I really like this little scraper. It’s a dangerous little beast and can cut through most finishes, if not most materials. I’m certain if Carry Underwood dug the Bahco scraper into the side of her boyfriend’s suped-up 4-wheel drive it would have been irreparable.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars 

Experience:
I reviewed the Sandvik/Bahco Carbide Scraper in 2009. These scrapers are some of my favorite tools and I use them often. I have three of the Bahco scrapers and appreciate the strength, positive grip and effective performance. The Bahco detail scraper has a small triangular carbide tip that can be rotated if one side of the triangular blade dulls. The precise corners of this blade allow it to access the smaller detail lines of window dividers, crown moulding or casings and it digs deep into most any material.

Comments:
Use of this tool comes with a cautionary note: Be careful not to damage or destroy the woodwork by using too much force. It’s an effective tool for removing unwanted finish in the hard to access crevices of wood trim.
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Some day I’ll find an old car that I can prove my opening comment on.

Links: Bahco 625 Premium Ergonomic Carbide Scraper.

As a carpenter, my job includes a little of everything but most of the wire pulling, stripping and connecting on a job site is left to the electricians. As a handyman, though, the tasks of the electrician are commonplace and buying the correct tool for a job increases one’s efficiency and productivity.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars 

Experience:

Those who know… know Klein Tools are some of the best in the electrician’s bag and these Klein-Kurve strippers are no exception. I spent more than a decade with my rusty, well-used Stanley 84-199 Electrical Stripper Pliers before losing them along the way. Since I’ve been doing so many outlets, Cat-5 and phone lines I decided to spend $5 more for a professional tool: The Klein 11055 Klein-Kurve Wire Stripper/Cutter.

Comments:

To those using Klein Tools these are a quality wire stripper made in the USA. They’re a pleasure to use compared to the economical pair I used for so many years but they have a simple issue that’s annoying as can be: The handle lock constantly locks… or unlocks on it’s own. As you squeeze the handles the lock catches and they don’t open. When drop them in my tool pouch the lock releases and they spring open, hence the less than perfect rating. [Maybe I could bend the lock mechanism so it’s tighter but I risk making it too tight and would have to unbend them.. so… from the factory – this pair sucks. They work great as stripper/cutters but the lock mechanism is a real pain in the …

Summary:

There is nothing like owning professional tools. I would recommend Klein Tools to homeowners and professional alike. Sometimes the cost doesn’t match the task at hand, as was the case for me working on a vacation home so I saved money when purchasing wire cutters at the Depot buying the 9″ Commercial Electric brand for $15 instead of the Kleins for $45.

Links:

It’s interesting how some of the tools I appreciate the most I didn’t anticipate owning. Certain tools, like the odd-shaped blade with the dark wood handle, find their way into your shop and take a favorite spot.

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Blades:
That odd-shaped blade with a wood handle is a nineteenth century ink erasure and quill sharpener made by Miller Brothers Cutlery Company between 1872-1926. I own two of them and find them dangerously useful.

With an individual X-ACTO Knife in different specialty toolboxes, two are always within reach. (Picking up the X-ACTO Blade Dispenser was almost as smart as buying the Stanley Utility Knife Blade Dispenser.)

Swiss Army Knives:
If you saw what happened when TSA tried to take away my mother’s Swiss Army Knife you’d know she wasn’t the one who tossed her son’s Victorinox Camper in the jobsite dumpster. Since I found this one in the garbage, I don’t mind abusing it. Over 34 years ago I received my first Swiss Army Knife (a Tinker) and couldn’t count how many Victorinox knives I own today.

Unfortunately for the Victorinox Classic without scales, it was on the keychain that I left on a scorching stovetop burner for 20 minutes. I still haven’t come up with the $400 they want to replace my truck’s keyless entry. Scales or not, I still find this ‘classic’ useful.

Beauty & Health:
Something every woodworker knows well about is the tweezer. Here, amongst my most reached for tools are three pair. The Tweezerman LTD Point Tweezer I HIGHLY recommend owning. These are precision ‘point’ tweezer, so sharp you can slice your skin to get at the intruder. (When these are too small, I use Uncle Bill’s Sliver Gripper Tweezers that didn’t make the photo.) The other set shown is rusty and barbaric and I use them for projects. The last thing they did (yesterday) was hold a battery contact while I soldered it back in place.

Two vintage health and beauty aids including a Revlon Stainless finger nail file and a small vintage screwdriver are also among the frequently used workbench tools in my shop.

Precision is what a chalk line should be about. Until I found the Tajima CR202B Ultra Thin line I never experienced such fine marks despite a large collection of chalk boxes. This is a love-at-first-use tool. My Tajima is an awesome chalk line that makes one wonder where it’s been all these years and starts a hankering to experience more Tajima products.

Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

Description:

The Tajima CR202B-P Chalk-Rite II Ultra Thin Chalk Box:

• Contractor-grade chalk snap-line with 100 ft of premium-grade ultra thin line
• Smooth gear-drive winding, up to 3 times faster than standard snap-lines
• Compact, fits comfortably in the palm of your hand yet holds up to 1.6 oz. of chalk
• Durable, heavy-gauge die-cast aluminum case with folding crank
• Positive gear-lock line hold, automatically releases during rewind

Experience:
A line snapped with a chalk line during typical construction might just be for an incredibly important task. Lines are snapped to mark the location of a ledger holding your addition, or on the roof sheathing to set the visual path of shingles  …it may just be a line you need to cut along a sheet of plywood or a myriad of other surfaces and locations. More oft than not, a line snapped with a chalk box sets the future for years to come. After 20 years of snapping fat, blurry, double, over-shot, curved and fragmented lines with the cheapest of chalk lines, I am super-pleased to find a real tool. My other chalk lines are garbage compared to the Tajima Ultra Thin Chalk Line~!
A chalk line is one of the very few tools that I actually carry with me in My Tool Belt.

Comments:
This ToolboxBlog.com articles is less of a Tajima Chalk Line review than it is pure boasting that I have one of the greatest tools, if not the greatest, in it’s class! I really doubt you can go wrong purchasing one of these Ultra-Thin lines. Seeing the prices on Amazon while writing this, I’ve decided to buy the CR201R Extra Bold and give it a go.

Links:

Tajima CR202B-P Chalk-Rite II Ultra Thin Chalk Box

Tajima CR202B-0 Chalk-Rite Gear Drive -InchUltra-Thin-Inch Chalk Snap Line

For thousand of years the Axe has been a quintessential tool for humankind. Once an integral part of every carpenter’s tool box, the axe is rich with symbolism, history and function. An Axe is a bad-ass tool in the hands of a carpenter and the Trail Boss was an instant favorite that I now carry in my truck day-to-day! Though I queued up nearly a dozen Fiskar and Gerber modern ceramic chopping tools before purchasing this traditional steel axe with it’s hickory handle, I am very happy with my purchase.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Description:
The Cold Steel Trail Boss is a 23″ wooden-handled traditional european-shaped ‘camp’ axe weighing about 2.5 lbs. It’s economical price and beautiful 4 1/2″ cutting edge combined with a classic hickory handle sold me on this axe over dozens of others.

Specifications:
Primary Edge: 4 1/2″
Overall: 23″
Hawk: 6 1/2″
Weight: 41.5 oz.
Drop Forged 1055 Carbon Steel

Experience:
I bought the Cold Steel Trail Boss at Amazon during the extraordinary winter of 2010-2011 for one purpose alone, chipping ice dams. A condition New England homes experience as continuing heavy snows accumulate, melt and refreeze causing lifted roofing, ice penetration and leaks. Ice dams can cause significant damage. To effectively chop them down, I needed an axe that I could use with one hand, while leaning from a ladder in the freezing cold. A hatchet is ineffective and a full-size axe too heavy. As with most construction jobs a back-breaking task is made a lot easier with the right tools.

Once I got my hands on this 23″ axe, I was set for weeks of work with just three tools; my snow-shovel, a framing hammer and my new Trail Boss axe. (and a lot of ladders)

I cut more ice with this axe than you could imagine, clearing ice as high as 24″ from gutter after gutter. (I cleared so many feet of roof that I actually started to get in better shape from the workout and wished that the pay, and the harsh winter, lasted a little longer.) When work ended on the roof, I used the Trail Boss to chop away driveway ice, some more than one foot thick. It was pretty cool work, hitting the ice with an axe, sometimes the ice would pop off in large chunks, others were tenacious.

With winter past, I recently used my Trail Boss to rip a rotten cedar roof, plywood and all. One tool demo’d the three layers of material pretty quickly. I felt like a fireman, which got me thinking I might like one of their axes next.

Comments:
I’ve never shied from admitting my inexperience. Throughout a lifetime of tool use with a true affinity for ‘the blade’, I am not sure I understand steel hardness or it’s various forms. What is 1055 steel and how does that fit in with Rockwell hardness? What are S30V® 440A, 44oC, AUS8, 1055, 5160 etc…? I know there’s some bit of strength and flexibility in the Rockwell #’s so 5160 steel is probably rockwell 51, 60 – but what is 1055 Steel? …That I never learned that one in science class. (or I skipped that day)

My only concern with this Axe came at sharpening time. It was so easy to mill-file the edge to shape. Common sense might say an axe shouldn’t be brittle because it will break – so there must be a fine line between hard and too hard when it comes to an axe blade. I don’t know where this axe falls. ..and how does this compare to newer ceramics?

I sharpened it beautifully!~ after filing, I used a coarse diamond plate to smooth my work, then a fix blade cutter to define the sharpest of edges. This Cold Steel Trail Boss is ready to shave with, though it’s a mighty thick razor. I love it!

THE AXE – What a great tool to have and hold. What a great tool in action!

Links:

Manufacturer’s website: Trail Boss

Check the excellent price on the Cold Steel Trail Boss with Hickory Handle at Amazon~!

Notes:
I, like man for thousands of years before me, hold my axe in high regard. Held firmly it is an empowering tool. Sharpened, it makes quick work of it’s task. There is something about ‘my’ axe, as if it’s engrained in my DNA, that suits and pleases me deeply. There is little more satisfying that a refined blade, one with heft and the tactile experience of a select hickory handle, one with a smooth curve from toe to heel, from blade to butt, that make owning and using an axe a symbol of pride.

I know there are higher-quality axes available but due to an empty wallet I couldn’t afford to spend a penny more than I did so I am very pleased with the overall size and quality of the Cold Steel Trail Boss for the price.

In all the articles I’ve written for ToolboxBlog.com I am not sure if I’ve ever actually directly recommended going out and buying a particular tool. If I think about it right now, I could only recommend my top ten tools. I’m talking to every homeowner out there, not tool people. I don’t care if you buy a cordless drill/driver, I don’t care if you buy a handgun but if you don’t own an axe then I highly recommend you click Cold Steel Trail Boss and buy a nice small affordable axe right now. Maybe you will like it as much as I do, though somehow I doubt it. …because I can throw this one~!

This device is used to hold a door while the installer mortises the door’s edge for hinges. A quick flip of the door in this jig and I drilled for ball catches. Thought I’d throw this handy device on toolboxblog.com today since it’s served as a tool in my arsenal for more than a decade and still in use today.

This particular jig was nailed together to fit up to a 1-3/4″ door but narrows at the top to grip the standard 1-3/8″ door. Pulling the uprights apart allows the door to slide between posts without marring the finish, something that matters when operating on the ultra-cheap Home Depot hollow-core 6-panel doors which are now built almost entirely out of soft paper. The doors I installed yesterday were garbage… which makes putting a few hours into them seem a waste of labor. For $50 more, a solid wood 6-panel would have been a smarter use of funds.

While cleaning my shop this week after using the destructive, chip throwing “Lancelot“, I found this tool on my top shelf (yes, unfortunately, wood chips covered everything, reinforcing the notion of using my “assembly table” for assembly only.)

Can I assume since it’s Starrett that it’s for measuring? Sure, it’s got a rubber wheel that when rolled, turns a dial that is labelled from 0-100 with inexplicably odd numbers at each mark around the dial: 19,28,37,46, 55… - I see a pattern here.

This gauge, shaped something like a large key with a rotating rubber disc on the end is labelled on the back of the numbered dial; The LS. Starrett Co., Athol, Mass. U.S.A. – Pat. Mar. 28. 1905.

For a first on ToolboxBlog – You tell me – what is this Starrett Tool?

This old Starrett original came to me in an toolbox filled with turn-of-the-century upholstery tools. Did upholsterers measure by 9′s in 1900?

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Description: The Jorgensen 3/4″ Pipe Clamp is a versatile and strong clamp fixture that utilizes 3/4″ black pipe with a threaded end. Once properly attached to a length of black pipe the Pony clamp fixture’s 5/8″ screw with “Acme” threads provides incredibly strong clamping power, easily applied.

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Experience: I once bought (3) 10′ lengths of black pipe, cut them in half to create (6) dedicated Pony clamps which I have used for years. I also have a few sets attached to 6′ and 8′ lengths. These ‘fixtures’ can be moved from different length pipe as needed but call me lazy, or well-supplied, I have never taken apart those 6 clamps that are 5′ long and I use them all the time, handling many projects.

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Comments: These 3/4″ pipe clamps are heavy duty. The clamping force generated is superior and crushing! They hold their position until released. In the photos for this article, I am clamping up some 2″ walnut stock that I am using to make a variation of a sleigh bed. I’ve been saving these pieces of walnut for 15 years and have finally committed to a design. I am calling this bed “The Ark” – loosely based on an Egyptian canoe (though I haven’t even looked at anything Egyptian for ideas yet). The bed will be made from solid walnut and Honduran Mahogany. I’ll soon have to use these clamps to glue up some mahogany wider than the 7 1/4″ boards I have, but that’s ok because these clamps are strong, ready and waiting.

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Links:

• Jorgensen 50 Pony 3/4-Inch Pipe Clamp Fixture @ Amazon

• 3/4″ Pipe Clamps at Adjustable Clamp Company.

Notes: These clamps require a rather clean section of black pipe . The process of gluing up boards creates alot of dripping glue. Even the tenacious Gorilla glue is easily scraped off black pipe with a chisel before your next glue-up.

Tool: Kinco #1939KWP Winter Work Gloves.

Description: These Kinco winter gloves are mostly leather. The leather is nice and soft. The backs are bright yellow nylon with a highly reflective safety strip sewn on. They are moderately padded with “HeatKeep”® Insulation. Sewn next to the “HeatKeep” label is another quite interesting label that says “WATERPROOF”. That’s the label that prompted my purchase and later this online review.

Experience: After wearing these Kinco insulated work gloves in various outdoor cold-weather conditions I have concluded that it is the label itself that the words “Water proof” apply to. These gloves are in no way water proof. I’m not sure they’re even water resistant. Maybe I got a bad pair but despite the fact wet hands are cold hands, I like these gloves.

Before I explain what I like about them I want to share the other issue I have with these gloves. Likely in an attempt to cut cost, they cut these gloves a bit short. They don’t quite cover my hand with the insulated part, which matters when it’s below freezing. I don’t have extra-large hands and this pair is size correctly for my hand, they just aren’t long enough to cover my wrists effectively. My wrists get cold!

The HeatKeep seems to be pretty effective insulation. The gloves aren’t too thick to work with large outdoor tools, fasteners excluded. I’ve been putting these to good use working primarily outdoors this winter. They do the trick until they are saturated.

Link: I found similar ones on Amazon.com – check your size – I like mine better (before they were stamped with a giant “Kinco” on the reflective stripe.) Pigskin Waterprf knit wrist – XL – Kinco Work Gloves (1939KWP-XL)

Guess what tool I needed but didn’t have with me today! Since I emptied and removed my truck boxes to move something huge, I haven’t quite returned all the tools to the box. I’ve been carrying nearly 100 hand tools for the past forever and thought I’d go through them and carry just what I need. Today I needed a sheetrock saw and didn’t have one with me so I used a razor knife.

Experience:

Wow. I’ve been using one of these for 20+ years and I never knew it was called a ‘jab saw’! The Stanley 20-556 6-Inch FatMax Jab Saw seems to be popular. Mine of course looks like nothing special, resembling this Goldblatt Tool 6″ Jab Saw for $4. Though it doesn’t look special and I have no attachment to this one other than it’s mine, this saw has served long enough. The model saw I have, see photo, should not be called a jab saw because if you were to jab drywall it would bend. You have to hammer this one straight on, which doesn’t mean you can’t bevel cut around an outlet. This is a piece of crap I’ve used a million times.

I’m ready to spend the extra $6 for a new Irwin ProTouch Drywall / Jab Saw or the Stanley 6-Inch FatMax Jab Saw but I’m content with this one until I need a new one.