*
I would like the unit the Norm Abrams and Dean Johnson have that puts the exact tool I need in my hand when I need it. Without having to pay it scale.
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
Fine Homebuilding's editorial director has some fun news to share.
Featured Video
How to Install Cable Rail Around Wood-Post CornersHighlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
*
You mean your wife...oh, sorry, wrong universe.
*A nailgun with a sensor in the head that detects dimension lumber through the OSB or whatever. Then you hold the trigger down and weave an S pattern down in the general area of the rafter. Every time it crosses the rafter it pops one right in the middle.Oops. Forgot about OSHA.
*Ryan C:Why don't you get out your little calculator & use (a squared + b squared = c squared). That's all 3.4.5 is. With a little practice you can do it without thinking. (I get accused of that alot--not thinking.) Good luck.
*
A sky hook...for any job over 6ft. above ground
A nerf saw blade that only cuts the intended material...
Straight lumber!
*
The laser pencil, who needs a saw!
Roofers use a metal tray that lines nails up in a bottom slot, don't have any idea where to buy it
*
b Laborer in a box
Never gets tired
Does EXACTLY what you tell it.
Buy it once, never have to pay for it again
*Cordless block plane
*
I was thinking of a nail gun with a roller on the nose of it. To nail down sheathing or floor decking just roll along stud or joist line and it would fire at preset intervals. e. one nail per revolution of wheel.
*A tool pouch that automatically sorts fasteners and tools.
*How about a laser that shoots a level beam across a freshly laid sub-floor and cuts out-of-level material. This would leave you a perfectly level base in which to build on.Can you imagine the malpractice on such a tool?
*
A robotic third hand that can read your mind.
*Fake butt crack. (Attaches to the back of your toolbelt. For those days when you wear your coveralls. Don't want to dissapoint the homeowner.)A watch that counts 50 minutes per hour.Mind readers cap for figuring out what the customer _really_ wants. Spray on wood grain. (Right up there with striped paint.)A box of throw-away holes, useful for many things.Peel and stick crown moulding. (Or any large complicated moulding, for that matter.)Small electric sign for your forehead. Changes to read... "Stupid". "Like I give a rip". "Insult me some more, I just remembered a few 'extras' I need to charge you for". "Ask to borrow one of my tools again, c'mon, I dare ya". "I gotta go pee pee, can't you finish telling me about your poodle's appendectomy some other time" ? Sign changes according to sitch, as you can see.Just one more compartment on my toolbelt, I STILL don't have the right size finish nail. By the way, why don't they make a compartment that will keep your half-eaten snickers bar cold ?A hammer that knows when you are going to put a nail through into air instead of sub-strate, and refuses to hit the nail. Maybe turns to rubber or something until you have located the nail correctly.Proximity anti-gravity devices for all my tools. The anti-grav is activated when I drop a tool and the tool comes in the proximity of the customer's new hardwood floor or polished granite countertop.A ladder whose top rung will raise or lower to meet your foot when you are trying to climb down off the roof and are afraid to look down.A tape measure that will tell you that the measurement you just marked is not the same as what you measured a second ago. (Just before the customer's small, yappy 'whatchamacallit' ran between your feet and the sliding miter. Again.)A white vinly eraser on my carpenter's pencil.Real x-ray sunglasses.View Image
*
Dead line. Good rhythm going. Getting cockey. Making good progress hanging drywall post lunch food coma knife catches on square runs up left index finger down to the base pushing real hard missing the tendon and nothing else real clean real fast 13 stitches.
Two days later hanging rock again fumbling for screws with badfinger's neighbor and wishing that someone would invent... some cartridge dealy bobber that you load with drywall screws and hold in your left hand, or that attaches to the out side of your arm, that would dispense one screw at a time (or 16d nail, for that matter). Oh, and yes of course, a combination drywall square/scorer -- something simple with a track and safety blade.
So. Please, some one design and market these things. If they're cheap and work perfectly, I'll buy them.
Anyone have anything else they want to add to the list?
*Hey Stephen,As far as the screw idea goes, it's already been done. My rig is called a Quik Driver, but there are other brands and mechanism around that are pretty much the same.As far as the drywall rock knife guide, I bought one a few years ago. It is a guide that is about 2" wide, and about 2 1/2" long. The knife connects on the outside edge with a wingnut, and the guide fits right onto the T-square. It slides down the T-square while you push down on the knife. Sometimes it wants to wobble a bit, but if you are paying close attention, and keep steady pressure, it works great. I would like one of those remote controls with a mute button that you can point at a client who is talking too much. Just a thought...James DuHamel
*I want a tool belt with lighted bags so I can see in the damn things.
*The tool that gets the job done in under what time was bid, perfectly enough of course for the big bonus, while leaving you laying in bed as if it was sunday, or lets you go to the races, and does'nt cost anything, while being a huge tax writeoff, does not make a sound while doing all of this, and changes the oil in the truck also.
*I want a framing square that's about 20' long on each leg for laying out new construction. That 3-4-5 triangle thing's the pits.
*A device that fits on all tools which will cause severe personal harm to the unlucky chap who walks off with one of my tools. Programable too.Well, of course not severe, but a good electrical shock ought to do it.
*How 'bout an attachment for my 'Weedeater' that will remove shingles.
*Jerry, anyone I've ever talked to said "shingles" hurt plenty without beatin' on 'em with a motorized appliance!
*I would like the unit the Norm Abrams and Dean Johnson have that puts the exact tool I need in my hand when I need it. Without having to pay it scale.