HAND TOOLS

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One Tool to Do It All: Truly Garden Hori Hori Knife Review
Gardeners who find themselves spending an inordinate amount of time chasing down the right tool for a variety of jobs...
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Master the Art of Tile Cutting With the DeWalt Tile Saw: A Hands-On Review
The DeWalt D24000S 10-inch wet tile saw is a game changer for tile-setting projects. With a robust 1. 5-horsepower (h...
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Craftsman 102-Piece Mixed Tool Set Review: Is it Worth It?
A dependable set of hand tools—including those for cutting, driving, gripping, and measuring—is essential for perform...
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Testing the Top 10 Hori Hori Knives To Find the Ultimate Garden Tool
 Originating in Japan, the hori hori knife is a multipurpose gardening tool used for digging, cutting, and weeding. A...
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The Best Pocket Knife Brands for Everyday Carry
Pocket knives are everywhere. They have become everyday essentials for many, useful for cutting twine, whittling wood...
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The Best Bow Saws for Fast Cuts
The bow saw has been popular with woodworkers since Roman times. Early bow saws were made of wood, with a steel blade...
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Testing the Best Sharpening Stones for Knives and Tools
Having a set of dull kitchen knives isn’t just inconvenient; it can also be very dangerous. A good sharpening stone k...
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The Best Pocket Knives, Tested and Reviewed
Thanks to its compact folding design, a pocket knife allows the blade to be stored in the handle, and the tool itself...
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The Best Pocket Knife Sharpeners for Tool Maintenance
Any professional chef will tell you that a sharp knife is a safe knife—and that goes for your trusty pocket knife as ...
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The Best Hand Planes Tested in 2023
Whether shaving down a wood door that’s sticking or smoothing the surface of a wavy board, no tool works quite as wel...
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The Best Wood Chisels Tested in 2023
Metal hand tools with either a straight or beveled edge, chisels have been around for thousands of years, standing th...
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The Best Framing Hammers, Tested and Reviewed
A standard household hammer—weighing an average of 12 to 15 ounces—is indispensable for simple tasks like tapping a n...
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The Best Levels of 2023
In almost any home renovation, achieving the best results requires some type of level. Whether you’re trying to hang ...
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We Tested the 7 Best Laser Levels for DIYers and Pros
Laser levels provide accuracy, consistency, and convenience. The best self-leveling laser level can make all the diff...
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The 12 Best Tools Powered by Batteries
Don't let tangled cords get in the way of your home projects. These innovative tools help you get the job done all while running on battery power.
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25 Types of Hammers and When to Use Them
DIYers can't get much of anything done without a good hammer. In fact, they might need several hammers, all of which ...
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8 Products Guaranteed to Last a Lifetime
In this modern age, it seems that as swiftly as new products are invented, they become outmoded, swept away by something newer, shinier, and (inevitably) more exp...
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10 Reasons Every DIYer Needs a Putty Knife
Even with all the new hand and power tools on the market, nothing can replace the dependability of the simple putty knife for everyday DIY tasks. Until now, you h...
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How To: Use a Phillips-Head Screwdriver
 When you're using a Phillips-head screwdriver, make sure that you're not doing it the hard way. Here's how. Be sure ...
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How To: Use a Scraper
This is a tool for minimalists, for those who admire simplicity of form and function beyond all else. That's because ...
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Doweling Jig
A convenient method of joining boards is a dowel joint. Especially useful when two or more boards are being joined (b...
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Saw Blade Sharpening
A good handsaw, when properly treated, is a tool that can be passed with pride from one generation to the next. Essen...
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Spokeshaves
Most tools seem to develop in families. There are resemblances from one generation to the next, and cousins are recog...
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Rasps, Files, and Surfoams
Files are easily taken for granted. They've been around for thousands of years, predating even the ancient Egyptian c...
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Rabbet Planes
One of the most common wood joints is the rabbet. Consisting of a rectangular slot at the edge of one piece into whic...
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Making Plane Adjustments
Using woodworking planes whose cutters are out of adjustment is like driving a car in the wrong gear: You may be able...
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Woodworking Gauges
These simple tools haven't changed much in generations (no doubt the old cliché about not fixing things that aren't b...
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Bevel Gauge
A near relation of the try square, the bevel gauge also consists of a handle or stock with an attached tongue (or bla...
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All About Wrenches
The first nuts and bolts, which were put to use during the early years of the Renaissance, had square heads. The hexa...
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The Story Pole
To those who have used one, a story pole does indeed have a tale to tell. To the uninitiated, however, the story pole...
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25 Types of Pliers and How to Use Them
Pliers are one of those essential tools that most every DIYer and professional has in their tool arsenal. Used to gri...
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Flexible Tape Measures
Today, the tape measure may be the carpenter's best friend, but in dozens of other trades, too, the tape measure can ...
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4 Scraper Tools Every DIYer Should Know
I've lumped together, under a single heading, a family of tools that are used to perform many tasks. They resemble on...
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Cold, Masonry, and Brick Chisels
Cutting through stone, brick, or metal? These tools can help. Continue ahead to understand the main types of chisels ...
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Wood Chisels
Suppose you borrowed H. G. Well's time machine and traveled back into history a few centuries or even a millennium. S...
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Top Tips for Sharpening Chisels
I know you've heard it before, but it's true: sharp tools are safer tools. The chisel is a perfect case in point. A d...
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How To: Use a Hammer
At first, I felt a bit foolish explaining how to use a hammer. Most of us have seen children banging away with toy ma...
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Levels
In making or repairing small rectangular objects, a square is invaluable in helping ensure the joints are tight and t...
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The Transit Level
The practice of plane surveying (determining the position of buildings, boundaries, and topographical features as if ...
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The Plumb Bob: What Is This Tool, and How Do You Use It?
This tool has ancient origins. Evidence suggests that Egyptian architects used plumb bob-like tools to establish vert...
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The Coping Saw
Coping is a process by which one piece with an irregular surface is fitted to another. In practice, most of us encoun...
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7 Essential Measuring Tools for Any Job
Besides "righty tighty, lefty loosey," there's one DIY phrase that nearly anyone can recite: Measure twice, cut once....
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How to Use a Saw the Right Way
Every time you use a power saw, you put your very own flesh and blood at risk. I've worked with more contractors than...
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Kitchen Cabinet Installation
John Wellborn (from Wellborn Cabinets) and carpenter Paul Anderson join Bob for the kitchen cabinet installation.
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The Dominy Workshop at Winterthur Garden
Bob takes the first of many visits to the Winterthur Garden and Museum in Delaware's Brandywine Valley.
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Installing Molding on the Kitchen Cabinets
Paul Anderson attaches pre-finished crown molding around the kitchen cabinets in the modern Colonial project house.
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Picture Framing
Interior designer Leslie Curtis shows off another of her decorating ideas in the dining room.
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Installing the Subfloor
Thorough Construction's lead carpenter Connor McKenna applies panel adhesive to the tops of the new, sistered joists before laying four-by-eight sheets of Georgia...
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Building the Foyer Staircase
Bob visits with carpenter Mark Fortunati, who is building a traditional-looking staircase in the foyer.
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Installing Copper Gutters
Bob watches as gutters are installed along the copper-roofed breezeway.
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Building the Backyard Deck
Bob observes as general contractor Charlie Tomaszewski finishes up the picture framing for the mahogany deck.
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Block Wall Demolition
Bob and contractor Ed Weller meet to demolish a block wall in order to open up the room for remodeling.
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Pine Porch Ceiling
Contractor Larry Landers installs V-groove pine on the ceiling of the new front porch and demonstrates how to stagger and miter boards for an attractive, old-fash...
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Recycling a Hardwood Floor
Flooring contractor Leo Boudreau shows Bob how to recycle hardwood flooring. First, the floor must be salvaged. A pry bar is used to lift and remove the wood, pie...
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Regulating the Refrigerator Temperature More clips
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