News from the Popular Woodworking Blog comes as a bit of a shock.

When PC Vice-President Dan Gregory said DeWalt tools were their professional-line tools, I was astounded, as were others. He explained that PC is attempting to position these tools for tradesman – an area of the market that PC feels is full of value-conscientious, value-driven buyers. PC is being sandwiched between Black & Decker (at the low end) and DeWalt (the high end). I’ve always thought my Porter-Cable routers and PC sanders were better than the DeWalt counterparts. - New Tools from Porter Cable

This comes as a shock to me too. Porter-Cable used to make really high quality, well built tools, and to hear that their name is going to be second to DeWalt is just weird. I was far more likely to buy a Porter Cable circular saw, or sander over DeWalt up until this news. Maybe this means DeWalt will start making higher quality tools. Does this mean Norm Abram is going to be using second rate tools on the New Yankee Workshop?

What do you think?

The problem with most hand held flashlights is they take up valuable hand space. It might be just me, but I find it useful to use both of my hands while I am working on projects. This can sometimes be a hard thing to do in the dark while trying to prop up a flashlight.

If only there was a better way.

There is, and its called the Stanley 95-155 3-in-1 Tripod LED Flashlight. From a distance it looks like a normal flashlight, but up close you can see that it also has a built in tripod. Now you can light up your work area hands free. If that is not enough for you, it has a total of 3 lights built into one, with each head able to swivel 120 degrees. Press the release button, and your single flashlight with 3 heads, separates into 3 individual flashlights. Now you can work on 3 projects at once.

I tried to find a video of it in action, but youtube has let me down.

You can pick up the Stanley 95-155 3-in-1 Tripod LED Flashlight at Amazon

From November 1st 2008 until December 31 2008, when you buy a qualifying Bosch 14.4V or 18V Litheon Brute Tough or Compact Tough Drill/Driver or Hammer Drill/Driver you will receive a free Bosch 14.4V or 18V Slim Pack Battery via mail in rebate.

• Bosch 17614-01 14.4-Volt 1/2-Inch Brute Tough Litheon Hammer Drill/Driver with 2 Fat Batteries
• Bosch 36614-02 14.4-Volt 1/2-Inch Compact-Tough Litheon Drill/Driver with 2 Slim Batteries
• Bosch 37614-01 14.4-Volt 1/2-Inch Brute Tough Litheon Drill/Driver with 2 Fat Batteries
• Bosch 17618-01 18-Volt 1/2-Inch Brute Tough Litheon Hammer Drill/Driver with 2 Fat Batteries
• Bosch 36618-02 18-Volt Compact-Tough Litheon Drill/Driver with 2 Slim Batteries
• Bosch 37618-01 18-Volt 1/2-Inch Brute Tough Litheon Drill/Driver with 2 Fat Batteries

It looks a lot like the old Tool-Rank doesn't it?

I went ahead and upgraded the CMS that runs Tool-Rank even though I said I wasn't going to upgrade until after the new year. There are a few bugs, as I expected, but nothing too serious. One bug doesn't allow JavaScript on the forums, but that isn't a huge deal. The upgrade is also the reason there hasn't been any tool news in the past few day. I haven't been able to test everything yet, so if you find a bug, please let me know. I also have a lot of customizing I redo. It should be fun.

One thing I forgot. Users will have to upload a new avatar. For some reason they didn't want to take the journey to the new CMS.