool was so cheap.

In any case the starter kit comes with three handles and six tips that interchange in the spacing ordered (in TPI) as well as a diamond spacing gauge. They are (obviously) used to do checkering on gunstocks, pistol grips and any other wood that needs a grippy surface. There isn’t a lot out there on the web, but there are many books that will show you what ultimately is a skill that requires a lot of practice.

Dem Bart Checkering Kit [midwayusa.com]

The latest issue of Milwaukee’s Heavy Duty News alerted us to their upcoming LED replacement bulb.   Not only will this bulb upgrade your M12, M18, and V28 lights to LED, it should be able to upgrade most other flashlights that use similar sized bulbs running on 9.6V to 28V.

Milwaukee claims the bulb will give you 3X the run time and last 50,000 hours over the standard bulbs.  Being solid state it, has the added bonus that if your flash light can survive a fall, the bulb should too.

No wording on the price yet or when the bulbs will be available.

LED Upgrade 49-81-0090 [Milwaukee]

You may not see news like this on Reuters or CNN, but we love reading about the latest tool releases — like these new ratchets from Stanley Proto. In 1/4″, 3/8″, and 1/2″ sizes, these ratchets are narrower than Proto’s previous offerings so you can cram ‘em into tighter spaces. They’re also quick release; just push the button on the back to free the socket.

Inside you’ll find a 45-tooth gear, which means that you’ll move the handle through eight degrees of arc to engage the ratchet’s next click. A lever on the back selects direction.

But I can hear your thoughts right now: “What makes this different than any other quick-release, lever-type ratchet?” One answer: it’s field repairable. Remove a snap ring on the bottom side of the ratchet and you can access the gear system to repair it right on the spot. Proto offers kits including the most commonly-failed parts to get your ratchet back on track and in use in no time.

For pricing and additional information, check out your favorite Proto dealer.

You don’t own a boat or a trailer and you’re wondering what to do with your vehicle’s receiver hitch, so why not mount a grill? The Margaritaville from Freedom Grill sits on a heavy-duty swing arm that mounts in any 2″ receiver.

The grill’s 20,000 BTU stainless steel burner heats its 352 square-inch cooking surface using a 1 lb. propane tank or, with an optional adapter, a 20 lb. propane tank. The grill features fold-out side tables, a fold-down condiment tray, and even has carrying handles if you don’t feel comfortable with open flames near your gas tank.

You’ll pay about $400 for the Margaritaville Tailgating Grill.

Margaritaville [Freedom Grill]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

(TV Tonight, Friday, November 6th, 2009) We get a new episode of How It’s Made tonight where they explain how the white stuff gets in Oreos, or Canadian Oreo equivalents.

All times are central

• Holmes on Homes: Out of the Ashes (Part 2) (HGTV, 5:00 pm)
• How Do They Do It?: Ports, Contact Lenses, Tires (Science, 5:00 pm)
• Ask This Old House: Garage Organization, Ceiling Fan Installation (DIY, 5:30 pm)
• How Do They Do It?: Mining trucks, Ikea, air traffic (Science, 5:30 pm)
• Cool Tools: On the Surface (DIY, 6:00 pm)
• Dirty Jobs: Spray Insulation Technician (Discovery, 6:00 pm)
• How Do They Do It?: Glass, Changing a Jumbo Jet Tire, Soft Drink Cans (Science, 6:00 pm)
• How Do They Do It?: Gold, golf clubs, escalators (Science, 6:30 pm)
• Top Gear (BBC America, 7:00 pm)
• Dirty Jobs: Ice Salvage Crew (Discovery, 7:00 pm)
• How It’s Made: Rubber boots, binoculars, sparklers, circular-saw blades (Science, 7:00 pm)
• How It’s Made: Jukeboxes, tortilla chips, spark plugs, anatomical models (Science, 7:30 pm)
• Disaster House: Good Bones (DIY, 8:00 pm)
• How It’s Made: Stickers, surfboards, sandwich cookies, concrete roofing tiles (Science, 8:00 pm) NEW
• How It’s Made: Waffles, custom wires and cables, train wheels, metal golf clubs (Science, 8:30 pm)
• Deconstruction: Home Security (DIY, 10:30 pm)

Right now Tooldiscounter.net has the Milton 4-in-1 tire valve repair tool for $1.05.

The 4-in-1 tire valve tool is used to remove the valve stem of a tire valve, rethread both the inside and outside of the stem, and remove a broken valve. It’s a handy little tool that you only need when you need it, but if you need it, you need it! There are cheaper ones out there but the Milton seems to be higher quality. At least their catalog gives the tap size, if you’re curious: .2108″-36 tpi.

Amazon also has the tool for $3.03 [What’s This?]w/ super saver shipping eligibility so that may be a better deal.

Milton 445 4 Way Tire Valve Tool [tooldiscounter.com]

In a world where cordless seems to capture all the headlines, it’s always nice to see some love directed towards corded lines as well, like this new 3/8″ corded tradesman’s drill from Milwaukee. With an all-metal gear case and chuck, a whopping eight amp motor, and 0-2800 RPM variable speed, this sucker should really tear through wood and metal.

As you can see in the picture above, Milwaukee’s also given their engineers some free reign with the TPR, resulting in not only a cool-looking drill, but one that’s likely very comfortable as well. The softer-rubber black portions around the grip and rear of the drill should make it a little easier on the hands, and we spy one of our favorite features, too: a nice large trigger that you can squeeze for extended periods without cramps.

Seriously, folks, whether it’s this one or another, you should own a 3/8″ corded drill. Besides pros who need to drill all day — too long to use battery power alone — every homeowner or DIYer will eventually find his or herself looking to drill a hole while all the cordless batteries are flat. It’s nice to be able to reach into a drawer and pull out the corded day-saver. And at $70, why not?

3/8″ Corded Tradesman’s Drill [Milwaukee]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

Our friend Brad seems to have more fun on the job than should be legal in most states. Here we see him working with some lighting. And by “working” we mean having some fun, and by “fun” we mean destroying things. Brad posted his short video of this chain of events to the Flickr pool recently — demo in its best format, loud and messy.

If we tried that around here it would most likely turn out that we just destroyed something that needed to stay up. We’ll give him this: it’s the fast way to get a bunch of hanging lights down. The scene reminds us of a Wile E. Coyote setup.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

(TV Tonight, Thursday, November 5th, 2009) Not a bad night, starting with an IKEA factory tour, then new episodes of American Chopper and Street Customs. OCC building an electric bike? We bet they’ll bring in some outside help for that.

All times are central

• Junkyard Wars: Manic Mud Racers (Science, 5:00 pm)
• Ask This Old House: Installing a Shower Base, Rain Barrels (DIY, 5:30 pm)
• Cool Tools: Speciality (DIY, 6:00 pm)
• Street Customs: Vans Van (TLC, 6:00 pm)
• Junkyard Wars: Power Paddlers (Science, 6:00 pm)
• American Chopper: OCC Band Bike (TLC, 7:00 pm)
• Ultimate Factories: IKEA (National Geographic, 7:00 pm) NEW
• American Chopper: Siemens Electric Bike (TLC, 8:00 pm) NEW
• Successful Farming Machinery Show (RFD-TV, 8:00 pm)
• Street Customs: 2007 Maybach (TLC, 9:00 pm) NEW

Unless you have a fully-enclosed router table, your chip and dust collection probably leaves something to be desired. Instead of fully enclosing the entire table, Rockler’s Dust Bucket just encloses the router to get the same level of dust collection. When used in conjunction with a fence collection port, the Dust Bucket will allow you to collect virtually all the dust from your table.

The 13″ wide by 13″ high by 10″ deep galvanized steel Dust Bucket fits over most routers and is deigned to be used with a 4″ dust collection system or larger. It attaches to the underside of the router table with key hole slots. A door with a magnetic catch built into the front of the bucket gives you access for changing bits or cutting height, and an adjustable vent allows you to control the level of suction. The 4″ collection port can be mounted on the back or on either side of the bucket.

Rockler sells the Dust Bucket dust collection system for $80.

Dust Bucket [Rockler]

Following the more-is-better philosophy, the Bosch GPL5 uses five beams to project plumb, level, and square points. It also self-levels (up to 5°). Available for around $200, the 1 lb. unit is 4.125″ × 3.125″ × 1.625″, and can be secured using its 1/4-40 or 5/8-11 threaded mounts, or via straps or magnets with its multipurpose attachment. It can be easily re-calibrated in the field (and comes with a wrench for just that purpose). Its accuracy is ± ¼” @ 100′. Three AA batteries supply power.

If you’re not into multi-axis laser leveling, maybe you could modify the GPL5 for use as a garage/shop intruder alarm.

Bosch GPL5 [Manufacturer's Site]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Bosch GPL5 Via Amazon [What’s This?]

I mentioned a bit of a problem with my Shop Smith band saw that sprang up this weekend. The rubber tires that hold the blade on the wheels basically disintegrated after about 20 years or so, and the bottom one popped off the saw.

I called Shop Smith and was impressed with the service which was both prompt and knowledgeable. The very nice lady on the other end identified the model number of my saw and told me how I could save some cash by ordering a little differently and sent me on my way.

My saw should be back in action in a few days and the tires wound up being about what your average fast food lunch might run. That’s not bad for a machine that’s over a quarter-century old. Of course the folks at Shop Smith call it a “young one” since many of their customers have machines older than my dad.

Shopsmith [Website]

Right now Kingsley North has the Raytech Tumble Vibe TV-5 vibratory tumbler for $90 with free shipping.

I admit I have tumbling on my mind a lot these days as I try to work out the best method for finishing production runs of our jewelry. Vibratory tumblers are excellent for using abrasive plastic media and ceramic burnishing media for finishing metal as well as for rock tumbling. Vibratory tumbling tends to be much quicker than rotary tumbling. This is not the same as the vibratory tumblers used for polishing as I posted in a previous Dealmonger; it is meant for heavier work, albeit smaller.

My only quibble with the Kingsley North deal is that the free shipping is actually $2.45 ($1.00 handing, $1.00 “special fee” and .45 insurance). It is still the lowest price out there for a small vibratory tumbler, however. And yes, I ordered one…

Raytech TV-5 [kingsleynorth.com]

(TV Tonight, Wednesday, November 4th, 2009) A new Mythbusters tonight about hurricanes and liquid nitrogen.

All times are central

• Ask This Old House: Replacing a Clogged Aerator, Proper Houseplant Care (DIY, 5:30 pm)
• Cool Tools: Power Play (DIY, 6:00 pm)
• MythBusters: End With a Bang (Discovery, 6:00 pm)
• MythBusters: Greased Lightning (Discovery, 7:00 pm)
• MythBusters: Hurricane Windows (Discovery, 8:00 pm) NEW
• MythBusters: Balloon Child; Ping Pong Rescue (Discovery, 9:00 pm)

This old dresser has been handed down through two generations of my family before I had it. It’s close to 50 years old and has been reworked more than once. It has no particular value save its clothes-holding properties. It has been in my bedroom for close to 30 years and it’s time for a change – preferably to something a little less Sgt. Pepper. It was time to overhaul this piece again.

As you can see this dresser has seen its share of beatings — admittedly some of them were at my hands — and the hardware has been replaced at least three times. The last time was my fault; when my mom asked what I wanted for new knobs, I answered brass because it was shiny (I was ten) and she dutifully stuck sixteen brass knobs on it to create what you see here.

Trying to make up for my past assault on design and fashion as a kid, the first thing I did was rip the brass off it. Once that was done I began to take a look at the construction of the dresser itself. Here I was lucky — the whole reason it had been passed down so many times was that it was and still is, in solid shape as furniture goes. No squeaks, creaks, cracks or holes were anywhere to be found. It just looked pretty horrible.

Somewhere along the line it had been painted brown. To get that old paint out of the veneer was more trouble than it was worth, so I opted for a rebuild and covering mod that would allow me to change the overall look as well as the trim while covering some of the nasty dents and chips that occurred over time.

I stripped all the front trim off using a chisel and hammer, then knocked the rough edges off with a sander for a nice smooth fascia to work with.

Once that was out of the way I was pretty much free to do as I saw fit. A 1/4 oak veneered ply panel was added to the sides and I made some solid oak strips to replace the old trim that was on the front. A little time with the router had the outside edges of the trim looking good.

I cut the top from a piece of 3/4 scrap of veneered oak I had lying around and added a little trim to that to start to work it into the rest of the piece. A few pieces of veneer to the front face of each drawer and the unit is coming together quite nicely.

All that remains is to finish the trim pieces out and add a footer band, and then it’s on to hardware and stain. It’s not a bad start for a day’s worth of work but hopefully the effort and resulting bit of furniture will help ease my transgression against the furniture gods in my younger years.

Anybody with kids or grandkids has gone through the childproofing stage. You find yourself crawling around on all fours, permanently damaging your nice cabinets (and maybe your knees) by installing safety latches to keep the wee ones out of unfriendly places like cleaning cupboards. Then after a few weeks you find yourself walking halfway across the house to throw something away in your bedroom rather than fuss with opening the latch to the kitchen garbage.

Kidco’s magnetic child locks could solve some of the potential pitfalls of installing child safety latches.  First they attach with adhesives, possibly saving your cabinets from damage. Second they open simply with the touch of a magnetic key in the proper location. They claim the key will release the latch through over one inch of solid wood.

The best pricing we could find was $20 shipped for a pack of three locks with one key and key holder. Now if it only had a targeting laser…

Magnetic Child Locks [Kidco]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Judging solely from what I can gather from the serial number on the headstock, my father’s Shopsmith — now pulling duty in my shop — was built in August of 1984. Almost exactly twenty-five years later it’s still going strong.

I mentioned a while back that my dad’s Shopsmith Mark V came to live with me on super-extended loan from the old man. Read: he’ll have to pry it out from under me to get it back. I left it be for a little while and started to read manuals and figure out what everything did.

Other than a small issue with the bandsaw accessory I just found this weekend, I was amazed that after some quick calibrations and a coat of wax, the machine I remember as a kid hummed to life and performed with exactly the same smooth precision it did back then.

It’s not really world-changing and I shouldn’t be surprised really, but it was nice to see it put through a few paces the last few weeks and come out the other side like the workhorse it obviously is. I guess the old man does know how to pick ‘em.

Shopsmith [Website]

Maverick of Maverick Solar put the IkePak together to help his son after Hurricane Ike. He did not spend time doing extensive calculations, but just used what was readily available — he runs a solar energy company, so he probably has a few relevant things available — or easily obtained at the local WalMart. The wheeled Igloo cooler holds a marine battery, a 400W inverter, a solar charge controller, an inline fuse for protection, and most of the wiring. It provides enough power for a few CFLs, a small TV, and a cell phone charger. The total cost was ~ $360; the most expensive item was the $175 20W solar panel.

Additional pictures and details are the link below.

IkePak [Maverick Solar]

Those of you who happened to catch the Washington Business Journal yesterday probably did the same spit-take we did:

“Power tool maker Black & Decker Corp. will be acquired by hand tool maker Stanley Works in an all-stock merger valued at $4.5 billion.”

That’s big news indeed. We haven’t had a chance to talk to anyone at Stanley about this yet, so please take our reactions with a grain of salt. But, wow. Assuming B&D’s current brands — DeWalt, Porter-Cable, Delta Machinery, and (of course) Black & Decker — go along with the deal, Stanley will have established themselves heavily in the power tool domain. Some of B&D’s other assets, like lock and hardware brands Kwikset, Weiser, and Baldwin, seem like they’d fit in perfectly with Stanley’s existing product line. Others, like plumbing fixture supplier Price Pfister, seem more dissimilar.

But regardless of the final disposition of all brands and products, one thing’s certain: this acquisition will greatly affect a number of products you see on the shelves today.

Black & Decker Being Acquired by Stanley for $4.5B [Washington Business Journal]
Stanley/Black & Decker Site [Corporate]

This is a man with his priorities in order. Reader Lowside has finally figured out what to do with all that wasted space behind the garage door.

As far as I can tell, this solves two problems. The first is he never has to try to cram them back into a molded plastic container — a big plus in our book. The other is he gets to practice tossing them back onto the rack and looking casual. That way when his buddies come by he can look wicked cool with his mad wrench-throwing skills.

Warning: you might want to hold off practicing the wrench-toss maneuver until the other half is out of the house. Don’t ask how we know.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

Apparently available only at Woodcraft, the $90 Vika Quickbench is way less expensive than the $475 Festool MFT/3 (see TM 7/27/09), and 40% less than the $150 Vika Twofold™, but does it warrant a place in your shop or garage? It has a 32″ high, 30″ × 24″ work surface with a 24″ × 3½” opening vise and four plastic bench dogs. The Quickbench can hold up to 300 lbs and, when used in pairs as sawhorses, has a capacity up to 2,000 lbs. Two or more units can also be connected together to make a workstation or larger area bench. There’s a 15A, 3-outlet power strip with circuit protection in the base of one pair of its legs.

What do you think? Would this replace — or supplement — your trusty old Workmate (e.g., TM 8/26/09)? Let us know in comments.

Vika Quickbench [Woodcraft]