Landlubbers welcome too

June 27, 2006

If you live near the seashore or on one of the Great Lakes, chances are good there’s a marine supply store close by. Check it out; these stores are incredible resources for tough, well-made hardware.

I love this place near me called Hamilton Marine, where you can buy brass door latches, hinges, window stays and other stuff meant for boats that looks really cool, is made to last, and can’t be found in regular hardware stores.

They also carry the best weather-resistant paints and varnishes—stuff that’s often considered too “difficult” for do-it-yourselfers, and thus not available in your average-Joe hardware store. Be forewarned that marine stuff is expensive: a gallon of marine-grade varnish will run you a hundred bucks or more! But it lasts forever.

Ear bone connected to the Zem phone

June 26, 2006

The problem with hearing loss is that you won’t know what you’ve lost until it’s gone. For example, you may have heard (or at least, heard about) the new Mosquito ringtone, a high-pitched tone that’s above the hearing range of most adults. Kids are capitalizing on the fact that the human ear loses its ability to hear high frequency sound. This gradual loss is due not just by age, but also by exposure to loud noises. What this means is that the tools we love—our routers, tablesaws, and pneumatic nailers—are leading us down the gently-sloping road of noise-induced hearing loss.

Noise-induced hearing loss is preventable, but wearing earmuffs or plugs can be uncomfortable and/or problematic. Muffs are effective noise-dampeners, but I don’t enjoy the way they squeeze my eyeglasses into the sides of my skull. And in the summer it feels like I’m wearing a ski cap. Foam and rubber inserts are more comfortable; however, you’ll need to constantly remove and re-insert them if you need to talk or just want to listen to the radio.

This is where Zem phones come in. Priced at around $25, these earphones employ a new sound-dampening technology that allows normal sounds to come through, but cancels out loud noises (they’re rated at 26dB, comparable to most muffs and plugs). Granted, my shop radio doesn’t sound quite as good, but I can still listen to tunes, and for the phone or my wife, without taking them off. This means that my ears are protected even when making that “one quick cut.” Weighing in at only 1.7 ounces, I sometimes forget that I’m wearing them.

I still use my muffs, albeit as a “loaner pair” for friends who stop by, or volunteer help with some home project. The Zems stay with me.

More proof that you didn't need algebra after all

June 26, 2006

News flash! Stanley brings back the back of the tape measure!

If you have an older Stanley tape measure, it probably has all sorts of neat info printed on the back—like decimal equivalents (Quick! What’s 13/16?) or the actual size of a 1x12 board, or the length of a 6d nail. Well, at some point Stanley stopped printing those useful charts; maybe they figured every carpenter knew that 13/16 is .8125. But now they’re back, on the new FatMax (no relation) Xtreme tape measures. Sometimes, more is more.

Safety (Blade) First, People

June 26, 2006

There’s a tiny scar on my left knee that I got when I was about seven from playing near some exposed metal. It sliced a good six inches up my leg, and I probably should have gotten stitches. But back then (or now, for that matter) you couldn’t get me near a doctor if the presence of needles were even a possibility. Needless to say, between that experience and the one time I ran with my mother’s sewing scissors (what can I say, I wasn’t the most judicious kid, alright?), I learned my lesson about safety with sharp objects.

That’s why, when it came to getting a blade for use in the office, I decided to try out Paxar’s new EasyCut safety cutter. It has a self-retracting blade, nifty holster, edge guides and a special dull, rounded point, supposedly making it one of the safest blades out there—and at $6.95, a bargain. But would something made primarily for box-cutting also work as a utility knife? I mean, this is an office where I’m just as likely to be asked to slice through some vinyl flooring as I am to open a UPS box. Fortunately, the blade proved worthy of scoring wood and cutting into carpet without leaving me with so much as a scratch, and I managed to come out whole after fiddling with the built-in extra blade storage compartment.

But I have my doubts that the EasyCut will prove useful in slicing through thick layers of caulk or paint when taking off trim (should the occasion ever arise), because the specially made blade only extends out 3/8 inch. While I know that’s for deterring people like me from getting too over-confidant with dangerous objects, it’s a little frustrating, and I wish it would at least have an option that sends the blade out an inch or so more. Guess I just like living on the edge like that.

Night Lights

June 26, 2006

The lights are also functional; when grilling at night, they eliminate the need for a flashlight to see when burgers need flipping, they let us watch the nocturnal habits of Smoke and Candle (two koi in our fish pond), and create a generally festive atmosphere for our myriad garden parties. Matthew’s been lobbying residents for permission to hang these little white lights for years. This summer he finally got it. I just wish he’d gotten it sooner.

PartyLights.com sells a 100-foot string for $29.95. That means you’ll also need to buy 100 bulbs at $0.95 each. The cool thing about buying the bulbs separately, though, is that you can experiment with different color combinations.

Cheap, easy, and better than chemicals

June 21, 2006

Chemical drain cleaners need to be nasty in order to burn through clogs, but whenever I pick one up and read the label, I wonder if these caustic concoctions should come with their own hazmat suit. Even when used properly, drain cleaners can damage pipes, septic systems, not to mention, streams.

Worst of all, they don’t always work…at least not in my house. So while shopping recently for a few tools to disassemble a clogged drain, I spotted the Zip-It. Not wanting to spend my entire Saturday under the bathroom sink, I gambled on this $2.50 solution.

Surprisingly, this tool cleared the gunk that made those chemical cleaners cringe. To use it, I snaked the flexible 24-inch nylon probe under the drain plug, then pulled. The sharp, shark-tooth-like barbs snagged the stuff stuck in the trap and/or around the drain mechanism without even requiring me to detach the stopper. The only downside was that I had to look at the clog up-close and personal. (Lucky for me my wife thinks bald men are beautiful.)

At this can't-beat-it price, you can even afford to toss the crud-encrusted tool. But with a quick cleaning, the Zip-It can be used to clear (and reclear) dozens of drains.

Earlier: Drano vs. the Machine

Drinking Your Dinner

June 21, 2006

So if you take an empty beer keg, saw it in half lengthways, turn it on its side and weld on some legs and hinges and fill it with charcoal and set it on fire, it’ll smoke a mean bratwurst. Possibly on the extreme end of the DIY spectrum, but I discovered the product in the lawn and garden section of the National Hardware Show, where pretty much anything goes. I was out scouring the show for ideas for our “green” issue when the Keg-A-Que booth caught my eye. Adaptive reuse? Beer? It doesn’t take much to get me interested.

We got to talking, and the company’s president told me he and his brother are a couple of Wisconsin boys who were down in Arizona going to school when their mom sent them a care package of the finest local bratwursts. They didn’t have a grill on hand, but, being college students, they did have a few kegs out back. A gnarled hacksaw and three broken band saw blades later, necessity precipitated another great American invention.

Miller Brewing Company got word that the entrepreneurs were out cutting up their kegs and decided to get in the grill game as well. They ordered 20,000 units in the first two years, which got the company off the ground but also forced the manufacturers to begin pressing new keg-shaped vessels instead of reusing old ones (so much for the “green” angle.) Twelve years and over 400,000 grills later, Miller is still a current licensee.

While beer and brats have gone hand in hand for years, turning the keg itself into a grill still seems dangerous. It’s only a matter of time before somebody chugs the lighter fluid.

Skinned knuckles no more

June 20, 2006

The trouble with adjustable wrenches is that they are adjustable. If the mechanism is at all easy to change from one size nut to another, it's all too easy for it to self-adjust at precisely the wrong moment. And when would that be, you ask? When I am really leaning on the handle to free a frozen fastener. And with what nasty result, you ask? Why, skinned knuckles, blood, and cursing. I'm sure you've been there yourself.

I can't always lug a full kit of wrenches so I'm always evaluating yet another miracle adjustable wrench. I've even bought them off late-night TV. And some do solve the self-adjusting problem, but usually at the price of a new problem: access. A big, fat infinitely adjustable wrench head with a big, fat locking mechanism just won't fit into the little bit of space around the frozen fastener.

You might infer that I was a little bit skeptical when I saw Crescent's new R2 RapidRench, but I bought one anyway (for about $20). I was surprised and delighted to discover that it is easy to adjust, it locks securely, it ratchets in either direction, the jaws aren't impossibly large, the handle is rubberized for comfort, and best of all, it'll fit onto hex nuts, square nuts, and eye bolts no problem. The adjustment range is 1/4 inch to 7/8 inch so it's not the universal answer, but it'll do for most of the nuts and bolts around my homestead. My tool belt also holsters my favorite 6-inch needle-nose Vise-Grip locking plier, which takes care of everything else at the small end.

Cutting smooth as Silky

June 16, 2006

Last month I was assigned to siding duty at our annual charity fix-up day with AmeriCares. I'd come prepared with a utility knife, knowing that's what you usually use to score and trim a shingle's width. When it came to cross-cutting, however, it soon became all too clear that some other method had to be found, or I would lose not only patience but possibly a finger as well. The chop saw was way over on the other side of the house and in high demand.

TOH technical editor Mark Powers, working nearby, saw my dilemma—or likely heard the expletives I was muttering under my breath—and said, "Here, use the Silky Saw." He handed me what looked kind of like an oversized bread knife, but it turned out to be the most elegant handsaw I've ever used. It cross-cut "like butta," speeding up the job and saving my sanity.

Made in Japan of high-carbon steel, the teeth are designed for ultrasmooth, precise cutting on the pull stroke, and are easy to clean and rust-resistant. Silky is known among arborists for its pole saws, but also makes woodworking saws. The model I was using, the TSUBASA 285 HASSUNME, goes for about $43. I soon realized it was capable of tasks far finer than cutting shingles, like, say, finally building that medicine cabinet in my bathroom wall to replace the rusty old original. Not quite meaning to drop hints, I sang the Silky's praises so much over the course of the day that its owner, TOH editor Scott Omelianuk, finally said, "Keep it." Who am I to question the boss?

The temptation of two-part poly

June 16, 2006

Sure, epoxy is one high-maintenance adhesive. Expensive. Fussy to mix. Difficult to paint. And don’t touch it before it’s cured, unless you want to risk getting a persistent allergic skin rash. Nonetheless, I still love what it can do for me around my old house: It sticks to wood tighter than a limpet on a rock, laughs off getting wet, and when thickened up, you could fill holes knowing it’s not going to shrink or falling out.

But now I’m being tempted by a new siren, a blonde German import called PL FI:X.  It’s a polyurethane, the same stuff found in my all-time favorite adhesive in a tube—3m5200—and in the tenacious, heartily hyped Gorilla glue. The problem with those one-part products is they need moisture to cure. PL Fix does not because it has two components you mix together. (No problem, I’ve had plenty of practice with that.)

But there’s no need for measuring spoons or syringes—items I’ve had to use on occasion. You just squeeze out the thick-as-toothpaste resin and hardener, stir them together until the goop turns  a uniform tan, then spackle it into a whatever hole or joint your trying to fill. It has the consistency of sticky, hot taffy for about about 15 minutes, when it sets up without shrinking; cleans up with mineral spirits In four hours, it’s hard enough to sand, drill, or sculpt. Yet it remains flexible. You can dent it with your fingernail and it will slowly pop back, making the dent disappear. Hopefully that will allow it move with the wood as it shrinks and swells.

Time will tell whether PL FI:X wins my affections (I’d like to see how well it holds paint; polyurethane needs to be protected from UV rays, just like epoxy.). But from what I’ve seen so far, it could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.