Family Handyman February 2014

GREAT SAW FOR SMALL SHOPS If you do your woodworking in a small space or need a table saw to haul around, we recommend the new DeWalt Compact Jobsite saw, model 7480. It’s got full-size guts (a 10-in. blade and a 15-amp motor) in an incredibly tiny but sturdy package. It weighs only 45 lbs. and has comfortable handles so you can carry with both hands or just one. And the rip fence is sweet! It has a rack-and-pinion arrangement, so it’s smooth, easy to move and stays adjusted (just like the fences on the larger DeWalt saws). Most important, though, is that this year the saw’s rip capacity has been increased to 24-1/2 in., so you can cut to the middle of a sheet of plywood. Other features include…

Show those nails who’s boss One of my favorite tools for demolition is the Crescent Code Red Nail Pulling Pliers. It’s a pliers-like nail puller that can pull anything as long as you have at least 1/8 in. sticking out to grab on to. I bought it when we remodeled our basement and had to pull out the hundreds of finish nails that held the pine bead board on the ceiling. For really tough nails like coated framing nails, you can put a pipe over the handle for additional leverage. It will pull large screws that way as well, but it makes a mess of the board. I’ve even used it to pull concrete screws out of concrete when the head was stripped or rusted. You can get one for…

Connect more gadgets to your TV To cut costs, many TV manufacturers are putting fewer HDMI input ports on the back of the set. That’s a problem if you have a cable or satellite box and you want to add more devices like a Blu-Ray DVD player, a Roku streaming device and a game console. The solution: Add an HDMI switch box. This isn’t the least expensive model (No. 5312 4x2 True Matrix; $58 at monoprice.com), but it provides all the best features for a reasonable price. Plug up to four HDMI devices into the switch box and output them to your TV using as many as two HDMI cables. Then sit back, open a bag of chips and switch from one device to another with the switch box remote…

After more than 30 years of woodworking, I’ve gone through my share of shop aprons. None have performed better than my Fire Hose Bib Apron from Duluth Trading Co. I wear an apron not only to keep my clothes clean but also to keep my essential marking and measuring tools at hand. Any apron with pockets can perform these two tasks. The features that set the Fire Hose Bib Apron apart for me are the three mesh bottom pouches that let sawdust flow right through, and the straps that take the apron weight off my neck and put it squarely on my shoulders. The pouches are where I keep my tape measure, square and hearing protectors. Behind those pouches, there are additional pouches where I keep less-used tools. I really…

GREASED LIGHTING We’ve all been there: A lightbulb breaks away from its base when you try to remove it, and then you’re stuck with broken glass and a tough-to-getout bulb base. You can solve this problem easily (especially in damp areas like porches and bathrooms) with Bulb & Socket Lube. I just smear a dab on the threads of the base and tighten the bulb as usual. Look for Bulb & Socket Lube at your home center or hardware store. H. ed Chapman sr. No sawdust in the house! We have this policy at home that I can’t come into the house from the garage with as much as a speck of sawdust on my clothes (somehow my vote didn’t count!). To keep the dust off my clothes, I picked…

It seems like no matter how much closet space you have, there’s never quite enough. But building attractive clothes cabinets like these allows you to expand storage into your bedroom or a spare room and gain the extra space you need. You can build one storage tower or connect several together. Each tower consists of a drawer base, a wall cabinet with doors, and two side panels with holes for adjustable shelves. We’ll show you how to build the cabinets and assemble the towers. And we’ll also include details for adding a clothes hamper drawer, a pullout pants-hanging rack and shoe storage between the two towers. Even though the style is simple, building these cabinets requires close attention to detail and accurate cuts. If you can cut plywood precisely and…