- Today, we're looking at three unique tools
for both the professional and DIY communities.
As you may know,
I normally don't highlight specific tool companies.
But now more than ever,
I believe that we must support all small US-based companies
in any way that we know how.
And I'm totally excited to share with you
these tool companies,
as well as giving you a chance to win one of their products.
If you're interested, stick around to the end.
In a lot of ways,
these three tool companies
that we're going to be looking at today,
are similar in the fact that each one first started
with someone working in the trades,
realizing the need for a new tool and filling that need.
Now, one of the companies
we're going to be looking at today,
has been around for 25 years and has a team of 13 people.
Another one has been around for two years
with a team of two.
And the last one we're gonna be talking about,
has been around for seven years with a team of one.
Not for fun,
I'm not gonna tell you which tool company is which.
I'll let you try to figure out by the end of the video,
which tool company has been around the longest.
The first tool we're gonna look at is made
by Omni Tool Works.
They have a few different products,
but today we're looking at their Omni Square.
The Omni Square here is a multipurpose square
meaning that it combines many different types of squares,
all in one.
For example,
you can simply pull it out to 90°
for marking 90° cuts or locations
for studs or rafters simply by marking each side
of the blade like this.
It quickly clicks and locks into 45, 90 and 135° increments.
And it holds these angles
without having to tighten down the knob.
It also acts as a combination square,
which means you can slide it to any desired measurement
and make a scribe line for rip cuts, screw or nail locations
or any other task you can think of.
It's also a bevel square.
So if you need to find or copy angles,
you can do that too.
If you flip yours over,
you can see all the angle readouts on the back.
For example,
here's a 65, a 60 and a 55° angle.
However, because the square is designed
to click into 45° increments,
it may be hard to get exact angle measurements
at or around those degrees because of that click.
Therefore, all we have to do,
is slide the blade to the other end.
And now you can make those micro adjustments
near the 45, 90 and 135° angles.
Once you find your exact angle,
you can lock the blade in place
by simply tightening the knob clockwise.
And then you can transfer that angle
to another piece of work.
This tool can also be used as a T-square,
a compass and a depth gauge.
I do wanna mention that in order to make all the adjustments
that we've been making so far on this square,
it's important to be sure that the knob is loosened fully.
And most of the time you will need
to tighten the knob rigidly to hold the blade in position.
But when you do,
just make sure to loosen it again
before making any other adjustments.
And don't worry,
this tool comes with great, simple instructions
that are easy to understand.
The Omni Square we're looking at today,
is their five and a half version,
but they do sell a 12 inch version as well.
Needless to say this square is truly an all in one square
and with its great design,
it's wonderful machining.
This truly is a unique tool.
The next tool we're gonna be looking at is made
by a company called Squi.Jig.
And this is a multi-purpose inch and 1/4 framing jig.
These jigs are most commonly used in stair layout,
rafter layout, metalworking, and much more.
And if you watch my channel long enough,
you've seen me layout rafters and stairs
using a framing square, a wooden straight edge,
and a set of clamps.
Now, I've used this method to more recent years
because the method or the jig that I was taught to use
were these old brass gauges.
And they're really not that good.
Now don't get me wrong.
They worked well enough if you have clean lumber,
but nowadays lumber has a lot of wane,
heavy rounded edges and or chunks of wood missing.
Because those old brass gauges were too small,
they would ride in those defects and ruin your layout,
sometimes without you even knowing it.
With all that said,
the guys at Squi.Jig have finally replaced
that old system and have come up
with an amazing new version.
Well, your first notice right out of the gate,
is that they are a lot longer than the brass gauges.
They're made from lightweight aluminum
and they have a large brass screw at the top,
which makes it easy to turn even with gloves on.
And because these jigs are longer than the old brass ones,
they skip over any wane or other defects in the lumber
to produce a perfect layout every time.
These jigs are great because they're small,
they can fit right into your pouch,
which means they don't take up a lot of space
and you don't have to worry about having a straight edge
or extra clamps on you.
The other great thing about this company
is that they make a three inch version as well,
which works really well for thicker material like that used
in timber framing.
It's a simple tool,
but it's simplicity and quality of build
would make a huge difference in your day to day work.
The last company is called True Position Tools
and they make this wonderful cabinet hardware jig.
At first glance,
like the other tools,
the machining and the quality of construction
is outstanding.
Every screw and attachments slides perfectly,
making for a tool that is obviously made for precision.
This jig's main purpose is to install knobs
or handles on any cabinet door or drawer
without having to measure 1 million times
or make your own wooden jigs.
The pro kit comes with a large stop sliding drill guides,
a sliding end stop, and an extended ruler.
Let's take a look at two ways to use this jig.
The first way to use it is to install knobs
on cabinet doors.
The styles on this particular door are two and 1/2 inches
or 63.5 millimeters wide.
So, in order to center our knob,
we need 1/2 that distance,
which is an inch and 1/4 or 31.75 millimeters.
Next, set the large stop at the measurement,
which again was an inch and 1/4.
And this sets the correct distance
from the edge of the style to the center of our hole.
Now, all we have to do is locate how far up the star,
we'd like to go,
and in this case,
I'll set that to two inches using the end stop.
With that all set up,
all we need to do is position the jig tight to the side
and tight to the bottom and drill a hole for the knob.
What's great about this tools
that if you have to drill a hole
opposite of your current setup,
all you have to do is simply flip the jig over,
line it up and drill your hole.
As you can see,
once you have your jig set up,
it's very easy to jump from door to door
or drawer to drawer,
no matter what side of the hardware you're installing on.
The second way to use this jig
is to install handles on a drawer.
To do this job,
all we need to do is add the other sliding drill guide.
And because our handle spacing is four inches
or 101.6 millimeters,
we simply need to slide each drill gauge,
two inches out from the center line of the jig.
Because the overall width of our drawer front
is eight inches, so 203 millimeters,
we need to set the large stop at 1/2 that distance
or four inches.
With that all set,
you can see that our ruler is not long enough
to reach the edge of the drawer front.
And that's where the extended ruler comes in.
Simply slide it in place,
lining everything up with the zero mark here
and with these numbers or markings over here.
Because our drawer is 22 inches or 558 millimeters wide,
we can set the sliding and stop at 11 inches
and lock it in place.
Now, all we have to do is line up the large stop
at the top of the drawer and line up the sliding end stop
on the left side and drill our two holes.
These two examples are just the tip of the iceberg
of what's possible with this jig.
Bottom line,
this tool is an amazing time-saver
and it works extremely well at what it was designed to do.
Again, all three companies are amazing
and they're 100% made here in the United States.
So if you guess
which tool company has been around the longest,
well that's True Position Tools.
What about the one who only has one individual
doing all the work?
That's Larry it Omni Tool Works.
And of course last but not least is Louie and Spen
with Squi.Jig,
and they've been around for two years.
I'm very proud of all three companies
for doing what seems to be rare nowadays.
And that is making a quality tool
and keeping it here in the US.
For a chance to win one of these tools,
all you need to do is leave a comment below
with the tool that you'd like a chance to win.
So, for example,
if you like the Omni Square,
simply write Omni Square.
If you like the framing jig,
simply write framing jig in the comments.
And of course,
if you like the cabinet hardware jig,
write cabinet hardware jig.
Then on September 4, 2021,
I'll choose a winner for each tool using a random generator.
I'll announce those winners on my Instagram channel.
I'll also pin it in the comment section below in this video.
This giveaway is for US residents only.
If you have any questions,
please feel free to hit me up via email, Instagram,
Facebook, whatever social platform you decide to choose.
You can find me there.
I'm excited for you.
Thank you for supporting these US made tool companies.
I'll see you in the next video.
(soft ambient music)