Dangerous Tools

I got a call the other day from Garrett, who had done quite a bit of work on a post about dangerous tools. I read through it, and my first thought was "I'm reading this whole thing?" It's long, but has lots of good information, even if the methods weren't the most "Scientific".

One of the main things that came out was that every tool can be dangerous, because the tool is only as safe as the person using it. That's brilliant, and very true. Of course, when it got down to the Wylie Coyote naming conventions of some of the tools, that led me off to another page which I had to read in its entirety.

If you use tools on a regular basis, or are just looking for some entertainment, I think his article is worth a read. You can find it here.

Blue Blades - Unbreakable Utility for your Knife

A utility knife blade isn't exciting or newsworthy, is it? It is, after all, just a piece of metal with a razor sharp edge. Nothing complicated and not a real technically challenging tool, right? That's what I thought until recently.

Nearly unbreakable
What's the most dangerous part of a normal utility knife blade? Well, I've had a few of them break on me and it can be a bit scary. Chunks can fly at you, making for a very dangerous situation. It can also leave pieces that you'll need to extract in hard to see places. Iwrin has come out with a blade, known as the "Blue Blade", that doesn't break from normal use. In fact, abnormal use (such as in the picture) doesn't always break them either. They can break, but it takes a lot of effort.

Stays sharp longer
The patented bi-metal used in making these blades not only makes them tough to break, but also makes them stay sharp 3x longer. I consider that to be a good thing. Of course, the fine print says when cutting 20# recycled paper, so I don't know what that means when cutting drywall or plastic film, but it should still stay sharp longer. Paper is what makes scissors lose their edge the quickest, so that may be a very good test. The main factor for the reduced wear is that they use a treated steel edge instead of the standard carbon. I guess that's technology, although not all that geeky.

Try them for yourself - for free!
Don't take my word that these are better blades. Irwin has a program so you can get a free 5 pack to try yourself. They don't have an ending date, but as of now (1/30/2006) the program is still going. Let me know if the link doesn't work any more, but it's a great deal so you can see for yourself just how well they work. I've got my 5 pack on the way.