News

During my recent look over at the Ridgid website I noticed something interesting. Ridgid is now re-branding a few of the more common MagSwitch products. This is likely to mean you have a pretty good chance of getting these at your local HomeDepot, or having them ordered from HD if they can not be found in your area. This is a smart move for MagSwitch if HomeDepot makes them available in most of there stores. This could also do a lot to get the MagSwitch name out there.

Starting this Sunday up until November 8th, Home Depot will be offering a drill trade up program. Simply bring in your used or broken power drill and Home Depot will give you 15% off of a new Lithium-Ion cordless drill. HD will then recycle your old drill and save the world; a win win for everyone. Also, though not as cool, from November 5th – 15th Home Depot will be offering a trade up program for old Christmas lights. Bring in your old or broken Christmas lights and HD will give you a $3 off coupon...

After 21 seasons of great woodworking, Norm has decided to end his long time TV show, The New Yankee Workshop. The good news is he will continue being a part of This Old House. So will we probably be able to still see his work, though limited. Also good news is that The New Yankee Workshop will continue to remain available online. I just hope PBS will continue to air his reruns on a regular basis. 21 seasons is a lot of episodes, most of which I have probably not see or have already forgotten. ...

The problem with tools is we all want more of them. The other problem is we never have enough money. Here at Tool-Rank we try to keep you up to date with the latest deals, promotions, hot deals from the forum, etc, but we can't find you the best price on everything. This is where Tools.com comes in to play. They take the hassle out of comparison shopping by listing each tool with a number of different stores and their respective prices. Now with a quick search you can find out the...

We probably all knew that laser distance measurer's were going to be a big part of the construction industry in the future. The only question was how long until everyone owns one. Makita's recent entry into the game (now available in the UK) might get you to become a believer sooner then you thought, and it is only a matter of time until it hits the US. It has some great features such as a large backlit multi-line display screen, measuring in both metric and imperial, a memory function and more. But there are a couple...

People like us don't usually need an excuse to buy new power tools, but Makita always makes it a little harder to resist the buying temptation by offering great tool promotions. Now until the end of this year you can get the brand new Makita 3-Speed Impact BTD144Z free after mail-in-redemption, when you purchase a qualifying cordless tool. Qualifying tools include: 5 3/8" Metal Cutting Saw BCS550, 7/8" SDS-PLUS Rotary Hammer Kit BHR240, 3/8" Angle Drill Kit BDA350, 1/2" High Torque Impact Wrench Kit BTW450, or Portable Band Saw Kit BPB180. ...

Cordless tools may be king on the jobsite, but that doesn't mean there isn't a place for corded tools in your life. Corded tools offer a few key benefits over their cordless cousins, such as more speed in a lighter body at a much lower cost. Plus, as long at you pay your electric bill, you will never run out of power. Bosch's latest corded drill model 1006VSR uses a 6.3 amp motor to deliver 0-2600 RPMs, which is significantly higher then an 18 volt equivalent, while also keeping the weight at...

Not really, but scraps are something we usually have around the shop or on the jobsite. Very rarely do I use real paper on the job for measurements or notes. What about when you are at home or in the office? You probably use those post-it notes that you can conveniently stick on anything and everything. The problem - they sure are ugly. Sure they can be seen from a distance, but that just means they are even more ugly up close. The Kakuzai Wood Memo Block is the answer to people...

I received an email with some information on the pricing and availability of the BucketVac we talked about a couple weeks ago. It looks like the launch will happen the 3rd week of December at the earliest (I hope they have fast shipping for Christmas). SpeedClean decided to delay the launch so they could make some design changes. We felt the right approach was to make sure we incorporated all the consumer feedback into the product before we launched it. Though SpeedClean is in discussions with national retailers...

Bosch is expanding their cordless 10.8 volt line in the UK with the addition of a compact metal shear. Bosch boasts a cutting speed of up to 4 times faster then cutting with hand shears. Considering the tool is doing all the work at a size not much bigger then a hand shear, I would probably be happy if it was only as fast has a hand shear. The faster speed is just an added bonus. If my conversions are correct, it looks like it can cut up to 16 18 gauge steel, and 12...