We're fully aware that BBQ grills don't fall under the typical umbrella that this site covers, but the Stok Quattro has a significant connection to the tool world: it's made by Ridgid.
Yeah, that Ridgid. Sorta funny, isn't it. They've chosen Stok as the name they're going to make their grills under and at first glance, we thought it was some Nordic company founded by vikings (the 'o' in Stok has an accent line over it, giving it the pronunciation 'Stoke').
Familial heritage aside, this looks like a pretty cool grill. The distinguishing feature of it is the removable inserts that are actually built into the grill surface. The way it works is that the grilling surface has two circular areas that can pulled up and swapped out with either a vegetable tray, a pizza stone, or a griddle. All of the parts fit in nicely and add quite a bit of functionality to the grill. It's sort of like the JobMax of the grilling world.
If we're not making any sense, here's a video:
The Quattro works on propane and goes for $250 and is available only at Home Depot. There are also charcoal versions available
This is what's left of The White Cottage, my childhood ice cream stand. It was whacked on the forehead by Irene this past Sunday. When I was little I'd go there with my family and after devouring a vanilla soft serve cone, I'd run down the hillside so I could throw rocks in the lazy river that gurgled along behind it. That lazy river seems to have gotten the last laugh.
Marlowe the SuperCat did his magic and we're now left with the names of our various Father's Day contest winners. We had three drawings going on this time around; the Paslode Framing Gun, the Channellock Tool Roll, and the B&D Trimmer/Sweeper set. All of them cool prizes and we own a big high five to all three companies for supplying the prizes.
The winners are as follows....
The Paslode Framing Gun...Dave A, the guy going to Joplin to help rebuild houses that were destroyed in the tornado. We're uber cynical here and are constantly on the look-out for scammers who spend all day entering online contests to try to get free stuff, but this guy sounds legit and judging from the photos we've seen of the mess down there, they can use all the help they can get.
The Paslode Nail Fuel packs are going to....PutnamEco, Nick Heine, Bert O'Dell, Timothy Land, and Ian.
Our homies at Channellock have set aside a roll of hand tools for us to give away to you, one of our readers for Father's Day. The tool set commemorates Channellocks 125th year in existence and will be engraved with "1886 - 2011 -- 125 Years Strong." The tool roll includes five tools:
430 Tongue and Groove Plier
420 Tongue and Groove Plier
337 Cutting Plier
3017 Long Nose Plier
526 Slip Joint Plier
Sorry about the bizarre red-tinted fire and brimstone plier image. The tools are much cooler looking in real life.
So yeah, it pretty much covers all of the basic pliers that a guy could want. We've been testing out the set and we really can't find anything wrong with them. They're made in the USA too, if that's important to you (and to a lot of you, we know it is). As far as we can tell, the tools are indestructible. The roll itself is cool too and very handy if you don't already have some kind of tool storage system going. We think our favorite are the needle nose. We end up using those for everything from holding a brad for nailing to fishing things that have fallen into ductwork.
So to enter to win, let us know your what your big summer projects are, either at work if you're a tradesman or at home if you do the DIY thing. Are you looking forward to the tasks, or are you dreading them? Feel free to make us laugh.
The non-anniversary version of the tool roll is priced at about $80. We'll pick a winner in about a week. If there are a lot of good entries, Marlowe the SuperCat will do the picking for us. Good luck.
Actually, we just noticed that Channellock has their own sweepstakes going as well, so you can get more information on that here.
Assorted Channellock items are available at Amazon
Win a Paslode CF325 Cordless Framing Nailer from Tool Snob
Paslode has been nice enough to donate one of their slick new Cordless Framing Nailers to one of you lucky readers. They've also supplied some runner-up prizes in the form of their nail/fuel packages. We reviewed this gun a while back (here) and found it to be really nice. Since the review, we've kept using it and our opinion has remained the same and possibly improved. If you're a tradesman, you already know the benefits of the cordless nailer and if you're a DIYer, it means that you can have a nice framing gun without having to buy hoses or a compressor.
So to enter to win, leave a comment at this post telling us the first thing you would do with the gun...what would you build? Since this is a Father's Day giveaway (that's when we'll announce the winner) you also have the option of telling us the first thing you would browbeat your husband into making for you.
Easy enough. And like we said, we've also got 5 fuel/nail packs to give away, so also include in your comment if you want to be in the running for those. Paslode is now selling them with little adapter pieces, making the fuel tanks compatible with their older model guns.
So have at it.
Or if you think that contests are for the lazy and insane, you can get the gun at Amazon.com for $350
ScotchBlue, makers of a fine painter's tape are doing their best to make your painting project go as smoothly as possible. On June 4th and 5th, they're setting up a help desk of sorts to answer any paint related questions that you have. Here's how you can contact them:
Skype Hotline: Connect to a Pro Prep Patrol expert through a Skype video appointment, available 9am to 9pm ET on June 4 and 5--and actually see a personal step-by-step demonstration for your paint question. To register, email ScotchBluePPP@gmail.com and include a 150 word or less description of the painting prep dilemma--or register on the ScotchBlue Facebook page: www.facebook.com/scotchblue.
855-HLP-PAINT: DIYers can call toll-free 855-HLP-PAINT from 9am to 9pm ET June 4 and 5 to talk live to one of the Pro Prep Patrol professional painters who will give you the tips you need to solve your paint trouble!
In-Home Consultations in San Francisco, CA and Atlanta, GA: Pro Prep Patrol expert painters will provide personal - and complimentary - in-home consultations to help Atlanta and San Francisco residents revamp their homes like a pro--and save money while so doing so! To register, email ScotchBluePPP@gmail.com and include a 150 word or less description of the painting prep dilemma --or register on the ScotchBlue Facebook page: www.facebook.com/scotchblue.
Pretty cool. If someone were to call us, our advice would be: prep, prep, prep, and prep. A nice paint job is all about prep. Fill your nail holes, sand it smooth, leave nice caulk lines. Take your time.
A guy we're working with right now busted this tool out the other day. The thing is solid metal and works like a mule. He said that he's never had to get it repaired (but there were a few years where the trigger acted a little funny) and he's consistently used it for as long as he's had it. This is the best part: he bought it new.....in the late 60s. So this thing is over 40 years old and it still churns on. Badass.
Check out Milwaukee's newer tools here or just check out what Amazon has here.
We just found out that our pal Rob Robillard who writes over at A Concord Carpenter and Tool Box Buzz is a contestant on ABC's new show Expedition Impossible. He's the smilin' dude on the left.
The show seems to be like Amazing Race. A bunch of teams go through various physical trials and solve riddles to get to the final destination where there is a single winner. If you don't know him, Rob is one of those guys who naturally has more energy than a coked up squirrel injected with Red Bull, meaning he's the perfect guy for this sort of thing.
We'd go ahead and wish Rob good luck, but the competition has already been filmed and the winner has already been anointed. So we'll just have to watch and find out.
The show premiers, Thursday June 23rd at 9pm.
Honestly, we hate TV, but this one looks pretty cool...
Power Tool Blog-A-Geddon: Volume One, Number One (Updated)
UPDATE: Two things....First, we didn't all conspire to use Milwaukee tools in our designs. We did that all independently of one another (and we actually all got a big kick out of it). It think it says a lot about how the three of us regard the Big Red Company.
The second thing is that Milwaukee saw the post and thought it was very cool (probably also liking the fact that we all used their tools in our designs). So they've decided to sponsor the contest by donating a brand new Milwaukee M12 3/8" Drill Driver (with Red Lithium batteries) to be the prize. With this new development, we're going to accept entries for another week, until Wednesday May 4th. A big thanks to our friends at Milwaukee for their generous donation.
_________________
Contrary to what you might think, we don't spend our days plotting the downfall of the other tool websites out there. In fact, we get along great with our compatriots in the tool writing sphere. We recently got to talking to a few of them (our homies at ProToolReviews and CopTool) and we decided it was time we all put our heads together on something. So here we are kicking off a soon-to-be ongoing series called the Power Tool Blog-A-Geddon. It's kind of like Thunderdome, but without weapons, Tina Turner, Master-Blaster, or the post-apocalyptic bondage clothing. In a way, it's actually nothing like Thunderdome. The Blog-A-Geddon basically includes two things, (of which only one is really of interest to you):
1) Our opinions.
2) Free stuff.
So here's the deal: a tool-related question is asked. We each come up with our own answers which are posted below. Then, you all get to either answer the question yourself or comment on our answers (in the comments section of this post). The best comment is going to win some tool that we've got kicking around the shop. We're not sure what yet, but it'll be something good, something in the $100+ range, like a nice laser level or a router, that kind of thing. We'll all pick a winner in a week (April 25th).
So the question is.....
What device, vehicle, object, etc would you like to see powered by a cordless drill and how would you do it?
Mrs. Tool Snob recently gave the Planter's Pal a workout and liked what she saw. It's a pretty cool multi-purpose tool for the gardener. She's holding on to hers, but Ames has another one that they want to send out to one of you.
So, to enter to win it, leave a comment at this post telling us one thing about your garden. Do you even have a garden? Do you still think that bunnies are cute after they ate all of your lettuce last year? Do you set up those little tuna can/beer snail traps? Are you trying anything new and strange this year? What kind of fence do you have? That sort of thing...anything really. We want to know....we're curious.
True Temper has supplied us with three hammers to hand off to a few of our readers. Pretty nice of them, eh? We've got one hickory handle, one graphite handle, and one all-steel handle. We reviewed them here and found them to be nice and solid. We liked them.
So in order to win, we want to hear about your handle preference. Do you like wooden handles better than steel? Graphite better than both? Do you not care? Do you feel a big difference in shock absorption from one handle to the next? Drop your thoughts in the comments section of this post and we'll pick some winners in a week or two.
We fall into the all-steel camp. We use our hammers for everything but pounding nails, so durability is tantamount to us. The fact that the steel ones are a single piece of metal from stem to stern is a good thing to us.
Jackson has been nice enough to set aside a brand new Pulverizer for us to give away to one of you for all your pulverizing needs.
If you're curious about our thoughts on the tool, they're in the last post. If you don't care and want to get to the "How to Enter" part, read the next paragraph.
In order to enter to win, please leave a comment at this post telling us what would be the first thing you'd pulverize once you got this tool in your hands. Please feel free to add in any details...how you'd pulverize it, when you'd pulverize it, why you'd pulverize it. In can be anything too; from your crappy old back deck to your mother-in-law's car.
So have at it. In a week or so, maybe two, we'll pick the best one. Or maybe we'll have our cat pick it.
If you just want to go ahead and buy one, a Pulverizer can be had at Amazon.com.
Stok Quattro Grill
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The Renovation Continues....