If there's one thing that gets swept aside in the constant rush to put out daily fires and meet long-term deadlines, it's our ability to educate and train our teams – rookies and veterans alike – on an ongoing basis.
Veteran contractor Don Hodge of North Little Rock, Ark., went online to look for a Lenox 3-inch hole saw and came away as this year's winner of the Site Commander Sweepstakes. He picked up the keys to his new truck at the Lenox 301 NASCAR Race in Loudon, N.H., at the end of June.
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By now, everyone involved in residential remodeling should know about the EPA's Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) rule. As of midsummer there were still plenty of questions and confusion regarding the requirements for tools and equipment. In particular the government was still in the process...
Prefilter Hepa Vacuum / Two-Stage Hepa Vacuum
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Acme Tools, the Midwest retail powerhouse that created the original online tool and construction equipment sales site, Tool Crib of the North, has re-entered Internet retailing after a 10-year hiatus. Tool Crib was sold to Amazon.com in 1999.
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If your pickup is a Tundra and it's got serious frame rust, you could be in for some good news: Toyota has announced that it will replace the complete frame on affected vehicles built between 2000 and 2003 at no cost to the owners.
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Just a few short months after Dodge announced that it would produce a gas-electric hybrid version of its recently re-engineered Ram 1500 pickup 'sometime in 2010,' the struggling automaker has pulled the plug on the project.
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Turnabout is fair play in the automotive business, so after Ford and then Dodge gave their heavy-duty pickup lines a top-to-tailgate remodel, truck buyers could guess that it wouldn't be long before General Motors' fleet of HD work vehicles would get an overhaul as well.
Wormdrive saws are known for being plenty strong – and plenty heavy too. And as it turned out, where power is concerned, the DWS535 ranks right up there with the best of them.
Finding a new tool that fits the work is a real pleasure for the pro. A full-size portable band saw used to be the tool of choice for cutting angle iron, Unistrut, and threaded rod on the job – even though its nearly 5-inch capacity is overkill for most chores – but now our plumber's crew grabs one...
We've carefully selected more than 50 hand tools to share with you this issue. This diverse collection of tools represents the next generation of designs, with features that will help you carry on your own legacy of quality and provide continued enjoyment in your particular trade.
Lee Breton has been asked to do some crazy things in his career at Lenox Industrial Tools, and he's done them all. But now, after 48 years with the company, he's hanging up his tool pouch – and leaving a hole in the tool industry that will never be filled.
Tools for nailing through steel or into fully cured concrete used to be limited to PATs (powder-actuated tools), but gas-powered pinners are gaining popularity. And there are powerful pneumatics – some old and some new – that have been flying under the radar for some time even though they excel at...
Johnson's Tile/Flooring Laser Level 40-6616 projects two 90-degree laser level beams that are visible over multiple surfaces with an accuracy of +/- 1/4 inch for up to 60 feet.
Hilti's PMC 46 Combilaser features Hilti Pulse Power technology for accuracy in level, plumb, and squaring functions.
DeWalt's DW030 Laser Distance Measurer covers distances up to 100 feet with 1/8-inch accuracy.
CST/Berger's electronic self-leveling Mini-Line and Point Laser Tool XLP-34 provides a 90-degree horizontal and vertical layout grid with bright red laser lines and self-leveling accuracy up to 1/8 inch at 100 feet.
Stabila's LD400 Laser Measure calculates length (up to 200 feet), area, volume, continuous measure, square footage, and diagonals with an accuracy of +/- 1/16 inch.
The Bosch GPL5C self-leveling five-point laser projects plumb, level, and square as well as cross-alignment lines on floors and ceilings, eliminating the need for two setup points.
The Leica Lino L2P5 is a super-bright, self-leveling, dot-line laser.
Milwaukee's Two-Beam Plumb Laser 2320-20 is compatible with the company's M12 12-volt cordless-tool batteries.
The Spectra Precision HD100 Laser Distance Meter measures distance with 1/16-inch accuracy up to 330 feet and calculates area, volume, room dimension, and various Pythagorean functions.
The Pacific Laser Systems HVL 100 is a 360-degree self-leveling laser for plumb, level, and square.
M.Power's Combination 3D Square ($50) is a try square, marking gauge, and saddle square all in one.
Milwaukee's new hand-tool line is growing, with several everyday tools for the electrical and plumbing trades.
Bridge City Tools' KM-1 Kerfmaker is an ingenious little device that accurately figures a table-saw blade's kerf into repeatable cut lengths for lap joints.
Stanley is reviving its old Sweetheart branding yet again, this time for a line of bench chisels.
Tajima Tool's Combination Drywall Rasp ($16) has teeth made of chromed die-cast aluminum.
Bostitch, now the brand for Stanley's heaviest-duty pro hand tools, has introduced a series of new products.
Greenlee has some interesting fastener-holding drivers.
Lee Valley Tools comes up with a lot of thoughtful designs, and its Veritas brand Skew Block Plane ($189) is no exception.
Bessey is known for its strong industrial and shop clamps.
Ideal Industries has invented a better mousetrap for the electrician in the form of an improved armored cable cutter.
Jackson has a new demolition tool called the Pulverizer
Nail Jack extraction pliers have an 'anvil' behind the head that you pound on to drive the tips into the wood surrounding a nail.
Irwin's newest Vise-Grip pliers have a 'self-energizing' jaw design that shifts under load and self-tightens, similar to the action of a pipe wrench.
Like many multi-tools on the market, SOG's PowerLock pliers ($110) have a knife blade, screwdrivers, and a 1/4-inch hex-bit driver adapter.
Green Grass Group's DoubleVsquare ($25) — which consists of two triangular-type aluminum squares hinged down the center — makes it easier to transfer marks around corners
Craftsman wrenches are synonymous with lifetime-warranty quality.
Starrett has a new plastic version ($25) of its Pro Site Miter Saw Protractor that's half the size and price of the aluminum model.
Kunz has a new premium plane line.
Ridgid plumbing tools have been a mainstay in the industry for decades, and the company's newest offerings show us what plumbers have been missing until now.
Rockler's Pock-It Hole Clamp ($20) is a novel device for aligning and clamping pocket screw joints in 3/4-inch stock up to 3 inches wide.
Jevon's Tools 3D Squares ($60) are sold in sets of four to help with clamping casework corners and making joinery square, but they also have other uses.
Megapro won an Editor's Choice award a few years back for its handy 15-in-1 screwdriver.
The DoorJack is a clever foot lever for lifting and rehanging doors up to 240 pounds.
The wet/dry vacs in Fein Power Tools' Turbo line are designed with 0.3-micron Tier-II HEPA filters to comply with the new RRP rule, says the maker.
Dustless Technologies offers a wet/dry vac with a dedicated HEPA filter (model 16006) to meet the requirements of the new EPA lead rule, says the manufacturer.