Foreign.

The house.

So work IQ tools just won the best new product at the national hardware show in Las Vegas here in 2024.

But back to lawn equipment.

A lot of the dealers that have purchased our entire system service chainsaws and outdoor lawn equipment.

Yeah.

Big brands that you've heard of.

Yeah.

And so you could not only chainsaw that we already talked about, you could take a long pole saw and mount it with our rubber coated jaw and not hurt it.

Not hurt it.

You don't have to take it apart to work on it.

And you can flip it upside down, turn it around, put it at any angle and could call.

Yeah.

And you're not going to hurt that aluminum shaft on.

Yeah.

You'd never put that in a regular bias if you that.

Yeah.

How many times you've had a string trimmer trying to.

You're right in the middle of your job and you got to change the line or put new line in and you're holding it between your legs.

You're trying to balance it on the tailgate of your truck.

I mean, you know, every time.

Yeah, every time.

When it comes to remodeling and renovating.

Your home, there is a lot to know.

But we've got you covered.

This is a route the house.

Welcome to the round the house show.

This is where we help you get the most out of your home through information and education.

Thanks for joining us today.

If you want to find out more.

About us, head over to aroundthe house.

Online.Com and we have a special guest here.

Man.

We are at the national hardware show in Las Vegas.

Tom Scott.

You have the coolest vice system out there.

But quite frankly, I got to put.

One in my house with your whole work IQ Tools.

Thanks for coming on today, brother.

Thank you, Eric.

Appreciate it.

It's great to be here.

We're.

It's great to be in Vegas and we're having a incredible show so far.

Man, this has been a lot of fun.

And you guys came out with I.

I love companies that take something that's.

In a shop and go, this has not been improved for a hundred years.

And then you make something absolutely spectacular.

Yeah.

We look at different tool categories and try to figure out which ones need innovating.

And when we looked at vices, we realized that they really hadn't changed a whole lot since about 1857.

There have been some changes, but I'm exaggerating.

Yeah.

And we noticed that when you're working on a vise a lot of times you have to position your body to wherever the work is.

And we said, why can't we design something that allows you to put the work where you need it, where it's in the optimal position for whatever you're trying to do?

Yeah.

Let's put it this way, guys, just.

To give you a visual.

I walk by the booth and they got a bike up on them on, and they got a chainsaw up on it.

This is really designed to put anything that your workbench can hold on.

That's right.

The reason we can hold like a bike and a chainsaw is the.

The design of the vise mounts on the edge of the workbench and it extends down about 6 to 8 inches off the workbench.

So I can get a full rotation on that bike without even touching the bench.

Same on a chainsaw.

I can put it wherever I want.

And depending on what I'm trying to.

Do, the traditional vise, you can only get what, about a 45 degree angle before you start getting into stuff.

Right where it's the.

Maybe it's the base plate or it's the arm that holds it in there.

You guys just really came up with such an innovative system that I looked at and went, this is the first time I've seen this.

And why in 2024 is something this cool finally hitting the workbench?

Yeah, we've.

We've been to a couple of different shows in the past two months, and in each of them, we've come out of there being told that we're the most innovative product in the show.

And we're very humbled and honored by that.

But we really have figured out a different way to work on things.

And we have, like you said, a whole system of products that center around the vice that make work easier.

Yeah, it's not just a vise.

You guys have so many accessories to go with it, depending on the project you're working on as well.

Yeah.

We call it the IQ vice system.

And it starts with a vise.

With the vise, we have five different jaws that you can put on for task specific projects.

We have some that are made specifically for wood, some that are made for crown molding, some that are made for pipe, some that are made for tubing, etc.

So there's lots of choices, lots of different things that you can do with the vise.

So now you're going to ruin the vise business for all the tape manufacturers out there, for all the people that have been selling rolls and rolls of tape, trying to get people to quit using their regular bench Vise to ruin the finish and the wood or anything else they're working on.

You guys actually have a system that's not going to do that.

Yeah.

The.

The bare vice has jaws that are metal that you can use without any of the different accessories that we have.

And.

But almost all of the other options keep from marring the whatever material you're working on.

So I could put it on a bike frame and not scratch it, or I can work on somebody's chainsaw and not hurt it.

Wow.

Yeah.

And that's the cool thing with this is you can go through and it doesn't matter if you're working on lawn equipment or if you're working on a fine woodworking project.

You guys have the system to work with that.

Even things that you would never think about putting in a vise, like snowboards.

You can put a snowboard in, put it at the right angle, it's sharpen the edges.

I also have a 1970, less 1972 Les Paul.

Oh, now you're talking.

We, we have one set of jaws that is covered with leather.

So I'm putting that very expensive Les Paul in the, in, in the vise with the leather jaws.

And I can position it however I want to, change the strings or buff it up or whatever.

And I'm not going to scratch it.

I'm not going to hurt that investment.

So I trust it.

Nice.

That's a good Les Paul.

You don't want to hurt that.

Yeah.

Or mess with frets or anything else on.

That's just too much work to get to fix that stuff.

Yep.

So.

See, that's awesome.

And it doesn't matter what kind of project you're working on.

It makes a lot of sense.

And when you see it, you look.

At it and go, wow.

Okay.

It's black, it's orange, it's cool.

This is built just heavy duty.

Strong.

That's right.

It's.

It's all metal.

Some of the parts are cast aluminum.

The parts that really take the torque are solid hardened steel.

So we can get up to 130 foot pounds of torque with a vise that articulates and rotates 360 degrees.

That's just unheard of.

Yeah.

Think about what.

Some people have a hard time visualizing what that is, but that's harder.

That's more torque than what you're putting.

On the lug nuts on your car with.

Yeah, I tested it out.

I put a board in the vise, folded it flat down and jumped on it.

And we videotaped it and the vise will rip out of the bench before it bends.

The vise.

I was gonna say.

Yeah, you're gonna either rip the bench out of the wall, knock the bench over, or just completely destroy the top before you do that.

Yeah.

You're not the weak point, and I'm.

Not exactly light either, so.

No, no, neither one of us are.

But still, it's one of those things that it's.

And then you put the leverage on that on top of that.

That's a lot of torque.

This is something I think is really important for people to have, because, you know, so many times when you get hurt working in a workshop, it's because you didn't have that extra set of hands to.

To let you do it.

You're using the power tool with one hand and holding the product with the other.

Yep.

And you're like, should have been having a vise.

And it's just a safer work environment when you can tie down the piece you're working on.

Yeah.

There's so many different directions.

I can go with that.

But speaking of extra hands, we have another extension to the system called IQ Connect, and it's a series of accessories that are mounted on flexible goosenecks, and they plug right into four ports on the vise or into ports that you can mount around your shop.

And the accessories include a work light, a magnifying glass.

We're getting a little older.

Might not have our glasses on all the time.

And a cell phone holder.

And that's even.

That's either for.

If you really know what you're doing, you're taking a video so you can send it to your friends.

If you don't know what you're doing, you're looking at a video on YouTube trying to figure it out.

Dude, that is so smart, because how many people out there, And I even do this now I'll get a new product that shows up at my house that I've never played with before.

I'll have this pack of instructions, and.

I'm sitting there looking at it, going.

Do I want to read through 12.

Pages of fine print, or do I just want to watch the video they made for it?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'll watch the video every time.

Every one of our products that we sell, whether it's the jaws or the mounts for the IQ Connect system or the vice, has a QR code on it.

You can just scan it and watch the video and figure out how to use it.

See, there you go.

That is the easy way, because when you're sitting There it's just so tough to go through those directions.

You're like trying to read it.

You want to play with it.

Right.

You want to do whatever you're working with.

And it's smart.

And of course, for the creators out there, you got to cell phone holder as well.

So if you want to be recording what you're doing.

Oh, yeah, you could be doing that too.

Yeah.

But with our different mounts, we have one that's magnetic.

You can put it on any of your shop tools.

You can take it and put on your refrigerator if you want.

You can put under a car hood, but it'll hold that light or the magnifying glass wherever you need it.

You don't.

If another option is a clamp mount, you can clamp to the edge of the table.

So you could work in the kit, you can work on the kitchen table, or you can work out in the shop and hold.

Hold these accessories.

So, man.

Yeah, you guys have got this dialed in now.

Where do you find this stuff out if somebody was sitting there wanting to buy one of these?

Yeah, we just launched the company in February 1st.

So we're pretty new and we're growing rapidly.

We've been to True Value, Ace, Do It Best and Orgel Brothers shows.

And so lots of those dealers have our products now.

Nice.

And we also sell on our website at work IQ tools.com and you can find us on Amazon as well.

That's awesome.

Yeah, that and the nice thing with.

Amazon is for people that don't have that hardware store close by.

Yeah.

Nobody's got it because you guys are new.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You can actually.

You can get it and get it quick.

And the vice is prime.

So if you have prime, it's free shipping and.

Yeah.

Oh, there you go.

Yeah, that's awesome.

Yeah, this is something that's really cool.

And I really like what you guys are.

We're doing this.

And it's not just a vice, it's a system.

Yep, exactly.

Exactly.

You're talking about extra set of hands.

I live in Minnesota.

I go through two cords of firewood every season.

Yeah.

And I got tired of buying kindling, so I make my own with a firewood that I've already split.

And I just mount my axe that I sharpened on the vise, by the way, at the perfect angle, upside down in the vise.

And I hit it with a two and a half pound hammer and split logs into kindling.

So things like that.

It's a lot much safer than that axe bouncing off the log and hitting you in the shin or whatever.

How many times we all done that stuff?

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

And I tell you what, I've also tried out those.

Those.

They make those firewood splitters, but they never work, right.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

You know what I mean?

It's.

Oh, it's got an ax, but it's got that ring around it.

Yeah.

Testing one of those on the TV show, that is a better way to do it because now you've got a really fine piece of equipment.

Whatever ax you have.

Yeah.

And you can knock that out with that.

Yeah.

That is smart.

And it answers the question of can you pound on the device.

It's not made for shaping metal or forged steel or anything like that.

I'm hitting on that pretty hard with a two and a half pound hammer.

And it's held up for a long time.

So.

Dude, that is awesome.

That's a great way to do it.

Yeah.

Because if you were to try doing that in your normal vice, what's the.

First thing it does?

The handle comes down on the ax and now it's at a 45 degree angle.

Hitting the top of your workbench.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That is cool.

So this articulates all the way around.

Right.

So you can basically put it.

Whatever angle you're working with.

Just to help people visualize.

Since we're in an audio format.

So that vice sticks out what, six.

Inches or so out the front.

Right.

And it's.

So it's based.

The reason it does this is because it's on a ball and socket.

It's on a hardened steel ball that is in a socket.

Okay.

And it allows you to articulate it around three, all the way around, fold all the way down flat.

But you can also rotate the vise in any of those positions 360 degrees.

So the possibilities are pretty.

Pretty much endless.

And we're excited to see how people are going to use this because.

Right.

Everybody that buys this is going to have a different vision of what it can do.

And they're going to find new applications and we find new ones every day.

Yeah.

So it's.

It's exciting.

Everybody's out there right now in the springtime getting their outdoor power equipment going.

They got the lawnmowers going.

It's such.

I bet that's awesome.

Doing lawnmower braids blades.

Because it's always tough on a vise because you're trying to get the.

If you're trying to grind or do something with that, you've always got the blade, it seems, at the wrong angle.

In the vise.

Exactly.

You either have to stand on top of the vise with a chisel or with a file.

You have to get your.

Your right angle or.

Excuse me, your grinder.

Grinder.

Angle grinder.

Thank you.

At the right angle.

With this, you can fold it down to the perfect angle.

When you want to do the other side, you just flip it around and do that side.

See what you take it out of the vice.

Yeah.

So if you're doing blade sharpening, any of those things, even doing like your own knives and stuff, you can sit there and put your nice knife handle in it.

Yeah.

Without having to worry about it.

I did a couple of projects with a kitchen knives, chef's knives.

Yeah.

And I made one out of rosewood handle one out of Micarta.

You get your raw blocks on there and they need to be sanded and I can put it at a perfect angle and sand it, turn, flip it around, down, sand the other side and it makes it so much easier.

A lot of knife kits come with a rotating vise, but not like this.

No.

Of course.

It's really holding it firmly.

It's not going to loosen up on you, etc.

Yeah.

So there's really no limitations of this other than your workbench.

Then you need to have a strong workbench if you're going to be reefing on it.

Yeah.

We recommend that you put leg bolts through the vise and through your bench and tighten them down.

We have seen people use screws, screw it into a piece of wood that they take around and mount in different locations.

We've seen people use C clamps.

But the most sturdy way to do it is to lag bolts through your.

Yeah.

Lag bolts or through.

Bolt it or do something.

Right.

But back to lawn equipment.

A lot of the dealers that have purchased our entire system service chainsaws and outdoor lawn equipment.

Yeah.

Big brands that you've heard of.

Yeah.

And so you get not only a chainsaw that we already talked about, you could take a long pole saw and mount it.

Oh, yeah.

With a rubber coated jaws.

And not hurt the.

Not hurt it.

You don't have to take it apart to work on it.

And you can flip it upside down, turn it around, put it at any angle and could call.

Yeah.

And you're not gonna hurt that aluminum shaft on.

Yeah.

You'd never put that in a regular vise because you just shoot that.

Yeah.

How many times you've had a string trimmer trying to.

You're right in the middle of your job and you Gotta change the line or put new line in.

And you're holding it between your legs.

You're trying to balance it on the tailgate of your truck.

I mean, you know, every time.

Yeah, every time I've done that.

And that's a game changer.

Just right there because you're doing this.

It's moving around.

You're trying to fish the line through.

Yeah.

And it's twisting and moving around.

Yeah.

And here you can put it right at chest level or.

And work on it right where you can see it.

And that is good.

Yeah, and that is good.

And so.

Yeah, you think about that even if.

You'Re doing plumbing work.

So you can put pipe in there like anything else.

Yeah.

So our pipe jaws, we call them pipe fit, have one side that is.

Has metal inserts.

It's got nine metal inserts that overlap.

So you're touching the pipe in 18 different spots.

It really grips it hard.

And if you're doing like fitting work and you need extra torque, the base of our ball has grooves in it.

So you can put a pin that locks all the way through the vise through the base of the ball.

And that's when we can get up to 130 foot pounds of torque.

Yeah.

Because that's just not moving.

Yeah.

Now the other side of those pipe fit jaws is rubber.

So if I had a bike frame or if I had a string trimmer something I did not that it was tubular that I did not want to scratch.

Yeah.

Got that covered too.

So if you're working on mounting up some, like underneath a pedestal sink, you've got all your pieces that are chrome or brass or whatever that that finishes.

You can do that right there.

Get it all mocked up without having to do it upside down.

Every one of our jaws is double sided, so.

Oh, cool.

We just talked about the pipe.

Metal on one side, rubber on the other.

Several others are flat rubber on one side, foam on the other for wrapping around.

Odds to shape parts like a spindle or crown molding.

But they're all double sided.

So it really extends to the functionality of what you can do.

Oh, see that, that makes just.

That makes it so easy.

Yeah, yeah.

And I don't like finish is the.

Biggest problem to me.

When you've got something really nice like I've got an expensive bike, there's no way without me going out and spending a ton of money on some kind of a special bike shop.

Oh, yeah.

Rack to put that on.

This is actually a better system than that.

Exactly.

They make.

There's Some great bike racks out there that the bike shops use and a lot of people can buy at home.

You need to put them out on the open floor space.

This vise mounts right on your bench and gives you the flexibility to spin the bike around, put it up on.

On top of the workbench.

It's something that you couldn't do before at home.

Easily.

Yeah.

With something that can be used for countless other projects.

See, that's the thing.

That's the thing.

You can be doing anything on it.

Right.

And I imagine like working on automotive stuff where you're trying to take a pulley off, right?

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Now say you're working on a water pump or you're doing something like that or working on all kinds of here where you're trying to get something vised in where you get the pulley on it.

Yep.

Or the puller to pull the pulley off.

Now you've got something you can clamp.

In there, get it at the right.

Angle and work with it that way.

Absolutely.

You can't use a regular vice.

Absolutely.

I'd recommend that the nylon side of a couple of her jaws for that because it's hard and it holds all different types of parts and shapes and sizes, but it really gives a firm grip.

Yep.

Nice.

And so are you guys continuously just developing more and more little pieces and.

Parts for the system?

Because it seems like you guys just keep getting your months old, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

And now you're just automatically have a killer system.

Is it getting harder and harder to come up with new pieces or is it just suggestions you get from customers or how does it work?

No, we're an innovation company.

We have a great team of engineers and industrial designers.

And we go and we go in a meeting room and get on a whiteboard and just map out.

We've mapped out probably 100 different things that we can do with the system and we're.

That's cool.

We've got a product roadmap that's already in place and it would be coming out with new innovative things every year to make it more functional and broaden the possibilities for it.

So this is just the beginning.

Oh, yeah.

That's exciting.

You guys have a killer team over there.

You have one of the best looking boost here in the show.

It's colorful and when you walk past it, you know exactly what that thing is.

Oh, yeah.

Thank you very much.

Yeah.

We, in addition to the technical team, we've got a great marketing team.

We have two in house studios.

We do all Our own photography, all our own videos.

We have 30 different videos on the products.

So you can.

You can find a lot of information on us on.

On YouTube or on our website.

Nice.

Great team.

Definitely have to have you on my TV show then if you got your own studio there.

So we can do some fun there.

Yeah, that'll be a lot of fun.

Yeah.

So I want to talk a little.

Bit more real quick before we go again.

Make sure people know how to find you.

Let's get your name out there again one more time here.

Yes.

Few minutes.

We're tools.

And the.

The product, the main product we're talking about, it's called the iq Vice.

And when I say iq, just think intelligence.

What's your iq?

Exactly.

So we're all about smart tools.

We like to.

Our tagline is engineered to help you work smarter.

And you can find us@work IQ tools.com.

And then just jump on Amazon and search it right there.

Yeah.

So is there anything we didn't talk about here today?

You guys have so much going on over there.

It's like one of the.

I love watching people walk past the booth.

They're like, what is this?

Yeah.

I encourage everybody to watch our videos.

When you just look at the product, you might not be able to visualize everything that it can do, but when you see the videos, it really stimulates your brain and helps you think what you could use it for.

And when you find those unique applications, please email us, please send them to us and@infoworkiqtools.com and we'll put you on our website.

We'll put you in our catalog.

We'd love to learn about new applications and how this is helping you get your work done.

Man, that is a lot of fun.

That is a lot of fun.

And I think this is just one of those things that now everybody's listening.

They'll be working out in the shop, going, now I could use it right here because now I need that extra hand.

Yep.

And that's cool.

So, man, thanks for coming on today.

And again, one more time on the website, Tom Scott.

Yep.

It's work IQ tools.com Tom, thanks for coming on today.

Thanks for having me, man.

You guys are killing it.

Keep it up, man.

I tell you what, I just love that vice.

The second half of this show today, I really wanted to be talking about shop safety.

And it's something that's really big for anybody.

Whether you have this big workshop where you've got just a simple single car garage that's attached over on the side of your house.

There are some things that I want to make sure that you're thinking about as you're building, designing or renovating that shop space that you have now.

This could be the tiniest spaces and there's things that you need to do.

And here are my tips that I think will help it make a safer and more comfortable place to work in.

So first off, let's talk about a little bit about safety in this space.

I do want to see and this is can be tough, but it's one of those things that I think it's really smart to have a good carbon monoxide and smoke detector.

Now you want something that's going to be away from the dust.

You want things to be as clean as you can with this because yeah, they do require some maintenance when you're in a dusty spot.

But to be honest, if you've got a really dusty spot, maybe you should be thinking about the indoor air quality in there as well.

Because that is something that can be really bad.

And if you're working with chemicals, if you're working with sawdust, this thing that can really lead to health issues, you can become allergic to sawdust, you can become chemically sensitive to paint and stains, things like that.

So these are things that you should really be working towards.

Of course, have that smoke and carbon monoxide detector there.

But really start thinking about indoor air quality.

Now.

If this is a garage that is insulated and you're bringing your cars inside and out of it, especially in the summertime or wintertime, and it's a sealed up space that's maybe not conditioned, this is where you need to really think about how are you going to remove humidity inside of this place?

Because let's say it's wintertime and it's 40 degrees outside and you bring in that car and this is your workshop where your wood, your power tools and everything else is, you pull that car in and it's dripping wet.

So the problem is you shut that nice insulated garage door.

It's nice in there and it's warmer than outside, of course, because maybe you got a car engine.

So things typically are going to warm up just a little bit because that has to dissipate heat.

Now all of a sudden you get that space over 60% relative humidity.

And then now you're going to start putting rust on things.

You're going to see that wood getting way too humid because it's probably drier because you bought it dry.

And more importantly, you will grow mold.

So those are things that I really want you to be careful with there and how to handle that, because that is something that's really gonna hurt the indoor air quality and, of course, ruin your tools in your projects.

So nobody wants that.

Nobody wants to see their nice hand tools.

Your planer getting little rust spots on it.

That is because you're not keeping the air dry enough to be in there.

So maybe you need a dehumidifier.

Maybe you need a exhaust fan in there or something to exchange the air to keep that in there.

So you want to make sure that you've got fresh air coming in.

And so maybe you need to add a bathroom vent fan in there, a nice 100 CFM unit.

Maybe if you're doing a lot of projects in there, you need to put in like a something to exchange the air in that space.

But the problem is you need to watch out for.

If it's 80% relative humidity outside and you turn a fan on and all you're doing is bringing in new, that's probably where you need to have some kind of a dehumidification system in there.

Now, you can install like a mini split heat pump or something like that in there to keep it warm and cool.

That is cool.

And that will give you some dehumidification if you get one that has that ability.

So that's not a bad way to go.

Now, let's talk about chemical storage.

And this is a big one right here because this is one of those things that you don't realize.

If you have a house that is attached to your garage and you're storing your paint cans, your rattle cans, your cleaners, your.

All this stuff that is putting off chemicals that will end up inside your home.

And that's something I learned from my friend Caroline Blazowski, America's healthy home expert and former co host on this show right here is that she has shown through air testing that those chemicals you store in your garage end up in your air and then end up into your home because it'll naturally go between there.

I know you might have a fire door, but that stuff does swap air, Unless you've done a heck of a job of sealing that up.

So you want to make sure and store those outside, not connected to the building that you're living in.

And even though they're closed up, they've got snap lids or whatever, that's not perfect.

So all of those things that are off gassing are hazardous chemicals, typically.

And there's so many propellants and things like that in there that you've got to be really careful.

So all those chemicals, do keep them outside of that garage that is connected to your living space.

Now, sometimes this can be tough because you have paints and stuff that can't be.

That can't be frozen or can't be overheated.

It could go bad.

So just work on those kind of things and you might have to come up with a better way to do it or at least seal it up a little bit better, come up with some way to keep that in the space without having to have that happen.

So that's a big one right there.

Now, when it comes to safety, the other thing I want to talk about before we go out to break here is, is make sure that you have the right extension cords for the project you're working on.

If you have those little tiny, thin extension cords, and I'm talking about, they're the ones that you see for sale for Christmas lights or lamp cords or things like that, to be honest, replace them with bigger gauge because that way, that is the fastest way to burn out your table saw is to have a very thin cord and run 100ft out to that fence project you're working on.

You will brown out that fence.

I mean, that motor on that building, that fence.

And I tell you what, you're going to have a big hot mess because you're going to reduce the life of that saw.

Now, unless you want to have to go out and buy a new one or explain to your significant other why you burned up the saw or oh my gosh, it quit.

Because I want to go get a better one.

Yeah, that's between you and them.

But really take the time and get the right cords.

Upgrade those cords and take a look around if you have those and go, man, they're expensive.

I got to wait.

Here's my tip.

Seems like every six months or so, you'll see them changing them out at the home centers.

So if you go by there every week or two, you can say maybe get some on closeout.

Seems that those things are always on sale and there might be a great time to buy them right there.

And that could save you an absolute ton of money because those things are expensive.

And as we know, wiring and cable is not getting any cheaper.

So buy the heavy duty contractor grade, buy them once, and then you'll be good to go.

Now, when we come back, I really want to talk about battery storage because this is a really big deal.

When you're inside the garage or shop and you've got all your power tool batteries, you Might be storing these incorrectly.

So I want to make sure we're doing it so we don't have a fire hazard because a couple mistakes can get costly.

We'll talk about that just as soon as around the House returns.

The band is drunk.

It's the end of the show now.

Drinking down, people.

It's time to go.

It's that time again.

It's last call.

Last call.

That's it.

It's the end of the night.

Last call.

Around the House is sponsored by Baldwin Hardware.

For 75 years, Baldwin Hardware has been known for its first class quality and craftsmanship.

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Hey guys, welcome back to the around the House show.

This is where we help you get the most out of your home through information and education.

Thanks for joining us today.

If you want to find out more about us, head over to aroundthe house online.com and if you want to give us a call in the studio, that number is 833-239-4144.

That number again is 833-239-4444.

Now we've got a big show we've been talking about here today in this last half about safety in your garage workshop.

Maybe it's even a basement workshop.

And let's talk about that real quick because that's an important right there.

If you have that basement workshop, you are putting your home in a precarious position because most of the air in your workshop is now going to go up into your home.

If you think about it, if you have that unconditioned crawl space, over 60% of that air comes up into the home from that crawl space.

And the same thing is going to happen but a little bit more with that basement.

So what happens is all your sawdust, all of your moisture, all of your chemicals, all of your stains, your cleaners, whatever you're working on is making it up into that house.

So what I would recommend is that maybe that's a great place to store some things.

But if you can get outside, get out and work that stuff outside and not store as much of that stuff in the basement like we were talking about, it's going to be a lot better off.

Basement workshops are tough.

I would go through and put in a, a moisture barrier between that and down there.

Make sure you seal that off.

I would use some fire rated sheetrock to help with that.

And then put a really good PVA primer and some good paint on it and see what you can do.

And then make sure that system that heats and cools that place is different.

And maybe provide some ventilation down there to make sure that you're pulling air and getting it outside so you don't have that dusty, smelly, bad stuff that you've been working on all day hiding up in your house.

When you get done with that project, it can be bad enough, but just make sure you're doing it correctly.

Before we went on to break, we were talking about power tool battery storage, and this can be a big one.

Now, power tool battery batteries work really well.

Doesn't matter what brand you have.

There's a lot of great products out there, but storing them is a big deal.

And one of the biggest mistakes that people make is storing them on the charger.

And now what you're doing is you're relying on that charger to be working 100% of the time.

All it takes is for that battery to get overheated.

Maybe the charger faults out and overheats that battery, and then you can have a fire.

So that can be a big problem.

So as far as battery storage, use the charger to charge, and as soon as it's done, remove it from the charger and put it on the rack or the system that you're doing.

Nowadays, most of the power tool companies do have their own rack system.

Or you can get a metal cabinet so you can buy a fireproof cabin if you like.

You can put those and stack them in there carefully.

Don't just throw them on top of each other.

You want to separate them out and make it look nice.

But really being able to separate those things out can make a huge difference.

And that's really how you're going to try to avoid all those things.

Now, if you've got a battery that looks damaged, maybe it dropped it and it's swollen up, or it's having some issues or it's got a fault with it when it goes to charge.

Time to take that and recycle it, take it back to the manufacturer if you can, and see if you if it's under warranty and replace it.

But anytime you have a battery like that, it's like a leaking fuel tank on your power tool.

You wouldn't go put that someplace and let it leak and cause a fire.

It's the same thing with a battery.

So just make sure.

I have had probably a hundred power tool batteries over the last, oh, let's call a decade.

I have only had one fail, and it just wouldn't hold a charge.

So it's extremely rare to have issues, but last thing we want to do is start a fire by keeping those things around when they're not working correctly.

And when you get inside these batteries, it's really interesting.

It's not just a bunch of cells like anything else.

There's an actual little computer board in there.

There's a lot of things going on so it can actually keep track of the battery life.

Because you can think about it.

You're going to be using that tool, maybe you're putting it on an electric chainsaw and you go to cut through that chainsaw when it loads the up, that little computer in there knows to send more power because there's more draw to give more amp hours to that engine, which is that electric motor on there.

So these are the things that does.

So these are pretty delicate situations inside these batteries when you pull one apart.

And I don't recommend pulling them apart because by the time you do, you've ruined it.

And that's a done battery.

Now the other thing is storage.

You don't want to keep these in the 120 degree truck.

If you're living in the desert southwest or your place that gets super hot inside that car could get really bad.

That's bad.

And they're not going to work very well if you're in North Dakota and you're keeping them in your truck all the time.

So here's what I recommend for storage like this.

If you've got batteries and you're a contractor, most of the contractors already knew this.

If you have those batteries in a certain bag or a certain case that you have, bring them inside, take them back outside, keep them as stored as you can.

You'll get better life out of them.

And if it's really below freezing outside, those batteries are not going to work.

If they're super cold, they will.

You're just not going to get the life out of them.

So keep those things warmed up, keep them nice and you're going to get a lot better life and use out of those batteries.

And then go ahead and use those batteries all the way down.

You using it for a little bit and then having to charge it, you're cycling that battery.

You want to use the full battery as much as you can.

And then when that thing starts to go, put it back on the charger.

You'll get one cycle.

It's okay to put that battery away and have it be half charged if you have enough batteries.

But also it's not going to make the biggest dent in it if you're like, man, I'm going to use this thing tomorrow, I got to make sure everything's topped off, that's okay too.

But when in doubt, if you have enough batteries, the less time you're throwing on that charger, get the most out of the battery.

So that way you're not just running it through that many cycles.

And that's the thing.

If you take it back to the manufacturer because you had a warranty and you didn't do the best job of caring for it, these are things that might give you some pushback, depending on the company.

Now the next thing is too with, with shop safety like this is coming up with that storage for all your tools and keeping things organized.

And that's one of the biggest things you'll be safer.

You'll know where the tools are.

And it's something that's always a constant battle.

You'll get new tools.

You need to move things around.

Coming up with a great system for that is key.

Now the next thing I want to talk about is great lighting.

Making sure you have enough light to do the project.

And that is a big one.

If you can keep things well lit so you see what you're doing and that you're focused on your work.

Accidents happen in the dark, and that's a big one right there.

And then the last one I really want to talk about, which is an important one, is making sure you keep things sharp.

If you are working with circular saws, table saws, any of those kind of things, make sure that you have enough of the blades to get the project done.

And when a blade gets dull, guess what?

You can take it over to a tool company if you have one in your area.

It's not a bad thing to do.

Take it over.

They'll.

They'll sharpen that blade, especially if it's carbide, and you'll be good.

Now, it's not like you're gonna do that with Sawzall blades.

Usually when those things like that or multi tool blades, when they're done and you move on to the next one.

But you can buy tool sharpeners for those.

I just don't really recommend it.

I think that most of those blades, especially if you're buying good ones, use them till their end and they're done.

Now here's a tip though, before we go out here in a minute that I want to make sure that you know about.

You can actually get a lot more life out of those Sawzall blades if you slow down when you're Cutting metal, dial the speed back.

So if you have a speed control on your sawzall, you can smoke that blade, which takes the temper out of it and it causes a whole other issue.

So slow everything down.

It's like drills or anything else when you're working on these things.

If you can slow it down really well, it's gonna work so much better.

And you're not gonna smoke out that blade and have to throw it away.

So if you go buy a really good blade or a really good drill bit with metal, slow is better.

It'll actually make that be sharper and you won't take the temper out of it.

A little more patience and use those tool settings is going to be the key.

And that's my best tip with power tools as well.

And they're powered, take the time, understand what all the little buttons do.

How many times do you use the clutch on your drill driver that's there to make it life a little bit easier as well as different speeds on many saws and sanders and things like that.

So think about, read up, enjoy the tool.

But so many times we don't use all the little settings on there.

And I can be guilty as charged.

With that as well.

That can be a really big problem when it comes down to it because if you.

The more about your tools, the better off you are.

All right, guys, I've got to wrap this up here.

We are out of time now.

One thing here.

If you want to find out more about us or you've got some tips or comment, you can email me over to Roundthe House online.

Com.

And then if you want to give me a call with any home improvement questions, that's 833-239-4144.

That number again is 833-2394144.

If you're listening to us on the radio, I have to say thank you on the Talk Media Network, where if this is the podcast, of course I will see you next Wednesday on the podcast for our midweek special.

Thanks everybody for tuning into around the House.

I really appreciate every single one of you and we'll see you again next week.

And if you enjoy the show, make sure and leave us a great review on your favorite podcast player.

Thanks for tuning in around the House.

I'll see you soon.

Seen and undiscovered Any way out beyond the me Life is a love song let's be lovers we're all over the radio Take my hand I know where to go all over the radio With.