These days it seems like you can't buy a saw without it coming with some sort of laser blade guide. These little guys are installed on the blade and project a laser line onto the workpiece right where the blade is going to cut. Now, thanks to Irwin, you don't need to buy a whole new tool to have this technology. You can just pick up one of their Laser Guides and in no time, your 15 year old DeWalt saw has a 21st century makeover.
The Irwin Laser Guide automatically turns on when the blade is in rotation and it is powered by a battery that lasts for around 5,000 cuts. Most importantly, it's easy to install…
…Or is it? According to a commenter over at Amazon, there's more to the story…
We're going to be doing some tiling next week, so we figured we'd hop on the internet to see if we could find any good advice on how to handle the initial layout. Well, as expected, there's a lot of information out there and we sifted through it and now we're passing on the three best articles we found on the subject.
Extreme How-To - This article is great for floor layout. It doesn't go into great detail on how to deal with oddly shaped areas like under cabinet backsplashes, but if you're going to do a nice wide open space, it would be worth your time to read it. Article here.
Doityourself.com - This is a nice article on how to layout a shower/tub surround. It's pretty basic, but it's a nice place to start. Article here.
FloorsTransformed - We think this one is the most helpful. Not only are the written instructions, detailed and clear, but there are nice diagrams mixed in as well. It covers counter tops, tubs/showers, and backsplashes. In fact, it takes the method that Extreme How-To used and applies it directly to backsplashes. Article here.
This is your last chance to win a drill just by letting us know what you think of us. Since we're going to be clearing out of town for the weekend, we'll extend our timeline and accept entries until Sunday at midnight. Remember, the drawing is random, so you can be as honest (read: brutal) as you want to be. We'll have a winner early next week.
Everything you need to know about the contest is here.
We were looking through DeWalt's collection of woodworking articles and thought this one was worth passing on. It's called The Ways of Solid Wood (by Ian Kirby) and it is about how and why wood distorts. We've read books on the properties of wood and can say that this article is a nice, quick summation of a topic that can easily get bogged down with too much information and quite a bit of technical jargon.
Still to be considered is the most important characteristic of all: after wood has been dried and converted into usable parts from the tree, it changes size according to the amount of moisture in the air.
In other words, wood is a dimensionally unstable material. No other factor plays such an important role in the way we design furniture made of solid wood. The parts of a cabinet must hold together and at the same time be allowed to shrink and expand. The most outstanding example of a dimensionally stable unit composed of pieces that are dimensionally unstable is the frame and panel.
Kreg, the makers of the ingenious Pocket Hole System are set to release a new work table on August 1st. Although somewhat designed for use with their various pocket hole tools, the table looks like a good addition to any woodworker's shop.
The 21" by 33" table top, made of glue-resistant melamine, has removable 'clamp tracks' on two sides. On the tracks are locking Vice-Grip style clamps as well as these little movable blocks to help with aligning your project. The clamps have little pads on them, so there are no worries about damaging your work piece. The table stand is adjustable from 31" to 36", has built in levelers, and can be fitted with casters.
Last month, C.H. Hanson kicked off their new signature series with the amazing Pivot Square and they've just now rolled out two new tools in the series. Their Signature Series emphasizes innovative tools that approach old tasks in a new light. There's no doubt that the Pivot Square fits the criteria, we found it to be a challenging, inventive, and when all is said and done, absolutely amazing tool. As a related aside, one of the reasons why we like C.H. Hanson so much is that right on the front page of their website, they have a giant tab marked, "Inventor Inquiries." These guys are really actually looking for new ideas. It's not just lip service. They want to hear about all your freaky jigs that you make in your workshop in order to make your work go faster.
Our buddies over at Toologics spent the weekend in Vegas at the Association of Woodworking & Furnishing Suppliers show. There was a lot of buzz about the show and they've covered it all. From Porter-Cable's new line of tools to DeWalt's new battery to Fein's next generation of MultiMaster. Check out their coverage here.
This month, Woodsmith provides another out of the park home run with an issue crammed full of good articles, tips, and advice. Of all the woodworking magazines that we read, Woodsmith is the only one that consistently exceeds our high expectations.
This time around, the main project is a nice hall bench complete with tall coat hooks and a backboard. There's some tricky joinery and plenty of detail work, but if you're not up to the whole thing, the project can be scaled back to just the chest piece making things quite a bit easier.
Other solid articles include one on built-up crown molding, a great one on finishing supplies, and a primer on table saw joinery. Oh, and there's a terrific article on oak.
Continue reading to see what tools are covered in this issue.
There's still one week left to get your entries in for your chance to win a Ridgid Compact 18 Volt Lithium-Ion Drill from Tool Snob. It's a great drill and you really don’t have to do much to get your name entered. Details here.
A while ago, we posted up a video showing how to cut a circle with a table saw. Well, reader Joe went and tested it out and from the picture he sent us, it looks like he had great success. The end result is way better than anything we've ever seen with a jigsaw.
It's hard to believe, but Dremel was founded in 1932 and sold the world's first rotary tool way back in 1935. Now, seventy-five years later there is still no doubt that they are the kings of the rotary market. To celebrate this milestone, they're selling a commemorative Rotary Tool Kit. But if you want one, you'd better act fast, because it's only going to be available for a limited time.
The kit comes with a variable speed Dremel tool, stylized for this edition with chrome plated accents and a retro version of Dremel's logo. Also included are 75 accessories, capable of polishing, grinding, cutting, buffing and all the other tasks that rotary tools can do. If that wasn't good enough, Dremel has thrown in a 12-in-1 Multi-Tool (think Leatherman), free. The entire kit comes in a groovy, retro tin box and costs about $75 (get it….75?).
Although there's the whole commemorative, limited-edition thing going on here, it's still a Dremel rotary tool and, we assume, up to the same level of quality as their other models. So you can either keep it on the shelf as a collector's item next to your Millennium Falcon or you can put it to work. We suggest buying two, one for the work bench and one for ebay.
We have no doubt that the Cadex Headless Pin and Brad Nailer that we talked about yesterday is an amazing tool. In fact, we're sure that each cog and gear is finely tuned to near perfection, and that when in use, the nailer practically becomes part of the hand. But at a price of over $300, it's not the tool for everyone. Those of you out there who don’t have a few hundred bucks to spend on a brad nailer need an option too, right?
So we did some research and discovered Grizzly's H5527 18 Gauge Brad Nailer Kit. The gun can handle 5/8" to 1-1/4" brads and has an adjustable exhaust and an adjustable depth of drive setting. And that's really about it. But, you know what? That's really all you need (and you don't even need the adjustable exhaust). We appreciate this gun for it's straight up simplicity. No frills, it's just a brad gun.
It's no surprise that headless pinners are gaining in popularity. They're lightweight, very precision-oriented, and fire off little fasteners that are nearly invisible. They are perfect for little pieces of molding and other delicate operations like making picture frames.
Cadex, one of the premier makers of pin nailers, has recently introduced the CPB23.50 Headless Pin and Brad Nailer. This tool rocks the boat a bit by being able to take brads (small fasteners with heads) as well as headless pins. The gun can handle lengths from 5/8" to 2".
Update: We now know why we couldn't find any info on Fein's new generation of MultiMasters. It's because there wasn't any. Fein didn't officially release the tool until this past weekend. But now, it's out there and it's got a nice new website as well. Check it out here.
If you've never heard of the Fein MultiMaster, you have no idea what you're missing. It's powerful, precise, and because of the range of accessories available, might be one of the most versatile tools out there.
The actual tool has the look and feel of an angle grinder, but instead of spinning, the MultiMaster oscillates back and forth. The range of motion isn't that extreme (but it's quite powerful), so there is an extraordinary amount of control. Unlike a rotary tool, you never have to worry about the MultiMaster spinning out of control and zipping an unwanted mark in your work piece. The accessories are changed out with a little hex key (we've seen a new model advertised that has a keyless change out, but we couldn't find it on the internet).
We've used the Multi-Master and have been really knocked out by how detail oriented you can get. The blade attachment is prefect for detailed flush-cutting and also gives you the ability to do a plunge cut. We really liked Bosch's fine cut saw, but compared to the Fein, it might as well be a Sawzall. You could probably perform surgery with this thing.
Win a Ridgid Compact 18-Volt Lithium-Ion Drill from Tool Snob
Our good friends at Ridgid were nice enough to give us one of their new compact drills to give away to one of our lucky readers. We reviewed the drill last week and since then, can’t stop using it. It’s lightweight, powerful, and just all around great. So if you want one, read on…
Sometimes we feel like we work on this website in a bit of a vacuum. Aside from the comments that you guys leave, we get relatively little feedback on the actual site as a whole, so that’s what we’re asking for now. And if you let us know what you think, you might end up with a great new drill. Pretty easy.
So all you have to do to get a chance to win the drill is email us at newstips at toolsnob dot com and tell us a few things. Make sure you fix the email address doctored a bit for spam:
What you like about our site/what you want us to keep doing.
What you don’t like about our site/what you want us to stop doing.
Are the magazine reviews worthwhile? We’ve been sitting the fence on this one. We’re happy to write them up if you guys like them, but if you’d rather that space was used for something else, let us know.
As far as being critical of us is concerned, don’t sweat it. We can take it. We’ve dealt with angry plumbers before so verbal abuse is not a problem for us. We only ask that you give reasons to your likes and dislikes. We won’t accept, “You guys @&#^#%’n suck!,” by itself, but if you can back it up, we’ll take it.
So we’ll write all the names on a piece of paper (regardless of the feedback content) and throw them in a hat and pick one at random and –boom- you’ve got a new drill on the way.
As an added bonus, we’ll put your name in the hat a second time if you send us a jpeg of your favorite old warhorse of a tool. It can be a power tool, a hand tool, a saw stand, whatever. The only real criterion is that it has taken a substantial beating and it still works like a charm. We’ll post them up as we get them.
The last day for entries will be Friday, July 27th. That gives you two weeks.
And while you're here, you might as well sign up for our newsletter. That way you won't miss any of our articles and you'll always be up to date on the latest tools. Sign-up is above and to the right.
Legalish stuff:
Please only residents of the continental US. It’s not like sending an envelope and we don’t want to get shelled with having to ship the thing to Indonesia.
We honestly couldn’t care any less about your email. We won’t sell it or use it for anything. They’ll all get deleted as soon as the contest is over.
The new Fine Homebuilding just arrived and, after a read-through, we can happily report that it’s a solid, above-average effort from our friends at Taunton. As usual, there are a few articles geared more for idea-generation, as opposed to actual execution. This time around they’re good ones and display a lot of options for consideration. The cover story, “Signature Details for Kitchen Cabinets,” is a fine example, giving eight different ideas and scenarios for sprucing up the kitchen.
The more practical articles, “Insulating a Rim Joist,” “Trimming a Basement Window,” and one on the use of a basement curtain drain,” are all well-written, and easy to understand. Also, there is a good one on how to install a garbage disposal.
Read on to see what tools are covered in this issue of Fine Homebuilding.
Milwaukee is advising owners of Milwaukee Power Plus, Chicago Pneumatic, and Extractor 14.4 and 18 volt 2.4 ah NiCd battery packs to call them and possibly get an exchange. Apparently, on batteries manufactured between July 1999 and February 2004, damage to a vent can lead to the battery actually exploding. These explosions have lead to 35 recorded incidents, 11 of which resulted in injury.
If you’re like us and you never throw anything away, then you’ve probably got a few coffee cans of old drill bits stashed on some shelf in the workshop. If that’s the case, then it might be worthwhile to invest in a Drill Doctor. The Drill Doctor is a bench top drill sharpening device and it looks like it turns the tedious task of bit sharpening into an easy two step process. From time to time, we go through and sharpen our bits with an angle grinder, but the results are on the pathetic side and never really last that long. According to their website, the Drill Doctor is capable of making any drill bit (even broken ones), as good or better than they were the day the came out of the package.
We’d go into detail about how it does it, but if you’re interested, it would be easier to go straight to the source and check out the Drill Doctor movie.
We're pretty vocal about our dislike (hatred, really) of painting. We're happy to spend 10 hours shaping a piece of wood, but for some reason we don't have the patience to paint it. And if painting isn't bad enough, there's scraping to think about. If painting is like getting your fingernail pulled off, scraping is like being drawn and quartered. So when we heard about Wagner's new PaintEater, we dove at the opportunity to test one out and see if it makes the unbearable at least somewhat bearable.
First, about the tool. The PaintEater is about the size of a coffee can. It's got an adjustable Velcro hand strap around the main grip as well as a secondary handle that can retract back up to the body of the tool when not in use. The handle, when in the down or up position, locks in place preventing any slipping or unexpected movement. The on-off switch has a nice dust protected cover over it and is located in a convenient spot. At the bottom of the tool is the brillo-like pad that does the actual paint eating. The pad is a bit hard to describe, it reminds us more of a sea creature than anything else. It's much more rigid than a brillo, but there is a bit of a give to it. The disc can be easily removed with an arbor stop and a twist of the pad. The tool is pretty light (3.8 lbs), so there should be no problem spending a day on a ladder with it.
Because Lithium Ion batteries are so much lighter and more powerful than standard batteries, tool companies have a lot more leeway as far as design is concerned. The problem is that most of them are still intoxicated by the technology, focusing on creating the “lightest ever” or the “most powerful ever” tools. The small little screwdriver-style drills are handy and the 36-volt tools are total overkill, but what about that middle range? What about having a nice, reliable, no-frills, 18 Volt drill? If you feel the same way, look no further than Ridgid’s new 18-Volt Compact Li-Ion Drill.
The drill is very light, 4.5 lbs. to be exact. It’s interesting, but when compared directly to the Makita 14.4, which is about 4.6 lbs, the Ridgid feels much lighter. We figure that this has something to do with the fact that two thirds of the weight is no longer in the battery and the balance is much more even. The Ridgid feels solid in the hands and once we put it to work, we were not let down at all.
Ladders are an essential part of most home improvement projects, whether it’s changing a light bulb, painting the house, or putting up wall paper. In fact, it’s likely that you need not one ladder, but three or four; a 6’ step, an 8’ step, and one, possibly two extension ladders. OR, you could just get The Little Giant Ladder System 1A.
This innovative ladder (or ‘ladders’) is built in such a way that you can reconfigure them into whichever type of ladder is appropriate. No more leaning the step ladder against the house (a big no-no in the ladder world).
Constructed out of aluminum, the Little Giant is both strong and light. According to their website, the ladder is government rated for up to 300 lbs, but survived a 1200 lb stress test with no problem. A durable fiberglass model is also available.
Apollo Precision Tools 135-Piece Household Pink Tool Kit
If you have a thing for pink tools (and who doesn’t really), then you should rush out and get the Apollo Precision Tools 135-Piece Household Pink Tool Kit. The kit has got most tools needed for light-duty around the house tasks; cordless screwdriver, hammer, pliers, measuring tape, wrench, etc and it all comes in a fitted plastic case.
The Pink Kit retails for under $35 and looks like it would make a great gift for someone heading off to college. A portion of the proceeds goes to fund breast cancer awareness.
If you’re really into it, there’s also a pink tool beltavailable.
Our good buddy Ed recently gave us the heads up on a cool new item for those of you who live in Connecticut, Massachusetts, or Rhode Island. It’s a thing called The Bagster and it looks like a great idea for anyone thinking about starting a small to medium sized project. The Bagster is a small, portable dumpster over 8’ long, 4’ wide and 2’ high. It’s made of plastic and can hold about three yards of material. It’s not your average kitchen bag either; the Bagster is strong enough to hold 3,300 pounds.
But the best part is that once you fill the thing up, all you have to do is make a phone call and Bagster comes and picks it up. That’s it.
As you can see from below, we had another busy month around here. In addition to a lot of our usual features, we had a big five-part Father's Day gift guide (which is still good for birthdays and other occasions). Of all the tools we saw this month, the one that really impressed us was C.H. Hanson's Pivot Square, a tool that any serious builder should check out. Tool of the Month, without question.
Irwin Chop Saw/Miter Saw Laser Guide
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Wagner PaintEater - Review
