Victorio ice shaver. $50 kitchen toy, Shaves a handful of ice cubes into snowpowder in a couple seconds. Dramatically outperforms $500 blenders (even the best of which are barely able to crush ice unless the ice is submerged in some kind of liquid first)
Nextrend garlic chopper. You ever use one of those more-conventional metal garlic presses where you stick a clove into the end and squeeze and the garlic squishes out like toothpaste but then hangs there clinging to the damn device until you cut it loose with a knife? And then washing the damn thing is a 10 minute exercise in frustration? Never again.
Just ordered one, but not from Amazon. Apparently there are vendors on there who are selling Chinese-made knockoffs that don’t do the job. Nextrend’s website warns about this.
I realize that not everyone needs to remove the yolk and white from an egg shell without destroying the shell, but if you ever do, this is totally worth money. http://www.bestpysanky.com/Blas-Fix-Egg-Blower-p/blwr-2.htm
Plus it keeps me from passing out doing it the old fashioned way.
Two weeks ago I helped my brother put together his deck. He has a Porter Cable impact driver which looks like a kids toy. The wee thing is 3 lbs and is battery operated to boot.
It put 9’ screws through the rim joist and two ledgers with ease and didn’t run out of juice all day.
I do. I used one exactly once on a pot of boiling water. The problem is, unless your stove is right next to your sink, it’s difficult to pour water off of the thing so you can carry it to the sink.
That said, they are good for putting over a bowl of non-water in the microwave to let steam escape and prevent splatters.
I also like these (similar but w/o the vents) for covering bowls in the fridge and microwave.
14.95 from Lee Valley. I love gadgets but I’m not insane. And who on earth makes up those ridiculous list prices?
The OP’s recommendation for the popcorn popper is right on the money by the way.
You know what tools always amaze me? Bow saws. I don’t know what they make the blades out of, but even after years of use (admittedly, light and occasional use) and no maintenance, my bow saw will still zip through branches while clearing the yard or cutting up firewood while camping.
I was mostly just screwing around with the jaw-opening mechanism, I wasn’t really considering buying one. It honestly seemed kind of silly, I mean, a 6" chainsaw? What good is that?
She thought I liked it, so she bought one for me for Christmas.
I love it. We have several fruit trees in our yard, including an apple tree that grows so fast you can almost see it. The gator makes keeping everything pruned easy, and even better, makes cutting up the branches so they all fit into our yard waste bin super-easy. You can use the jaws to pick up and arrange the stuff you’re cutting, which is not something you can do with a normal chainsaw. You can also confidently chomp through jumbles of branches without worrying about getting a spinning chain to the face.
Its main downside is that it requires an extension cord, so it probably wouldn’t make a good zombie defense weapon.
You use the outside flat of the tool. Smack the garlic clove and the peeling comes off. The only thing I might use a knife for would be to trim the tough end of the clove, if needed.
B&D has the neatest stuff: buncha years ago, their warehouse in Maryland had a garage sale and I found a standard shovel–with 1/4 inch foam on the entire handle. Haven’t seen that before or since. I could shovel all day. WTH am I saying? :eek:
I’ll take out the zombie jaws with the shovel, you cut up the carcass with your nifty chainsaw!
