One of the many things I wish I could do is pen turning. Unfortunately I do not have the proper tools, the knowledge, and probably not even the talent it takes to make such works. But for those of you that have the tools and are gifted with such talents, The Pen Wizard might be of some interest to you.

You can only do so much to a pen with a lathe, but The Pen Wizard ornamental lathe adds an extra bit of wow factor to your work. With the use of a Pen Wizard and a rotary tool such as a Dremel, it gives you the ability to add spirals, cross hatching, and hundreds of other textured patterns to your otherwise round pens. It even makes it easy to turn your round pens into polygonal pens. The Pen Wizard cost about $320 and can be purchased from Beall Tool Co. Be sure to watch the video after the Read More.

Beall Tool Co.

You might already have some Christmas gift woodworking projects in the works, but be sure to free up some extra time for the 2010 Lumber Jocks Woodworking Awards. Twice a year, in the summer and the winter, Lumber Jocks hosts a woodworking competition for its members. It is a way to show off your work, get creative, and also win some great prizes.

The category for this winter is Yin Yang. LJ wants to see your best work featuring woods of contrasting colors, and an explanation of how you used the Yin Yang effect in your project. The 1st place winner chosen by the LJ community will receive a $400 Rockler gift certificate and some Bench Cookies. 10 runners up will also receive a set of Bench Cookies.

You can add your submissions starting January 1st, and voting will start February 1st. You only have a month, so you better get to building.

Visit Lumber Jocks for more details.

I hope you are not tired of reading about pocket tools here at Tool-Rank because they seem to be popping up everywhere these days. I don't know what the record is for the most tools in one tool per square inch, but The Piranha is probably pretty high on the list. At only 3 7/8” in length and .150” thick, the Stainless Steel Piranha packs a pretty hefty amount of tools. It features both open and box wrenches in six sizes ranging from 9/16” - 1/4”, a bottle opener, nailer puller, scraper, and even a hex bit holder with included Phillips and Flat head bit. If The Piranha is something you simply can not live without, you can pre-order your very own for $49. Did I mention they are made in the USA?

PocketToolX

Bosch has combined the best of a cordless impact driver with the things you need with a cordless drill to bring you their new 3-Mode Impact Drill/Driver. This new tool has the look and feel of a regular impact driver, and even uses the same 1/4” hex chuck, but the ability to turn off impacting with the flick of a switch is what makes the tool special.

Most people do not want to have to carry around both an impact and a drill and if you are running large screws, an impact is the way to go. The problem is when it comes to drilling. Impacts do an OK job at drilling, but the impacting really slows down the process and can leave you with some ugly holes. Flick over to drill/driver mode and you are all set. The drill/driver mode will also allow you to install soft metal screws without breaking off the heads. An added bonus, because this is an Impact at heart, is the extra amount of RPM's you will get for drilling, 2,800 RPM vs 1,800 with a standard drill.

Bosch offers both a 14.4 model 26614-01 and an 18 Volt model 26618-01 that are comparable with existing Lithion cordless tools. Kits include two batteries, 30 minute charger, double ended Phillips bit, belt clip and carrying case. MSRP for the 18 volt kit is $369

14V – 18V Bosch Tools

You might not have known it, but 2009 marks the 120th year Stabila has been in business. Stabila was founded by the Ullrich brothers in 1889 as the “Meter Factory” whose claim to fame was the invention of the folding rule. It is pretty amazing that Stabila has not only been around for over 100 years, but that they were able to survive through both World Wars. Then again, for all I know the wars could have helped more then hurt them.

When people think of Stabila, we automatically think of levels. But even though Stabila didn't start making levels until 1979 they chose to honor their 120 year old history with some limited edition Black Anniversary Levels. In fact, these Black levels are so limited I could only find one store online that sells them. If you are in the mood to celebrate with Stabila, you can pick up a Black Edition 24” 48” or 78”/32” Jamber Set for a little more then your normal yellow Stabila.

[:cicn:] Stabila Black Edition - Amazon

Grinders are one of the few tools on the jobsite that are true multitaskers and likely a good reason to make sure you get a good one. They can cut, sand, grind, shape, polish and sharpen, something many of us do on a daily basis.

The two new Makita angle grinders – GA4030/K (4”) and GA4530 (4-1/2”) are powered by a Makita built industrial 6 AMP motor - gotta love Makita for building their own motors and not using something off the shelf. These 11,00 RPM motors are also sealed to protect the bearings from dust and debris, and feature machined gears that are said to last twice as long as competitive models.

Makita also had comfort in mind when designing these new grinders and decreased the size of the barrel grip to only 2-2/4”. They also added a 3rd top position mount for the side handle in addition to the 2 side mounts. This new position should really come in handy during cutting applications. You will notice that both models are basically the same with the disk size and spindle thread type being the only differences.

Makita Tools
$ GA4030K , GA4530 - Amazon

If there is one thing that makes time fly on the jobsite, it is a good work environment. One of the easiest ways to improve your work environment is by adding a little Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture to your day.

But you can't take just any radio to the jobsite, there are to many hazards. You need a radio that can withstand a fall from the rooftop, a punt down the stairs and even a game of car bowling. The new M12 radio from Milwaukee Tools survived all this and more, but you don't have to take my word for it, someone made a video to prove it.

Pretty impressive if you ask me and something you can easily test yourself if you don't mind voiding the warranty. But if the radio is that durable, who needs a warranty?

Milwaukee M12 Radio - Amazon

Well over a year after Milwaukee released their line of 12-inch miter saws, they have now come out with a new heavy duty miter saw stand, which in my opinion is a year late. However if you have been holding out for a Milwaukee stand or you are just now looking for a better way to make your miter saw more mobile, it doesn't look like the 48-08-0550 Miter Stand will disappoint.

In typical Milwaukee fashion, the 48-08-0550 is no light weight. The stand weighs in at 56.3 lbs which is a pound more then one of the Milwaukee Miter Saws it would be supporting. When we take a look at the specs we can see what the weight of the stand is accomplishing – the table area of the stand can support an amazing 550 lbs. It has a total extension width of 9.5' which is good for short trim, but if you are working with trim lengths in the 12-16' range I always suggest getting a couple extra roller stands.

It looks like only part that is questionable are the girly sized wheels. I don't know why manufacturers like to skimp on the wheels, but it is has always been annoying. Do they not realize that jobsites are like mini war zones?

If the 48-08-0550 Stand caught your fancy you can pick one up for around $200.

Milwaukee Tools

Photo Credit: Tool Hound

Tool Hound has some breaking news from the STAFDA show about the latest creation from Senco that (like Jack BLack says) will blow your mind.

Senco as many of you know, is a company that is known for their air nailers. Like many in the industry Senco also has a line of cordless nailers. The problem with these nailers is they are bulky, never have enough power, and therefor never make great compressor replacements. Some brands run completely off of battery power, which can drain the batteries quickly; while other brands use a combination of a gas engine and an electric ignition. The combo units use less battery power, but they also release gas fumes, which I am not fond of.

Senco's new cordless creation uses none of the above methods, but instead uses 130 psi of compressed nitrogen as its driving method. You might be thinking that you will need to buy and replace the nitrogen cells, but according to Tool Hound the nitrogen cell is completely sealed and it is the 18v batteries job to recycle the nitrogen and reuse it. There is a loss of psi over time to the equivalent of no more then 5 psi over 100,000 shots. No word on battery life.

Senco is offering both an 18 gauge and 15 gauge nailer and the price will be around $350-400. Keep your eye out for these when they are released early in 2010.

via Tool Hound
SENCO

The problem most vacuums face when picking up fine dust is loss of suction. This loss of suction is caused by the dust particles blocking and clogging up the vacuums air filter. This blockage shortens the life of the air filter and ads harmful strain to the vacuum motor. There is also the fact that many shop vacuums do not do a very good job of filtering out fine dust.

The Dust Deputy from Oneida Air Systems is kind of like a pre-filter attachment for your shop vacuum. Using the power of the cyclone, the Dust Deputy separates more then 99% of the dust into a bucket, before it even makes it to the vacuum. This allows your vacuum to work more efficiently and also greatly reduces your cost of replacing filters.

The Dust Deputy can be purchased with everything you need to get started sans vacuum for $99, or you can buy the cyclone by itself for $59. Team this up with the BucketVac and you have yourself a complete portable bucket vacuum system. Video after Read More

Dust Deputy
$ Dust Deputy - Amazon