I remember as a small child playing with the little playground sandbox excavators. I would dig as deep as I could, and when I reached the depth limit of the toy, I would spin around and start a new hole. Digging holes was a lot of fun and I would would waste many a lunchtime doing it.

As adults we often don't have the opportunity to do the simple things that made us happy as a child, but now thanks to a new attraction in Las Vegas, we can all be excavator operators again, but this time for real. The Las Vegas attraction called Dig This, lets anyone take a simple course on how to use heavy equipment, then go out to a large 5-acre sandbox and dig away and run though games and skill exercises. For $210 you get an hour and a half of play time on an excavator. Packages run up to $750 for both excavator and bulldozer time.

The reviews are in, and people love it. Will you be trying this out for yourself the next time you are in Vegas? Video after Read More.

Dig This via FoxNews

It is not everyday that a webshow comes along that is actually entertaining, heck, it is hard enough coming across a real TV show that can capture us for a half hour. Backyard Games, on the other hand is so entertaining that I wanted more then what the 8 minute webshow gave me. As the name suggests, Backyard Games is indeed a game show, and it pits two real guys against each other with challenges using backyard Husqvarna tools. The challenges are put together in a fun manner, and the hosts do a good job of poking fun at everything.

Backyard Games is a fun way for Husqvarna to get brand recognition, and I can't wait for the next episode which comes out tomorrow.

Last night tennis ran into a little problem on one of the courts at the Australian Open, but lucky for us there was a man with a cordless drill to save the day. Tennis is a simple game, but it can only be played if the tennis balls are allowed to bounce. However, last night there was an issue within a small area of the court surface in the Hisense Arena that prevented the balls from bouncing.

What looks like a simple coated concrete surface on TV is actually very complex; consisting of multiple layers of rubber granules, compressed plastic, mineral fibers, and latex. Somehow a small air bubble formed under the top layer of the surface (probably due to recent changes in the weather) which absorbed the ball's impact. To fix this issue, a few small holes were drilled into the surface with a cordless drill, thus allowing the air to escape.

This just goes to show that everyone needs a drill... even tennis players.

If not for the creation of sites like Youtube, we would probably never get to see how creative people can be when sharing a music video about a Shop Vac. Not only is the song very catchy, but the kinetic typography styled animation is also very impressive. It only took 500 to 1000 hours to complete the animation, and I am sure the music was no walk in the park either. I should probably point out that this is not an official Shop Vac song or video. Enjoy.

 

The Guys from Ask This Old House made an appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, where they showed Jimmy a few tips on dealing with some common household issues. They tackled everything from punching holes into walls, to how to flush golf balls down a toilet. The best part is, no one got hurt. It was fun to watch, so in case you missed it you can check out the videos after the Read More.

It is just about time to head out to the store or local farm and pick out the perfect pumpkin/s; pumpkin carving season is upon us. But with this season comes a question that likely becomes harder and harder each year. Use hand tools, or go electric?

In this episode of Man vs Tool, they did a head to head to head battle with wood carving tools going up against a Dremel rotary tool, going up against a Dremel pumpkin carving kit. First they used a Bosch jigsaw, and a Skil electric drill with a Marshalltown ribbon mixing bit to prep and clean all of the pumpkins. See which method comes out ahead in the video below.

Which method would you use?

Man vs. Tool

As you might know, Bosch just recently introduced a complete line of pneumatic nailers and compressors. Below is a pretty thorough video, introducing the Bosch BNS200-18 brad nailer. I also go over some of the features and talk about my likes and dislikes.

One dislike I forgot to mention in the video, is the lack of a hook of some type. As a professional, one of the things that really makes my life easier is a belt hook. Milwaukee by far has the best belt hook I have seen. It rotates 360 degrees and has a number of lockable positions. Another thing that seems rather silly not to include is pneumatic oil, and since the gun requires oil, you cant even use it out of the box unless you already own some.

Below the video you will notice a link for the video in the OGG format. This is for people that do not have Flash installed for whatever reason. However an internet browser that supports OGG playback is required (ie FireFox).

 

I think the video pretty much says it all. So here is the question I have for you: Will you watch these videos and admit it, or will you watch these videos in secret? Check out her YouTube channel for the latest videos.

via- Toologics

Think of all the cool things we would be missing out on if YouTube wasn't around. Sure there were other video sharing sites before YouTube. But YouTube made home videos popular, and changed the home video world as we know it.

This is how you load a Bobcat onto a truck without a ramp.

For a while now, I have been thinking about getting a scroll saw. I have never owned one, but I like the idea of being able to make things like ornaments, signs, etc. Plus being a finish carpenter, I always end up with extra wood, that sometimes is too nice to let go to waste.

I am the type of person that likes to research everything before I buy (one of the reasons I started Tool-Rank) and wanted to see the types of things that can be made with a scroll saws. I headed over to YouTube to see what I could find, and came across some videos by Steve Good. He does some great work with his scroll saw, and puts it all on video. He also does a great job of explaining what he is doing, and why he is doing it. He takes you from what to look for in a saw, to artwork design, to finished project. At his website Scrollsaw Workshop he even gives away the templates from his videos.

If you have an interest in scrolling, or just want to see some of his cool work check out his blog, or YouTube page. In this video he shows us how to make a Christmas Box

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I have my eye on the Dremel 1830 120V 18-Inch Scroll Saw

Steve uses a DEWALT 20-Inch Scroll Saw