What is a good way to make sure we write about your product? Well, sending out a fully functional tool belt made out of Gorilla Glue brand Gorilla Tape sure helps. To be honest, I am a huge fan of Gorilla wood glue and choose it over other brands whenever I can. I like the fact that it is a little thicker and does not run, and it holds strong as would be expected. That being said, I have not used most of the other Gorilla Glue products, such as their epoxies or or tapes. Making a tool belt out of Gorilla Tape is cool enough, but the fact that they made me one and sent it out, takes it up a level. The Gorilla Tape tool belt shows us some of the fun things that can be done with the tape, and awakens my imagination to what else can be made.

So what makes Gorilla Tape better than the other duct tapes on the market today? Gorilla Tape sent me out a sample to try out, so I will be able to let you know what I find later down the road, but until then, we have their impressive specs to look at. According to Gorilla Glue, their tape uses an adhesive that is not only stronger than the competition, but also thicker. This extra strength and gap filling thickness allows their tape to stick to everything from stucco, brick, concrete, and wood. Also contributing to the strength of Gorilla Tape is their reinforced backing with a higher thread count, and an all-weather shell that blocks against moisture and holds strong under extreme temperatures and UV rays. Gorilla Tape is offered in 1-inch, 2-inch or 3-inch sizes, and is available in most hardware stores. Prices range from around $5 to $15 per roll depending on size and length.

Gorilla Glue

Large or long items can sometimes be hard to carry, but not so much because of their weight, but because of their size, shape, or even their packaging. The Strap-A-Handle is a product that was born to correct these awkward-carry items by giving them a handle. After all, everything that is easy to carry has a built in handle. Unfortunately for us, many of the items we have to carry on a daily basis do not have handles, things like boxes, bags of pet food, packs of water, or even bulk TP.

The Strap-A-Handle is as simple as it sounds; a strap that goes around the item you want to carry, with a built in handle. It comes is two different versions, a light duty (up to 50lbs) with plastic clips, and a heavy duty (up to 75lbs) with metal h-ring and a perpendicular handle. Both versions are priced under $15.

We can't let the wife have all of the fun; by teaming up with a second person and a second Strap-A-Handle, you can easily carry multiples of long items, such as a bundle of 2x4's or PVC pipe, making it a suitable tool for the jobsite. I can see myself using this to carry bundles of baseboard, or other moldings.

Strap-A-Handle

Wilton has introduced a new sledge hammer named BASH that they claim has a handle that is unbreakable. Now I have a hard time thinking that anything is truly unbreakable, and I believe the actual warranty for the BASH will state that the handle is unbreakable under normal conditions, but the fact that they back up their tool's handle with a $1000 guarantee for 2 years, thus putting their money where their mouth is, should add a bit of confidence to anyone purchasing the tool.

What makes the BASH handle so much better than the typical wood handle or fiberglass handle? From what I gather examining the photos, besides the handle of the BASH being made of steel, it is actually constructed out of six rods of steel that run the length of the handle. This steel core is then surrounded by a comfortable no-slip grip that is also said to reduce vibrations.

I haven't seen what the pricing is like on these hammers, but I think it would be safe to assume that they would be priced out of range for an average homeowner. Though I can't imagine many DIYers going through too many sledge hammer handles. The BASH Sledge Hammer can be purchased in sizes and weights from 12"-2-1/2lb up to 36"-14lb, and you can choose either a Soft Face or Hard Face Head.

Wilton BASH

Update: The Wilton BASH is expected to come out on October 1st, but CPO Outlets has the current version of the Wilton "Unbreakable Handle" sledge hammer now. Wilton Sledge Hammer - CPO Outlets

I have been referring to router cookies as router pucks for a while now; as a hockey fan it was easy for me to make the obvious connection. I called them this because they do really look like hockey pucks, and I also wanted to stay away from using any trademarked names. Lee Valley also made the hockey connection, but being from Canada, they took the connection more literally then I did, and are now using actual hockey pucks for their router Bench Pucks.

According to Lee Valley, they never wanted to get into the router standoff business, because they can easily be made at home. Instead Lee Valley took the route of selling the non-slip peel & stick materials needed to make your own router standoffs. But once they realized that hockey pucks were the perfect size at 1-inch thick and 3-inches wide, there was no turning back; the 6 ounces of added weight was also a nice bonus.

You can still get the raw materials to make your own router standoffs from scratch, but now you can also purchase the pre-cut peel & stick non-slip material to fit any hockey pucks you might have around the house. A set of eight pre-cut non-slip material disks costs less than $3. If you don't own any hockey pucks, you can purchase those as well for only $1 each, thus bringing the total to right around $7 for both.

Lee Valley via Popular Woodworking

One thing I really like about Makita is that they update their tools often; in many cases frequent updates could be perceived as a bad thing, suggesting that a product is being updated to fix an issue, but I have never found that to be the case with Makita. I have been using Makita impact drivers for over 10 years now, well before they were popular, and have used a few different models during that time.

This time around Makita has no huge changes to their new LXDT01 1/4-inch Impact Drivers, but even the minor changes are always good news for first times buyers and people looking ti upgrade. The LXDT01 carries over all of the big changes that were on the BTD144 that was announced a little over two years ago, things like the more efficient brush-less motor that is said to offer 20% more battery run-time, the 3-speed power selecting option, a separate LED light switch, and the much shorter 5-1/2-inch head length. In fact, the only change that I can see, though Makita likely made improvements to the internals, is an increase in torque to 1,460 in. lbs.

The LXDT01 is a direct replacement to the BTD144, so you will soon not be able to find it in stores, and should instead look for the updated model. Unfortunately for us, the LXDT01 is $15-25 more then its predecessor, but the price should come down over time. As always, Makita has the impact driver as a tool-only option (LXDT01Z).

Makita
Makita LXDT01 Impact Driver - TylerTool

Besides being a commercial for Festool products, in the video below, Gary Katz does a really good job showcasing and explaining the new Bessey Auto-Adjust Toggle Clamps. These are the clamps I showed you a while back that appear to use the same or similar technology as my favorite LockJaw Auto-Adjusting Clamps. When I first posted about these clamps back in July, I also posted a video from Bessey that showcases the clamps, but what I like about the Gary Katz video is that he shows us how, as a woodworker or as a finish carpenter, you can use these clamps in your everyday work flow.

At only $20 per clamp, they seem well worth the price. Add these to my wish list.

Bessey Tools

Finally we have a solution for getting marks or lines in really narrow places. Countless numbers of times I find that I need to mark layout holes for brackets, but the small holes combined with the thickness of the brackets make it impossible to get the tip of a pen or pencil through.

Bleispitz has a new product that is specifically designed to reach into narrow places and make marking a simple task again. What they have is a marker with a tip that is almost a full inch in length (25mm). The tip is made of stainless steel, so we don't have to worry about it being weak, and the marker has been specially designed to not slip into the narrow stainless steel shaft under pressure. Bleispitz is a German company, so if stereotypes are correct, their products should be well engineered. The Bleispitz marker is more expensive than your average marker, but its time saving features might be worth its $8 sticker.

Bohr
Garrett Wade

Are you ready to throw out your hex-wrenches and go tool free? After I just finished my review of both Bosch multi-tools, Dremel comes out with news of their new tool-less MM40. This lack of a tool-less feature is one of complaints with the current Bosch offerings, but not because they require tools, only because they require tools that can easily be lost.

The new MM40 from Dremel also gets a power boost up to 2.5 amps from 1.5amps. This puts the power rating up with the big boys, and offers a variable speed range of 10,000 to 21,000. The MM40 also feature a new fan cooling system that is designed to overcome some of the heats issues of the past model. I still don't understand why Bosch allows Dremel to compete with them, especially since they are in the same price range, but the new Dremel offering is indeed impressive and only leads me to believe that the next Bosch offering will be even better.

Dremel also announced a second new Multi-Max called MM20, but it doesn't have the tool-less blade change feature and it has less power at 2.3 amps, so it lost our interest. With these announcements also comes news that Dremel is expanding their accessory line, offering blades in more sizes that work with the new Quick Fit tool-less system and still work with the existing Multi-Max.

The MM20 is suggested to retail for $99.99, and the MM40 for $139.99. The should hot store shelves in September and November, respectively.

The one features that everyone is still waiting for on oscillating tools, is tools-less blade change. Fein, the originator of the tool has had this feature for a few years now, but at this point, Fein and Porter-Cable are the only ones with the tool-less blade change feature. Now it looks like Bosch Germany is releasing a tool-less oscillation tool of their very own. This is good news if the tool eventually makes its way to the US, but that can only happen if it doesn't violate any current patents. It likely doesn't violate any Fein patents, or else it would not be available in Germany, but patent laws are different in each country.

We can't exactly see how the tool-less feature works on the Bosch GOP 300 SCE Professional, but we can see a lever on the left side of the tool that hints at its function. The tools uses the Bosch OIS blade standard, which means the blade can not be simply pulled forward. So the system might be less like the one Porter-cable uses, and more like what Fein uses. Either way, we will be keeping our eyes out for this one.

DeWalt has just announced the launch of their new 3-beam line-laser (DW089K), and oh how I love to use lasers at work. They make leveling so easy that it is funny to even think about going back to using regular levels to mark long level lines across walls. I think the line-laser is one of the most invaluable tools on the jobsite, at least in my trade. The DW089K is not unlike other line-lasers on the market today, but it does have a rather handy added feature, a third laser line. This extra vertical line gives the user the ability to use the laser as a large square. It essentially takes the features of a laser-square, makes them better, and adds them to a line-laser. Now not only can the laser project square lines onto a vertical surface, but now it can do it on horizontal surfaces as well.

Notice how tough the DW089K looks? It looks like it can take more abuse than other lasers on the market today. The DW089K is the only line-laser that I know of that features a built-in roll cage. We always want to be careful with precision instruments line lasers, but accidents do happen, so a roll cage to protect the glass and the lasers behind them is nice. DeWalt's DW089K also gets a performance boost, according to DW, the lasers are 2x brighter the DeWalt's previous line-laser models. The new line-laser also features a micro adjust knob that should help with squaring, this adjustment knob allows users to more easily position the laser in finer increments.

The DW089K includes the laser, a universal mount that can be used for everything from hanging drop-ceiling track to cabinet installs, four AA batteries that provide a minimum of 30 hours of run time, and a storage case. The DW089K is expected to hit stores this September, and is expected to retail for $329.