Hand Tool Reviews

A tool (actually a jig) like this could be made from scratch, but I didn't have the time so I purchased the Stair Wizard from Amazon. There are two models: the Pro Line I and Pro Line 2. I was sent the Pro Line 2, which includes a set of adjustable stops that allow you to compensate for the amount of tread that overhangs the riser. It's important to make sure that both of these stops are set EXACTLY the same distance from the butting edge of the tool or it will throw your cut lines off significantly. I was using pre-finished 5/4 by 11 1/2 inch wide mahogany treads and missed a couple of cuts because I failed to read the instructional book carefully. Fortunately, I remembered to cut my longer treads first, so no material was lost. (If you make a mistake you can re-cut the tread and use it on a shorter span.)

The tool also has very long adjustable arms (16 inches plus or minus) with rubber straight edges that you use to mark the lines on the tread. I had very wide skirt boards that were slightly convex or concave which made it difficult to mark the cut accurately. On a concave board the rubber would touch the skirt at both ends and leave a gap in the middle. I solved this by pairing back with a utility knife the last four inches of rubber slightly so that the straight edge was only 12 inches long. (Afterall, how often are treads wider than 12 inches?) The maker, Wheaton Jigs, could solve this problem by including an extra pair of rubber blades that are 12 inches in length.

Aside from these difficulties, I am very satisfied with the tool. And the staircase (actually two staircase with a middle landing) looks beautiful. Next I intend to tile the risers with hand painted Mexican tiles.

it worked well on the set of stairs the home owner was pleased. it also is good for wood shelves, perfect cut every time

This is a beautifully made tool. Takes only a few stair treads or risers to get familiar with it before you start cutting parts that fit right the first time. Good versatility. You will not be able to use this on stairs much under 30" wide which I do run into sometimes in old houses. This tool is worth the money.

Recovery time was very good when using a framing nailer. Using a blowgun for cleaning was ok. Acceptable noise level. Used on a 100' extention cord off a 15 amp circuit, with no problems. I'm very pleased with it. Looking forward to many years of use in my shop.

Bought this and use it daily. Has worked out fine, no problems. Low noise levels and short run time with good useable capacity. Very well built.

I use this with my Paslode; 16 Gauge and Framing nailers, I hang then trim doors, sometimes rebuild sills and headers. I also do various trim/frame carpentry on other projects.

If you are worried about changing the oil its only once a year!
If you are worried about operating on a slope, i have always found a flat spot to locate it in, even roofers leave theirs on the ground, just put on more hose. Who wants to carry this up a ladder anyway?!

I would never buy an air compressor without a user serviceable airfilter!
I would never buy one of those oil less types

This is a solidly made plane at a reasonable price. Stanley has been making planes for many decades, and this, which is their latest version of a block plane is well made with the features most pros look for in a day to day plane. The construction is solid and it stands up well to work on the job site. It's not up to the highest standards of say, a Lie-Nielsen bronze plane, but if you are looking for a well ctafted plane that will stand up to the rigors of every day use by a professional carpenter...this is the plane for you.

This is a solidly built block plane that will give you years of service once you spend a little time and tune it up right. Nearly every plane made requires some fine adjustment out of the box so that should not be considered a negative when purchasing this item.

The cap iron may need a little lapping at the front bottom to fit smoothly against the plane iron. The blade comes with a serviceable factory edge but I honed mine nonetheless. Check the blade for flatness and lap the back if necessary. The bottom of the plane should be checked for flat and the sides for square before you commit to using this on your finer projects.

Again, most planes need this kind of tuneup as they come out of the box. The only fault I have with this plane is that the rear adjustment screw has a bit too much free play (a sixteenth of an inch) between the adjustment screw collar and the blade adjustment. I fixed that by disassembling the mechanism and fitting a brass shim around it.

Stanley tools will always be held in high regard.If you look after this equipment it give good service for years.

Simply put, this vacuum is great. Extra long power cord, many different height settings. The only problem is finding bags.

In the end I had to purchase this from another online retailer, but I still wanted to write a review because it deserves high praise!

It's very simple and efficient, and is pretty powerful for something so cheap. I've found it works really well - better than some of the more expensive cleaners I've used - and I'm really happy with it.

It's fairly light too, has a long power-cord, and the onboard tools make it a breeze to use. The filtration system is adequate and does the job well.

The only indication of its 'cheapness' is its rather plasticky construction - but so far mine has held out pretty well, and if I had to buy three of these in 10 years, it'd still work out cheaper than a lot of other manufacturer's products!

Oh - and to the reviewer who can't find bags - try your local BestBuy - they're [money]for 3 - or order online from the Bissell web site!

Quite simply, I really like this vacuum. This was an upgrade from an older model Singer vacuum containing only 6.8 amps & was barely able to suck up crumbs. The Bissell in this review has 12 amps and like the previous reviewers mentioned, is a powerful machine that really makes one's carpets look clean when finished. The extra long cord was an extra bonus. That and the fact that the tools attach to the vacuum & everything stores nice & tidily together. Excellent vacuum at a terrific price!

The ability to open the knife blade without opening the handles was an improvement over the micra. However, the anodized aluminum wears poorly when in a pocket with keys and change. The perfect design would be the Squirt with a stainless steel handle option like the Micra, in my opinion. Nonetheless this is my pocket mini-tool of choice.

I replaced a small swiss-army knife with the Squirt S4 after losing the knife. I definately like the Squirt a lot better than my old swiss army knife. It's a little bigger, but still a less bulky than my Car Key w/Integrated Keyless Entry.

Squirt scissors are fairly strong and can but through any number of materials, including amazon.com packing boxes, small plants/flowers, and the sealed plastic that small electronics are sold in.

It is solid made and none of the tools flex or bend under normal use. The knife is razor sharp out of the box; it seems to hold its edge a slightly better than my swiss.

The paint will chip and scratch after a few weeks on a keychain. If that's important to you, I strongly recommend getting a Squirt slip-case.

Update:
Another issue. Most of the tools are on the outside (i.e. you don't have to open it to take out the knife, screwdriver, etc). This is convenience, but can be dangerous. If you apply to much pressure, the tool slip and close on your fingers. Ouch!

The Leatherman Micra does not have this problem: you open it up, flip out the tool, and then close it. Tools can't close on your fingers!

When I bought this tool, I found out that it was the same price as the Micra. This tool is way better than the micra, because the scissors are a lot stronger and the overall product is more durable than the micra. I definatly think that this is better than the micra.

This knife is really just my toothpick holder, my favorite feature by far. I've used half of the features so far at one time or another, but I'd have to say it's nice to have the other half around just in case. Nice knife, well worth the price...

I like this pocket knife because it is slim enough that I can attach my keys to it and it would not make my pocket bulky. It has all the essential tools that I need.

The only problem I have with this knife is the location of the phillips screwdriver. I find it very difficult to use a screwdriver like that, especially in my case where I have my keys attached to the knife.

I have had a Super Tinker for 15 years or so and it is great. The scissers are far superior to those on Wenger knives(which work off the mainspring rather than a separate leaf spring) and are the tool I use most. I have only had to replace the spring once over the course of those years and much use. The spring is less than two bucks at a Remington store.

I also like this model because the corkscrew is replaced with a much more useful Phillips head screwdriver. The knife has a collection of useful tools and a reasonable weight. Some of the knives become too cumbersome when they have feature after feature.

My old Super Tinker does not have the carrying hook. The toothpick and tweezers are also long gone. I am buying a new, shiny one for myself and a couple for gifts since this price is about a third less than I paid all those years ago.

I purchased the belt based on the recommendations of the previous reviews in this section. I chose this one over the several others listed in the category.

It certainly looked and sounded appealing, specificaly, being able to quickly add or subtract the individual pouches. After opening the shiping box and seeing/feeling the flimsy belt and the small puches, I felt robbed. Nonetheless, I tried it out for three weeks. After the third week, I dumped it and went back to my old tool pouch.

This would be a nice product in the $40 price range, but at $100, it's way too expensive.

This is a average weekend-warrior belt. Serious users should stay away.

I first heard of the Task system last winter. In December I visited a collegue who works at Pratt & Whitney's jet engine assembly plant up north in Connecticut. The techs at P&W all use a varient of this system. What surprised me were the kind off efficiencies that could be realized when components could be shared between techs. I was also surprised at how little grumbling the P&W techs had about the use of a corporate mandated tool. As I am involved in an engineering concern with aerospace contracts, I thought that this system could be useful at my company. I bought a couple of belts and organizers and supplied them to one of my crews. They liked it so much the second shift asked to be similarily equipped. I have used my belt & organizer every workday since spring & I can't imagine going back to the old fixed belts & buckets our company used before.

I'm not a contractor, but I've seen them on TV, and I've dated a few. I have seen many a tool belt in my time, but none of them compare to the simplicity and functionality of the Task "Quick-Switch" Modular Tool Belt. The pouches snap on and off using clips like the ones that you used to see on purses. You can attach nail pouches, or driver drill pouches, or whatnot. It's so fun! I suddenly understand why I don't tend to wear my regular tool belt around the house--it's just not practical! It's laden down with all the tools I happen to not need at any given time! The Task Corporation Modular Quick-Switch Modular Tool Belt is the only tool belt for me. P.S. I forgot to mention that it is also really strong, and there is a "bucket buddy" version which you can hang on your wall when you need the bucket for something else like mixing gruel.

This vacuum is fine for picking up the dirt in a small studio, but don't expect anything more from it. The main problems are by design: It is not very powerful (but adequate for hardwood floors) and because the engine is on the stick you can't reach under beds and sofas. But it does the job nicely in a small place with no rugs.

My apartment has all hardwood floors and I have a very furry dog. This vacuum has made a huge difference in keeping the place clean. It does a great job picking up the long hairs and has been a real time saver. Plus it's hard to go wrong for this price.

I live in a 900 sq. foot apartment with wooden floors and I have two cats. I have spent the past four years trying everything from the traditional (dust mop) to a Black and Decker FloorBuster - and none of them have worked as well as the Bissell Easy Vac Plus. It's powerful, it picks up very well and handles my throw rugs with ease. I finally feel like I'll win the war against the dust bunnies and ever present cat hair ...

I purchased this saw and a Fiskars 93626935 PowerTooth Folding Saw at the same time. While this is a larger saw, I still end up using the Fiskars more often. They are more portable (and safer because the blade folds away) and do as good of a job on anything less than 2-3." For anything larger than 3" a bow saw (poperly tensioned) can beat the nonsense out of a clipper in handcutting. But I will saw that a bowsaw is akward up IN a tree, and that therefore there is a nice place for clippers in tight pruning spots. Still given a choice, the Fiskars beat this any day.

If you order more than one of these saws, request that they be sent in one package. We ordered 12 saws and they arrived in 8 huge boxes, full on those plastic airbags. What a disgrace.
Debby

As far as I'm concerned this saw is great. It's sharp, it cuts well, I think the curve of the blade actually helps with cutting 2-4 inch hardwood trees. Maybe as a previous reviewer mentioned it is too thick but it works well for me. I can cut through a 3 inch cherry branch (I've done this numerous times now) while basically hanging in the tree and I'm done in less than 30 seconds. No I'm not exaggerating. Try doing that with your typical handsaw.

First, this is a very comfortable hammer (grip, balance, and easy on the elbow). The comfort comes at the expensive of keeping the vibration in the hammer.

After every strike, the hammer continues to ring for a few seconds. I thought I had a 5 star hammer until I helped a friend build a shed. My elbow felt great, but the continuous ringing for 2 days was enough to drive me insane! Even my friend was affected by the ringing while working several feet away.

He had the 20-ounce Antivibe and it does not experience any ringing. I headed to Lowes to buy a new hammer and tested these two models in the store. I sampled several of the Antivie hammers on the shelf and the 16oz/20oz ringing/not ringing held true.

If you can handle the extra weight, the 20oz Antivibe is a great hammer. It dampens the vibrations in a split-second. If you need a 16oz, I'd continue to look elsewhere if you need to drive more than a dozen nails per project.

I wanted to know if this hammer was tool enough to hurt my head if I hit myself with it, square in the forehead, wham, bam, ouch. I devised a scheme for testing the product before purchasing it, and it's a great little trick you might want to use in your online shopping experience, so I'm going to share it with you. But, hey, this is just you and me, okay? Don't go emailing this to everyone you know, especially your aunt - she'll just send it back to us every couple of months, along with that joke about Regis Philbin.

So, anyway, I figured the computer screen might be about as hard as however hard the hammer might be, so I opened up the large version of the product picture, and whacked my head with that, instead.

Lemme tell ya, that's not how you're going to want to wake up after a long night of reading neo-Freudian polyethnic poetry and drinking absinthe. It wasn't REAL real fun, if you know what I mean.

And, yet... It didn't smart nearly as much as I'd hoped. Maybe that's because the picture wasn't big enough. My computer's only 4 inches wide, and surely the hammer's bigger than that.

This really is a great hammer, and far better than I needed. A welcome surprise. The antivibe is excellent for me since I have some minor nerve problems in my right arm from years on the computer. It's comfortable to grip and I'm just pleased with it.