Spring Home Maintenance

We did some looking around and found a few nice home maintenance checklists for the spring. So if you're looking for something to do this weekend, here you go. Or, if you'd rather blow off the preventative maintenance and pay big bucks for it at a later date, that's fine too.

Housekeeping Channel has a good all around list that focuses on our house's systems. They suggest things like checking your air filters, your chimney, and the pressure on your hot water tank. They have a nice 'click the word for the definition' feature as well. Their article is here.

The Mississippi State University Extension Service has a list that concentrates on the exterior of your house. They give you an idea of what to look for and have some suggestions on what do do if things don't look the way they should. Here.

HomeInspectorLocator.com has a very complete list of things to watch out for in your house. It deals with systems, interior, exterior, and even gives description of common bugs and other pests. Here.

Ten Tips for Spring Yard Care

Lawn care is one of those things that if you fall behind early, you're doomed for the rest of the summer. So even though it still might seem a little too cold to start thinking about how much you hate mowing the lawn, now is the time to start.

We did some looking and found this article that gives some advice for what to do in the first stages of spring to ensure that you get off on the right foot.

Read: 10 Tasks to Consider Before the Mowing Season

PartsSelect.com's 10 Best DIY Websites

PartsSelect.com, an online retailer of appliance parts, is currently revamping their website and adding some things that we think are worth passing on. For one, they've put together a list of their top ten DIY websites. It's a great selection, ranging from the one-man-band of The Natural Handyman to the polished Better Homes and Garden's DIY site. The list has good descriptions of each site, letting you know what features they each have.

Check out the list here.

Grizzly Industrial '08

This is our favorite time of year, not because of the non-stop holiday booze-fests, but because it's when the new year's Grizzly catalog arrives. And while we were recently out of town at one of said booze-fests, this momentus yearly event occurred.

To us, the Grizzly catalog is a one stop reference for tools for the entire year, and they've got everything. The catalog is the size of a small city's phone book and is crammed with power tools, shop tools, hand tools, bits, jigs, project plans and plenty more. Also, anyone interested in building their own guitar should start with this catalog, because they feature an extensive section on just that topic.

That said, we obviously think that everyone of you should have one of these kicking around the shop, by the nightstand, in the bathroom, or where ever it is that you have the time to flip through the Cadillac of tool catalogs.

Get your free catalog at Grizzly.

Tool Deals on the Internet

It's tough to know where to buy online? How do you know who's legit and who's heading to Taiwan with your credit card number? The following stores are ones that we buy a lot of tools from. We've had nothing but good experiences with them as far as ordering, returning, and shipping goes...

Amazon.com - We buy a lot of tools through Amazon. It's quick, easy,and they've got a great selection.

• Spend over $500 on Bosch tools, get a free PS20-2 Litheon Pocket Driver with 2 batteries. Details here. Offer good until December 3rd. The $500 mark isn't that unrealistic with great items like their new table saw (with the new style of blade guard), their jigsaw, and their outstanding router.

• Buy 3 tools, get the 4th one free - Just like it sounds. Details here. The list of eligible tools is 10,599 items long, so there's a big selection. We quickly checked it out and saw a number of great tools on it like the Denali 115-Piece Home Repair Tool Kit, the Kreg R3 Pocket Hole Jig System, the Drill Doctor Bit Sharpener, a nice DeWalt 30 Piece Drilling and Driving Set, and our all-time favorite tool, the Leatherman Blast. The complete list of eligible tools is here.

• Buy a power tool and get 20% off on any accessory. Details here. For example, if you get the Makita 18-Volt Li-Ion Driver Drill, you should be able to get 20% off on selected Makita gloves. The eligible list of tools is here, and once you click on a tool, scroll down to see the available accessories.

Tool King - Not only is Tool King a great store, but they also run a great tool blog, Toologics.

• Fee Shipping on orders over $99. For orders under $99, shipping is only $5. Details here

• Rebates and Promotions - They've got a ton, ranging from $15 mail-in-rebate on select DeWalt nailers, to a free Milwaukee impact driver with the purchase of a Milwaukee combo kit. These promotions and many more
  here.

• Compressor, Pressure Washer, and Generator Sale. Here.

• Hot Deals of the Week. Here.

Huge Black Friday Tool Deals

UPDATE: We also researched some great internet tool deals here.

If you're like 80% of your fellow man, you'll be spending money like an insane person on Friday. It's the biggest shopping day of the year and to get you ahead of the game, here are some of the best deals that we've been able to find....

Home Depot

• Dewalt 18-Volt 3-Piece Compact Combo Kit - $199
  
• Dewalt 18-Volt Compact Drill/Driver Kit - $97
  
• Husky 2-Gallon Mini Air Compressor Kit - $59
  
• Husky Lithium-Ion Palm Dirver Tool Kit - $49.99
  
• Makita 5/8" Hammer Drill with Free Grinder - $99
  
• Poulan 40CC 18" Chainsaw - $99
  
• Ryobi 12-volt Lithium-Ion Drill Kit - $79
  
• Ryobi 6" Grinder With Work Light - $19.99

More here...

Read on for deals from Ace Hardware, Sears, and Harbor Freight.

Continue reading: "Huge Black Friday Tool Deals"

2007 Tool Snob Holiday Gift Guide

Here at Tool Snob, we've put together a gift guide for anyone thinking of giving the gift of tools this holiday season. Buying tools for someone else can be daunting, but if you stick with us, everything will be a-ok...

For the Apartment Renter/College Student
Skil's brand new Power Wrench ($63 – our review) is a great tool for anyone, particularly someone with a small living space. Since it's both a wrench and a little right angle screw driver, it does double duty and hardly takes up any room at all. For a good collection of tools to have on hand for whatever comes up, the Denali 115-Piece Home Repair Tool Kit ($39.99) has everything someone would need for hanging pictures and other light around the house tasks. The Husky 45-Piece Stubby Set ($15) is not as complete, but still a good collection of tools to have on hand.

For the Homeowner
The first place to start is a nice cordless screwgun. If you want something that can fit nicely in a kitchen drawer, go for the Dremel Cordless Screwdriver ($70, our review). It's tiny, powerful for its size, and doesn't have any flashy pops and buzzes to over complicate things. For $30 extra, you can get it bundled with the Dremel Stylus, which we think is a no-brainer of a deal. If you want to get something a little bigger, but still don't want to get into the higher priced contractor-grade tools, try the new Ryobi 12-Volt Lithium Ion Drill ($79). But, if there's the possibility that there's going to be some more serious woodworking in the future, it would be wise to invest in a really durable tool, like the Compact 18-Volt Drill from Ridgid ($189, our review).

If they've already got a cordless screwgun, then you should consider getting them a circular saw. A nice one is Ridgid's Fuego ($140, our review), but other standbys in this department include the Porter-Cable ($140) and Makita ($140).

Does next summer hold a major painting project? If so, the Wagner PaintEater ($75, our review) will take a lot of the agony out of the scraping process, making things go quite a bit faster.

Husky also has some nice tools that we found worked both in the shop and around the house. Their X-Sawhorse ($35) saved one of our parties (details here) and the 84 Watt Fluorescent Light ($60, our review) kept us playing horseshoes long into the night on many occasions.

If you'd rather give a book as a gift, we think that any homeowner, no matter what kind of house they own, would benefit from George Nash's Renovating Old Houses ($21, our review). And don't forget a subscription to This Old House ($15/12 issues).

For the Contractor/Carpenter
Any carpenter would crawl over broken glass for a chance to own the Fein MultiMaster ($200). This unique tool can cut, sand, polish, and grind, all with a level of precision that's downright freaky.

If that special someone has been on the lookout for a nice router, we recommend the Bosch Plunge and Fixed Base Variable Speed Router Kit ($200). If that's too big, or they already have a full-sized one, the smaller Bosch Colt ($110, our review) is an amazing tool as well.

The Journal of Light Construction, although more expensive than the average magazine ($35/12 issues), is well worth it. Each issue has articles on hands-on building techniques as well as how to deal with the business end of contracting.

For the Serious Woodworker
The Festool Domino is painfully expensive ($700), but it's also one of the best tools in existence. Whoever you give it to will love you unconditionally for the rest of your life. We know some people who have one and they say that when they hold it, they can hear angels singing.

There's also the Kreg Pocket Screw Jig System ($29-$139, depending on the kit) which will be enjoyed by anyone who even looks at it. And we can't forget the Cadex CPB23.50 Pinner ($300, our review), the Rolls-Royce of precision nailers.

For someone who already has all the tools they'll ever need, we recommend A Cabinetmaker's Notebook by James Krenov ($15). It's a great read for anyone interested in a visionary's philosophy behind woodworking.

Also, don't forget to check out our 5-Part Father's Day Gift Guide for more gift ideas:
Part 1 ($1-$20)
Part 2 ($20-$50)
Part 3 ($50-$100)
Part 4 ($100-$150)
Part 5 ($150+)

Looking for more amazing gift ideas? Check out our extensive set of holiday
shopping guides on electronics, fashion, cooking, and more.

Popular Woodworking's Best Tools of 2007

With the year coming to an end, it's time to start getting into all the 'best of the year' lists. This month's Popular Woodworking features their list of the best tools of 2007. They were good enough to reprint the article online for all of you too cheap to drop $20 on a subscription.

The list, as well as the magazine, is geared towards serious woodworkers; people who are likely to have some pretty heavy equipment on hand. So, even though the list has a few tools way to esoteric for the average DIYer (and even carpenter), it's a great selection, and definitely worth taking a look at.

Check out the list here.

Subscribe to Popular Woodworking at Amazon

Woodfinder.com

We just stumbled on Woodfinder.com and couldn't be any more impressed. It's an online database of wood suppliers and it's got a lot of them. You can search by type of wood, by your zip code, or by any other number of specifics that you're looking for (i.e. boatbuilding, moldings, reclaimed lumber, mail order sales only, and on and on and on). Once you isolate a company, they've got all the right information on them; what payments they accept, what exactly they sell, and if they're willing to ship it.

We recommend going to the site and poking around for a while. We plugged in our zip code and found two suppliers that we didn't even know existed.

Woodfinder.com

Top Ten Technologies of 2007

Fine Homebuilding has an interesting article on the top ten technologies that you can use right now to improve your house. The items on the list range from mold-resistant drywall to single-unit washer/dryers. Check out the article here.

The Ways of Solid Wood

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.

Read the entire article here.

The article is actually a chapter in a book called Woodworking Down to a Line. Available here (we were having trouble with this link).

Father’s Day Gift Ideas from Tool Snob – Part 5 ($150+)

Now, in our final installment we’re dealing with some pretty severe gifts. The kind that not only say, “Dad, you’re a great guy,” but they also say, “Dad, let’s never again talk about how I wrecked your car.”

Bosch 2-1/4 HP Plunge and Fixed Base Variable Speed Router – This is a great (almost) all in one router kit. It’s got the power for any task and has a very nice depth set/adjust. We picked one up a while back and so far we’re really impressed with it. $199.99 at Amazon.com

DeWalt 10” Compact Table Saw – Not as big as their portable benchtop model, but it’s got a lot of the same qualities that make it a great saw. It’s got a rack and pinion fence, a 15 amp motor and it comes with a miter gauge, a carbide blade, and a push stick (that you should immediately replace with a homemade one). $367.49 at Amazon.com

Porter-Cable 3 Nailer and Compressor Combo Kit – With a brad nailer, a staple gun, and a finish nailer, there is nothing a man cannot do. Porter-Cable has this great, economical set for the advanced DIYer. $299.00 at Amazon.com

Continue reading: "Father’s Day Gift Ideas from Tool Snob – Part 5 ($150+)"

Father’s Day Gift Ideas from Tool Snob – Part 4 ($100-$150)

Now we’re getting into either the real dad-love or a really guilty conscience. The previous installments (one, two, and three), handled gifts in the $1-$100 range. For today, we’re upping the ante to the $100-$150 bracket.

Ridgid Fuego 6-1/2” Framing Saw – This little tool is a real monster. We reviewed it a while back and thought it was the coolest thing since refridgeration. Now it’s our go-to circular saw. It’s powerful, lightweight, got all the right features, and at $139.00 it’s a total steal. At Home Depot

Milwaukee Sawzall – The first step to building something is destroying what’s already there. In that department, there is no bigger help than a reciprocating saw. They're pure demolition machines and anyone who wants to wreck something needs one. And why not get the original sawzall? No silly rotating head, no frills, just the power of destruction. $109.99 at Amazon.com

Bosch Colt 1HP Variable Speed Palm Router – Another gem in our daily rotation; small, compact, and yet powerful enough to handle some pretty big jobs. It’s got a great depth adjustment/locking system and when you hold it in your hand, well, it just feels right.
$112.85 At Amazon.com

Continue reading: "Father’s Day Gift Ideas from Tool Snob – Part 4 ($100-$150)"

Father’s Day Gift Ideas from Tool Snob – Part 3 ($50-$100)

Our first two installments, which covered the price range of $1 to $50 are essentially for those who have forgotten all those little things that dad's done over the years. Think of all the times he drove down to the police station at 4am to bail you out. That kind of parental dedication deserves more than a $10 gift, doesn’t it?

Black & Decker Grasshog – This is a great little battery powered string trimmer. It’s not gas, so you don’t have to deal with starting it and it’s not electric so you don’t have to maneuver a 100’ extension cord with you all day. So far, it’s been getting really good reviews. $99.00 at Amazon.com

Wagner Paint Eater – If pops has plans of painting the house this summer, you’d do well to get him the PaintEater. He’ll like it so much he might not even notice the fact that you’re not helping him. $74.99 at Amazon.com

Hitachi 3.6 Volt Li-Ion Cordless Screwdriver – This is great for both around the house use and more heavy-duty stuff in the workshop. As an added bonus, it looks sort of like a power tool version of Spiderman. Maybe dad likes comic books too? $79.97 at Amazon.com

Continue reading: "Father’s Day Gift Ideas from Tool Snob – Part 3 ($50-$100)"