Smash Test Thumby
The ThumbSaver Magnetic Nail Setter ($13) is an ingeniously simple solution for a fairly common problem. It’s grooved magnetized tip is strong enough to hold even the thickest of nails firmly in place while hammering — sparing your most important evolutionary digit in the event your aim is slightly off the mark. The magnet is [...]
Cutting Edge
When it comes to chainsaws corded and battery-powered options have always left something to be desired — their lack of torque and power relegating them to oversized shrub duty. But come this September, there’s going to be a new player in town. The Oregon PowerNow Cordless Chainsaw ($TBA) will pack 40 volts of lithium ion [...]
Demolition, Man.
Artillery Tool’s various pry bar systems are designed to help professionals and do-it-yourself-ers alike tear down construction like Stephon Marbury destroyed his career. While all of their kits feature a variety of interchangeable handles and specialized pry heads, the Disaster Restoration Set ($549)is their top of the line offering. The 22 specialized wrecking components packed [...]
Where hammers fear to tread
Required ingredients to forge one badass hammer: 19 oz balanced head, 18 inches of Tennessee Hickory and monumental biceps. Okay, maybe not the last, but you’ll find the former two in this collaboration between our friends at Base Camp X and Hardcore Hammers who have somehow managed to take a ubiquitous tool and turn it [...]
Nails of Wrath
It may look like a Klingon weapon, but the Hilti GX 120 ($799) is definitely of this world. With the ability to drive 750 fasteners on a single tank of gas, it makes mincemeat of normal-duty fastening jobs. The GX 120 is powerful enough to quickly drive fasteners into tough surfaces like concrete, plastered masonry, [...]
Connect the....
Want one of those organized tool walls you keeping spying in the fictional garages of guys in the hardware store commercials but can’t be bothered to hang pegboard? Well, Tool Dots ($12) were created for the lazy neat freak in all of us. Each dot measures 1/2 inches in diameter and can securely hold tools [...]
Don't call it husky
Without skipping a cut, the Graham Stubby Folding Razel ($50) qualifies as one of the more unique pocket knives we’ve used. Based off the larger non-folding Razel, which was created as a utility knife of sorts featuring both a chisel point and a razor styled blade. This blade combination lends itself to a multitude of [...]
Blitz Drill
Designed for performance in a compact package, it isn’t a stretch to call the Festool CSX Drill ($275) the BMW of drills — hailing from the 80 year old German power tool company. The single, 2 lb driver functions as both a drill or driver and its versatile form factor means taking on cumbersome spaces [...]
Shhh, be quiet...
Built with noise dampening materials and a uniquely designed exhaust tube, the Husqvarna 356QT Quiet Blower ($495) emits just 64 decibels making it a veritable Lexus amongst its peers. And in case you’re not savvy with decibel ranges, 60 dB’s is the equivalent of a dishwasher on rinse cycle and 70dB’s is roughly your average [...]
Rolling the pain out of paint
The Black & Decker Rapid Roller ($35) is designed to make your next paint job take half the time compared to using traditional roller brushes. Featuring an exclusive pivoting head, the brush can be used straight on or at 40 and 80 degree angles for easy edging and maneuvering in tight spaces. Thanks to its [...]
Handle Sticky Situations
Just as Zeus produced Ares, Hercules, and Hermes, so hath the original Duct Tape spawned Scotch’s new Tough Duct Tape line. The new branding is about as redundant as it gets, but Scotch clearly wanted to reassure loyalists that the latest heirs in the Duct Tape family were every bit as useful as their take-on-all-projects [...]
Give It Hell
Some tools are made for creating, others are destined for destruction. The Garret Wade Box Hatchet ($10) has breaking written all over it. Stare at the head, and you’ll see it’s part hatchet, part hammer, part nail remover and part crowbar, making it the mother of all frankentools. Why the name Box Hatchet you ask? [...]
This Saw, Sings
Boasting saw speeds 3 times quicker than mere mortal saws, the Irwin Universal Handsaw ($22) is the Usain Bolt of cutters. Winner of a Red Dot Product Design Award, the handsaw features a unique, ergonomic placement of its comfort grip handle in relation to the triple-ground tooth blade design. The combination virtually eliminates binding and [...]
Handy in a Pinch
Some tasks call for delicate tools, others don’t. The PockeTweez ($25) was designed by construction industry veterans who worked around Oregon’s milling industry and admired the hand-crafted tweezers employees made from planer blade stock. Unlike your typical drug store variety, these tweezers were stout and sharp as hell, which made them great for removing splinters/silvers. [...]
Third eye not so blind
Just like your own personal periscope, the Ryobi TEK4 Inspection Scope can go where your head and eyeballs can’t. Better than cramming your face through a wall or snaking your meaty forearms through a small space under the hood of your car, this scope has a 3 foot camera cable that’s waterproof, along with a [...]
