Feature Story Archives

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Tools of the Weird: What if Faberge Made Tools?

A Most Egg-celent Drill The ornate wooden device in the photo may look like it was designed as a gift for Russian royalty, but it’s no mere ornament. It is actually a highly functional and surprisingly effective tool. When it was crafted 500 years ago in France, this pump drill was the very height of jobsite technology. […]

In the News: Builders & Homeowners Both Benefit from Tech on the Jobsite

By Todd Fratzel

I now get to say, “I told you so,” though I suspect it’s no longer necessary. Not only are builders using the latest portable communication technologies, says real estate writer Bill Lewis, they are quickly adopting tools such as smartphones, iPads, online project tracking portals and laptops and using them almost as much as they’re using other tools.

Off the Beaten Path at IBS 2011 (Part 2)

By Todd Fratzel

As my “off the beaten path” coverage from the 2011 International Builders’ Show continues (see part one here), I find myself suddenly concerned about oil canning. What’s oil canning, you ask? Well, I can tell you that it frequently accompanies mushrooming. Both issues have everything to do with the way composite fascia boards and planking […]

TOOLS OF THE WEIRD: A bomb shaped toolbox?

By Todd Fratzel

One of the new features I’ll be contributing to Tool Box Buzz is a periodic Tools of the Weird post. What better way to kick it off than with oobject.com’s list of the World’s 10 Most Interesting Toolboxes, beginning with this beauty that looks like it was taken directly from the belly of a WWII […]

Let Us Hear Your Ugly Tool Love Stories

By Todd Fratzel

I’m talking about our shared love affair with an “ugly tool.” If my guess is right, you just smiled and mentally pictured the object of your own affection. Every tradesman and serious DIYer has one. You know the one, that ancient, out of date, heavy, misused and abused, gnarly tool that we simply won’t part with.