When It's Time to Move, I Break Out the Milwaukee Hand Truck

Milwaukee D-Handle 800-Pound Hand Truck

My hand truck, ready for action!

Back in olden days, having a pickup truck meant that at the end of the month, you often seemed to have a lot more friends than usual. If you happen to won a hand truck – also  known as a two-wheeler, but never a “dolly” – you seem to have even more. I have both – the pickup’s a Toyota, the other is a Milwaukee D-Handle Hand Truck.

Right now I’m in the middle of a move – I’ll be loading the ol’ U-Haul (Penske, actually) rental tomorrow for a 1000-mile move, my third this century. I don’t rent one of their hand trucks, though – I’ve had my own for at least twenty years. This is precisely the tool you need for moving stacks of boxes, of which we have maybe a million. When we're not moving across country, we use ours to truck around trash cans and other large items, though it’s of little use when it comes to moving furniture and appliances.

Design    Milwaukee’s design has a frame of tubular steel with a D-shaped handle at the top center. The frame’s maybe 50” tall and 14” wide. A pair of 10” pneumatic tires are set on a full axle at the rear of the frame, positioned so the truck stands by itself and the front edge of the tires is still behind the frame - including the tires, the truck is about 18" wide. A solid steel plate about 7” deep runs the width of the frame, across the front to support the load of up to 800 pounds. This isn’t wide enough for appliances, which is why there’s a special dolly (complete with straps) for them. I’ve shifted hundreds of tons of stuff with mine and similar trucks (I worked in a warehouse for a year). They’re not pretty, but they are marvels of design. Even a lightweight can move a stack of boxes that outweighs him or her with one, and the design’s excellent balance means you can guide the truck around the room with one hand. Having beefy 10-inch pneumatic tires means it runs across rough surfaces easily, too.

Got a Fence in Your Future? You Need a Post Level

Irwin Tools Magnetic Post Level

The house and all the trees survived the big wind, no problem – but like several of our neighbors we came outside after the storm to find several sections of our six-foot privacy fence leaning drunkenly into the yard. That meant a trip to the local BigBox hardware store for new cedar pickets, stringers, a few bags of cement, and half a dozen 4-by-4 posts. I had everything else I needed, including my Irwin Tools Magnetic Post Level. 

I bought mine years ago (back when they were still bright green) because I got sick of trying to get my posts vertical with just a carpenter’s level. Now I use it whenever I set a post for a deck, a fence or mailbox, a bird feeder pole, or anything else that has to stand straight.

Save Your Knuckles: Use a Craftsman 6-Inch Extension with Your 3/8-Inch Drive

Craftsman 6-inch Extension Bar (3/8-inch Drive)

A socket set is nothing but a tool to some people, yet to other people all each shiny pieces-part is another fix for their addiction. Makers of these marvelous tools are quite happy to sell you basic sets; usually the ratchet handle plus a few sockets in metric or English sizes. Only after you’ve started building a tool kit do you realize that basic socket set is the tool guy’s gateway drug. Once you’re gotten into a buying mode, you quickly learn there are all manner of accessories, adapters and other parts that don’t simple make using those shiny toys easier, sometimes they’re just plain indispensable. A case in point is the Craftsman 3/8-inch Drive 6-inch Extension bar.

It looks pretty simple. 

Craftsman 44261 6-in. extension bar, 3/8"

Heck, it is simple: it’s a forged alloy steel rod slightly more than 1/2” in diameter. At one end there’s a hollow bell shape that hides a 3/8-inch female socket where a ratchet or breaker bar fits, at the other end you’ll find a 3/8” cube of solid steel. The male end slots into a socket or other accessory. It’s accessorized with a end spring-loaded ball bearing that helps hold a socket securely, and has a slightly bevel end to guide it into a socket more easily. The nickel-plated extension is a total of six inches long; the total reach is a tad shorter if you take into account the socket end. 

Finish the Job Right with a Finish Sander

Porter-Cable 380 1/4-Sheet Finish Sander

The old palm sander in my shop went tits-up a while back: the fiber backing pad for the sandpaper simply off one day, leaving it essentially useless. I was on the way to my local BigBox store anyway, so I jotted “new finish sander” at the bottom of my list. Meanwhile, I figured it wouldn't hurt to try re-gluing the pad. I gotta admit, the flexible adhesive (E-6000) I used definitely surprised me! By the time was completely dry, though, I'd already bought a replacement, a Porter-Cable 380 1/4-Sheet Finish Sander.

When I eventually got around to trying out the new sander a couple of projects later, I was quite pleased: the 380 is definitely a tight little piece of work. It’s ergonomically superior to sander it replaced (an old Black & Decker) and much quieter. It also has rudimentary dust-collection – not a match for a vacuum system, but better than letting dust fly.

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.

Finish Line Teflon Dry Lubricant: Lubrication Without the Gritty Aftertaste

Finish Line Teflon Plus Spray

Cycling enthusiasts are eternally happy to inform you that bicycles are the most efficient form of transportation, whether or not it's true (it probably is).  A modern bicycle maximizes the mechanical advantages inherent to simple machines, things like levers and pulleys, by reducing overall weight and keeping tolerances tight. Because of those tolerances, regular periodic maintenance and lubrication are some of the essentials to keeping your bicycle in top condition. A proper lubrication regimen means paying careful attention to all moving parts.

Over the years I've used dry lube on almost everything that moves on my bicycle, especially the moving parts of the front and rear derailleurs and the shifters. I also regularly lube shift and brake cables and brake cantilevers with a few drops dripped from a bottle of my favorite, Finish Line Dry Lube. More recently, I've expanded my lubricant arsenal to include aerosol cans of Finish Line Teflon Plus Spray. Except for added propellants, this formula is identical to what's in the original drip bottle. I picked up on this stuff after the household’s aging Lemond road bike developed shifter problems and the mechanic at the local bike shop chided me for not lubing the shifter housings, those integral shifter/brake levers that are the standard on road bikes. Finish Line's aerosol can comes with a skinny red straw familiar to fans of WD-40. That straw gives me pinpoint precision needed to squirt lifesaving lube deep within the shifter housings before a ride. I also use the aerosol sans straw for a wide-angle shot at the cogset after washing the bikes.

Frost-Proof Faucets

A Lot Cheaper than a Frozen Pipe!

One of water's most important physical properties is surprisingly unusual: unlike most other substances, when water freezes it expands instead of contracts. Life scientists tell us that this unusual property is absolutely essential to life as we know it; without this difference Earth's oceans would be little more than somewhat salty frozen treats. Your plumber may not admit it, but this property is also essential to the payments on his yacht. If a pipe around your house has ever frozen and burst, you know what the guy with the plumber's crack means. It ain't a pretty sight (you decide which "it" I mean).

Frozen Faucets are a Hassle

An outdoor faucet, also known as a hose bib or sillcock, is likely to be the weakest link in your plumbing when the temperature drops too far below freezing. It’s not just exposed to frigid air, it's also close to the ground where the temperature is lowest. Houses that don’t have hose shutoffs with drains for the outdoor faucets (very common for houses on slabs) are often in danger of freezing along that run of pipe. A wise preemptive step for a homeowner is to install a frost-proof hydrant. With their long valves, even a faucet that must be left operating for outdoor water supply during the coldest days of winter remains protected from freezing. That’s because, when the faucet is turned off, all the water stays within the house instead of in a pipe that's out and exposed to the cold.