SawStop has introduced a new 3-hp 230-volt Professional Cabinet Saw aimed at low-volume shops.
Carbide Wood Flooring Router Bit Sets let you mill tongue-and-groove flooring from solid or engineered wood.
The concept behind Kubinec Strapping Kits is simple: You wrap polyester straps around a load and tighten them with a ratcheting tensioner.
The HD 5687 — Skil's attempt to re-enter the pro sidewinder market — has some promising features and a great price.
Rather than using a ratchet to wrap a cable around a spindle, as conventional come-alongs do, the Tirfor Griphoist has a pair of jaws that pull the cable straight through the housing with a hand-over-hand motion.
Makita's new portable table saw (2705/2705X1) meets new UL specs requiring that no tools be needed to change the blade guard.
Trying to straighten and fasten bent deck boards is no fun, especially when you're working with hardwood decking.
The SpeedCope costs way less than the $2,000 coping machines you find in a production wood shop — but it does a better job than a $35 handheld plastic template that fits only one type of molding and angle.
When Bosch introduced its first line of pneumatic nailers last spring, it claimed that the tools were 20 percent smaller and 10 percent more powerful than the competition.
When Bosch introduced its first line of pneumatic nailers last spring, it claimed that the tools were 20 percent smaller and 10 percent more powerful than the competition.
Klein's Bent Nose Romex Cable Strippers have a 90-degree angled nose designed to get them into tight spots.
One challenge with armored cable is that it can be hard to cut the armor without nicking the wires inside, which is why cable manufacturers recommend using a rotary cutter designed specifically for this cable type.
Ever notice that a drywall guy stomping around on stilts looks a lot like Herman Munster?
Clamp meters let electricians measure current in a live wire without stripping the insulation or touching the conductor, but the calculator-like display can be hard to read in dark basements or outside in the sun.
The one bad thing about WD-40 is that when you lose that little red straw, you have no way of controlling the spray.
The typical flat utility bar has a 90-degree rocker head that curves in the opposite direction from the flat end — which restricts the bar's range of motion.
The new Football Pole Sander is a simple tool with some significant advantages.
About a year ago I tested nine 18-volt impact drivers. Since then, a few new models — Bosch's 25618-02, Makita's BTD 144, and Milwaukee's 2650-20 — have come on the market.
Does the mere thought of your next stair job — all that tightening and loosening by hand of dozens of large clamps — have your carpal tunnel syndrome acting up?
Joining stair handrail sections requires painstaking fitting and fastening, but the EasAlign system by Crown Heritage can make the job easier.
M.Power's Flat Lying Trammel Heads have a pivoting point for fine adjustment and come with pencil and knife attachments.
Part of Bosch's new laser line, the GTL3 layout laser projects 90- and 45-degree lines on a floor or wall.
Laser distance meters allow one person to quickly measure a space with the push of a button, and they make area and volume calculations too.
Cutting tubing inside a wall or other tight spot usually requires a midget cutter and nimble fingers, but Ridgid's new 2-in-1 Close Quarters Autofeed tubing cutter takes the fingers out of the equation.
Increase your work area — and safety — in attics without floorboards by using The Ceiling Saver by Micjosco.
According to Hilti, the new PR26 self-leveling rotating laser level's green beam is easier to see than the standard red.
A few years ago, I tested some of the new pneumatic cap staplers and cap nailers that had come on the market. Then Paslode introduced the CS150 cap stapler earlier this year, and I decided to try it out, too.
Setting up scaffolding on uneven ground can be nearly impossible, but ReechCraft's Bronco All-Terrain Scaffolding System is made for the challenge.
Tune in to your favorite music while tuning out harmful noise with the Peltor Digital Worktunes headphones.
Makita's new impact driver, the BTD144, has several useful features inspired by the company's extensive line of industrial drivers.
Thanks to its unique saucerlike shape, the 7-inch Contoured Masonry Blade by Arcus can cut arcs with a radius as small as 15 inches.
Protect your cell phone on the job site with a Defender Series case from OtterBox.
With the Crawler CR01 scaffold-moving device, you can turn almost any scaffold with casters into a motorized unit.
The two new lasers I tested for this article — Hilti's PMC 36 and Agatec's CPL 50 — combine features not usually found together on one tool.
Cutting through porcelain can be a challenge, and sometimes it takes a special blade to do the work quickly and cleanly.
With MBright Tools' iVac Switch Box, any old shop vacuum or small dust collector can be used as a tool-triggered system.
Most tile saws pump water out of a large pan to cool their cuts, which can cause a lot of overspray and dripping.
Rebar is the bane of concrete drilling, capable of stopping a bit dead in its tracks.
Small service and delivery outfits now have a compact, fuel-efficient alternative to a full-size truck or van: Ford's 2010 Transit Connect.
Most portable band saws have a cut capacity of 4 3/4 inches, but DeWalt's new DWM120 can handle pipe up to 5 inches.
Using a drill for heavy mixing is hard on the tool and on your wrists. A dedicated mixer makes the job easier.
Ridgid recently added a one-handed recip saw to its Fuego line of power tools.
Ridgid offers two new pressure washers built with Subaru engines and Cat pumps — components the company considers commercial-duty.
Cuffsox were designed on the job by a contractor to keep sawdust and dirt out of his boots.
Many work lights are directional, but Husky's 360-degree light on a tripod will illuminate an entire room.
Magnum's Precision Ultra-Lite WPi CT boots feature a plasma-based waterproofing treatment that the company says was originally developed for the military..
Inspired by the horizon- indicator instrument found on airplanes, C.H. Hanson's new Precision Ball Level uses a weighted floating ball to find level, plumb, and any angle or slope in between.
DeWalt's DC020 is a portable 38-watt fluorescent work light that runs on the company's 12- to 18-volt cordless tool batteries or line voltage.
Duluth Trading Co. says its Fire Hose canvas pants are tougher than most other work pants — but the dense weave can be a bit warm in the summer.
None of my power tools gets used more than my wormdrive saw.
Stiletto's six new titanium pry bars weigh 45 percent less than equivalent-sized steel bars, says the company.
The Bucket Seat Pro from Bucket Boss protects your bucket's contents, provides a convenient place to sit, and — with its two removable dividers — serves as a four- or six-compartment parts organizer.
Leaving valuable tools and equipment in the back of your pickup — even for a quick run into the store — can be risky, but many truck beds don't have a place you can attach a lock to.
Most cordless impact wrenches have 1/2-inch anvils for large sockets and deliver bolt-snapping torque that can overwhelm smaller tasks.
Jackson's Total Control Elite Demolition Hammer is a sledgehammer with a difference: One of the striking faces tapers down to about 3/8 inch thick for rough prying — or for concentrating the striking force along a line to break concrete more easily.
Small items can be difficult to keep isolated in a portable parts box.
Stanley has redesigned some of its most popular hand planes.
It used to be that if you wanted a multi-tool — an oscillating sander/cutter — you had to buy one of Fein's MultiMasters.
Ridgid's new R250AF18 15-gauge finish nailer runs on a compact 18-volt lithium ion battery pack and weighs 2 pounds less than the competition, says Ridgid.
Now you can keep battery chargers or a heater running overnight without pinching an extension cord under the lid of your crew box.
Tired of trying — and failing — to seal the ends of your half-used caulk tubes with tape or a nail?
Bostitch's CPACK300 combination kit packages three finish tools with a 6-gallon oil-free pancake compressor and a hose.
Hitachi has entered the floor-fastening market with five new nailers and staplers.
Tajima's Chalk-Rite Jam-Free CR301JF holds 3 1/2 ounces of chalk — enough to snap 689 feet of lines, says the maker.
Wrestling a thick sheet of MDF onto a table saw by yourself can be a real feat, but attaching a LegUp pivoting sheet-goods lifter to your saw table or fence rail can help.
Using hidden deck-fastening hardware makes for a neater-looking composite deck but takes longer than using face-installed screws.
After years of hauling around a compressor, it occurred to me that for the number of nails I need to drive, I could run my guns off the same Power Tank I used to inflate the tires of my off-road vehicle.
Last fall I reviewed several saws that collect the dust generated when fiber cement is cut.
Festool's T12+3 and T15+3 cordless drill/drivers feature brushless motors and unique electronic clutch controls that change the motor speed and disengage the motor at a preset torque limit.
Every plumber has a tale about being beat up by his right-angle drill, so any model that improves user safety is worth a look.
Many users ignore the high and low gears on a drill/driver: Running in high makes the work go faster but can burn up the motor, while low gear protects the tool but feels too slow.
Putting a temporary fence around your job site can mean pounding in a lot of T-posts.
Long, heavy building materials can be difficult to lift and maneuver around job sites, especially by hand.
Boring a utility access hole under a sidewalk or driveway is hard work and often requires hiring a sub.
Telehandlers are a builder's workhorse.
Lee Valley's Veritas DX60 Low-Angle Block Plane has innovative features like a sliding mouth-adjustment plate fully enclosed within the tool's sole and tiny set screws to lock in the mouth adjustment and cutter alignment.
The easiest way to avoid inaccurate measurements is to not measure at all.
Fein has improved its portable vacuums — or 'dust extractors,' as the company calls them — by adding variable speed control and two extra casters (for a total of six).
Collated strip nails for 20-degree full round-head framing nailers are typically held together by rigid plastic strips that can transform into mini projectiles and pile up underfoot like so many ball bearings.
Keeping a job site clean shouldn't slow you down.
A centralized temporary supply box for power on a new construction site saves wiring time and improves worker safety.
There's a better way to measure bit height than balancing a ruler on end above the hole in your router table.
Offering more lift than a dust collector and more airflow than a vacuum, Oneida's Dust Cobra can handle on-site dust collection and big cleanup jobs.
I've been using the Milwaukee 2420-22 Hackzall kit in my remodeling and deck-building business since late last summer.
Last year one of my remodeling projects involved stripping the paint off a large area of wood siding.