OK, this is a little odd. The other day, I drenched my Ansell ActivArmr Heavy Laborer Gloves (reviewed here), so I plopped them right next to the woodstove to dry them out. Well, apparently, one of them somehow found its way to the woodbox and seemed to have hitched a ride on a log right into the stove. I spent better part of the morning looking for the lost glove and when I opened the stove to start a fire, I saw its devastated remains among the ashes.
But what remains is what's interesting. I've long heard that many high quality work gloves are woven with some heavy duty additives, but I've never actually seen what it looks like. Well guess what? When you burn the rest of the glove off, you're left with something that looks like a very delicate chain mail hand. It's pretty cool looking. Ansell says that their glove is woven with Kevlar and stainless steel. Since Kevlar does burn and melt, I have to assume that what's left is 100% stainless.
I removed the foundation to my house and all I got was one lousy teeny-tiny plaster crack in the corner of the kitchen.
We actually built the addition against the house first (with its own foundation) and that helped brace the main house while we did the demo, so in this picture the entire foundation under the south side of the main house is gone.
We've hit rock bottom on our own selfishness. And the thing is that we almost feel bad about it. Almost.
One of the things about reviewing tools is that you get to keep a lot of them. But trust us, the bloom falls off the rose pretty quickly there. What sounds like heaven gets cumbersome mighty fast. One new recip saw is great, but does anyone need five or six of them? A long, long time ago Festool said they would send us one of their Domino XLs to test out, but that we'd have to send it back when we were done. They gave no time limit and said that we should keep it as long as we saw fit. No problems there. A very cool attitude on their part. So we kept it...and kept it...and kept it. Every time we sat down to write the review, we'd think, "oh wait, this means that we'll have to return the tool...maybe it would be best if we ran the review next week....or maybe the week after that." So here we are months and months later (getting close on a year), slightly ashamed and feeling like we took advantage of Festool's kindness, but we're still crouching over the tool, coveting it like some hell mutant from Dante's Inferno.
We've been fans of Ace Hardware ever since the King of Football started shilling for them way back when we were in high school. It's a great store. They've got tools, paint, bird seed, plumbing stuff, electrical, free popcorn, toys, ice melt, you name it. We've got one of those rewards cards and it's really saved us some serious money over the years.
We just got word that Ace is altering their Rewards program so that savings are now instant rather than having to deal with them through the mail. All the details, along with where to sign up, are after the jump.
In the meantime, here's a video of Madden at his best. I remember this play like it was yesterday. If you watch closely, you can see the running back's mouth guard get ejected from his helmet. Seriously hard hit. If someone did that today, it would probably be a 15 yard penalty and a $30,000 fine.
Very cool stuff. Volvo has some concept drawings and video up of some theoretical construction machines. There is a vague release date of the 2020s on the site. Check out the video below the fold. Looks like they should be mining for Spice on Arrakis
Skil has recently hit the scene with a drinking tool. The Skil power corkscrew has been available in Europe for a couple years now (see our original coverage here) and it's now available in the states. Bosch owns Skil and in Europe, green Bosch is their DIY brand (read: Skil), so in all likelihood, the two items are exactly the same. Skil sent us one to check out and we were pretty interested in it. If it has to do with wine drinking and it flew in Europe, it has to be good, right?
We were impressed with Arbortech way, way back when we first saw their AS160 AllSaw at a tradeshow in May of 07. Then we got a chance to test some of their woodworking tools out and loved those too. The Mini Grinder and Power Chisel, still now, are tools that we feel we've only scratched the surface of their potential. Recently we were contacted by the company again, this time to take a look at their new TURBOPlane. What is the TURBOPlane you ask? Read on...
The paint brush. A timeless tool that has remained unchanged since the days of cave painting when some thick-headed caveman first wrapped the hairs from an ox tail around the end of a stick*. What is there to improve upon with a tool this basic? There's the part you hold and then there's the part that paints. On the simplicity/genius scale, it's right there along with the wheel.
So we were a little shocked when we got a glimpse of The Right Brush. What is this? A paint brush with a pistol grip? Oh, the scandal! But, faced with painting our entire house (every single room.....four walls and the ceiling....entire trim package), we happily agreed to test out the item. If The Right Brush could take even a sliver of pain away from the mind-numbing, spirit-crushing, hand-cramping, neck-aching, arm-hurting, paint-drip-frustrating, soul-destroying act of painting, then we would love the tool until the end of days.
UPDATE: We realized that we failed to mention the most impressive thing about the Boa and that is the fact that the 'laces' never loosen. We really like our boots to fit snug around our ankles and these deliver the good all day long.
***
As soon as we put on our first pair of Red Wing 606s, we were hooked. To us, they're the ideal work boot; durable, comfortable, and completely devoid of 'features.' We like the old fashioned feel of them. It's little that a few pieces of leather and a really nice sole. Perfect for our simple sensibilities.
But Red Wings also can swing the other way towards the hi-tech and they've just introduced a pair of boots, the 4216s, that utilize the Boa Closure System in lieu of laces. It's a funky set-up and it looks pretty strange. If you're a snowboarder, you're already familiar with it because it's been used in that industry for years. But now it's taken it's first foray into the world of construction. Red Wing sent us a pair to check out and because of our undying devotion to the 606s, we were pretty excited about it.
We've had the boots here for a while and we've come to our conclusions....
Richard K: Trying to replace the old interior door between my garage read more Kevin: me too. I'm my own worst enemy, as much as read more jeff_williams: I'm totally with you. Loathe painting, especially ceilings. Good to read more Jack Elliott: I have had my master bathrolm apart for the better read more G-man: Great looking wrench with softgrip on the handle. Really like read more
...Oh, So That's What "Reinforced Fibers" Means...
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Gojo Hand Medic - Review
