David's favorite tools of 2024
What makes a tool indispensable in 2024? David’s curated favorites reveal surprising features and upgrades you didn’t know you needed. Perfect for every workshop.
I’m David Gewirtz. This is a special holiday edition of the Advanced Geekery newsletter. In this issue, I’ll spotlight a bunch of tools I found to be really helpful in 2024. All are Amazon links because I dig that free shipping. Also, as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Let me know if you like this list of tools and you want me to send you a list of my favorite gadgets and/or studio gear. If you like this, you might like those as well.
My favorite tools and workshop items
Let’s dig in. Most of these are small and easy to gift.
Every tool list should begin with a box cutter. While we have a bunch of different box cutters around the house, we’ve bought four or five of these, because it’s the one we use most. It’s comfortable to hold and blade changes are easy.
I’m reasonably convinced that every toolbox should have this right-angle drilling attachment. I have definitely built myself into spots where there was no way any of my power drills would fit, and this little thing came to the rescue.
I’ve had this in the shop for about three months, but I used it for the first time yesterday. I needed to cut a 4x2 foot sheet of heavy plywood, and my little SawStop jobsite saw is mighty, but doesn’t provide the wood support I often need.
This Bow Xtender is a big slab of aluminum, with little sides that provide some extended support. It’s not a complete answer, because the table extender is only on the fence side, but it definitely made cutting that slab much easier.
J-B Weld is some powerful stuff. I particularly like this epoxy because I dislike mixing the two active ingredients. With this applicator, the epoxy is mixed inside the package and comes out ready to do its job.
As cordless screwdrivers go, this one is both quite pricey and a bit weird to use. So why am I recommending it? Simple, it has a locking bit for 1/4 inch bits. I bought it after putting up a room full of shelves and every time I pulled the drill out of drywall, the drill bit stayed embedded in the wall. With this, it’s locked to the tool and comes right out.
The weird part is you have to turn your wrist in the direction you want the drill to go. It’s odd, but you get used to it.
This benchtop drill press has proven to be a nice upgrade to my shop. I started with a very inexpensive Harbor Freight drill press, which wobbled a lot. But its real failing was it didn’t have a crank to raise and lower the table gently. This does. It also has a slide out extension arm that has come in handy more than I expected.
I paired the drill press with this add-on chuck. The one that came with the drill was fine, but this is tool-less. You just turn it to secure the bit. Be careful, though. I found a few times the bit fell out because I hadn’t secured it well enough. Even so, this is a big time saver and reduces the need to hunt for that elusive chuck key…Every. Single. Time.
No doubt you own, or have heard of, 1-2-3 blocks. They are machined metal blocks that are precisely 1-inch on one side, 2-inches on another, and 3-inches on the third.
These are something different. These are 2-3-4 blocks. They’re a bit bigger, a bit heavier, and they provide a 4-inch measure as well as 2- and 3-inches. Who says big boys can’t play with blocks?
These 3M ear muffs really do muffle the loud noises in the shop. They’re great hearing protection. They also double as a useful tool in a home office when I need quiet while writing.
Okay, so let’s leave all the stud finder jokes out of this shall we? After all, here I am! Seriously, these are the best stud finders I’ve ever used, and I’ve bought a wide variety of electronic devices that proved far less accurate. These are simple: they’re just very strong magnets. Run them across the wall until they find a nail head under the drywall. That’s where your stud will be.
This retractable extension cord provided a major upgrade to my shop. The garage where I’ve located my workshop has exactly two electrical sockets. I haven’t yet had time to run more to other places in the shop. But by connecting this to one of the sockets, the retractable cord reaches the entire workshop.
If you want some serious double-sided tape, this will do it for you. I use this to hold wood down on the CNC and it never breaks free during milling. It’s not hard to remove after the job is done, critical when creating new items on the robot.
Send in your projects
I’d like to regularly spotlight a reader project or two here. Your project doesn’t have to be a big Kickstarter launch. If you’ve built something cool, it has some pretty pictures, and you’re proud of it, I might be able to share it here.
If you have a photogenic reader project, send an email to me at david@zatz.com with the subject “READER PROJECT,” a few pictures, and a short one-paragraph description. If you have a social media link or a link to the project, include that, too.
Both my EPs are now streaming
Available on all your favorite streaming services.
More clicky
I’ve got a lot happening all over the web. Here are links to my various stuff:
House of the Head: home for my published music
ZATZ Labs: where I host my published software projects
Feel free to dig around, visit, and say hey!
Leave some comments
Substack supports comments, so feel free to leave some. I promise to read them. Just, please, let’s keep our personal politics out of any discussion.
That should do it for this week. This newsletter is really starting to pick up subscribers. Please help it out by sharing links on all your socials.
Have a great week!