http://toolmonger.com All tools. All the time. Your source for news, information, and reviews of hand tools, power tools, and tools of all kinds. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:12:59 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en 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: DeWalt's New(ish) Heat Gun I’ll admit that ... http://toolmonger.com/2009/11/20/the-week-in-tools-toolmonger-top-5-97/ I've gotta go along with Sean when he said (in reporting a similar recall last August) "sometimes I'm glad I don't own a gas grill." The manufacturer and importer of the SLG series "Perfect Flame" brand outdoor propane or natural gas grills is voluntarily recalling almost 663,000 of the above-pictured ... http://toolmonger.com/2009/11/20/recall-perfect-flame-slg-series-gas-grills/ Full disclosure: I know very little about TIG welding. I'm okay with a MIG rig, and I can stick weld well enough to hook things together, but I've never handled a TIG torch. So when I received a press release from Weldcraft indicating that they'd expanded their gas lens line ... http://toolmonger.com/2009/11/20/weldcrafts-gas-lens-series/ If given the choice I almost always gravitate towards shops that look like this -- mostly because it’s simply not possible to get a space to look this way without putting some time and effort into it. Also, because there is always an unfinished something in the works hanging around ... http://toolmonger.com/2009/11/20/flickr-pool-clean-is-not-always-best/ On a recent junkyard trip Sean and I came across this monstrosity in a Ford. Sean's comment: "Wanna take one guess as to how this guy crashed?" Known most commonly as a "spinner knob" (or alternatively as a "suicide knob"), more sturdy and functional versions of this thing made cranking ... http://toolmonger.com/2009/11/20/one-guess-how-this-guy-crashed/ Everybody's trying to come up with the next gotta-have-it multi-tool like the try-square. Great Neck Saw's attempt packs 10 measuring tools in one device. The Mayes Squangle is basically a square with an extra adjustable arm that swings from 45° to 90° and locks with two thumbscrews. To increase their tool ... http://toolmonger.com/2009/11/20/the-squangle-yet-another-measuring-multi-tool/ Amazon has a good deal on the Earthway 1001-B Precision Garden Seeder right now at $39.99 with super saver shipping. Okay, maybe it's a little late to seed your garden this year (although depending where you are, it could be the right time for some winter crops) but an implement like this can ... http://toolmonger.com/2009/11/20/dealmonger-earthway-1001-b-precision-garden-seeder-with-6-seed-plates/ (TV Tonight, Friday, November 20th, 2009) We get Stud Finder tonight, where finalists compete to be the next DIY network useless host. Worth watching if only to give you another reason to hate the DIY network. We also get a new How It's Made. All times are central Holmes on Homes: Completing ... http://toolmonger.com/2009/11/20/tv-tonight-finding-someone-more-annoying-than-grundy/ Will lasers make wigglers obsolete? There's a case to be made that you can set up your mill faster and with less fuss with a tool like the pictured laser edge/center finder. Move the laser beam to the edge of the workpiece and zero your scale. You can just as easily locate the ... http://toolmonger.com/2009/11/19/laser-edgecenter-finder/ Specialty tools for a given engine family drive me nuts. Is it really that difficult to design something which works with thousands of preexisting tools? Unfortunately, General Motors didn't do that with their Ecotec engines' oil filter caps, which are so common that nearly every mechanic is going to run ... http://toolmonger.com/2009/11/19/socket-to-the-filter/ Right now CPO has a reconditioned Skil 7-1/4" Worm Drive Circular Saw for $99.99. A friend's Skil saw recently gave up the ghost so I looked around for the cost of a replacement saw. This seems to be the best deal, especially if their free shipping offer works and you don't have problems ... http://toolmonger.com/2009/11/19/dealmonger-reconditioned-skil-7-14-worm-drive-circular-saw/ Deep.See.Bits™ are bits with marking bands every ½" (in the Imperial-sized bits; 10mm in the metric-sized bits). They look like they could be a reasonable alternative to plastic or metal depth stops and the ever-popular masking tape. I recently tried to drill some shallow holes in plywood using a metal ... http://toolmonger.com/2009/11/19/deep-see-bits/ This is definitely in the don't-try-this-at-home category, but this guy pulls off a neat trick. He uses a large screwdriver to change what I believe is the water pump drive belt on an old VW Bug engine while it's running. The video's only 33 seconds long, and the guy doesn't ... http://toolmonger.com/2009/11/19/its-just-cool-belt-changing-sensei/ (TV Tonight, Thursday, November 19th, 2009) An odd night of TV for sure... We get a new Street Customs where they try to make a Lamborghini sexier? Then a new American Chopper builds bikes for a White Sox pitcher and Coleman Corp. At the same time we get a new ... http://toolmonger.com/2009/11/19/tv-tonight-your-head-may-explode/ Our old friend Harry Sawyer wrote a piece a few weeks back for Popular Mechanics imagining five (funny) fake products that could result from the Stanley/Black & Decker merger. Harry's mashup of Black & Decker's campiest holiday gags and Stanley's popular products result in flights of fantasy like the AutoFat ... http://toolmonger.com/2009/11/18/five-products-wed-love-to-see-from-stanleybd/ Few things in woodworking are more satisfying than making a perfect paper-thin shaving with a well-maintained plane. If you're using a spill plane you're actually trying to make special shavings called spills rather than trimming wood from a work piece. A spill is a long coiled wood shaving that was used ... http://toolmonger.com/2009/11/18/its-just-cool-spill-plane/ I made a replacement sight elevator for an air rifle the other day. It required me to undercut a groove in a tiny piece of plastic (1/4"x1/4"x1/2"). I found that I had some micro keyseat cutters (marked "Richards") and gave them a try. Normally keyseat cutters are used to cut semicircular ... http://toolmonger.com/2009/11/18/tiny-woodruff-keyseatt-slot-cutters/ A bit of a scare with a careless student at one of the university labs has gotten me looking for a flammables cabinet for my colossal collection of caustics and combustible consumables. At the moment, they're in a tall bottom drawer of my roll cabinet. It's fine for easy access, ... http://toolmonger.com/2009/11/18/not-burning-down-the-house/ Or, based on the picture, maybe this post should be titled Flashlights In Space! Now I like flashlights as much as -- or probably way more than -- the average Toolmonger, but the mPower Emergency Illuminator that I recently saw on Gizmodo is a bit much even for me. Porsche ... http://toolmonger.com/2009/11/18/tool-pr0n-mpower-emergency-illuminator/ It may look like just another angle grinder, and the motor spec certainly looks similar. But this tool's designed with one purpose in mind: cutting through masonry in a nice straight line. Fitted with a 5" segmented diamond blade, it'll cut up to 1-1/4" deep -- perfect for trimming up ... http://toolmonger.com/2009/11/18/handheld-powered-masonry-cutting/ (TV Tonight, Wednesday, November 18th, 2009) No new Mythbusters tonight, so there is absolutely nothing to watch. All times are central Cool Tools: Lost and Found (DIY, 6:00 pm) MythBusters: James Bond Special (Discovery, 6:00 pm) Ask This Old House: Shower Valve, Recycling Batteries (DIY, 6:30 pm) MythBusters: Crash and Burn (Discovery, 7:00 pm) MythBusters: Myth ... http://toolmonger.com/2009/11/18/tv-tonight-missing-mid-week/ OK, so it's actually called the Black & Decker V-3 Million Power Series rechargeable spotlight. But after a good 10 months of carting this sucker out for late-night grilling, hooking up trailer hitches in the dark, and finding a lost hitch pin in deep grass, we just call it the ... http://toolmonger.com/2009/11/17/our-favorite-flashlights-no-2-the-vampire-light/ I have to admit, I'm not entirely sure how these work, but they look like something from the end of Inspector Gadget's forearm. They're for precisely torquing large bolts in tight spaces, apparently mounting on the end of a long handle and accepting hydraulic feed and return lines. Unless I miss ... http://toolmonger.com/2009/11/17/unusual-tools-hydraulic-torque-wrenches/ This might make the perfect gift for a brand-conscious tool friend this holiday season. This flashlight and knife kit (on sale at Costco this weekend) includes all the necessities: an aluminum barreled, xenon-bulbed two-AA light, a miniature AAA model, and an aluminum-bodied folding knife -- and, of course, the Snap-on ... http://toolmonger.com/2009/11/17/snap-on-branded-lightknife-set-from-costco/ For those of you who have -- or lust after (e.g., like Sean, see TM 1/29/07) -- a Gerstner tool chest, you might be interested in the Gerstner PORTA-DRAWER™. It's a flip-up handle that installs in the bottom drawer of most current and older-model Gerstner chests, and it turns the ... http://toolmonger.com/2009/11/17/gerstner-porta-drawer/