There are a lot of cool tools out there that some of us might not be aware of. These are the slick little (and big) doo-dads that minimize and/or eliminate manual labor and deliver great results. Since I'm a self-proclaimed
Jack-of-all-trades & master-of-none, I really dig cool tools. I'm gonna start this thread and hope that others with cool tool ideas jump on board to share with the rest of us that are bustin' our humps by doin' it the hard way.
Here's mine for today...
We've been installing 3/4" hardwood flooring. Since it is existing construction, we have to cut off the bottoms of all the door frames so the flooring will slip underneath and yield a nice finished look. Complicate that with the fact that our door frames (jambs) are 3/4" solid oak. I thought I was onto something big a few years ago when I had a similar job and bought one of
these and one of
these. They work OK, but it can be a bear cutting that solid oak stock.
So, I'm yakkin' with my buddy at work and he asks me how my flooring project is goin'. After I complain a bit about the PIMA cutting the bottoms off the oak jambs, he asks me if I've seen the vibratory saws. Huh? He says that it's loosely based on the saws that doctors use to cut off casts without cutting up the skin underneath. Apparently, Fein tools nailed the patent 7 years ago and marketed the saw for about $500. Well, the patent is up and all the tool companies are marketing their knock-off's. In fact, Harbor Freight Tools has
their model for about $40 and guess who took a chance...
I just put it to work on the bottom of the last door jamb; my first time using the tool. YIKES! Whoa, where have you been all my life? I put on the moon shaped cutting knife, laid down a scrap pc of flooring next to the door jamb as a height guide, laid the bottom of the blade on top of the scrap and flipped the switch. It wasn't quite the "hot knife thru butter", but it was pretty danged close and only took a minute. In fact, I hit a finish nail and it buzzed right thru it. This thing rocks!
Here's a Youtube vid of the Fein model. 
