The Lincoln Electric company sells a series of books titled Arc Welded Projects.  These great books contain a variety of projects for the home, farm, and shop, and for the artistic welder.  You get a bill of materials for each project and relatively detailed instructions.

For some reason, Lincoln Electric doesn’t offer Volume I, but you can likely find it used.  In Volume II you’ll find plans for a hydraulic press, forge, welding positioner, bench vise, band saw, and other tools. They also feature some projects up on their website.

Arc Welded Projects Vol II [Lincoln Electric]
Arc Welded Projects Vol III [Lincoln Electric]
Arc Welded Projects Vol IV [Lincoln Electric]
Street Pricing [Google]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

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:

Midget Ratchet Gets Into Tight Spaces
You might not need a small ratchet like the Midget every day, but there are times when they’re indispensable — like when you’re lying on the floor of your vehicle trying to remove the fan speed resistor or another part that’s tucked up under the dash.

The New Color Of Sears: Green
Sears launched their new green website earlier this month — they’ve dedicated a section of Sears.com to tips, ideas, and products designed to help their customers live “greener” and more eco-friendly.

Editorial: The Next Generation
At the Milwaukee product event last week, a passionate man named Michael Callanan spoke to us about a problem with the next generation of skilled workers:  there aren’t enough of them.  Looking ahead, the NJATC has created a program to fully prepare and train electrical apprentices and journeymen.

Hidden Power
The once-simple telephone is now so complicated that you need a manual to figure out all its functions, and you can’t just plug it into a phone jack anymore — it needs its own source of power.  Usually that means stretching the power cord to some distant outlet, but with Leviton’s Out-of-Site PowerJack you can get back that neat and clean look for your phone.

Preview: Milwaukee M12 3/8″ Drill
Milwaukee unveiled their newest frontline products in the sub-compact cordless wars last week, and the M12 3/8” drill/driver was one of the first out of the gate. This offers a couple of insights:  first, this new drill is proof positive that Milwaukee has no plans to drop their M12 line;  and second, if you’ve been lamenting the limited choice of tools in this line, you’re in for a good year.

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.

Who doesn’t need more space in their garage?  Whether it’s that extra car that sits outside, all your lawn care equipment, snowmobiles, or ATV’s, there never seems to be enough room for it all.  With these four-post lifts from Dannmar you can recover that wasted space above your vehicles to store your stuff.  Hell, you could even set up your shop on the lift and raise it out of the way when you need to park your vehicle — how sweet would that be?

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Father’s Day is June 21st (that’s two days away for those of you not near a calendar) – are you prepared to make the old man smile? Or is it going to be one of those drug store holidays where dad will wind up with the finest gift money could buy at the local Walgreens?

Comedians like Bill Cosby and Chris Rock make light of the fact that Dads usually get the short end of the stick when it comes to props, but we’ve found that tool guys don’t fit the stereotype.  Dad taught us all kinds of cool stuff, and we often hear great stories that start out, “Me and the ole man…”   So Father’s Day winds up being pretty easy for tool guys –- get him tools.

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(TV Tonight, Friday, June 19th, 2009) Tonight we get a new Factory Made, which differs in some unknown way from How It’s Made.  Not surprisingly, we also get a new How It’s Made.

All times are central.

• Holmes on Homes: Let’s Rejoist (HGTV, 5:00 pm)
• Cool Stuff: How It Works (Science, 5:00 pm)
• This Old House: Newton Project (DIY, 5:30 pm)
• Deconstructed: Catalytic converter, toilet, bathroom scale, barbecue (Science, 5:30 pm)
• How It’s Made: Motorcycle, Clay Pipes, Drumsticks, Whistles (Discovery, 6:00 pm)
• How Do They Do It?: Forest Fires, Car Exhaust, Space Station (Science, 6:00 pm)
• Ask This Old House: Stone Countertops, Chain-Link Fence (DIY, 6:30 pm)
• How It’s Made: Fur Coat, Hearse, Outdoor Lighting Fixtures, and Golf Tee (Discovery, 6:30 pm)
• How Do They Do It?: Jet Engine, Weapons, Telescope (Science, 6:30 pm)
• Factory Made: Lexus, Diamonds, Popcorn Poppers (Discovery, 7:00 pm) NEW
• How It’s Made: All-Terrain Vehicles, Alpine Skis, Laser Cutters, and Marble Sculptures (Science, 8:00 pm) NEW
• How It’s Made: Pressure Cookers, Mechanical Singing Birds, Oceanographic Buoys, and Stainless Steel Tank Trailers (Science, 8:30 pm)

Enjoy.

The folks at Big Ass Fans must be loving this picture right now. As we understand it, this is what’s left of a shoe factory after it was hit by a tornado that swept through the Sikeston, Missouri area earlier this year. If you look close, the fans are still there.

What does this mean?  Not a whole lot in the grand scheme of things.  In all honesty, no one can predict how tornadoes will behave or what, if anything, will come through undamaged. These fans had just as much chance as anything else that was strapped down in the building.

But on balance, if I were Big Ass Fans I’d have this picture blown up and hung in the corporate lobby.

Note: We’re told that all employees escaped safely.

Big Ass Fans Withstand Extreme Winds [Big Ass Fans]
Big Ass Fans [Website]

Can anybody tell us why you’d buy an 8-inch hatchet — what good is a hatchet this short?  You’re not going to get much of a swing with it, and you’re not really gaining much portability over a 14-inch hatchet.

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We like to discover tools from around the world and to try and figure out what they’re used for — even common items like a wrench might look different somewhere else.  Reader Noel found this Lithuanian spanner on eBay.  Even though we’re not sure exactly what it was designed for, a spanner is a spanner no matter where in the world it comes from.

The maker’s mark is in Russian, so unless someone can read it or recognizes the brand, Noel may never know its origin.  He says it swings to adjust to the proper size, then stays tight as you use it, which makes sense since we don’t see any other mechanism.

Nice find, Noel — we’re always suckers for strange, old tools ourselves.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

While they’re no replacement for a torque wrench, torque sticks are a pretty cool alternative.  When used with an impact wrench dialed to the appropriate setting, they start flexing when the desired torque is reached, absorbing the impact rather than transferring it to the fastener.  Because of the way they operate, you can’t just use one as an extension to your ratchet — they’ll only work with impact wrenches.

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Milwaukee is still putting the final touches on this bad boy, but that didn’t stop them from letting us play with their new compact band saw. Our homie Doug Mahoney, pictured above, models the new corded band saw doing its thing.  Yeah, it’s as badass as it looks.

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Micro-Tools is selling this 6-piece (including the handle…) Moody nut driver set for $15.  When you have to drive tiny nuts, you want tiny nut drivers. In the past I’ve made do by using the hexagonal hole in setscrews held in a pin vise, so a dedicated set of micro nut drivers feels like a great luxury. This set includes 5/64″, 3/32″, 7/64″, 1/8″, and 5/32″ drivers.

Moody 6pc. Nut Driver Set [Micro-Tools]
Street Pricing [Google]

(TV Tonight, Thursday, June 18th, 2009)  We’ve got new episodes of American Chopper, World’s Toughest Fixes, and Wrecked tonight. The idea of making a custom chopper for Abu Dhabi’s PD is hilarious, but it shows that there’s still some money out there in this economy…if you happen to be a sheik.

All times are central.

• Cool Stuff: How It Works (Science, 5:00 pm)
• This Old House: Newton Project (DIY, 5:30 pm)
• Cool Stuff: How It Works (Science, 5:30 pm)
• How It’s Made: Pistons, Paint Rollers, Parachutes, Chimneys (Discovery, 6:00 pm)
• Overhaulin: That’s All Volks (TLC, 6:00 pm)
• Deconstructed: Paintball Gun, 20-Speed Bike, Laser Printer, and Miter Saw (Science, 6:00 pm)
• Ask This Old House: Energy Efficiency, Replacing a Toilet Seat (DIY, 6:30 pm)
• How It’s Made: Manhole Covers, Range Hoods, Artificial Logs, Snowmobiles (Discovery, 6:30 pm)
• Deconstructed: Flourescent Light Bulb, LCD Screen, Air Bag, Blender (Science, 6:30 pm)
• Top Gear (BBC America, 7:00 pm)
• American Chopper: Production Bike Showcase (TLC, 7:00 pm)
• Ultimate Factories: Caterpillar (National Geographic, 7:00 pm)
• Build It Bigger: Hong Kong Bridge (Science, 7:00 pm)
• American Chopper: Abu Dhabi Bike (TLC, 8:00 pm) NEW
• World’s Toughest Fixes: Giant Wind Turbine (National Geographic, 8:00 pm) NEW
• How Do They Do It?: Monster Vehicle (Science, 8:00 pm)
• Successful Farming Machinery Show (RFD-TV, 8:00 pm)
• Wrecked: 14009 (Speed, 9:00 pm) NEW
• Wrecked: Thanksgiving (Speed, 9:30 pm)

Enjoy.

Do you have loose outlets in your home — you know, the ones where the receptacle wiggles every time you plug or unplug a cord?  More than likely the drywall guys cut the hole too big, and the ears on the receptacle don’t land on the drywall.  In the past I’ve used small washers or nuts to space the outlet far enough out from the wall so the cover plate fits correctly, but I noticed these Caterpillar spacers from Buchanan (Ideal) the other day when I was walking through Home Depot and decided to give ‘em a try.

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Just a reminder about our Paslode giveaway — it wraps up at the end of June.  Paslode was kind enough to offer up a set of cordless tools for us to give away to one of our loyal readers.  Next month we’ll select a winner from all of you who post valid comments on any of the Paslode giveaway posts (like this one).

Sure, you already post your thoughts here — and you deserve a hearty “thank you” from me and the rest of the Toolmonger community — but now when you post a comment, you’re not only sharing your experience with other Toolmongers around the world, you’re also adding a chance to win!  That’s good all ’round, yeah?

Paslode Cordless Giveaway Rules [Toolmonger]

As part of the 2009 Shed of the Year “Shed Week” celebrations, the musical group Punks Not Dad have released a wonderful music video celebrating the shed: “In Me Shed”.

While many of us in the US luxuriate in our shops, pole barns, and garages, most home shops in the UK are in tiny sheds, out in the back yard, out past the garden gnomes and privy.  Whatever its size, the desire for a place of refuge where one can engage in a variety of tasks, from “Sorting out me jam jars” (full of screws) to “mending a toaster,” is universal!

Punks Not Dad - In Me Shed [YouTube]

We’re not sure how this one slipped by us, but in March 2009, Ideal sent out a press release detailing their new Mess-X Paint Shields. The idea is simple:  when painting, instead of taping off outlets and switches, you remove the cover plates and simply “snap” their paint shield over any exposed outlets and switches.  When you’re done painting, remove the shields to reveal pristine outlets and switches.

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At the Milwaukee product event last week, a passionate man named Michael Callanan — he’s Executive Director of the National Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee (NJATC), and he works with both the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) — spoke to us about a problem with the next generation of skilled workers:  there aren’t enough of them.  Looking ahead, the NJATC has created a program to fully prepare and train electrical apprentices and journeymen, which makes the hip-deep wading through acronyms more than worthwhile.

Michael said the “hands-on” crafts suffer from a bad image nowadays, and the differences in the way things are done now vs. thirty years ago will hurt all of us in the long run — for instance, most parents or counselors today will tell young people that they’re throwing their life away if they don’t go to college.  We’re not saying college isn’t a great place or that it can’t help a young person along their way, but it’s not the only option.

This line of thought got me thinking about how we’re going to train the next generation of workers. Colleges certainly can’t do it, and as the current batch ages and retires, where is the qualified group behind them going to come from?  How will we train them, and what will they have to know ten or twenty years from now?

It’s a large topic that makes my brain hurt, but I think Michael’s impassioned plea to wake up and smell the industry turnover might be a timely call that we need to start listening to now, instead of when it becomes a more serious issue. How do we get the net-savvy, info-hungry kids of today to become interested in being the skilled and qualified electricians and such of tomorrow?

Sure, organizations like the NJATC can help, but as Mr. Callanan said in his presentation, 80,000 people applied and the program could only take 12,000, and the demand drastically outstrips this amount.  We’re in an employment slump right now, but the problem isn’t going to go away — houses and buildings will still need fixing and building in fifteen or twenty years.

It’s an interesting issue, and I don’t think many people want to think about it right now. There’s no glamor or sky-high salaries attached, just a good honest living that provides a much-needed service. My question is, when did that fall out of fashion?

National Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee [Website]