January 30, 2009
Craftsman NexTec Auto-Hammer - Review
This little fella hit the stores just before the holidays as part of Craftsman new NexTec line ("next technology?"). We got our hands on one a few weeks ago and have been testing it in a variety of situations and here's what we thought...
If we had to classify the Auto Hammer, we'd say that it's a battery-powered palm nailer. The functionality is the same; the piston within the sleeve that pounds the nail with a series of hits, in this case, up to 3600 impacts per minute, which is actually more than most, if not all, palm nailers. The Auto Hammer also has a magnetic head that can hold any nail up to 7/16" wide. There's also a little LED that lights up the work piece. The tools in the NexTec line are all powered by a little 12-volt li-ion battery. Now, on to how the tool actually performed...
Continue reading: "Craftsman NexTec Auto-Hammer - Review"
January 29, 2009
Secco 916 Oscillating Tool - Part 2...A Tale of Woe
Last week we told you about the Secco 916 Oscillating Tool. At the time, we were a little suspicious of it because it was only being sold on ebay and there was absolutely no information available on the manufacturer. In the post, we asked if anyone had any experience with the tool.
The other day, we received the following comment from a reader. You can read it in the comment section of the original post, but we thought it was worthy of its own article. It seems that the Secco might not pass the sniff test after all. (Update: we just received another comment on the tool, this one mostly positive. Read that one here. Second one down.)
As RkyMtnRon reports....
Hi:
You asked for feedback on the Secco 916, so I've got some.
Bought one on Ebay on Jan. 2, 2009, for $157.50 (plus shipping).
They are misrepresenting this unit! The description clearly states that it can use the Fein Multi-master blades. Not true!
Their blades have a circular center hole and a pattern of smaller holes that fit onto a circular array of raised pins on the blade arbor, allowing the blade angle to be changed.
There is no "adapter" disk to allow the use of the "star" hole on the Fein blades.
I challenged the seller about their claim and they hedged and said "Ya well, just tighten down the blade bolt and they'll work". Well, I tried that and a Fein blade just spun around in a heart beat!
There also does not seem to be any other blades available for this unit, other than the ones in the kit. No "bi-metal" blades at all, or recessed hub "flush-cut", circular blades.
Specialty Diamond Products does not even have any replacement blades for this unit on their web site!
One other interesting fact. My sales slip that came with the unit has an address in Santa Barbara, CA, that I looked up on Mapquest and found to be in the middle of a residential area, so some dude is selling these out of his home!
Currently, I'm trying to return my unit and plan to contact Ebay to report this misrepresentation.
I would urge anyone considering this unit to forget about it!
January 28, 2009
Marvin Ultimate Push Out Casement
Last year, we were impressed with Marvin's Ultimate Replacement Casement and it looks like now they've released another window in the line, this time, it's the Ultimate Push Out Casement.
It appears to have the same innovative 'flip around' functionality as the Replacement Casement, making it a snap to clean, but with this window, Marvin has removed the crank hardware and made it so you simply push it open and lock it into position with a sash limiter. Not having the crank handle is a nice option and there's no question it cleans up the aesthetic of the window sill. But the lack of crank and the manual operation poses a problem for having screens, which Marvin gets around by making the screen swing inward with a little knob.
This looks like a nice addition to an innovative line of windows from Marvin.
More info over at Marvin
January 27, 2009
Gorilla Super Glue - Review
We have this great old ceramic Buddha that belonged to our grandfather. It sits on the bookshelf by the tv. Or, rather, it did until Marlowe decided it would look better on the floor in about 12 pieces. We were pretty bummed about the event, and decided that we should at least try to fix it. We had heard that Gorilla had added a super glue to their line of amazing adhesive products, so we got our hands on a tube of it and tried our best to repair the big old Buddha.
Continue reading: "Gorilla Super Glue - Review"
January 26, 2009
January 23, 2009
Snowblower of the Gods
We have mixed feelings about snowblowing; one one hand, we love firing up a piece of heavy machinery and blasting snow into our neighbors yard, but on the other hand, we're rarely thrilled to wake up at 5am to deal with nine inches of snow just so we can get to work.
But if there ever was a snowblower that would get us fired up every time we started it, this is it. Recently featured over at Popular Science, this monster is equipped with a V-8 engine (stripped off a Chevy) that gives the snow throwing blades a speed of 6000 rpm. The fact that it looks like something Mad Max would use to clear his walk only adds to the effect.
Check out the article and all the rest of the details over at Popular Science.
January 22, 2009
Secco 916 Oscillating Tool
Update: We got some feedback from someone who purchased a Secco 916. Sounds like things might not be on the level. Details here.
A number of heads up readers have pointed out this item to us. It's yet another entry into the oscillating tool bonanza that started as soon as Fein's patent wore out. This one is made by a company called Secco and is sold by Specialty Diamond Products exclusively on ebay.
There's not a whole lot more we can say. The info over at ebay is boilerplate and the tool comes with a nice, but standard, set of bits and blades. This isn't to say that it's a bad tool in anyway, but the only place it is being sold and the only mention we can find of the manufacturer is on ebay. This tool could be great, but there's simply no way to know until you buy it. We couldn't find any reviews, buyer feedback, nothing.
The 916 has a "buy it now" price of $199, which puts it way up there at the price of the most basic Fein kit. The fully loaded 72-piece Rockwell SoniCrafter, which we love, is only $180. The Secco 916 Oscillating Tool also does not have a starting bid price, but rather, a "make offer" option, leading us to believe that they'll happily take less than $199. The question is then, how much less?
If anyone has picked up one of these tools, let us know. We're curious how it measures up against the other oscillating tools.
At ebay (we don't know how long this link will work, but if it's broken a search of "Secco 916" at ebay should turn get you there.)
January 21, 2009
Rockler Cove Cutting Table Saw Jig
Table saws aren't just for cutting straight lines. A while back we found a video of someone cutting a perfect circle on one and just yesterday while we were flipping through the new Rockler catalog, we were reminded that you can also use a table saw to mill up crown molding.
In the past, we've played around with the process just to see the general idea of how to do it and we found that it's actually not that hard. It boils down to running a board over the blade at an angle, making sure to keep the angle consistent and to not try to take off too much wood in one pass. The reason why the Rockler catalog jogged our memory is because they've got a special jig for the process.
The jig is available only at Rockler and costs about $90. If you're the type that gets off on manufacturing every single aspect of a project, or if you're trying to match some ancient crown molding, it's probably worth the cost. For us, though, it's just too easy to head down to the lumber yard and pick some up there.
An article about using the jig is here and we also found a video.
At Rockler
January 20, 2009
Ridgid R4511 Granite Top Hybrid Table Saw
We just got an email from our pals over at Tool Crib pointing us to their great article on the new Ridgid Table Saw. It appears that there's a bit of a to-do surrounding the release of the tool. Apparently, it wasn't supposed to be in stores until February, but it somehow got 'leaked' and there are at least a few people who own one and have commented on it.
From what we can tell, it's a nice tool with a ridiculous price point of $600 (most saws of this type are in the $1000 range). The tool will be at Home Depot in a month or so (if it isn't there already), but in the meantime, head over to Tool Crib and get all the information on the tool, including pictures, early reviews, and all the rest of the gossip.
Tool Crib's info on the tool is here.
January 19, 2009
Arbortech Mini-Grinder - Review
Last week we reviewed Arbortech's Power Chisel and were amazed at how much we liked it and how well it worked. We've also been playing around with their other woodworking tool, the Mini-Grinder, and now we're here to tell you how that one worked.
The basics are the same as the Power Chisel, the Mini-Grinder is an attachment for a standard angle grinder. It attaches to the top of the grinder and uses the spinning chuck as a gear to move the mini grinder at the end of the attachment. Like the Power Chisel, it's available as a single unit (attached to an Arbortech Grinder) or as a stand-alone that you can attach to your existing grinder.
Continue reading: "Arbortech Mini-Grinder - Review"
January 15, 2009
Spiders Make Scaffolding?
Did you know that spiders actually create scaffolding when they build their webs? We didn't. And when they're done with it, they eat it, probably because it's cheaper than having the staging company come and break it down. We found this interesting video over at Bits & Pieces (a thoroughly entertaining website) that explains the fascinating process.
It's sort of humiliating to know that something the size of a pencil eraser is better at building things than we are.
January 14, 2009
Stan Foster: DeWalt Finish Carpenter
We just noticed that DeWalt has chosen a winner in their finish carpenter contest. Taking the grand prize is Stan Foster with an amazing curved staircase. Over at DeWalt, you can see about 1,000 images of Stan's winning project. It takes a while, but it's worth flipping through them, particularly if you have any interest in understanding how much effort goes into making a curved staircase.
Stan, our hats off to you. Absolutely amazing work.
Check out the contest results over at DeWalt
January 13, 2009
Best of the Tool Blogs '08
A bunch of our favorite tool blogs have done year end round ups of their most popular articles. Here's the run down:
Tool Crib's 25 Most Popular Articles
Toologics' 10 Most Read Articles of 2008
Charles & Hudson's Most Popular Posts 2008
CopTool's Top 8 Blog Posts of 2008
And of course, our own list of the Top Five Reviews that appeared on Tool Snob.
January 12, 2009
C.H. Hanson Stud 4 Sure Magnetic Stud Finder
Update: Looks like we were wrong on this being a new item. As you can read in the comments, Reader Randy has owned one for three years now. What we thought was new is actually a redesign of their original Stud Finder, with an added level.
C.H. Hanson, one of our favorite tool manufacturers has recently hit the market with an interesting new stud finder called the Stud 4 Sure. Instead of using electronic magic like all of the other stud finders, this one simply has magnets that locate the nails and screws in the studs. This way there is no battery and no need for calibration. It's also much smaller than a standard stud finder and probably a lot more tool bag friendly.
Our guess is that there will be times when this might not work such as on a wall that has metal lath or anytime stainless nails, which are non-magnetic, are used. Other than those pretty rare circumstances, we think this is probably a great and reliable way to locate studs.
The Stud 4 Sure costs about $11 which is about half the price of the basic Zircon stud finder that everyone owns.
At Amazon
Paslode Contest Winners
In all the December chaos, we forgot to announce the winners of our Paslode Finish Nailer Giveaway. The grand prize winner of the Paslode Gun was a guy named "Adam" and the winner of the Amazon gift certificate was someone they call "Rae." Congratulations you two and thanks to everyone else who entered. It was, by far, our most popular contest and we're hoping to get another one going in the near future.
If you're mad as hell that you lost and you still want the Paslode Finish gun you can pick one up at Amazon. Our review of the gun is here.
January 9, 2009
Arbortech Power Chisel - Review
We've known about Arbortech's AS160 AllSaw for a while now (it's consistently been one of our most popular articles), but what we didn't know was that they also make some innovative woodworking tools; the Power Chisel and the Mini-Grinder. We weren't sure what to make of these tools at first glance, other than to be impressed with the fact that they are both essentially attachments for an angle grinder, which is one of our favorite tools and one that we think doesn't get the kudos that it deserves. We jumped at the opportunity to test out these tools and, here, we're taking a look at the Power Chisel. Our review of the Mini-Grinder should be along at some point soon.
So what is the Power Chisel all about and how does it work?
Continue reading: "Arbortech Power Chisel - Review"
January 8, 2009
Hitachi Expands 12V Li-Ion Line with Reciprocating Saw, Right-Angle Impact Driver, and Flashlight
With all of the big tool companies releasing 12-volt tools with the speed and frequency of machine gun fire, we were wondering when Hitachi would start really blowing out their own line of micro tools. Looks like we don't have to wait any longer because joining their current
Driver Drill and Impact Driver are a new mini-reciprocating saw, a flashlight, and a right-angle impact driver.
To quote the press release:
Continue reading: "Hitachi Expands 12V Li-Ion Line with Reciprocating Saw, Right-Angle Impact Driver, and Flashlight"
January 7, 2009
Bosch Table Saw / Miter Saw Hybrid
The guys over at CopTool found this cool item a couple weeks ago. It's Euro-Bosch's Table Saw / Miter Saw Hybrid. These hybrids are popular over in Europe, but have never really taken hold over here in America. We've never used one, but they sure look fun, sort of like a one-unit, trim carpentry extravaganza.
There's no word if this is coming to the states or not. CopTool has all the stats on the item here and the German Bosch page on the tool is here.
We did a little additional research and found this youtube video, which is in english, so that's encouraging. We also discovered this site which is selling them for 609.94 euro, which translates into about $820.
January 6, 2009
Tool Snob Top Five Reviews of 2008
We thought we would take a look back at the traffic numbers of the past year to let you know which articles were the most popular (America voted!). Like last year's list, this ranking is taken from just straight up page views, so it naturally favors articles that appeared earlier in the year. It's interesting though that numbers five, four, and three were all written last year, so they had far more exposure than the number one review (which absolutely crushed the competition) written in the beginning of November!
So here they are, in descending order....
5. Ridgid Lithium-Ion 18-Volt Compact Drill
4. Ryobi 4-Piece Lithium Ion Power Tool Kit
3. Wagner Paint Crew Plus
2. Dremel Multi-Max / Bosch PS-50
...and the number one review of 2008 is....
Continue reading: "Tool Snob Top Five Reviews of 2008"
January 1, 2009
December 2008 Monthly Roundup for Tool Snob
It was a wacky month for us here. We had everything planned out but then lost our power for six days right at the height of the month. This screwed up our xmas shopping, our day to day schedule, and the attention that we planned to give to the site. We essentially lost a week of posting and then, the day after Christmas, Mrs. Tool Snob gave birth to Tool Snob Jr., which we still haven't fully recovered from. So things have been irregular for us here, but this week we're going to be back to daily postings. Keep in mind that we've got a newborn now, so if you notice more spelling and grammar errors than normal, that's why. Thanks for the patience, and in the mean time, feel free to review everything that we wrote in December...
The December Tool of the Month is the Gator Sanding Sponge Holder. It's effective, inexpensive, and if it ever falls apart, we can use the handle as a bath toy.
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Megapro 13-in-1 Ratcheting Screwdriver - Review
