Ran across an interesting wrench at one of my favorite tool sites – www.toolmonger.com.  The manufacturer, Expedition Tools,  claims that the wrench is the first and only hydrokinetically adjusted wrench that can cover a size from 1/4″ – 3/4″ (7-19mm).  You adjust it by moving a piston.  Because it contacts the bolt on 3 sides the manufacturer claims it’ll remove damaged nuts and bolts that other wrenches cannot remove.   Cost is $25 on Amazon.com. 

Expedition Tools – Introduction Video

Crap!  I could see it happening in slow motion.  I pushed a library step stool out of my way in the kitchen and it managed to roll 20’ to the stairs and bounce down….and crash right into the drywall leaving a good size hole.   I really am not good at patching drywall holes and making the texture come out correctly. 

Luckily, on my trip to Home Depot I found a couple of products from Homax that make the job easy.  First  Homax makes a wall patch that helps you cover the hole.   The patch consists of a self-adhesive mesh that holds a galvanized metal plate.   Three sizes are available: 4", 6", and 8"—luckily the 8” patch covered the whole.   By refinishing over the product you can create an invisible patch.

After you’ve covered the hole with a metal patch and sanded it smooth—you can texture over it by using one Homax’s spray textures.  You can get a variety of textures to match your existing texture.  Our house uses Orange peel.  A really cool feature of the new nozzle design is you can vary the density of the texture by simply turning a nozzle. 

Homax is kind enough to put some instructional videos on their website to help novices.

Other products include a patch for doorknob holes and a patch for holes around electrical outlets.

I love keychain tools—but frankly only most keychains it becomes a pain to add and remove tools or even carry them since they poke out at just the wrong angle to poke a hole in your pocket.  CountyComm sells a cheap little keychain ring that is just perfect.  CountyComm’s Cable Key Rings are made from stainless aviation cable with brass screws and barrels.  They are lightweight, strong, secure easy to open and reclose and big enough to allow your keys and tools to lay flat.  

A&P Mechanics Cable Key Ring

Underinflated tires waste expensive gas, and shorten tire life, and frequently make your car handle badly.  Accutire’s MS-4359 is a cool tire monitoring system that allows you to quickly check the pressure in your car’s tires by touching the gauge to the cap.  The smart caps then measure the tire pressure with a 1 PSI accuracy give you a reading using 3 LED’s–green=tire pressure OK, yellow=getting low, red=needs air.  The gauge can also work as a standard tire gauge with an accuracy of .5 PSI. 

Programming the smart caps is relatively easy.  You enter the pressure you need for the tire (the device allows for separate pressures for the front and back tires) and place the smart cap on the gauge.  The gauge quickly programs the pressure into the smart cap. 

::amazon(“B000RN2BM0″, “Accutire”)::The smart caps come with a built in lithium battery with a 3 year life.  Unfortunately the battery is not replaceable so you have to replace the caps when the battery runs out.  So far we haven’t found replacement caps for the device.  This also means that you can only monitor the pressure on one car with one gauge.  The smart caps are quite a bit larger than a regular valve cap to accomodate the battery, sensor and LED’s–not exactly a sleek look. 

So is it worth it?  It is for me, I have the best of intentions about keeping the tire pressure just right on those expensive low profile tires but always get busy.  This tool makes it easy. 

We’ve had a lot of spring storms lumber through Texas recently resulting in downed trees and treee limbs throughout the backyard. Reading through the pages of warnings that come with a chainsaw is enough to intimidate most people with terms like chainsaw kickback, broken chains, etc. Looking for a better solution I found Black & Decker’s Alligator Lopper. The 6″ chain and 4.5 Amp motor is ideal for storm clean up allowing you to prune tree branches and cut up fallen branches into manageable pieces. It makes it easy to cut branches up to 4″ in diameter–far too big for manual pruners and loppers.

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