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Tips & Techniques

Power-Tool Belt Clip

By Charles Miller Issue 75

Have you ever wanted to hold a nail gun or a power tool on your tool belt while working? Here’s a rig that is easy to assemble, doesn’t get in the way and won’t accidentally come loose from the belt. And with the rig I can remove a tool from my belt faster than Wyatt Earp could have using just one hand

As shown in the drawing, I use a bentgate carabiner as a hook to hang on a steel hammer loop. Carabiners are like a link of chain that can be opened by way of a spring-loaded leg. Rock-climbing stores stock them. I thread the carabiner onto a length of 1-in. webbing that is then tied at the ends to make a loop. For this I use a webbing knot that is known variously as a water knot, a ring bend, or an overhand bend (detail, bottom right of drawing). To secure the carabiner to the tool, I pass the loop of webbing around the tool’s handle and then through itself.

—Cliff Tillotson, Santa Barbara, CA

Edited and illustrated by Charles Miller

From Fine Homebuilding #75

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  1. user-3976312 | Sep 13, 2017 08:14pm | #1

    Or use a "quick draw"- a short climbing rope with carabiners at both ends.

  2. huskiedad | Sep 14, 2017 07:07am | #2

    I use a "Bigg Lugg" and another similar hook on another tool belt. https://www.amazon.com/Bigg-Lugg-Power-Tool-Holder/dp/B0000224SD

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