News

This might be a little late in the season for some people, but Scotch has some duct tapes that they say will help keep you dry, warm, and help keep the elements out in the elements. Sure Scotch is trying to sell you some tape, but I know a storm is hitting the west coast, and these tapes might be what you need to help prevent some unwanted issues. Scotch Tough Duct Tape – Heavy Duty All-Weather is designed for long-term or permanent exterior repairs and resists drying, cracking and peeling caused by tough outdoor elements like...

Timberland has built something of an oxymoron with something they call the ultimate "light heavyweight" boot. The Timberland PRO Helix 85594 boot uses a lightweight safety toe that is made of alloy instead of steel, thus giving users the protection they need without all of the weight. Part of this heavyweight status can also be attributed to their use of a rugged full-grain waterproof leather shell. While the Helix is technically classified as a work boot, Timberland also took a few cues from their outdoor boots and incorporated an anti-fatigue energy boosting technology that...

Festool posted a teaser video on youtube of their new CXS Ultra Compact Cordless Lithium-ion Drill. The drill is expected to be released this May (the month of my birth *hint hint*) and will be powered by a 10.8 volt 1.3Ah battery that can be charged in 20 minutes. Festool didn't share very much in the way of specs, but the dill is already for sale in Europe and specs are probably the same. The CXS has a 2-speed transmission that gives us speeds at 0-400/0-1200 RPMs. The drill can be purchased as a standalone kit with a hex...

ProTool Reviews and The WoodWhisperer both have some great articles about SawStop, a new rival flesh detecting table saw safety system, and what the Consumer Product Safety Commission can do to help lesson table saw injuries. It turns out that SawStop as a brand was not the first choice for Stephen Gass, the inventor of the table saw braking system. He originally went directly to table saw manufacturers to try and get them to license his SawStop system from them; but his licensing efforts failed. The SawStop technology was too expensive, heavy, and ruined saws blades after...

Many tool stores have a few of their tools out of the box and on display so you can get a better look and feel, but how much information can you really gather from a tool that is tethered to the display case? It is when you actually get to use the tool that you really begin to understand what it is capable of. The idea behind the Festool Test Drive Center is simple enough; provide access to the tools, and let people use them. WoodWerks wants people to have usable access to the tools so...

We have miter saws with lasers, drills with lasers, and even hand saws with lasers, but up until now I have never seen a table saw with a laser. Rockwell has finally given us the laser line table saw you never knew you needed. The laser is designed to make it easier to see exactly where the saw blade will meet the wood, and should really come in handy for getting accurately sized miter cuts. The laser grabs our attention, but there is more to the saw. This is the first jobsite table saw...

Bamboo is the fastest growing plant on Earth and also one of the strongest; so why isn't more stuff made out of it? Well, the hollow down the middle of each piece of bamboo might have something to do with it. But now thanks to new technology and strong glues, more and more possibilities for bamboo are becoming available. To make bamboo more useful, they cut it into smaller pieces, then glue all of these pieces together to form larger lumber. It is from here that they can make things like flooring, or in the case...

The Perfect Bungee Lasts A Lifetime; this is not just the title of today's blog, it is also the warranty and the name of the bungee in question. The Perfect Bungee makes use of the latest in technology, and brings us a new bungee that they can withstand a lifetime of UV rays, extreme weather, and even many of the chemicals found around your house. Most bungee cords on the market today are made of rubber and can not withstand any of the conditions mentioned above. The Perfect Bungee is made of polyurethane, one of today's...

Like me, you probably didn't make it to the World Of Concrete trade show in Las Vegas. But this is OK, we still have news on some new tools from Bosch that add to their growing cordless line. Both tools are in the 18 volt Litheon line, the first being a 4-1/2" Angle Grinder, and the second is an SDS-Plus Rotary Hammer. The Bosch Litheon line is ever growing, but it still has a ways to go to catch up to Makita. Bosch looks to be doing things right with the new CAG180 Angle...

Flexible coil tubes are nothing new; we use them for everything from air ducting, to pool hoses, but the BlueTube borrows from the classic design and takes it to the next level. Typical hoses use some type of coil skeleton that is either molded into the tube, or covered by some type of material to create the tube. The flaw in this inner coil design is all the lumps and bumps that the coil skeleton creates along the full length of the hose. These bumps are places for dust to get trapped and causes air turbulence...