The Toronto Hardware Show is where buyers from hardware stores pick up new products for the coming months. Here are four more products that I spotted that look like winners.
Slyde Lock Patio Door Locking system, is a really good bar lock for a patio door now easily available in hardware stores. Rather than going straight across from the frame to the sliding door, it slides on a strong rack with different locking positions and hooks to the bottom of the sliding door. This has several advantages. It allows the door to be securely locked while still slightly open for ventilation. Closes or slightly open it prevents a theif from lifting up of the door to get it off of its track, something easy to do with just a stick in the track. It can be operated without having to bend over or reach up high. Small children will not be able to operate it. I see that it is already showing up in stores.
Dekmate Bench Bracket is a sturdy bracket that you fasten to the edge of a deck -- it then holds the seat boards and back boards for the bench as well as the top rail.
The Duck Hammer is a special new hammer. Its funny duck-bill-like shape absorbs much of the shock of hammering while its curved claws are in fact shaped like a full crow bar to easily pull 3-1/2 inch nails without having to put a block under the head. Even the two faces of the hammer have hammering surfaces machined into them -- you won't break this hammer by whacking it sidewise.
I just couldn't resist trying out some cotton work gloves that were cool cotton on the back of the hand and full latex under all the fingers and the palm. What a grip! It would actually reduce the fatigue of swinging a hammer -- something important to those of us who only hammer occasionally and tend to cramp up for the next three days.