May 2006 Archive
How to run a project
Hard-won wisdom fills this small book: How to create a team, place, or company that is productive. First published 20 years ago, and updated once since then, copies of it have quietly served as a guru for many start ups and successful projects in Silicon Valley. Neither academic nor faddish, two veteran consultant authors offer real intelligence. This book has totally informed how I do projects. I learned about the myth of overtime, the need for closure and ceremonies, how teams jell, and why everyone should and can have a window. I first read it decades ago and re-read it every time I embark on anything involving more than one person and several years of my life. Unlike a lot of management lore, it is aimed at the project level (where I want to be) rather than the large organization. The message in the book touts productivity, without ever mentioning the dreary idea of time management. It's more about optimizing people, and thus the title, Peopleware.
-- KK
Peopleware:
Productive Projects and Teams, 2nd ed.
Tom Demarco, Timothy Lister
1999, 245 pages
$34
Available from Amazon
Sample excerpts:
I was teaching an in-house design course some years ago, when one of the upper managers buttonholed me to request that I assess some of the people in the course (his project staff). He was particularly curious about one woman. It was obvious he had his doubts about her: "I don't quite see what she adds to a project -- she's not a great developer or tester or much of anything." With a little investigation, I turned up this intriguing fact: During her twelve years at the company, the woman in question had never worked on a project that had been anything other than a huge success. It wasn't obvious what she was adding, but projects always succeeded when she was around. After watching her in class for a week and talking to some of her co-workers, I came to the conclusion that she was a superb catalyst. Teams naturally jelled better when she was there. She helped people communicate with each other and get along. Projects were more fun when she was part of them. When I tried to explain this idea to the manager, I struck out. He just didn't recognize the role of catalyst as essential to a project.
*
Any regular get-together meeting is somewhat suspect to have a ceremonial purpose rather than a focused goal of consensus.
But organizations have a need of ceremony. It's perfectly reasonable to call a meeting with a purpose that is strictly ceremonial, particularly at project milestones, when new people come on board, or for celebrating good work by the group. Such meetings do not waste anyone's time. They fulfill real needs for appreciation. They confirm group membership -- its importance and its value.
*
Modern office politics makes a great class distinction in the matter of allocating windows. Most participants emerge as losers in the window sweepstakes. People who wouldn't think of living in a home without windows end up spending most of their daylight time in windowless workspace.
We are trained to accept windowless office space as inevitable. The company would love for every one of us to have a window, we hear, but that just isn't realistic. Sure it is. There is a perfect proof that sufficient windows can be built into a space without excessive cost. The existence proof is the hotel, any hotel. You can't even imagine being shown a hotel room with no window. You wouldn't stand for it. (And this is for a space you're only going to sleep in.)
Women's dormitory at Swarthmore College; everyone has windows.
*
The purpose of a team is not goal attainment but goal alignment.
*
A few very characteristic signs indicate that a jelled team has occurred. The most important of these is low turnover during projects and in the middle of well-defined tasks. The team members aren't going anywhere till the work is done. Things that matter enormously prior to jell (money, status, position for advancement) matter less or not at all after jell. People certainly aren't about to leave their team for a rinky-dink consideration like a little more salary.
There is a sense of eliteness on a good team. Team members feel they're part of something unique. They feel they're better than the run of the mill. They have a cocky, SWAT Team attitude that may be faintly annoying to people who aren't part of the group.
*
In my two years at Bell Labs, we worked in two-person offices. They were spacious, quiet, and the phones could be diverted. I shared my office with Wendl Thomis who went on to build a small empire as an electronic toy maker. In those days, he was working on the ESS fault dictionary. The dictionary scheme relied upon the notion of n-space proximity, a concept that was hairy enough to challenge even Wendl's powers of concentration. One afternoon, I was bent over a program listing while Wendl was staring into space, his feet propped up on the desk. Our boss came in and asked, "Wendl! What are you doing?" Wendl said, "I'm thinking." And the boss said, "Can't you do that at home?"
*
Organizations also have some need for closure. Closure for the organization is the successful finish of the work as assigned, plus perhaps an occasional confirmation along the way that everything is on target (maybe a milestone achieved or a significant partial delivery completed). How much confirmation corporations require is a function of how much money is at risk. Frequently, closure only at the end of a four-year effort is adequate for the needs of the organization.
The problem here is that organizations have far less need for closure than do the people who work for them. The prospect of four years of work without any satisfying "thunk" leaves everyone in the group thinking, "I could be dead before this thing is ever done." Particularly when the team is coming together, frequently closure is important. Team members need to get into the habit of succeeding together and liking it. This is part of the mechanism by which the team builds momentum.
*
Lost production due to change of personnel.
Productivity took a hit when Louise left, even passing below zero for a while as others scurried to make up for the loss of a well-integrated team member. Then, eventually, it worked its way up to where it was before.
The shaded area on the graph represents the lost production (work that didn't get done) caused by Louise's departure. Or, viewed differently, it is the investment that the company is now making to get Ralph up to where Louise was after the company's past investments in her skills and capabilities.
More...
Better door closer
If you have a storm door or screen door, you probably have a pneumatic device that closes it. And the device has a little washer thing that will hold the door open if you put down your bags, and the baby, and let the dog go free while you fiddle it down the bar, so it can jam against the piston. It's a hassle.
The Touch n' Hold is a device that makes this a happier moment. The Touch n' Hold door closer lets you set the door open with a simple tap of your toe or elbow. Then once you've got all your stuff inside, just nudge the door (not the thing) open a little more and it will go back into closing mode.
I use it every day, and it always makes me think of Cool Tools.
-- Thomas T. Ballantine
Touch n' Hold
$14
Available from Touch 'n Hold
Heavy duty cutter
The single most useful tool I used to carry when blagging it in various builder trades. There are just so many situations where a really sharp blade comes in handy.
This particular model has a simple but sturdy locking wheel that I find much more practical than the usual stepped version. You soon learn to operate it one handed, and for a quick slash of some packing you don't even need to lock it before you retract it and slip it back in your tool pocket. To extend a short steady blade, or the full length is equally quick. The "carpet tucker", as Olfa calls it, at the rear end is also surprisingly useful when you always have it handy. Opening a can of paint, forcing some casing apart, lifting staples, scratching away some dry glue drippings, or as a screwdriver in a pinch.
I guess there is a reason why I almost never see a painter carry anything else other than this particular model.
-- Gaute Amundsen
Olfa Heavy Duty Carpet Cutter
Model 5011
$9
Available from Amazon
Manufactured by Olfa
Amplified easy slicing
This hand clipper is a really cool ergonomic innovation. It uses an ingenious gear design to easily slice off sticks that are 3/4 inch in diameter. As you squeeze, the bottom handle rolls slightly and this motion leverages the power in the scissor cut. I find I can now tackle stuff that ordinarily I would have had to run back to get the larger pruners for. Your Felco pruning clippers will last you a lifetime, but as my grip wanes, I find I this lightweight Fiskars pruner is the clipper I grab first.
-- KK
Fiskars PowerGear Bypass Pruner
$20
Available from Sears
Also
$30 from Amazon
Manufactured by Fiskars
Really smart yellow pages
Yokel makes finding local "things" less time-consuming and more cost-efficient (especially with the gas prices these days). Similar to GoogleMaps and YahooLocal but with more relevant results. And the Yokel search engine helps comparison shop online for things you want to buy offline at local stores. All you need to do is type in what you are looking for and the city or zip code you want to buy it in and Yokel provides the results. It seemed really helpful for items you wouldn't want to ship or more abstract items like a motorcycle trailer.
-- Kate
Yokel
Vehicle freezer
This is a fantastic electric cooler based on the free piston Stirling cycle that will maintain freezing temps even in a hot car. The power consumption is amazing, 24 watts. It's quiet, light weight, works great. Much more practical than the portable compressor or propane based freezers. I've had two in continuous use for two years now and they are wonderful. I think this product has not taken off like it should because of confusion with the cheaper, power hogging thermo-electric Peltier-type coolers.
-- Todd Troutman
Coleman Stirling Power Electric Cooler
$460
Available from Amazon
Manufactured by Coleman
Outdoor, waterproof wrap
Electrical tape simply does not work in a marine environment. Even duct tape won't stick to something wet. Try getting any tape to stick to a rope or line on a boat. Or try to get a waterproof seal on a hose leak. X-treme tape can do all these chores with flying colors because it is a non-adhesive, self-bonding wrap. It's not really tape since it's not sticky. This stuff is sort of magical. You stretch it on and it self-fuses tight under tension. It works in cold and wet, and won't melt on hot surfaces, so you can use it on engines. It is easy to apply even when it is below freezing. The tape doesn't stick on itself until you want it to. Once tightened this silicone based wrap forms a reliable bond even in water. I use it as an insulator around wires, like electrical tape. I wrap the end of ropes with it. X-treme tape bears up for many seasons under constant UV and sunlight and the extreme cold, heat, and wet of harsh weather. It's so good I use for any outdoor tape application.
-- David Siesel
X-treme Tape
1 inch x 10 feet
$6
Available from McFeely's
Manufactured by Vypar
The bilble of Sahara travel
The Sahara is a desert as large as the United States filled with emptiness, ancient cultures, and natural wonders. America has its own recreational deserts in the west, but for Africa and Europe, the Sahara is where you go to test yourself. This book, now in its second edition, has emerged as THE source for getting into the deep Sahara and back, alive and in good spirits. It is uncommonly thorough and immensely practical. It covers the kinds of vehicles and supplies you need, runs along possible itineraries and dangers, and anticipates most of the questions you might have. No stone is left unanswered. The book is a brick -- a great big fat bible stuffed with precious overland Sahara lore, hard won by hundreds of trips and mistakes of others. There are not many travel books (or destinations) quite like this one.
-- KK
Sahara Overland: A Route and Planning Guide
Chris Scott
2005, 688 pages
$19
Available from Amazon
Sample excerpts:
A final word about guides: you need them, but do not rely on them. They will tell you that lots of things are impossible. That generally means that they cannot be bothered to do them. They tend to be highly conservative people, who resent being diverted from their usual routes and routines. Do not trust their navigation. If you leave your compass and GPS at home because you are in the hands of a local, you are being very foolish. Try to use guides who have been recommended to you by previous expeditions. And (of course) on no account pay them everything up front.
*
An old adage advises that you should never camp in a oued because flash floods from distant rains could rip through your camp causing havoc. Some sources have even claimed that 'more people have drowned in the Sahara than died of thirst' - about as likely as more people dying of thirst than drowning at sea, or freezing to death in the Antarctic. In Morocco, where run-off from the Atlas can be frequent, steep and fast, this warning is valid in certain seasons but in the deep Sahara, oueds often offer some welcome tree shade or vegetated wind breaks, as well as soft sand rather than gravel. Obviously if there are dark clouds in the sky keep to the high ground wherever you are, but dangerous flash floods are only a real danger in mountain areas, and by the time they get to the plain they're all but spent.
*
People get nervous about carrying a wad of money abroad but good old-fashioned cash is a readily changeable and local currency is what talks loudest in the Sahara. Unless you expect to be visiting large cities or capitals, travellers' cheques are of little use. Despite what you're told, the promise of speedy replacement of stolen cheques requires a phone call - itself a rather tall order in most of the Sahara. Don't rely on cashing travellers' cheques in the Sahara.
It may look drastic, but the only way is to drag this car down to more level ground where it can be pulled back onto its wheels. Within an hour it was running just as before.
More...
Poison bite extractor
Several years ago I was rafting through an isolated gorge that separates Mexico and Guatemala...at least several days away from the nearest medical facilities. We carried The Extractor for snake bites. A friend was bitten by a flying bug. Her arm immediately began to swell up. She was in intense, burning pain. We attached the extractor over the bite, with its largest cup...Several drops of foul brown liquid were drawn from her arm. Almost immediately her pain dissipated. I have used this tool many times since then on simple bee stings on my children -- their pain leaves almost immediately. I have never seen it used on a snake bite but it appears that it would work great. It is one of the best tools I have ever used. I try to keep one around all the time.
-- Maxwell Kennedy
The Extractor
$20
Available from Amazon
Manufactured by Sawyer
Instant hot water source
Cool Tools reviewed the Zojirushi rice cooker, but I'm surprised you haven't listed Zojirushi's other essential kitchen appliance: the Electric Dispensing Pot.
Like the rice cooker, it's an appliance that EVERY Japanese household has. Its function is simple: it makes and dispenses hot water at just below boiling, as much or as little as you want. Perfect for a cup of tea or a cup of noodles.
We picked up the US version when we moved back from Japan, and it's performed flawlessly for over a decade. Lots of nice little touches -- Steve Jobs stole the "MagSafe" power cord from the Zojirushi -- it makes it easy to move the pot to the tap to fill it up.
-- Robert Woodhead
Zojirushi 3 Liter Electric Dispensing Pot
$130
Available from Amazon
Cheap spacious utility car
When we decided to replace our 91 Camry (250K+ miles and still going strong, I gave it to my brother), the Prius was our first thought. But waiting lists and a price pushing 25 grand, and our need to occasionally carry two large dogs in their crates nixed that idea. Then I saw the Scion xB. Yes, it's ugly, at least until you get used to it. But it is extremely functional and practical. It's a big car inside a little car; there's more headroom and back seat leg room than in many large cars. Fold the rear seats down and you have a good sized cargo area, big enough for the two aforementioned dog crates. While some other similar vehicles have equivalent or even larger cargo area footprints, few have the overhead clearance of the Scion xB that makes the space truly useable. And if you need a little more space, remove the back seat and the spare tire storage platform behind it completely to get another 6-8 inches of vertical clearance. Sure an SUV has as much room or more, but it won't get the Scion's 33-35 mpg fuel economy, more important now than ever. It also has anti-lock brakes and a stability/traction control system, and a great stereo that plays mp3 disks, and has an input for a satellite receiver (or iPod). And the icing on the cake is that it's downright cheap, less than $15,000. Plus, since it's actually a Toyota, it will last practically forever and be extremely reliable. On the downside though, despite the boxy body it's not an SUV, there's no 4WD and the ground clearance is pretty low. And with the small engine that allows such good fuel economy, you're not going to pull a trailer.
Scion is Toyota's effort to increase appeal to the 20-something crowd, but most of the drivers I see in xB's are folks like me - near geezers. But if the kid across the street wants to think I'm cool, hey, I'll take it, it's been too long since anyone thought that of me!
Scion sells online and in a mini store inside Toyota dealerships; the pricing is fixed, so there's no haggling. The few options are mostly cosmetic items aimed at the youth market. So if you want a cheap car with good cargo capacity and good fuel economy, look at the Scion xB, though I've read that several of the other import companies are getting ready to roll out similar models soon.
-- Bob Johnson
Scion xB
$14,500
Available from Scion
Optimizing the selling price of your home
A couple of times in your life you may need to sell a house. If you do, try to remember the advice in this book. It could be worth several thousands of dollars for a few hours of your time. The message is simple: when it comes time to sell your home, strip it of all the things that make it a personalized home, and turn it into a bland product that can be personalized by someone else. This book, the best of about half a dozen on the same theme, provides simple ideas on how to reduce your home to a house. The same philosophy also applies to rental property.
-- KK
Home Staging: The Winning Way to Sell Your House For More Money
Barb Schwarz
2006, 212 pages
$14
Available from Amazon
Sample excerpts:
Staging is not decorating. Decorating means personalizing your space; staging is depersonalizing it. Staging is not about the ruffles you love or your favorite color rug. Staging is about getting a property sold. Decorating is optional. Staging is mandatory.
*
The way you live in your home and the way you sell your house are two different things. If you're one of those people who doesn't know what clean really is, ask a persnickety friend to come over and point out things that need attention.
*
My Staging mantra is "Less is more." You're selling your space, not your stuff. All those little tchotchkes? Pitch 'em, pack 'em, but whatever you do, put them away or out of sight.
With personalized clutter.
Staged, without personalized stuff.
In marketplace terms, your house is merchandise. In Hollywood terms, your house is the set. You're Staging it to look appealing, just like the set in a movie. Your favorite television show has a set you remember and connect with. Your house is a set too.
More...
Bicycle truck
 
This kit transforms a regular bike into an SUB (sports utility bike) by extending back the rear wheel and adding a seat and baggage platform. I've had my SUB for two years now. I find it makes owning a car completely unnecessary! I've transported my folding kayak on it. I've taken my girlfriend and her Australian Blue Heeler on it. I've moved furniture. It's crazy how stable it is. In many ways I prefer how it handles to my regular bike! And for giving people tours around NYC people just LOVE it.
You can modify your bike yourself, but I ended up taking it to a bike shop to have it installed.
-- Jens Rasmussen
Xtracycle Free Radical Kit
$400
Available from BicycleTrailers.com
Previously available from Amazon
Manufactured by Xtracycle
Durable steel hands
As a former cook in 4 restaurant kitchens, I've found these simple tongs to be an indispensable cooking utensil day in and day out. Stirring, cooking and tossing pasta, flipping steaks and grabbing anything hot, i.e. pans. They become an extension of your hands as a cook. I continue to use them in my kitchen. But I often see a lot of inferior, cheap and just plain useless tongs included with BBQ sets. They are usually too long or poorly designed to be effective utensils. Get these: Williams Sonoma Stainless-Steel Locking Tongs, or a pair of OXO Stainless-Steel Locking Tongs.
-- Alan Hachey
I learned how indispensable a decent pair of tongs can be around the campfire while working as a river and ocean kayak guide. We cooked as much of the meals as possible on a grill over the fire, to conserve fuel on multi-day trips. I still cook this way whenever possible and use these OXO Stainless Steel Locking Tongs to not only move food around on the grill but to move hot coals or briquettes to where I need them! These tongs lock closed for easy storage and have a 'hook hole' for hanging up. The non-slip rubber grip has held up for years in the dishwasher. Available in 9", 12", and 16" models. For obvious reasons, I would suggest the 16" ones for outdoor cooking. Buy one of these for that unfortunate soul still using a (gasp!) fork at the barbecue.
-- Lewis Duffy
Readers Adam Fields and Lisa Williams also recommend the OXO Stainless-Steel Locking Tongs. These sport handy rubber grips, lock closed for storage, and are the ideal surrogate hands in the kitchen.
It's the pair we have.
-- KK
OXO Good Grips Stainless-Steel Locking Tongs, 12"
$9
Available from Amazon
Superior nail puller
A nail puller like the ones reviewed in Cool Tools earlier (here and here) is not the best. It will gouge a quite horrible crater in your material unless the nail is at the surface, or just the right size. With this one, on the other hand, I can extract a headless nail from more than a centimeter inside a beam. The wood was not unscratched of course, but since it was compressed rather than splintered, a bit of water can make it swell back up somewhat.
-- Gaute Amundsen
This design is not new. You can find antique nail pullers like this hundreds of years old. The sharp teeth of this tool are perfect for slicing into the wood, yanking out deep air-hammered nails, or finishing nails from a surface you care about. There are several different makes; none are cheap, but these last a lifetime.
-- KK
Cooper Group 56 Nail Puller
$53
Available from Amazon
Bahco Nail Puller
$70
Available from Builder Depot
Essential technological literacy
These days debugging is an necessary life skill. Anything high tech has more ways of failing than running. Since failure hides in complexity, you need to be systematic to fix a break in a system. But debugging skills are not taught anywhere.
This book teaches you how to troubleshoot. It is meant for engineers debugging computer programs, but the principles of debugging can easily be applied to any engineered system -- your car, home plumbing, a new gizmo, old laptop, hi-fi system, or anything with many dynamic parts.
The book is easy, with lots of war stories. I learned a lot. Lately I've become the defacto system administrator for the network of seven computers in our household, and these principles have upped my success rate in clearing up the inevitable problems.
What you get: essential technological literacy.
-- KK
Debugging: The Nine Indispensable Rules for Finding Even the Most Elusive Software and Hardware Problems
David J. Agans
2002, 192 pages
$17
Available from Amazon
The basic rules can be found here
Sample excerpts:
The Rules - Suitable for Framing
Understand the system
Make it fail
Quit thinking and look
Divide and conquer
Change one thing at a time
Keep an audit trail
Check the plug
Get a fresh view
If you didn't fix it, it ain't fixed
Change One Thing at a Time
On nuclear-powered subs, there's a brass bar in front of the control panel for the power plant. When status alarms begin to go off, the engineers are trained to grab the brass bar with both hands and hold on until they've looked at all the dials and indicators, and understand exactly what's going on in the system. What this does is help them overcome the temptation to start "fixing" things, throwing switches and opening valves. These quick fixes confuse the automatic recovery systems, bury the original fault beneath an onslaught of new conditions, and may cause a real, major disasters. It's more
effective to remember to do something ("Grab the bar!") than to remember not to do something ("Don't touch that dial!") So, grab the bar!
Understand the System
You need a working knowledge of what the system is supposed to do, how it's designed, and, in some cases, why it was designed that way. If you don't understand some part of the system, that always seems to be where the problem is. (This is not just Murphy's Law; if you don't understand it when you design it, you're more likely to mess up.)
Make It Fail
So you can tell if you've fixed it. Once you think you've fixed the problem, having a surefire way to make it fail gives you a surefire test of whether you fixed it. If without the fix it fails 100 percent of the time when you do X, and with the fix it fails zero times when you do X, you know you've really fixed the bug.
If You Didn't Fix It, It Ain't Fixed
When you think you've fixed an engineering design, take the fix out. Make sure it's broken again. Put the fix back in. Make sure it's fixed again. Until you've cycled from fixed to broken and back to fixed again, changing only the intended fix, you haven't proved that you fixed it.
More...
Lifting Straps
I helped some friends move once and they had a set of these. Made moving mattresses and furniture too awkward/fragile for the hand truck much simpler. I've seen the same basic idea used by appliance delivery men (one or two long, wide webbing strap looped under something and lifted by someone on each side) but this is nicely finished and padded, for a lot less than I suspect it would cost to obtain similar materials.
-- Paul Hubbard
Forearm Forklift Lifting Straps
$18
Available from Amazon
Manufactured by Forearm Forklift
How to build a seasonal tent-cabin
I have never made a yurt, but I'd like to. This book tells you how. It assumes you have more time than money.
A yurt is a temporary tent house. It's not really portable. The Mongolian version weighs 200 pounds -- strong wooden frame covered in thick felt. If you really want portable, get a modern dome tent. But if you want a compact summer house, a cabin, a seasonal shelter encased in the mythical round, then a yurt could be perfect since you can make one of these yourself, with the added bonus that you can move it if you have to.
This book is an update of a 1980s classic. It takes the hippie approach. The drawings are all you need. Their instructions are rough, approximate, but satisfyingly visual. The book is motivational simply by being clear and rustic. Precision is not required, craft-smarts are. It assumes you are a do-it-yourself person.
-- KK
Mongolian Cloud Houses : How to Make a Yurt and Live Comfortably
Dan Frank Kuehn
2006, 152 pages
$12
Available from Amazon
Sample excerpts:
Tipi vs. Ger
When nomads gather, the topic of tipi vs. ger/yurt may surface. It's a circular argument. Both are functional and beautiful; the pros and cons balance out. Choose the lodge that best fits your situation and personality.
The straightforwardness of the tipi, its pyramidal shape, the feeling of infinity inside looking up at the apex of the cone, make this Native American design a masterpiece. Because of the slope of the roof, the tipi can shed rain and handle a snow load better than a yurt.
On the other hand, the basket-like frame of the ger culminates at the smokehole, the crown, the tono. A low ceiling makes it easy to heat and the short poles fit on or in most vehicles. The straight wall of the yurt give you as much head space as floor space, unlike the tipi.
As some kind of comparison, this drawing shows outlines of an 18-foot tipi and a 13-foot yurt, both using the same amount of cover material (33 yards, 6 feet wide).
Better ViseGrips
These tools work similar to ViseGrips except they automatically adjust to the size of the object they're gripping. The tension desired is adjustable via a set-screw, but once the tension is set, different size objects can be clamped without readjustment.
Also, the release lever is opposite that of the ViseGrip in that you pull on the lever with your ring finger while maintaining full grip of the pliers. No more pliers flying across the room and no more pinched fingers between the release and handle!
-- Bob Muir
LockJaw Self-Adjusting
$22
Available from Amazon
Manufactured by LockJaw
Perfect egg timer
I love love boiled eggs. After several batches of less than perfect (but still edible) eggs, I was reminded of a nifty gadget my mom kept around. This little chunk of lucite reacts to heat the way eggs do giving you a perfect hard or soft boiled egg -- no matter if you subscribe to the "boil then add the eggs" method or if you prefer to bring the water to a boil with the eggs already in the water.
-- Rene
Egg Timer
$8
Available from Amazon
Quick apple peeler and corer
Last year I spent some time with my wife's grandmother who seems to effortlessly make dozens of wonderful apple pies despite having poor hand strength due to advanced rheumatoid arthritis. When we finally convinced her to pass along the secret of her pie making success we discovered that she was using an apple peeler/slicer/corer combination machine that had my cool tool radar zinging like crazy. Simply poke the three prongs into the base of the apple and start turning the crank at the end, before you know it you have a lovely spiral of cored and peeled apple that can quickly be cut into quarters and thrown into the pie. It's safe for children to use once the apple is on the prongs, has a very elegant mechanism that is not obvious until you see it in action, and best of all it makes cutting up apples so simple you'll wish you had one years ago.
You can find a version on Amazon for $25 that clamps to a kitchen bench, but I find that the models with a vacuum base are the same price and are far easier to set up and use. Linens and Things has a good one.
-- Steve Allen
International Apple Peeler and Corer
$20
Available from Linens and Things
$25
Available from Amazon
For bleeding brake lines
This tool makes bleeding brake systems super easy. Simply attach the pressurized brake fluid cylinder to the master cylinder reservoir, pressurize, then bleed the system at the brakes. No need to pump the brakes, and no need to keep replenishing the brake fluid (since the reservoir tank holds plenty). Other cheapo vacuum systems make a mess and are quite poor at extracting small bubbles from brake lines. This tool is used widely in race pits; quite a few of my friends have it and swear by it.
-- Igor Krtolica
Motive Universal Power Bleeder
$58
Manufactured by Motive
Available from Amazon
Sheetrock moving aid
I'm remodeling my house. I got a low bid from a drywall guy -- only catch was I had to buy and haul all the drywall, which turned out to include 4'x12' sheets for the ceiling -- 7 of them! I only had one guy helping me. The 4'x12's were about 100lbs each, not to mention totally awkward and cumbersome to maneuver. The total haul was over 2500lbs. A dude at the store recommended the Stanley Panel Carry -- about 8 bucks there, but 6 on Amazon. Anyway, this seemingly simple and obvious tool made luggin' all that drywall a manageable process -- the 12 footers in particular, since they are only 5/8" thick and wobble enough to break if you torque them too much whilst lugging. I saved about 1,000 bucks on the drywall bid, made easy by an investment of $16 for two Panel Carrys. Very cool tool.
-- Jon David
Stanley 14" Panel Carry
$6
Available from Amazon
Cable adjuster
I always knew there had to be an easier, smoother way to change cables on my bicycle or Lambretta. Previously tightening a brake or clutch cable on my old scooter involved fumbling with a vice grip or begging someone to hold the cable taught while I clamped down the adjustment screw. Enter the 4th hand tool. This little beauty grabs one side of any cable you are adjusting. Squeeze the grips and it clicks locked at the distance you are aiming to adjust!
-- David
Fourth Hand Tool
$37
Available from Amazon
Bulk pineapple slicer
I am not a big fan of single use tools but this is by far the only tool for this job. We had a party where I needed to core and slice about 3 cases of pineapples, and what would have taken all day took a few hours. No skill is needed. You just cut the top off of the pineapple and screw down the corer. Once you are at the bottom just pull out the meat and you're done. The pineapple is evenly sliced and you are left with a useable hull (for making fruity drinks in of course). I have seen them for sale for as little as 7 dollars.
-- Walter Susong III
Pineapple Slicer
$11
Available from Tesco
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