It’s Always the 4th of July When You Own a Palm Nailer

Porter-Cable Palm Nailer PN650

Everyone has his or her weakness, be it shoes, books, music, or whatever. One of mine – I have several, unfortunately – is power tools. Fortunately, using tools for projects gives me the best excuse to buy new ones. Can people say that about their shoe habits? Happily, my wife buys them for me as gifts – perhaps because of the carpenter genes she got from her Dad. One such gift was a device that lands somewhere in the middle between "why didn't I think of that?" and "why would anyone want that?" It's a Porter-Cable PN650 Palm Nailer. Not familiar? Think on this:

A Workshop's Gentle Persuader: The Rubber Mallet

A Workshop's Gentle Persuader: The Rubber Mallet

Some kind of hammer is most likely the first tool most people accumulate, whether their destiny is to become a carpenter or a hedge fund manager on Wall Street. My first tool, which I still have more than fifty years later, was a wood-handled 16-oz finishing hammer. Now that one has been joined by all sorts of hammers, such as a classic Estwing rock hammer and an 8-pound sledge. All these metal hammers have hard heads, though, so whenever I run into an situation that requires a little finesse I break out my Stanley Rubber Mallet.

The Mallet's Design I’m talking old-school design: the mallet isn’t a 21st-century technological wonder with Bluetooth and iOS 8.0; and it’s not constructed of miracle nanotech materials. It’s simply a cylindrical hunk of black rubber sitting on a simple wood handle made of hickory, like baseball bats once were, and given a coat of lacquer. The head has a little heft, weighing in at 18 ounces, and is made of a tough yet yielding synthetic rubber compound. The flat striking face is 2½ inches in diameter to reduce the chances of marring or denting a delicate-ish surface, but it still lets you smack something hard enough to nudge it in the right direction.

Equipment Essentals for Field Geology

Many geologists chose the field because they enjoy being outdoors in quiet places (like the roadcut along I-70 west of Denver?), but day after day - or week after week - spent climbing limestone cliffs and bushwhacking through forests means that your favorite geologist is going to need some gear. That's beyond the essential tools of the trade, but I'll get there, too.

What to Wear: Let's Start at the Ground

Field geologists don't spend their days sitting around: they spend most days on their feet, often nowhere near a trail. Solid hiking boots are an absolute essential: sneakers just won't cut it. Choose boots that go over the ankle for the extra support and have tough, deep-lug soles for the added traction. This is one item to splurge on if possible, because your hiking boots will be a long-term commitment and they absolutely must be comfortable.

Your Guide to Hammers

Whether you need to hang a picture in the living room or drive stakes for a badminton net in the back yard, you'll need a hammer of some kind. It's a safe bet that every toolkit, even the most basic, includes a hammer. Most of them include only one hammer, which is typically a claw hammer that both drives and pulls nails. When your set of tools starts to grow, however, you're going to find a wide variety of hammers in the stores, with different features that make them superior than that "all-purpose" model when it comes to certain tasks.