When you think about it, drills started as cordless drills. To be honest, they didn't even have electricity in those days. Even today, the old Brace & Bit can be the right drill for certain jobs.What is the best all around drill for household use? 3/8 inch, variable speed, reversible.3/8...
The heavy tapered tool you see in the photo is an original soldering iron. You would heat it up in an oven or with a torch and use it to melt solder. This technique is sometimes still used by sheet metal workers today.Most soldering irons today are electrical, and you can even get them with car...
Leonard Lee, President of Lee Valley Tools, was a guest on my TV show where he demonstrated to us how to do some very basic inexpensive sharpening of knives and chisels. I'm not going to try and repeal a lot here, because Leonard actually "wrote the book" on sharpening, which you can purchas...
It is fascinating to compare tools from one epic to another, even in the field of house work.Here are two clothes irons. The one on the left is a heavy block of metal that would be heated up on a wood stove. The handle popped off, to keep it cool, and to switch between two irons, one you are us...
We visited with Wayne Walsh, a professional sheet metal worker and checked out all his hand custom tools that he uses to shape something as simple as a plumbing stack flange for the roof.In the photo you see a simple pair of crimpers, the right tool to put a pleated male end on a cut piece of ven...
In this TV segment we took a look at the changes in hammers over the years. If you are one of those who still prefer the wooden handle, take a look at the photo to see how to put the wedges in properly. Not too much pressure sidewise against the thin walls of the hammer. In fact the wedge in t...
When you cut out strike plate or hinge mortises with a router, you end up with round corners that often need to be squared off. The gadget in the photo has a right angle blade and a guide that you just slide into the round corner, hit the top with a hammer and the corner is perfectly square ever...
Christine Cushing was the master chef on the Life Network show Dish-It-Out and now on Christine Cusing Live on the Food Network. She came to my shop to give me a lesson about knives.There are only two classes of knives in the kitchen: serrated (with teeth) and straight.In the first photo, you...
If you don't already know pop-rivets, this is one tool you should become familiar with. The pop rivet looks a bit like a funny nail. You drill precise holes through two pieces of thin material that you want to join together. This is commonly used for all kinds of sheet metal work, but can ...
Dovetail joints are probably the strongest of woodworking joints, and with the right equipment they are suprisingly easy to make.The first photo shows the reversed V shaped bit in a router cutting both the tails and the slotsl at the same time.The second photo shows the results of this cut, stil...
