August 23, 2011

Paslode TetraGrip Subfloor Fastening System - Review

Floor squeaks are the last thing a client wants to hear after shelling out the big bucks for a new home or a renovation. It may sound like a squeak to you, but what your client is actually hearing is, "...the contractor is a dumbass..." Don't be that dumbass.

Squeaks are usually the product of a nail rubbing against wood. Wood, as our old boss used to say, is "a terrible building material; it shrinks, it rots, it expands, it warps, it splits," and on and on (after a glass of tequila, the rant could go on for a solid ten minutes) and one of the byproducts of this lack of structural integrity is the squeak.

Seems like more often than not, the squeak comes from the subfloor installation. There are a few ways to prevent the terrible noises at installation; A) smear PL or Liquid Nail all over the joists before nailing off the subfloor or B) screwing down the subfloor. Both methods are sort of time consuming and using construction adhesive adds a significant mess factor.

Paslode's new TetraGrip Subfloor Fastening System aims at being the fastest kid on the block (as well as the strongest). The basics of it are that it's a nailgun that shoots a special (and we mean 'special') nail that truly locks the subfloor down to the joists.

Continue reading: "Paslode TetraGrip Subfloor Fastening System - Review"

August 22, 2011

What? You're Giving Away Another Duo-Fast Cordless Roofing Nailer? You kuh-razy.

We picked a winner in the Duo-Fast roofing nailer contest. It was Anthony who said that...

"An unnecessary airhose on a roof is as dangerous as a guy I used to work with who demolished a roof by cutting through the rafters and then jumped on the roof. He also shot himself in the ankle with a framing gun."

Sounds like an awesome guy. The other day, we heard a story about a guy who accidentally nailed his wallet to his ass with a framing gun. Funny people to talk about. Lousy people to work with.

So We've got another Duo-Fast to give away. The rules are the same: Leave a comment at this site to enter and increase your chances of winning by 'liking' the Duo-Fast Facebook page (that gives you five additional entries).

So this time, finish this sentence:

"Roofing is as brutal as...."

Seriously, we think roofing is totally brutal. It's brutal on your clothes, your legs, your back, and your hydration. The way we see it there are about five day each year when the weather is OK for roofing. The rest of the time it's either too cold, too hot, or it's raining. So tell us how brutal you think roofing is and you might win a slick Duo-Fast nailer.

3M TEKK Painter's Gloves - Review

Our go-to on painting gloves are those latex ones that you can get in a box of 100. They're great as far as keeping your hands clean, but it's pretty wasteful to be constantly throwing them away (once they come off the hands, they ain't going back on). Recently, we were staring down the barrel of a complex staining/dyeing/shellacking/poly-ing process and we wanted to use a glove that would be a little more durable in the long run. Then we remembered that a couple months ago 3M sent us a pair of their TEKK painter gloves. So we gave them a shot. Here's what we thought....

Continue reading: "3M TEKK Painter's Gloves - Review"

Read More in: All Reviews | Clothing | Painting

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August 16, 2011

Win a Duo-Fast Cordless Roofing Nailer from Tool Snob

Our pals at Duo-Fast are handing over a few of their Cordless Roofing Nailers for us to off load onto you guys. If you're unfamiliar with the tool, it's the first legit cordless roofing nailer on the market. This cordless action is good for a lot of reasons, chief among them is the lack of a compressor setup and no air hoses to deal with once you're up on the roof.

Because it can only shoot about 2 nails per second (far slower than a pneumatic-powered roofing crew is used to), the Duo-Fast is meant for small job, and repairs. So it's good for the pro roofer and if you're part of the DIY crowd, it'll probably be the only roofing gun you'll ever need.

We're going to accentuate the cordless nature of the tool, so to enter to win you only need to leave a comment at this post finishing this sentence, "An unnecessary airhose on the roof is as dangerous as..."

If you're drawing a blank, here are a few to get the creative juices flowing:

...applying ammonia-based shellac in a room with the windows closed (trust us on this one)...?

...the guy I used to work with who wrapped wire around his circ saw so the blade guard couldn't close (true story!)....?

...a neck-height tripwire on the bike path....?

Also, if you 'like' Duo-Fast on Facebook, we'll enter your name five additional times in the drawing.

In a week we'll announce a winner and at that time, we'll cook up another ridiculous way to win the second gun.

Duo-Fast has info on the tool here and our original write-up of it is here.

The gun has a retail in the $500 range, so if you judge by price alone, this is a pretty sweet prize.

Read More in: Cordless | Lithium-Ion | Promotions

Doug Mahoney Permalink | Comments (31) | Email This |

August 11, 2011

AnswerArmy.com

Husqvarna has gone and snagged the greatest domain name since HampsterDance.com and established AnswerArmy, an online help desk for all of their associated brands. This means there's info on Husqvarna, Poulan, Poulan Pro, Weed Eater, and McCulloch.

We roamed around on the site for a bit and it's nicely organized and looks like it has some good information on it. In their press release, Husqvarna states that,

The "Army" is virtually staffed by Husqvarna product experts with over 500 collective years of category experience, who verify that all answers are accurate and correct.

We love statements like this because we always immediately imagine a 500-year-old fossil checking all of the answers.

Become a PFC in the AnswerArmy.

August 10, 2011

Bosch Daredevil Contest

It's really not our intent to be so heavy on promoting all of the various tool contests on the internet, but they do make for some quick and easy posts and they also mean that you guys can possibly get some swag. So here's yet another one. This time from Bosch. To enter this contest it looks like you have to upload an image of yourself being a 'daredevil' (which is usually a loose translation of, 'doing something stupid'). Info on how to enter here.

All the contest stuff aside, the point is the promotion of their Daredevil line of accessories, which is a good thing. We've checked out a bunch of them and it's an impressive lineup. The Daredevil spade bits in particular are absolutely savage when it comes to drilling holes in wood. It's sorta like shooting Styrofoam with a shotgun. Check out all of the products here.

Spade bits at Amazon

Read More in: Power Tool Accessories | Promotions

Doug Mahoney Permalink | Comments (0) | Email This |

August 9, 2011

Win a Paslode Framer from Concord Carpenter

Our buddy Rob (who is also a TV celebrity) is giving away a Paslode framer over at his site, A Concord Carpenter. To get all the nitty gritty details on how to enter (it's easy) go here. You might as well give it a shot, it's like a $400 tool.

We reviewed the framing gun a while back and our thoughts on the item are here.

Swanson Speed Bevel - Review

Swanson's new Speed Bevel combines the talent of their ubiquitous Speed Square and the bevel gauge. Since our experience is that those are the two most used measuring devices on a site, we were pretty interested in seeing their talents combined into a single unit. Swanson sent us a sample and like always, we dropped it in the tool bag and brought it to work. It's been well over a month and here's the verdict....

Continue reading: "Swanson Speed Bevel - Review"

Read More in: All Reviews | Measuring & Marking

Doug Mahoney Permalink | Comments (0) | Email This |

August 8, 2011

July 2011 Monthly Round up for Tool Snob

We had a busy month with non-snob related items and went pretty light on the content. We're planning on being back in the saddle in the upcoming days. We certainly have enough to cover; the back-logged tools are filling up the shop at a staggering rate.