Not many people are going to need a stainless steel pipe polisher, but the tool just looks really cool.  You can use Fein’s RS 12-70 to grind pipe welds, sand pipes to a satin finish, or polish pipes to a mirror finish and anywhere in between.

The variable-speed sander can drive the belt to speeds up to 22 m/s.  The belts rides on what I’m assuming are spring-loaded arms that allow the belt to flex around the pipe so you can surface all 360° of the pipe in only two passes.

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OK, so it may not strictly be a tool — although it is done using a computer, which is a tool we use for reading TM — but it is a lot of fun. The site offers other options including building, gas station, and highway signs. You can also do computer error messages:

Atom Smasher [Manufacturer's Site]

The city that gave America its first book-lending library also offers something I’d never heard of until today: a tool library. The West Philly Tool Library is a co-op where community members can borrow tools for home improvement and other projects they might not otherwise be able to do.

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Some lucky souls have the remarkable gift of immediately and completely grasping the functions of an assembly, but for most of us, it takes a while. The differential is a great example of this — an everyday device with simple parts, but their operating principles can be a little hard to understand, even before you start throwing limited-slip devices, lockers, and electronics into the mix.

Fortunately, there’s this neat, old-fashioned, Chevrolet-produced explanation of the bare-bones automotive differential. It looks like it was made in the fifties or so, and even if your understanding of this little piece of the grand automotive puzzle is complete, it’s still a cool video. There are some neat little historic tidbits mixed in, and (weirdly) some synchronized motorcycling at the beginning (skip to around 1:50 if that doesn’t catch your interest). All in all, this is a nifty little throwback with an educational twist, and well worth ten minutes.

How a differential gear works [YouTube]

This may be the most impressive woodworking feat I’ve ever seen. The photo above was made in the mid-1800s by a Mason named Henry O. Studley, a piano maker and carpenter. Materials include mahogany, rosewood, walnut, ebony, and mother-of-pearl, so finely crafted that each tool clicks snugly into place and remains when the wall-mounted box is vertical, even though there are no built-in locks. Two layers on one side and three on the other are enough to store around three hundred tools in 39″ x 20″ x 9″.

It takes a Toolmonger with a heart of stone to avoid falling in love with this remarkable chest. An expert craftsman with a lifetime’s experience in a demanding trade made this practical and fantastically beautiful box from scraps, and was probably the kind to use it every day. If this were your work, imagine the little twinge of satisfaction every time you reached for a tool. Mr. Studley’s work is a practical, gorgeous display of his incredible skill, and he’d undoubtedly be proud to see his work on display at its current home in the Smithsonian.

The H.O. Studley tool chest [Fine Woodworking]
Henry O. Studley [Wikipedia]

Speaking of mechanical pencils, the Uni Kuru Toga has a nifty little clutch mechanism that rotates the lead a small amount each time it touches the writing surface. This rotation promotes uniform wearing of the pencil lead, and prevents getting the dreaded slanted lead surface, or chisel point, that can either break or give you increasingly wide lines. The rotating pencil lead maintains a sharper point with correspondingly narrower line widths. If you’re scribing a line against a straight or curved edge, you’re not likely to be lifting the pencil and retouching the surface, so the rotation advantages won’t apply in this case (unless, of course, you make a dashed line). In typical writing applications, however, it works very well, and it’s neat to watch the rotation mechanism in action when you touch the paper.

The Uni Kuru Toga is available for $7 (both 0.3mm and 0.5mm).

Street Pricing [Google Products]

The Japan Woodworker claims this knife is of the traditional style used by Japanese hunters to cut meat in the field. While we can’t find any evidence to back up that claim, it still is one mean-looking knife for only having a 4″ blade.

The deceptively crude-looking knife is actually forged by master blacksmith Kazuyuki Tanaka. He folds  high carbon blue steel with sixteen layers of Damascus pattern soft steel to create a knife that is tough yet holds a sharp edge. To finish off the knife, the handle is simply wrapped with nylon cord.

The knife measures 9″ in length overall, and retails for about $100. It ships razor-sharp with a blade cover and instructions for care.

Hunting Knife [Japan Woodworker]

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]

This probably would not fit in my garage, and even if it did and I could somehow power it, I doubt that I would ever need to bandsaw something requiring a 40″ throat. On the other hand, this is a really neat hunk-o-machinery.

From Old Woodworking Machines via Stu’s Shed.

Old Woodworking Machines [Corporate Site]

I like the concept. I’m just not sure how flat other keys (or whatever goodies you carry with your keys) will lie once they’re connected to the split ring. Will you wind up with a spiky mine-shaped mess in your pocket, or will it be more subtle? It probably depends on the diameter of the key holes of the keys on the ring relative to the diameter of the split ring, but that’s getting too analytical, even for me.

The key blank can be cut by any key cutter to fit Schlage SC1 or Kwikset KW1 keyways. It runs $7 for a pack of two.

Split Ring Key [Amron Experimental]

The Minty Boost from Adafruit is a simple charger circuit that fits in an Altoids gum tin along with two AA batteries, and will charge almost anything (e.g., MP3 player, cell phone, camera…) that charges via a USB port. You could go the solar charger route for your cell phone, but the latest one of those is around $90, and only works with certain phones. Or you can get a rechargeable power pack from Energizer® (Energi To Go®) or Duracell® (PowerSource Mini), but these seem to run in the $40-$90 range. The Minty Boost is less expensive, and you get to build it! A kit (you will also need an Altoids gum tin) is available for $20.

On the other hand, I don’t think I’d want to try explaining this to the TSA people at the airport.

Minty Boost [Corporate Site]
Solar Charger [Powcell]

Mechanized square dancing: when I picture it in my head there’s the kind of image that I can’t scrub out later. So that we’re all running on the same level here, check out the video of just such an event.

Let’s be clear — I’m not judging my Southern brethren. It took a long time to learn the “steps” of the tractor dance. In fact, the whole two-minute dance was very well timed and everyone watching seemed to enjoy it. However, I think it might fall in the “don’t tell anyone you go to tractor square dancing parties” category.

Best Ever,Tractor Square Dance [YouTube]

This life-sized Gundam is just under 60 feet tall and completely kick-ass. The giant golem celebrates the 30th anniversary of the first anime series in the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise, and I can’t think of a better tribute than constructing a real-life replica.

Working with tools, bringing to life a beloved giant protector of humanity and giant-scale modeling — that’s a trifecta as far as we can tell. The attention to detail looks amazing, and the fact that a group of folks were committed enough to put that much effort into something many might scoff at is definitely worthy of note.

In July the statue will be on display for two months at the Shiokaze Park on Tokyo’s Odaiba island. Suddenly the bar for building giant robot tributes just went up.

18-Meter ‘Life-size’ Gundam Statue Nears Completion [Anime News Network]

I’ve seen a lot of different tools that do a lot of different things, but I can’t say I’ve ever seen a pair of pliers that looks like these. I found ‘em on eBay, and judging by the seller’s comments, he doesn’t know what they are either.

It seems to be some sort of retaining ring plier or a tool for getting into an assembly to remove a ring pin or valve cover. The only identifying marks on the tool are “Blue Point” and “Made in USA.” I think Blue Point might’ve been a Snap-on brand at one point, but I’m not sure.

The thing just looks odd — you’ll find more pictures on the eBay listing. Is anyone familiar with this type of plier? If so, what wondrous function was it designed to accomplish? Let us know in comments.

Unidentified Plier Listing [eBay]

You can buy an H2Glow for the safety of the little ones — though in the fine print of their installation PDF, Sector Labs points out that the H2Glow is not a safety device — or just because it looks really cool.  It makes your water glow as it flows out of the tap, blue if it’s safe to touch and red if it gets too hot.

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DIY Network is hosting a national competition for enterprising inventors of cool new tools.  The winner of the competition will receive $10,000, and their tool invention will get a featured spot on Cool Tools with Chris Grundy.

You can submit your invention by posting a photo or video of the tool in action and describing what it does and how it works.   And if you’re not entering the contest, you can still view the gallery of awesome homemade tools on the DIY Network page. The one that intrigues me the most so far is the “Zip Pic” zip tie remover — it allows you to remove zip ties without cutting them.

Take a look around, or perhaps pull out that tool you invented years ago and submit it.

Cool Tools Submission Gallery [DIY Network]

Noel Hankamer has built up a badass collection of wrenches, and it seems the Alvin Historical Museum agrees — they’ve put a portion of Noel’s collection on display for the next few months.

Just looking at the pics he loaded up is impressive, and we encourage anyone in the Houston area to go check out the exhibit.  From what we can tell, the large case holds dozens of monkey, pipe, bicycle, and alligator wrenches.

All of ‘em look pretty old but well taken care of.  Hats off to Noel for collecting these treasures, which the uninformed might incorrectly call “junk,” and for being gracious enough to loan them out to the Alvin Historical Museum, who had the good sense to put them on display.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]
Alvin Historical Museum [Blog]