News

If you are in the business of doing house remodels you are probably aware of the EPA lead ruling and how it affects just about every aspect of your job. The EPA ruling requires all "paid" renovators who work on homes and childcare facilities built prior to 1978 to be EPA certified and follow proper safety protocol to prevent lead contamination and poisoning. Basically this requires all lead dust to be safely contained. If you fail to comply, you risk fines of up to $37,500 per day. Ouch. The Kett KSV-432 Vacuum...

If two cutting surfaces are good, wouldn't four or even eight cutting surfaces be even better? Simple logic tells us the answers is yes. So when Bosch comes out with a new concrete bit that has more carbide teeth, we can only expect better cutting results. While most carbide concrete bits have a single strip of carbide that offers two cutting surfaces, the Bosch SpeedX bit has two strips of carbide that offer four cutting surfaces. The SpeedX also goes a step further and offers four side cutting surfaces as well. Cutting the concrete is only...

Did you catch the season premiere of Ask This Old House? If you did, the cool adjustable workbench they were showing off might have caught your eye. The idea behind the Adjust-A-Bench is simple; to provide you with a workbench that is always at the right height for the task at hand. If you were doing assembly of a cabinet, you would want a lower working height, if you were routing, you would want a higher working height. The A-A-B offers a total adjustment range of 16.5-inches, with 12 locking height adjustments....

Knaack jobsite storage boxes keep your tools safe, but what keeps your Knaack box safe? The paint. It is the only thing keeping the evil, that is rust, from eating away at your security. After years of using your box as a workbench, saw horse, a miter stand; not to mention all of the loading and unloading, your box will get scratched. Once the elements hit that exposed metal, it is only a matter of time until rust begins to form. The new exclusive powder paint coating that is now standard on the entire line of Knaack Jobsite...

Since it was announced, the GCM12SD Axial-Glide Miter Saw from Bosch has been the most popular tool here at Tool-Rank each and every month. This is pretty impressive for a tool that has only this week hit some stores. You picked up your saw on Monday right? I know we all can't afford to get the latest gadgets when they first come out, even though we want them. Some of you are still probably waiting to learn more about this weird, yet intriguing, looking creature. Well, I have good news for all, Bosch has released a video that showcases...

You might remember that back in June I got word that Skil would no longer be selling their XBench in the state of California. This was due to new composite wood regulations pasted in the state that the Xbench did not meet. It was said back in June that new XBench models would be released, but that were not intended to be direct replacements to the original. Because of this, the new models seem to lack some of the key features that made the Xbench, the Xbench. While the Original XBench could be enhanced past just...

One of my most favorite tools I have never owned or even used is the Makita 18-Volt LXT Rotary Hammer. Just thinking about all the time I could save on a door job with one of these, makes me want to go out and buy one. Frankly, Makita can not be beat when it comes to the quantity of 18-volt lithium-ion tools, and the new BHR241 rotary hammer is just one of over 35 Makita LXT tools. The BHR241 is not the first LXT rotary hammer from Makita, but they know there is always room for...

Remember when you were a kid and how you envied the school janitor because of his cool retractable key ring? Now you can be the cool one with a retractable tool tether. The tool tethers from Gear Keeper are very similar to retractable key rings, only they have a much greater weight limit of up to 32 oz. They offer great mobility because of the dual-axis rotation belt clip, this allows for a full 360 degree rotation, and a vertical swing of 180 degrees. Reaching shouldn't be a problem either because the retractable cord...

So you're off to the hardware store or local lumber yard to pick up some alder plywood. It is for an important project and you have a deadline to meet, so you rush out as fast as you can. It's a clear day out, so you don't expect much to happen. It is these situations that Murphy's Law likes to show its ugly head. The next thing you know, you are half way home when a thunder storm hits. Five sheets of alder plywood in the back of your pickup are ruined. ...

I have talked about the WS2000 knife sharpening attachment in the past, and I have just recently talked about the new WS3000 knife attachment, but both of those require you already owning one of the two Work Sharp Sharpeners. For those of you that just want to sharpen knives, Work Sharp has a much cheaper solution with the stand alone Knife and Tool Sharpener(Model WSKTS). The WSKTS is almost identical in function to the attachments for the Work Sharp Sharpeners, just at a much smaller scale. In fact, the smaller width of...