Let’s play a game, shall we? I will show you a series of images from an Amazon product listing, and you have to guess what type of tool it is they’re selling.
I was price-checking something on Amazon when I came across a sponsored listing with a video playing next to it.
It starts off with a middle-aged man wearing a hard hat while standing in front of a very cluttered woodworking shop.
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I’m guessing that this is a stock image, and the presenter is recorded in front of a green screen.
I took a look, and while the product images were straightforward, there were quite a few images in the product description that didn’t closely tie in to the product.
I then went through the brand’s store page on Amazon, and they also had a lot of different posts with images similarly disconnected from the actual product.
This is a must have tool for every DIY enthusiast.
Any ideas yet?
They say that the tool is perfect for:
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- Professional handy worker
- DIY couples
- Daddy & son
- DIY kids
Doesn’t everyone work on projects like this, with lots of smiling and gazing?
It can be used for:
- Woodworking
- Metal working
- Flooring
- Wallpapering
- Auto body carpentry
“Auto body carpentry?”
Surely you have some idea by now about the tool being advertised here, right?
Clearly this has something to do with wood projects. Here’s an adult and a child building a birdhouse, with their safety glasses positioned on top of their heads.
The work environment is dusty enough to warrant aprons though.
It’s a PREMIUM QUALITY PRODUCT!
Here we have a woman poking at a bare ceiling beam with a screwdriver, as she awkwardly tilts her head due to low clearance.
The situation looks to require a hard hat, but no safety glasses?
More posing with wood.
More wood, and a thumbs up.
Final clue: It’s described as being a professional tool for DIY projects…
Are you ready to guess the tool?
It’s a ToolX contour gauge!
There’s another post on the branded store page that highlights the “premium box packaging for the ultimate unboxing experience” but that would have given everything away.
A lot of brands are selling this same tool, but this company seems to be trying a little harder than most to promote it.
Rog
For WALLPAPERING?!?
fred
If I still had my 1964 Morgan automobile – I could use this for autobody woodwork – on its Ash and plywood frame. Probably would need some work too – since back then they used untreated wood – subject to rot.
Nathan
Of course you had a Morgan – did you also happen to at one time own an Alfa.
Also that would come in hand on a 1950’s MG. which is fun to work on also.
fred
No Alphas in my past. They were pricey! If I recall – the Morgan was about $3000 new – and (as I found out) a very quirky car. That’s when there was a flurry of interest in the US around British cars and motorcycles. Some of them (like some USA-made counterparts) were good – some quirky – and some bad. Triumphs and MGs were certainly more popular than Morgans – perhaps for good reason. When I bought the Morgan – I also looked at a Sumbeam which sold for a few hundred dollars less. Considering that I was probably earning something under $10,000 per year – and trying to invest in a business – both cars were a splurge.
Nathan
did it need witworth sockets and wrenches? The 1952 MG- TD supposedly didn’t and we made it work and I suggested a full hardware replacement but still. ended up a few times using a 7/16 with some ducktape folded up on the inside just becasue it didn’t fit quite right. worked ok
fred
I don’t recall 100% – because I had (still have them) a set of Whitworth standard wrenches to work on older BSA motorcycles.
I finally gave up on British automotives – with a BSA Rocket 750 – after a cylinder seized. The Brits had a proud heritage – especially with motorcycles – but let it slip away to the Japanese. By the ’70’s US automotive manufacturing was also slipping – based on uneven – sometimes poor quality compared to competition from the emerging Toyota.
Thinking back to the ’64 Morgan – it was totally impractical for a guy starting a family and/or not wanting to tinker. The popular Oldsmobile Cutlass – would have cost about the same and have been much more practical. I sold it 2 years later and bought a Buick Skylark.
rob
😂😂😂😂😂 I can’t go anywhere on the internet without some random company trying to convince me that they invented this revolutionary new tool, the contour gauge. That and those awful universal sockets.
Robert Adkins
Are you besmirching my beloved Gator Grip socket? I use it on everything from my D7 Cat and my Seiko watch. (OK, it’s a big watch) I even use it to open my biscuit cans.
Mac
Definitely the only tool needed for the auto body carpenter or the screwdriver ceiling scraper. Also those tricky wallpaper jobs. I’m so very not surprised with the reveal.
My first guess was a pencil though. Very useful, must-have, tool. I need an army of them due to all of mine pretty much being single use items. PSA: buy, or otherwise aquire, more pencils. Never enough pencils.
PS – scribing just isn’t that hard to warrant these things being everywhere. A compass is actually useful for a number of things also.
Robert W
On the plus side wood got a lot of free advertisements. The real premium quality product!
Fyrfytr998
Tool X has been watching how the miracle diet regimen people advertise.
Rafe
Better hurry! There is limited stock, and it’s on sale for 40% off!!!
Stuart
“50% off” with a 10% clickable coupon.
Nathan
I was expecting either the apron on sale or like the hard hat or glasses. why I don’t know.
Anson
Safety gear was mine as well. I was going with more size variations with the kids pictured.
John
Tool Factory Corp based in Pearland, TX registered March 2020 to a single individual and business address is his house, all of which is open info on the interwebs.
These contours are plentiful on Aliexpress etc.
John
Everyone should also read the “Our Story” blurb put on the Amazon product page. It has a quote from Rafael Cruz, that is Senator Ted Cruz’s father commenting proudly about his son becoming a US Senator.
There is no other mention anywhere I can find on the web (other than Texas Secretary of State) that even mentions the Tool Factory Corp, no company website.
He claims it all started from a “one-man army in a small garage, the company has rapidly grown with employees working internationally”
The “our story” is a hoot of bloated nonsense.
Stuart
Yes, but I hope everyone can refrain from making too many personal criticisms. This could be how the business owner is trying to make a living.
We don’t know their circumstances, and there are far more questionable business practices online.
Their marketing imagery are comically over-the-top, but what they’re doing is within the lines of propriety.
Perry
I need to add an info page to my handyman business “starting with one man in a pickup, the company now sources materials and tooling from suppliers around the world for individual clientele, making us a truly worldwide operation, right at your doorstep!”
Ball_bearing
For some reason I was trying to hit the play button…
I thought they were advertising the apron, didn’t expect it to be about a contour gauge.
Aaron SD
I was guessing a hammer. And for bigger challenges, a bigger hammer… can have a whole portfolio of solutions!
its_jake
Is this the one with the little chainsaw?
MT_Noob
This is hilarious, I was literally planing to send a note in to toolguyd to ask if you knew if any of these are actually useful or are they just a gimmick that is flooding the market and social media.
Stuart
I suppose it could be useful if or when you need a contour gauge.
There are a lot of useful or potentially useful tools that are all the rage on social media and in advertisements because they’re easy sells to mass audiences.
The exact same 10″ tool is sold for $4.50/each with minimum order quantities on Alibaba. Higher quantities drop the unit price to as low as $3.86.
With 1000 units, you get a customized logo, graphic, and packaging.
Whenever a tool gains traction on Amazon, thanks to social media and YouTube ads or similar, other sellers jump on the bandwagon and the tool is pushed and pushed until it reaches saturation.
MT_Noob
I never had much luck with the old school metal pin ones, and I always thought there might be a better version out there or at least one that locks into place better than the ones I ran across. In the end, I doubt I’d need one more than once or twice a year, and so far I have gotten by without one.
MIKE GUENTHER
If you do a lot of flooring or tile work, they are very handy. I got by without one for many years and also didn’t like the ones with the metal pins. But after I tried one with the plastic pins, I was hooked. (It’s too easy to bend the metal pins.)
Jared
Tape measure is my guess.
But it could also be a hundred other things.
Jeremiah Ducate
Im guessing before looking. My first thought is a drywall/putty knife, scraper, 5 in 1 painters tool. Second is an OMT. The script on tool x looks like worx but not sure if that means anything. I suppose a tape measure maybe with integral pencil/scribe/marker
Jeremiah Ducate
Seeing its a contour gauge makes me feel better about all the folks not properly using ppe. Although the kid is still hammering while protecting his forehead
Franck B.
Does every DIY homeowner really need a contour gauge? I mean, I’ve used one a few times, but the things I tackle are usually far beyond what most DIYers would do.
I figured it was one of the Gator Grip socket knock offs–of which the original is actually a decent tool, made in USA and uses quality components, and instead of being used as a GP tool, can be a good problem solver in limited use. The knock-offs are so poorly made and foisted upon the public as “use for everything” when they barely work, have given that type of tool a bad name.
Kurt
I owned a Model A street rod many years ago, and actually had to do a bit of carpentry on it, but it was on the interior wood. That contour gauge just might have come in handy at the time, but construction paper and tape did the job.
Robert Adkins
I think I’ll go to the “questions” on amazon and ask why a $5 tool costs $20. Naaaah… I think I know. $10 for the models, $5 for the free shipping and there you go.
Stuart
There are shipping costs, loss due to defects, the cost of doing business, the cost of selling products on Amazon, etc.
From what I’ve read, 100% markup is not atypical.
It’s not just this store marking things up, most Amazon sellers have the same thing at similar or even greater prices.
What you really have to look out for are the Facebook advertisements. A lot of times, companies take the same generic tools that are on Amazon, and they raise the price even higher. They use high pressure sales tactics to make unsuspecting shoppers think they’re getting a fantastic deal.
I get occasional “what do you think about this?” types of emails where I’ll then show someone the identical product on Amazon for half the price.
MFC
It’s an X shaped tool for marking and measuring?
Now, I’m going to read the comments. This should be fun.