Summer is coming - get your wooden patio ready!

Summer is here and it's time to put that wood patio deck project on speed dial. If you haven't already started, the time is right to begin planning.

You'll certainly need the right tools. A nailer for hidden decking fasteners is one that I'd recommend. You won't have to worry about nails pulling up, and it will look very clean and hold better than standard nails.

The best holding power, although not as nice looking, is from screws. Auto-feed screwguns make that a whole lot easier. Of course, lag bolts will need a socket set and joist hangers could use a joist nailer as well, but what's most important is enjoying your patio.

Once you're lounging and feeling that summer sun, you might want to get a patio umbrella. That will make all the hard work of putting it together in the first place so much more rewarding.

More contest winner photos

It was December in the windy city. It was cold outside, but inside was a hot round of prize drawings at Allan Dick's special dinner event. I didn't get pictures of every winner, but I "borrowed" a couple taken of a couple of the winners I gave prizes to.

First, Chris Sherman won again. He got an Irwin tool bag filled with Irwin tools. It was a great prize, although I felt sorry for him having to try to figure out how to get that home. After all, he doesn't just live down the street.

But, since I didn't hear any more about it later, I think he must have figured out how to get it all home. It was quite the bag of tools. It included vise grips, a mini level, and work gloves as part of the overall sampling that was included.

Yes, this is the same Chris Sherman that won a tool belt in San Jose in August. Now he'll have something to fill that belt up with, so I guess that worked out well.

The other prize winner that I located a photo of is Alan Rimm-Kaufman. He won a Bosch Litheon Pocket Driver. I thought that was a great prize, and he was pretty excited about it. At the time, it was pretty much brand new technology and it was pretty exciting to get one of those as a give-away. I'm sure Alan is enjoying it - I'm sure I would.

We'll have to see what I can get donated for the next dinner event. This one will be in New York next month and should be another top-notch event. The folks at Vintage Tub sure know how to throw an event.

SeeSnake Micro

This tool just needs to be filed under cool. It's the SeeSnake Micro from Ridgid. If you've ever seen the SciFi show "Ghost Hunters", they use the standard SeeSnake regularly to see into rooms they otherwise wouldn't venture in to. But for plumbers (the day job for the two founders of T.A.P.S.), the SeeSnake is essential in seeing what has caused the blockage in sewer pipes.

But now, Ridgid decided to make a portable version for inside walls. This is a perfect tool for electricians, network techs or even cable installers. It's lightweight and powered from 4 AA batteries, making it very versatile. The screen, at 2.5", is large enough to be useful while still being inexpensive enough to make this device very affordable.

What good is it with a 3' cable you may be asking yourself about now. Well, it's quite useful, because you can add extensions to it easy enough to get up to 30'. That seems like enough length to make it very useful for wiring to me. Adding 9 extensions makes the price quite a bit higher, but it's still much more reasonable than the full sized SeeSnake by quite a bit.

But it's not just about the length. The mirror, hook and magnet (all included) make the uses continue to grow. I'm thinking this could actually be very nice for running network and phone cables behind cubicle walls around our offices. With some imagination, there are a ton of uses.

I'm excited about the SeeSnake Micro. It looks like Ridgid has a real winner, and I can't wait to get my hands on one.

Reading Blueprints

I've never understood how to read blueprints. There are a bunch of lines, symbols, and unless you're in the know, it just seems like a bunch of junk on a piece of paper.

Well, if you're like me but actually want to know how to read a blueprint (I don't really care to right now), then DeWALT came out with a book for you. It's the Blueprint Reading Professional Reference.

In the 350 pages you'll see real-world blueprint reading examples, hundreds of charts, illustrations, formulas, laws, & symbols, and current materials which are up-to-date with industry standards.

They even realized where it was going to be kept, making the cover material flexible as well as water and oil resistant with a super-strong binding which allows the book to lay flat when open, and the large and easy-to-read text and illustrations make it useful at the jobsite while being the right size to easily fit into any pocket or toolbox.

I really didn't ever think about how much you need to know to read a blueprint, but I knew it was more than I wanted to memorize. The 350 pages pretty much cemented that opinion in my mind. If I ever have need of that, I'll be picking up the book from DeWALT.