News

One problem many of us face is tool organization. It takes so many tools to get the job done right, that sometimes they are hard to keep track of. One of the reasons for disorganization could be because of using your "work" tools at home, or using the same tools to go from building in your shop, to installing on the jobsite. If you are not completely organized, you could leave an important tool behind, which could be very costly. I would like to introduce Sortimo, a 40 year old European company...

So, you just picked up the LS1016L 10" miter saw from Makita, and now you are in search of a miter saw stand to free up your saw horses. Good news, Makita has just announced a brand new mobile jobsite miter saw stand. The Model 195083-4 miter saw stand adjusts to five height positions to fit workers of all sizes. It also features two out-feed roller stands to support longer materials. If you are working with material in the 14-16 foot range, you will probably have to use additional out-feed stands. The...

A recently passed bylaw by the town of Granby, Quebec has the power tool community in an uproar. A 7-2 vote by the city council has banned all use of construction power tools on Sunday, despite objections by local citizens, contractors, and 1,500 petition signatures "Every time we make a bylaw it's usually because the minority is not respecting the majority," said Granby Mayor Richard Goulet. The problem is the bylaw was touted as a anti-noise regulation, yet the use of lawnmowers is...

It looks like Festool is exploring the idea of an end-user training program. They are starting out with a special 2 day trial run program at the Festool USA HQ that will cover the TS Plunge-cut saws, PS Jigsaws, CT Dust Extractors, Rotex sanders, Multifunction tables, Kapex Miter saw, and Domino Joiner as well as user requested topics. This class will include some classroom discussion, though depending on the experience level of the class, we will try to spend most of the two days in the shop, actually using the tools. Although future classes...

One problem many of us face and loathe is rust on our tools. Even though I live in Southern California, which is a mostly dry climate, I still end up with rusty tools if left unused. One solution would be to coat all of my tools with something like WD-40, but who has time for that? If I did have time, would I even remember? The No Rust Shield from 3-In-One adresses all of these problems with little work on our part. You simply place the No Rust Shield in your toolbox, press the button to activate,...

CPO Outlets, which sells certified pre-owned tools from all of the major tool manufactures has just added three new brands to their growing number of online stores. The addition of Black & Decker, Panasonic Tools, and Fein, brings their total number of stores to 32 different brands. If you want to take advantage of factory reconditioned tools including a factory warranty, at a discount price, you might want to take a look at the CPO Outlets the next time you need a tool. CPO Outlets

It looks like in order for Bosch Tools to find out where their advertising money is best spent, they are giving away free Guns & Hoses t-shirts. The only catch is they want you to tell them which publication you spotted their Bosch Nail Guns ad in. If you are reading this blog post, then you probably heard about the Bosch nails guns from us, but unfortunately it doesn't look like that will get you a free shirt. Bummer. So the next time you are at the hardware store, you might want to browse through a few magazines to...

Bosch is a German company, so as expected Europe gets all the cool Bosch tools before we get them here in the US. Yeah it sucks, but this allows us to get a sneak peak at some of their latest gadgets before, or (the sad part) if they make it to the US market.

Like most of you tool blog readers, I really like it when a completely new design of an old tool comes along. It doesn't even have to be a complex tool for me to get excited, just a different take. Such is the case with the Work Horse. It is not that other saw horses don't already do the same thing, but the Work Horse offers a new and unique design. Using just a few scrap 2x4's, you can have a saw horse at just about any length. You don't have to...

Did you know that every standard 18v lithium-ion Makita charger (Model DC18RA) can play music every time your battery is done charging? I have had my Makita drill and impact for around a year but never knew this. Here is how I figured it out. I heard a co-workers charger play a song when his charge was complete and wondered why his played songs and mine didn't. After checking and double checking that the model numbers were the same, I figured mine could play songs too. My co-worker never actually knew...