Power palm sanders and random orbit sanders are true genius. I am unable to even begin to calculate how many hours of hand sanding my random orbit sander has saved me. If I could point to a weakness with these great tools, it would be the actual sandpaper. It seems no matter what I am sanding, the discs wear out too quickly. Thankfully, Microplane, the same company that makes those cool cheese graters for you, has a solution: the Microplane sanding disc. These stainless steel discs can be used on 5″ random orbit or 1/4 sheet palm sanders with or without vented hole patterns for dust collection. They are meant for use on hard or soft wood only and little or no pressure is needed to get results. Microplane claims the discs are at least 30 times more effective than regular sanding discs. They’re available for about $10 for a two pack at Rockler.

For the last two years a couple of my geekier friends have been bugging me to get a headlamp. After feeling wrong about holding my flashlight in my mouth on a some electrical projects around the house I started thinking they might be onto something. I went out and bought a Petzl LED headlamp and now wear it when I go to bed because I love it so much. The batteries, just three AAA’s on mine, last forever. The headlamp is comfortable, light, easy to aim, and gives you light exactly where you need it, which is typically wherever you are looking. Thankfully you will no longer need to hold the light in your mouth or between your ear and shoulder. Petzl has a great selection online. I got mine for about $40 at REI.

Do a Google search of “Crown Moulding” and you will be amazed what advice people give for coping crown moulding. I have yet to try my hand at it, but I will be shortly. When I do, I may give the EasyCoper a try. . . especially if free-handing it with a coping saw fails miserably. The EasyCoper lets you use a jig saw at just the right angle to get those perfect crown moulding joints we all dream of. So why use a mere tool like a coping saw when you can use a power tool instead? Available from Rockler.com for about $35 a pair.

If we had trees, I would be all over this! Although we are tree-less, our neighbor has a pesky palm tree that I would like to cut down in the middle of the night like a chainsawing ninja. Either that, or maybe I will just ask them if I can cut it down. The pocket chainsaw is reported to cut a 3″ diameter tree limb in less than 10 seconds. I watched the video, and I don’t care if the tree is made of balsa and Sven the 300 pound lumberjack is doing the sawing, this thing saws fast! The saws design makes it great for awkward cuts close to the ground too. It is probably a tad safer than a gas powered 6 hp Husqvarna. Available from Clean Air Gardening for about $20.

Sometimes tweaking can be good. Take Mayhew Tools’ “Tweaker.” If you lug one of these two pound beasts around on your tool belt, people will take notice. Universally loved in reviews on Amazon, the tweaker seems to fit a niche. Whether you are doing some serious nail removal, tweaking 2×4’s, or framing a house, the Tweaker gets the job done. Available for around $20 at Amazon and other tool retailers. Manufactured by Mayhew Tools.

If I had only known about this when I was wiring my phone system! It is a pricey toy, but well worth it if you are going to be fishing wires and doing electrical work, especially in an old home. It comes in varying lengths, but the ProVision100 has a flexible 18 inch fiber optic arm. It features a 40 degree wide field of view, up close focusing, and a 2.5 volt lamp to shed light on the situation. In my case it probably would have saved about 20 holes I cut into our walls in bad places.
Made by Provision, and available for about $250 at Amazon.com and other tool dealers.

Using cordless drills to drive screws is a glorious thing. However dropping said screws while trying to drive them is not so glorious. Stop saying “Screw it!” angrily, and instead, say it with joy while using a Magnetic Bit Holder. This little gizmo uses standard 1/4″ bits and adjusts to fit different fasteners perfectly. It makes driving lots of screws much more user friendly. I would link to the German manufacturer (C.K), but I could not find them. I found the bit holder for about $15 at Duluth Trading.

That’s right, spatulate. Although this tool looks like something you might want to flip pancakes with, it is in fact a highly specialized lawn mower utensil. You know that green debris that gets caked onto the underside of your mower? This scraper will make short work of cleaning it right out. As a man who likes to believe there is a tool to make just about every task easier, or at least more fun, the mower scraper brings a smile to my face. Available from Gempler’s for about $10.

The other day I was hastily prying some quarter round wood trim from around a window. In my haste I discovered screwdrivers do not play well with fine wood trim. Thankfully I found a tool to save me from future wood-marring humiliation. The Multi Wedge made by Great King Tools makes a handy kit of wedges that you can use to pry, align and level. Mine are orange, which means they are made for softer materials. The black version is made for harder woods and surfaces. The set of three wedges is available for a bargain $6 from Rockler.