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Reciprocating-saw/wire-brush combo

Some jobs require down-and-dirty elbow grease. After scraping loose some of the creosote buildup inside a fireplace, I found wire-brushing the most-effective way to remove the caked-on patches. I could tell after 15 minutes that my arms weren’t going to last, so I cobbled together an attachment for my reciprocating saw.

As shown in the drawing, I used a die grinder to cut five little notches in a spent reciprocating-saw blade and drove screws in the notches to mount it to the back of a wire brush. Presto! I had an in-line wirebrush attachment that could aggressively attack the stubborn mess. Since then, I’ve used the attachment to clean up spots on a concrete slab, “distress” wood, brush off loose house paint, and clean up rusty steel angle.