It’s been a busy week here at Toolmonger.  If you’ve been spending time in the shop — you should! — and you haven’t had a chance to keep up with Toolmonger this week, we suggest you start with these posts, which our readers helped to select:

Socket With Butterfly Wings
It looks like EZ Red designed their butterfly sockets for fasteners on which you’d normally use a flare wrench but can’t get the wrench around the fastener. Just wrap the butterfly socket around the fastener and when you close it, stick a 1/2″ ratchet or breaker bar into the square drive hole to turn it.

Preview: Stanley Virax M20 Plus
A pressing machine squeezes fittings together to make solderless joints in copper, stainless and PEX tubing even with residual fluid still in the pipe. It’s wicked handy and it’s what many pros use to fix leaks in modern pipes. Stanley VIRAX now launched the first of its pressing guns into the U.S. market.

Leatherman Charge ALX
We’ve seen different versions of multi-tools for ages, but they rely on a simple straight-edged pocket knife to do most of the real work. Leatherman’s interesting Charge ALX model is a little different. It does away with many of the old issues multi-tools faced, like those Phillips drivers.

Hot or Not? Festool MFT/3 Basic Multifunction Table
Festool’s MFT/3 basic multifunction table looks like a piece of thick pegboard with some legs from a card table. It’s more than that, we think. It also comes with rails and a lot of options and $475 sticker shock — standard.

Easier Molding Installation On Bullnose Corners
Bench Dog has a new product that can help wrap molding around bullnose corners. Designed to work with 3/4″ radius rounded corners, this trim gauge slips over the bullnose and indicates where each joint needs to land to get a professional-looking three-piece corner.

Help us choose next week’s Top 5!

We’d appreciate your help in choosing next week’s Top 5, which’ll be featured here, elsewhere, and in the podcast as well. While you’re reading TM this week, look out for the “Interesting Post” button at the bottom of the article:

When you see an article that piques your interest, click the button once. You’ll return to the same page, but TM’s software’ll score your click for future reference. We’ll check in on the totals before selecting next week’s Top 5.

Meteor’s Spark Doctor is yet another multi-tool, but this time they’ve specialized it for working with spark plugs. This multi-tool boasts eight different tools for removing, tuning, and cleaning your plugs.

As always, we’re skeptical about the number of tools a multi-tool packs — sometimes marketing departments like to be sneaky and claim a lanyard hole or carrying case as a tool or function. So let’s enumerate the tools, shall we?

• 5/8″ socket
• 3/4″ socket
• 13/16″ socket
• Brass brush
• Metal file
• Metal pick
• Gap gage
• Gapping tool

The metal file and metal pick are part of the same tool, kind of like the wire stripper is part of the flat screwdriver blade on Leatherman and Swiss Army Knives. If they can get away with it, why not Meteor? All these tools fold into a soft-grip handle.

The Spark Doctor can be had for less than $20 before somebody tries to gouge you with shipping.

Spark Doctor [Meteor]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Spark Doctor [Sears]

When working with small parts, you come up with all kinds of creative ways to hold them so you don’t have to grow a third hand. Micro-Mark’s spring-loaded small parts holder may allow you to junk some of your jury-rigged creations.

This 4-1/4″ long by 1-1/4″ wide parts holder can grip regularly- or irregularly-shaped parts from 3/8″ to 1-3/8″ in diameter. The parts holder doesn’t use screws, clamps, or wedges that can apply to much pressure and damage your part; instead built-in springs hold the part against the “no-mar” plastic pins.

Normally Micro-Mark sells the parts holder for $9 but right now they have it on sale for $7 plus shipping.

Spring Loaded Parts Holder [Micro-Mark]

There are times when words don’t properly express how clever something really is. A good friend of ours stopped by the shop the other day and had cause to bust out his wallet. We had to stop him and check it out ourselves to fully understand the craftiness of his creation. It’s a wallet made entirely of Duct Tape.

Sure, you see that kind of thing on cutesy websites every once in a while, but never have I seen one in use for practical reasons. Our very sensible homie simply saw no use in spending cash on a new wallet when he could make a custom one himself from of Duct Tape he found in the shop.

We stood in awe. Not only had he replicated his old wallet almost perfectly but the new silver model was both as thick as a regular leather version and just as durable – except against water. Plus when it starts to wear out, he either replaces sections or makes a new one altogether.

Other might smirk at his creation but our hats are off to our friend Juan and his badass shop-built wallet.

Duct Tape Street Pricing [Google Products]

The definition of picturesque is “striking or interesting in an unusual way.” Striking: that about sums up this photo of reader Sidney French’s brother’s workshop. Even if you’d never seen a shop in your life you’d know what this is with just one look.

More than just a place to build things, this spot, wherever it is, has so much character I’d spend most of my waking moments in it if it were mine. Someone spends a lot of time here or should. From the dozens of new and old projects to the homebrew storage, quiet improvements have been going on here for a long time.

Our hats off to both the guy this shop belongs to and to Sidney for taking photo.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

We’re seeing more and more dust collection devices aimed at the home woodworker. For instance, you wouldn’t think a flexible shaft tool would kick out much sawdust, but then again it doesn’t take much sawdust to make a huge mess. Enter the Flexible Shaft & Dust Extractor, sold by Lee Valley.

Connect the 6mm flexible shaft to any tool with a chuck — just don’t try to run the shaft in reverse or over 10,000 RPM — and connect a vacuum to the dust collection port, and you’re ready to do some shaping, sanding, grinding, or whatever rotary operation you choose with less mess.

On the end of the 46″ flexible shaft is a handle with a three-jaw 3/8″ Jacobs style chuck surrounded by the dust collecting shroud. You connect the vacuum via a 1-1/4″ diameter, 54″ long hose that comes off the rear of the handle.

Not only does this $105 tool look a lot like an attachment for King Arthur’s Tools Guinevere total sanding system, but the optional dust extractor extender is also identical, so we’re guessing King Arthur’s is the supplier of this flexible shaft tool.

Flex Shaft and Dust Extractor [Lee Valley]
Guinevere Accessories [King Arthur's Tools]

Widget Supply has a 1-1/8″ diameter face chasing hammer for $6.97. Despite looking like a giant bruiser in the picture, this hammer is actually quite light and small, with a head weight of only 6 oz. Think shaping and delicate work — not bashing things into submission.

The hammer is used for striking chasing tools as well as directly shaping malleable metals. Chasing is the forming of metal by hammering the surface with small, shaped punches against a resilient backing such as jeweler’s pitch. Most jewelers also use hammers such as this for cold forging metal against a small anvil or bench block.

1-1/8″ dia. Chasing Hammer [widgetsupply.com]

(TV Tonight, Friday, July 31st, 2009) We get a new Catch It Keep It and a slew of interesting reruns.

All times are central

• Holmes on Homes: Shaky Foundation (HGTV, 5:00 pm)
• This Old House: East Boston Project (DIY, 5:30 pm)
• Modern Marvels: Axes (History, 6:00 pm)
• How It’s Made: Curling stones, refrigerators, aluminum baseball bats, opalescent glass (Discovery, 6:00 pm)
• Factory Floor With Marshall Brain: Speedboat, Golf Ball, Fireworks (National Geographic, 6:00 pm)
• Deconstructed: Fluorescent Light Bulb, LCD Screen, Air Bag, Blender (Science, 6:00 pm)
• Ask This Old House: Installing Vinyl Fence, Protective Coating for Garage Floor (DIY, 6:30 pm)
• How It’s Made: Magnets, cooked ham, silver-plated teapots, crash-test dummies (Discovery, 6:30 pm)
• Deconstructed: 4-Stroke Engine, Washing Machine, Mosquito Trap, Fishing Reel (Science, 6:30 pm)
• Swamp Loggers: Logging for Steak (Discovery, 7:00 pm)
• How It’s Made: Scalpels, oil paints, British police helmets, ice axes (Science, 7:00 pm)
• How It’s Made: Curling stones, refrigerators, aluminum baseball bats, opalescent glass (Science, 7:00 pm)
• Swamp Loggers: Tough Times Ahead (Discovery, 8:00 pm)
• How It’s Made: Remix: Food (Science, 8:00 pm)
• How It’s Made: Residential water heaters, air bags, jelly beans, ice resurfacers. (Science, 8:30 pm)
• Swamp Loggers: Only the Strong Survive (Discovery, 9:00 pm)
• Catch It Keep It: Beer Bunker (Science, 9:00 pm) NEW

Today you can buy a mower with a guaranteed start on the first or second pull — a huge improvement over my old 10+ pull mower — but why does it still come with a cheap plastic T-handle which can be hard for some people to pull? If this bothers you, replace it with the Start-Me-Up handle from Meteor.

Available in red, green, or gray, the Start-Me-Up D-shaped plastic handle is covered in a soft-grip rubber material that’s more comfortable than a hard plastic T-handle. Included with the handle is 84″ of Duratuff starter rope in case you also need to replace the pull cord. Pricing for the handle starts at $7.

Start Me Up [Meteor]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

You could use a couple of hand stretchers to stretch chain link, but where’s the fun in that? Instead hook this A-frame fence stretcher from American Fence & Supply Co. onto the tension bar and then pull the stretcher with a Come-A-Long.

Use this 30″ stretcher for 4′ chain link fence. It runs $30, but unfortunately you’ll pay $25 in shipping charges. If you’re a Texan you also get hit with tax too.

A-Frame Stretcher [American Fence & Supply Co.]

Cavemen still living without the magic of air power (and I’m one of them) will find a neat workaround in the form of hammer-actuated impact drivers. They’re old-school, clever little devices which turn the force of a hammer blow into torque, and plenty of it. Hit the casing with a metal-faced hammer, and a cam inside gives you a strong twist, exactly like a pneumatic impact wrench.

Though not quite as user-friendly or useful as an impact gun, they can still get stubborn bolts in or out. $25 is pretty cheap considering that it’s a Craftsman set. Even if you can find a pneumatic impact gun at that price, no one in their right mind would trust it, and these let you skip the compressor, too.

Impact Driver Set [Craftsman]

We’ve covered a way to turn your reciprocating saw into a power rasp, but that was just a single use tool.  With the Reciprotools adapter chucked into your Recip saw, you can power accessories like stainless steel or nylon brushes, a cleaning pad, rasps, and files.

The the double tang adapter works with most reciprocating saws. Once you’ve inserted the adapter into the saw’s chuck, the adapter provides a quick-change hex chuck for holding the accessories. The hex-shaped shank on the accessories allows you to position each tool in six different orientations.

Pricing for the adapter starts at $16 and accessories start at $6 a piece.

Reciprotools [Corporate Site]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

You’ve probably seen the impressive power of rare-Earth magnets on science shows and Mythbusters, where they’ve been used to deflect bullets and climb steel ductwork. Ever thought about using them as tools?

You can buy these neat little devils all over the place, everywhere from industrial supply houses and magnet-specific sources like MagCraft to chemistry stores and novelty shops, with prices from under a dollar to several hundred bucks a pop. With a little elbow grease, you can even pull them out of old hard drives. How about putting a dozen small magnets on an old push broom and using it to clean ferrous chips from a machine-shop floor? A high-tech twist on pegboards? Or bolting a few to your creeper and sticking it to the side of your tool chest?

Heck, buy the right sizes, and you could even hold your project car to the ceiling; if you pull that one off, we want photos of both the car and the reinforced ceiling capable of holding it.

Rare Earth Magnets [Magcraft]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

“Light saber” work lights are cropping up all over the place nowadays, and there’s a good reason for that. Light-emitting diodes are durable, cheap, and very bright, making them perfect for a hard service life. Fluorescent tubes, on the other hand, are fragile, fairly dim, and notoriously power-hungry. LED lights draw so little power that even a cordless trouble light with a hundred of them can run for six hours on a charge.

Jack’s Tool Shed has a $35 trouble light available, which is a pretty low entry price for one of these beauties. It’s a bit sketchy, since the manufacturer isn’t listed (unless “Professional Mechanic’s Ultra-Bright” is a maker I’ve missed), but having laid hands on similar units, they’re plenty good for occasional use. If online tool purchases aren’t your thing, you can find similar units all over the place, right up to trouble lights with multiple modes and three-digit price tags.

Mechanic’s Ultra-Bright Cordless 100-LED Work Light [Jack's Tool Shed]

TuffRhino.com has the Miracool Cooling bandana for $1.77.

The Miracool evaporative cooling bandana contains water-absorbing polymers; to use you soak the bandana in water for a bit and then wear the slightly soggy bandana. The water slowly evaporates and keeps you cool, which should work better than just wearing a wet cotton bandana. I’ve never used one, but many people seem to like them and I’m considering getting one if this unseasonal Northwest heat wave continues. Their welding beanies look useful as well. Anyone using them?

Miracool evaporative cooling bandana [tuffrhino.com]

(TV Tonight, Thursday, July 30th, 2009) Experience the logistical excitement of atom smashing, inflight catering and towing tonight with new episodes of World’s Toughest Fixes, How Do They Do It? and Wrecked.

All times are central

• This Old House: East Boston Project (DIY, 5:30 pm)
• Ultimate Factories: UPS (National Geographic, 6:00 pm)
• Ask This Old House: Determining the Grade of Landscape, Repairing a Bathtub (DIY, 6:30 pm)
• Catch It Keep It: Hurricane Mike (Science, 7:00 pm)
• World’s Toughest Fixes: Atom Smasher (National Geographic, 8:00 pm) NEW
• How Do They Do It?: Cowboy hats, deep sea diving, inflight catering (Science, 8:00 pm) NEW
• Weapon Masters: Rockets (Military, 8:00 pm)
• Successful Farming Machinery Show (RFD-TV, 8:00 pm)
• How Do They Do It?: Deep Space, supertankers, turn-by-turn navigation (Science, 8:30 pm)
• Wrecked: Windy City (Speed, 9:00 pm) NEW
• Wrecked: The Blizzard (Speed, 9:30 pm)
• Jesse James Is a Dead Man: Desert Hare Scramble (Spike, 10:00 pm)

Toolmaker General has twisted two old favorites into a neat new product. While ratcheting tap handles have been around for a while, you don’t see many in use. They’re a bit contrary to the two turns in, one turn out mantra, but for through holes, they’re great. Reversible to allow for tapping left-hand threads and removal, they can save you a bit of time if you have a lot of holes to thread.

$40 from General’s website is a bit steep for one of these, but Production Tool Supply has an in-store manager’s special going right now, offering two sizes for $47, which isn’t bad for two high-quality tap handles.

No. 0 to 1/4″ Reversible Tap Wrench [General]
No. 0 to 1/4″ Reversible Tap Wrench [Production Tool Supply]
Street Pricing [Google Products]