A couple of readers wrote in about today’s Amazon deal of the day, featuring a Dewalt cordless drill kit, bare impact driver, and bit set for a fair price.
The impact driver is Dewalt’s best (excluding the Tool Connect), featuring a brushless motor, 3 speed and torque settings, and great specs. The drill is Dewalt’s cheapest 20V Max model. It’s larger, heavier, and less powerful than the next higher-up models. If I recall correctly, it’s bundled with 1.3Ah batteries.
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But, the price is decent, IF you can use the drill kit components and the bit set. I suppose it’s still a good price if you buy everything for just the impact driver. But spending a little more on a DCF887 kit or combo kit might give you a better experience.
Buy Now(via Amazon)
Deal ends at 3am 6/30/18, unless supplies sell out sooner.
GRK R4 Screws
I bought these GRK R4 screws for my recent planter cage project.
I usually like Spax screws, but wanted to try these out.
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The 8 x 1-1/2″ size lacks the advertised no-splitting thread. The smooth shaft didn’t split my wood, but the head did!
Uch. Spax flathead screws do a good job of creating their own countersink. These didn’t.
I pre-drilled the holes, which helped to reduce – but not eliminate – splitting. I really should have hunted for a countersink, but didn’t want to take the time. I was already late to get in the house for dinner, and it would have been dark before I found one. It also would have been more work, to pre-drill and then countersink. I don’t have all-in-ones, didn’t need them until now.
So… I’m not liking these GRK R4 screws just yet.
They seem like good quality screws, but weren’t as convneient to use as Spax, which hardly (if ever) require pre-drilling, and certainly not in pine!
My Wera 2017 Advent Calendar Tools
I’ve used the bits and sockets of my Wera 2017 advent calendar tool set (thank you again, KC TOOL!), but this was perhaps the first time I used the included L-wrench in place of a ratchet. I sized out the socket and was too lazy to retrieve a wrench or 1/4″ ratchet.
The non-ratcheting L-wrench socket driver worked pretty well.
In case you’re wondering, this is a small kid-sized Ikea side table that was less than the sum of its parts would have been. I’ll build my own when I have a chance, but this one is also part of an experiment that wouldn’t have been worth using good materials for.
Also the table components were made in Sweden. It was either $10 or $20, on clearance a few months ago.
Ah, back to the Wera tools. This year I might buy a couple of Wera advent calendars for friends and family. It sounds bad, but I use my 2016 Wera calendar screwdrivers more than any other these days. The Wera calendars offer big value for not too much money, making them excellent Wera starter tool sets.
I’m Pickling!
While not exactly tool-related…
There are lots of things that I’ve been meaning to do as an adult. But there are excuses, obstacles, and road blocks for some of them. Others, indecision and lack of confidence makes me my own obstacle.
My grandfather used to make the BEST pickled veggies. I can still remember the taste of his pickled carrots, celery, and the “juice.” The pickles themselves? He used home-grown cucumbers. The last batch he made was at my parent’s house, and I remember the pickles having too many large seeds for my liking.
My cousin sent me the recipe a few years back. But… Where to get food-grade buckets? Where to put them? My grandfather’s last batch was fermented in my parent’s backyard. Where would I put my buckets?
The couple of times I researched things, I just couldn’t pull the trigger and get started.
Last year, our favored once-a-year pickle vendor sold out of their tasty jalapeno pineapple pickles at the annual spring fair before we could get there. This year, they didn’t show up. So if I want pineapple jalapeno pickles again, I might have to make them myself.
I like some brands’ pickles. But sometimes they’re inconsistent. My son and I got food poisoning from trying a new refrigerated pickle brand once. It was a horrible night.
2 weeks ago, I bought a USA-made stoneware pickling crock. And then I picked up some canning salt and some veggies.
It took a little research and a leap of faith. My grandfather pickled things in a sealed food-grade bucket. Looking online, a covered (but not sealed) open crock is the way to go these days.
Taking some details from the internet, and some from my grandfather’s recipe, I just did it.
This is what it looks like after 4 days. I think I’ll do a taste test today (day 5). The internet is very vague as to how long the process takes; I’ve seen claims of 4-7 days, as well as 3-4 weeks.
I skimmed normal-looking (as per internet sources) byproduct yeast on Day 2, and things were clear since then.
The bubbles? Carbon dioxide from fermentation.
The batch might be a failure, I won’t know. But I couldn’t fail or succeed if I didn’t try. I also bought some special mason jar lids, for experimenting on a smaller scale.
Maybe in a few months I’ll pick up a small dehydrator to make the beef jerky I’ve always wanted to.
There are other things I’ve been meaning to try. Some obstacles are avoidable, but something like fermentation pickling that requires a little research, not too much money, and planning? I should have found my confidence sooner.
It will take some work before I can reproduce flavors as good or maybe even better than I remember, but this first batch is a big step in getting me on the road there.
There are analogies with tools. How many people let learning curves get in the way of welding? Hand-cut dovetails? Carving?
Sometimes you just have to start something. It won’t always work out, but the only way to move forward is to take that first step. The slower the learning process, the more important this can be.
John S
I love Spax though I’ve mentioned before for “fine” projects I generally dislike that their logo is present on the face of the screw and it kinda puts me off on using it for anything but rough and tumble projects.
Also, and maybe its just me, but I’ve almost never seen their “outdoor” rated Spax screws (#8-#12) in stock at the big box stores.
fred
I too love Spax for construction or hidden screws – but when doing reproduction furniture – you kinda need to stay with brass and no Phillips, Roberston or other new fangled drive types. Also using cut nails might be appropriate to some pieces.
Nathan
I think you’ll be surprised by the pickles. I don’t do pickles but i have an uncle that still does them.
Our family thing that I would love to take back up is making maple syrup – but I don’t live up in OH anymore so I’m not near the trees. Or I’d sure as hell do it.
We do once a year make sausage – though not like how grandpa did it. we don’t raise our own pigs either though. They do sit in a smoker though.
Nathan
ON the screws – I’ve used the GRK screws a number of times including those #8’s you had that don’t have the sprial on the shank – never had an issue with splitting either. So I have to ask – was the wood especially dry or old and did you run them down hard and fast with an impact driver?
I’ve not had issues and I also use the even cheaper plain deck screws with out issue – but I found I probably drive them in slower than most people. Using my Dewalt 895 impactor I would have run those down on the 2 setting and been easy on the trigger. smaller the screw the slower I go – usually.
Stuart
No, it was the smooth pine straight from hardware store.
I used an impact, but it split as soon as the head even approached flush. Even at the lowest speed setting.
Could have been the wood, but it happened with every single screw until I predrilled.
I’ll experiment more. I don’t think the shaft design was the cause. The underside of Spax cuts a countersunk hole. The underside of these seemed to only compress the fibers.
fred
Predrilling and countersinking does add time – but on some wood its worth the effort. Even a nail close to the end of some boards will cause a split. The old trick of blunting the point of the nail – works sometimes and sometimes not.
Stuart
In this case, it was splitting from the top, corresponding to the screw head wedging the wood apart. Not much to do but to pre-drill, countersink, or choose Spax, but I also wanted an exterior screw (which I assumed these were).
fred
Wood is obviously a natural material that comes with all of the vagaries the Mother Nature will allow. Green and wet wood might split less – but as wood dries it may want to check and split. The species of the wood – and grain orientation or saw cut (common flat sawn, quarter sawn, and uncommon rift sawn) will have an impact too. Straight grained species tend to split more. and of course when you want the wood to split easily (as in using a froe to make shakes, or wedge splitting firewood) then you may chose species that are easy to split.
As a kid – we had an old elm tree that died and was cut up for firewood. I got the job to split it with a wedge and sledge hammer. That was not fun and certainly not like splitting oak.
KokoTheTalkingApe
Once I used some square drive screws from McFeely’s to cobble together some light stands (for an impromptu stage production) out of 1×2 furring strips (probably “whitewood.”) The screws were supposed to resist splitting the wood.
They worked great. I didn’t get a single crack, even when driving them very close to the end of a 1×2. They had self-piloting tips and square drive heads, but not the spiral section the GRK screws have. Maybe the shanks were unusually thin. I suppose the garbagey sponginess of the wood helped too.
The really great thing about them was the length and threaded sections were designed specifically to connect two pieces of lumber of specific thicknesess, e.g. 1x to 2x, 2x to 2x, etc. So the screws would not poke through, nor would they jack the two pieces apart. You could hold two parts together with one hand and drive the screw (which stuck to the bit like it was glued) with the other, and the screw would draw the two pieces together. Pretty darn slick.
Sadly, they seem to have discontinued these dimension-specific screws, though they still sell their ordinary self-tapping square drive screws.
Reflector
I go with Spax for their cabinet heads as they’re larger than the GRK cabinet head screws not to mention they’re USA or German made (at least for the US versions, looks like Spax bought some company out to bring production to the US). Also the funny torx bit with the little nub helps with aligning the driver too, but you can’t drive them at slightly off angle if you use their modified torx bit.
GRK does have rating for the load capacity of their screws and I like using the FIN-Trims for adding some additional strength in the role of “steel dowels” when I need to put a little bit of metal somewhere without the obvious head but their cabinet screws have too tiny of heads. At least they have more length offerings than Spax. Also GRK seems to advertise all their screws as having some exterior rated coating whereas Spax’s yellow coated stuff isn’t exactly rated but the cabinet screws I used to repair a sagging gate aren’t rusting away after a year.
I think there’s some strengths as to the lineups of both of them but for “woodworking” I generally avoid using flatheads. Between having to set a proper countersink depth or worry about it splitting wood (since it acts like a wedge) they’re kind of a pain in the ass to deal with.
You can get those drill/countersink sets. I stick with the finest drill in the set and pull the drill back to about a 1/2″ to 3/8s from the countersink. I find that drilling a hole for the screw (regardless of how small the drill is) tends to compromise softwood’s ability to hold threads if you really crank down on them. The hole is really there to make sure the screw goes in straight and you don’t have to hold it while it spins and bites into the wood.
Greg
I’ve been meaning to get into pickling/fermenting, I like the concept behind fermenting crocks that have a lid and a water seal. Here’s a picture I found. https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hRyEclgPD3c/WWVuNBL_1II/AAAAAAABInM/YGu3glzNHj870lsVs-1UtmX6zU2MFf8ygCLcBGAs/s1600/crocks.jpg
Stuart
Here’s why I bought an open-style crock with cover instead:
1) More size selection (Ohio Stoneware only has the water-seal crock in 1 size)
2) Wider opening and wider body might make it easier to fit vegetables. Sauerkraut packing might not care, but I assumed cucumbers and carrots would fit better.
3) Water seal levels need to be checked regularly. That’s a little less work than an open crock. I skimmed floaties and 1 loose small celery after 2 days, and skimmed the surface 2 additional times in the past week. Not too much trouble.
I *might* try a water seal in the future.
I also picked up Pickle Pebbles and Pickle Pipes, and plastic jar collars for trying small batch Ball jar fermentation. If I really get into this, I might look at smaller 1 gallon crocks.
My kitchen smells sour at times, and so I might use plastic wrap on the open crock to create a loose seal.
*knock on wood*, no signs of any mold. I’m using fitted ceramic weights, and they’re doing their job. I skimmed the loose carrot debris early on, and the loose celery, and so there’s nothing I can see for any mold to take hold on.
Since my grandfather fermented in a sealed food-grade bucket, mold was not a big concern. And since he shook it every day, that likely avoided the growth or consolidation of fermentation yeast. It’s been a few years since I could ask him why he shook things during fermentation for that or other reasons, and I don’t think anyone else in my family ever thought to ask. Maybe it was to redistribute flavors as much as to keep the yeast at bay.
Chris
Any information on dewalts 2018 media event? It must be coming up soon I would think.
Stuart
There is no Dewalt media event this year. A Craftsman even is in 6 weeks.
My guess is that most efforts are being focused on getting Craftsman up and running. SBD has a lot of hand tool, power tool, storage, and accessories people. Maybe they’ll bring more people on later, but right now I think that they’re outsourcing and tapping into their existing expertise and manpower.
That would mean less focus on Dewalt at the moment, which would mean fewer tools to debut at a media event.
Chris
??
Rami
Any idea if SBD will bring Craftsman tools to Europe?
ktash
A friend used to make Kimchi, way too spicy for me, but he got rave reviews from everyone who ate it. He said it was pretty easy.
I’ve done dehydration for about 7 years, primarily apples, pears, and tomatoes. If you have fruit trees and/or grow lots of tomatoes, it’s well worth the investment. Sometimes I make the pears slightly crispy, something I’ve never found in stores. They are better than candy, but still considered a major food group :). The main work is to cut the fruits and veggies thin, and for this I got a Cuisinart prep 11 plus, though they may have newer ones. https://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-DLC-2011CHBY-Processor-Brushed-Stainless/dp/B01AXM4WIK/. This large capacity and a variety of optional blades for various slice thicknesses. I just used some books to get started, but wasn’t too picky about all the slices being perfect and uniform. I pack them in mason jars using a Foodsaver and it keeps them really well. Got the Nesco Gardenmaster dehydrator at a garage sale, brand new, but bought extra racks. Very easy to do, just dip fruit in water with vitamin C or lemon juice. It sounds intimidating, but with the right tools, it is pretty easy once you get the hang of it.
ktash
I nearly always use a 2-in-one countersink/drill bit. I usually have several around, for #8 screws and one each for other sizes, plus regular countersinks. I got one early on with a trial kit from Woodcraft with their robertson Highpoint wood screws and never looked back.
I routinely use wax on the screws and rarely ever have splitting. Since I mostly do hardwood, furniture/cabinetry, it’s worth the bother, but even in pine it’s part of my routine. I sometimes use Spax but really like the Highpoint or similar Rockler brands for hardwoods, spax for softwoods. They also have grayish brown matt finish that looks great with many wood colors, no shiny screws on the interiors. I used to use cheaper screws, but one stripped/broken one can cause a lot of grief. When I use pocket hole screws, I always use wax, which helps a bunch with the splitting problems.
Framer joe
From tools to pickles…..not good
Stuart
Sorry?
I was going to add a couple more things, but my son spiked an extremely high fever again. So I left the laptop on the couch, gave him a quick bath, and later hit *publish* from my phone while he sat on my lap with a compress on his head.
Jerry
We’ve done pickles many times. Open too crock with a floating lid/seal is what yields the best results for us. A thick ceramic crock helps keep temperature stable which helps but may or may not be needed depending on where you have it. Also, the tighter you can pack the crock, the crisper the pickles will be. Try to get them as tight as you can without bruising. This is especially important with sauerkraut
Lastly, save some brine, soak so e hard boiled eggs in it for a week or 10 days (peeled) and try pickles eggs.
Mike
Does anyone have a screw recommendation for a deck?
fred
Most of our clients did not want to see fasteners – so we most often used a hidden fastener system. We tried several (like Camo Profit) and settled on the FastenMaster Tiger Claw system
https://www.fastenmaster.com/products/tiger-claw-installation-gun-for-grooved-decking.html
For starter courses, small pieces etc. we’d use SS trim head screws
The yeti
Happy Canada Day Canadian tool folks.
If im not on here. HAPPY 4TH OF JULY to the Americans
MT_Noob
For the record, I enjoy the occasional post that might be a little different. In the end pickle crocks are just another kid of tool, even if it us used in the kitchen.
Also regarding – “But I couldn’t fail or succeed if I didn’t try” – thanks for the reminder. Thats just the kick in the pants I need to remind me to turn off the tv this weekend, head into the garage and go “try” something.
Satch
Stuart, great post on the fermentation. My mum did all this growing up in the farms her family lived on in Ohio. Very knowledgeable about it. She would enjoy the posts.
As for the SBDC(C added for C’man emphasis) angle, I don’t know how to approach what they are doing. They firmly kicked poor old Porter-Cable down to their version of Ryobi, without the massive catalogue of tools and support accessories I feel, and now have to wedge Craftsman back in there.
Would they consider cross pollination brands for things like storage? Say DeWalt hand tools and toolboxes by Craftsman? Seems doubtful with their emphasis on D’s flagship image. Will be interesting going forward.
skfarmer
great job on keeping traditions going. we still make sausage every year. usually venison and pork but beef works when the hunting isn’t so good. we grind, stuff and cold smoke it at home.
i am going to try pickles again this year. i lost my source so i planted some cucumbers of my own. i make “grainery pickles”. maybe we can swap recipes.