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Cool Tools

Best soap holder
Industrial Soap Dish


A few years ago when my wife and I renovated our home, we found inspiration in some unusual places. But perhaps the oddest of all was AW Direct, a mail order catalog that sells parts and equipment for tow trucks. While browsing through the catalog one day, I noticed AW Direct offers a recessed aluminum step designed for use on service vehicle bodies. But when I looked at it, I saw something different: a soap dish!

We bought one and installed it in the shower I now use daily. This is by far the best-designed soap dish I've ever used. The open front allows water to drain away easily, while the diamond-plate surface secures and elevates the soap so that it dries without creating a lot of yucky soap-gunk. And of course, the aluminum doesn't rust or corrode.

We ended up buying quite a bit from the AW Direct catalog for use in our house, and I heartily recommend it if your domestic tastes gravitate toward the functional/industrial. In the home or on the highway (or vice-versa),  AW Direct delivers!

-- Todd Lappin, from his posting on the Dinosaurs and Robots blog



Industrial Soap Dish
$35
Available from AW Direct
http://www.awdirect.com/recessed-step-7-3-8quotw-x-6-1-4quoth-x-4quotd-sp3002-1/body-hardware/

--
Related items previously reviewed on Cool Tools:


Waterfall Soap Saver
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/001581.php


Shower Slate
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/000299.php


McMaster-Carr Online Catalog
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/000493.php


*******
Stick-ons, boosts visibility
SOLAS Marine Reflective Tape


We've been using 3M's SOLAS reflective tape for several years. It was designed for the Coast Guard to use on life jackets, so you know it has to be tough and withstand time, bad weather and wet conditions (SOLAS = safety of life at sea). It is a bit expensive, but it is the brightest and most durable stuff I've ever found. We use it everywhere and have put in on just about everything:  garbage cans, walking sticks, jackets, kayaks, a bicycle, a stroller, a trailer, traffic cones, automobile door jams (so oncoming traffic sees me right away), the trunk of my car (an instant safety device if I get stuck on the side of the road) and the car's mudguards. The strips on our mudguards -- which take a lot of abuse! -- are still sticking after more than seven years. Now that I've seen how effective it is, I really think it should be a law that all cars come stocked with reflective stripping on door jams.

-- Jeff Ellis







SOLAS Marine Reflective Tape
$30 (1" wide)
$45 (2" wide)
(both, 30' long)
Available from The Reflective Store
http://www.shop.reflectivestore.com/product.sc?categoryId=13&productId=21

Manufactured by 3M
http://www.3m.com/

--
Related items previously reviewed on Cool Tools:


Reflective Yield Symbol
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/000347.php


Storm Whistle
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/001619.php


Gorilla Tape
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/001314.php


*******
Stick-on magnifiers
Soft Reading Lenses


I've been using the previously-untried soft reading lenses for at least 10 years -- so long, I forgot how cool they are. I used to windsurf and would spend time at the beach repairing and maintaining gear while waiting for the afternoon thermal breeze to kick in, detail work that required reading glasses or Optx 20/20s on my sunglasses. I also used the same pair of sunglasses for driving, skiing and general daily wear. The glasses have to be wet slightly to get the 20/20s to stick, so it can be a little fiddly getting both lenses parallel and then squishing out the air bubbles without moving them around (also, if your frames don't have a rim at the bottom, it's more difficult to get them aligned properly). But once that's accomplished, voila! $300 bifocal sunglasses for just 20 bucks. Once they're stuck down on the glasses they don't move unless you mess with them when cleaning the glasses or if you get them wet. Peel them off with your fingernail if you change your mind. What could be simpler?

-- Evan Marks


I've used this, to great effect. With my prescription sunglasses that I always use when outdoors, I had a problem that I couldn't read maps while driving or hiking.  Sticking on just ONE of these bifocal semi-circles was a total solution.  The water adhesion has held for two years, and cleaning the bifocal part has not been an issue.

-- Stewart Brand


I've used these, but not in the intended fashion. I ride a motorcycle and wear a helmet (though my state doesn't require it). In my 40's I've started wearing corrective glasses, but during the day I also need some sort of eye protection from the sun. The solution was wear regular sunglasses and use these stick-on reading lenses. But I didn't care for them being on my sunglasses all the time, so I stuck them on the face shield of my helmet. This allows me to read the gauges on my motorcycle and the GPS. The field of view is quite small because the lenses are further out than intended, but it works better than not being able to read anything. I've since purchased prescription sunglasses and retired the stick-on lenses, but these work in a pinch and, IMHO, are on par with the $12 specials from the big box stores.

-- Ken Jones

(also recommended by Michael Rasmussen, Gerald Zuckier, and Bob Zychek)

Soft Reading Lenses
$
Available from Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000W7CSXI/ref=nosim/kkorg-20

Manufactured by Optx 20/20
http://optx2020.com/fishingReadingLenses.cfm
                           
--
Related items previously reviewed on Cool Tools:


 Maui Jim Sunglasses
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/001897.php


Blinkless EyeDropper
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/000243.php


Brock Magiscape
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/000056.php


*******
Durable, three-pocket pullover
EMT Workshirt


I started wearing these lightweight, relatively inexpensive zip-neck pullovers after I took an EMT-B course. It's less bulky than a sweatshirt, just as comfortable as PJs and very functional. There are two side, on-seam pockets large enough for your hands, a neat large velcro-sealing chest pocket, and a D-ring on the side for attaching a key chain or lanyard. They're very durable as the elbows are reinforced with denim. And they're widely available in three colors (navy, black & gray). Too warm for the summer here in the Northeast, but perfect for the rest of the year as an everyday pullover.

-- JB Woodman

EMT Workshirt
$28-32
(depends on size)
Available from Fatigues Army Navy & Surplus
http://tinyurl.com/3uo6g9

Also from Uncle Sam's Army Navy Outfitters
http://tinyurl.com/6ojfm2

--
Related items previously reviewed on Cool Tools:


5.11 Tactical Shirts
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/000358.php


Montane Featherlite Smock
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/002677.php


Pocket Reference for the EMT-B and First Responder
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/000242.php


*******
12-volt battery juicer
Xtreme Charge


I have a collector car I won't drive in the snow, so I'm forced to use a battery tender to keep the battery alive while it collects dust during the winter. In years past, I've used a variety of chargers/tenders (I also had a Harley I stored in the winter), but none has worked as well as the Xtreme Charge I've been relying on this last year. Though my battery used to die all the time within hours of being removed from previous chargers, it now holds a charge for days on end. I am certainly no expert. What I know about how the system works is from what I've read online. It's my understanding that once the battery's gotten a full charge from the unit, it switches to a "pulsating DC current" mode. Apparently this pulse technology does something to reduce and keep sulfate deposits from building up again.

What I know about whether the charger works comes from the old, off-brand battery that, by all rights, might have been relegated to the recycle bin last year but is still holding a charge like a champ. At about the same time I bought the charger, I had already bought a new battery for the '88 Rolls Royce Silver Spur. But rather than use the old battery to recover a "core" charge on the new battery, I kept it and used the Xtreme Charge on it, just to see what would happen. It brought the old battery back to life so well that today I use the charger to keep the old battery alive as a backup power source for my sump pump!

I really appreciate the charger's LED display, too, which provides a constant readout of the state of the charge. Makes it easy to monitor its progress at a glance. After it first reads the current charge, a series of small lights begin pulsing. As the battery charges, the display expresses the status as a percentage of full: 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%. Another great feature: if a battery is dead and cannot be charged, the display tells you bluntly "battery dead" (a situation I have yet to see *knock wood*). In years past, I would would waste time and effort hooking up more than one battery to a charger when it was simply impossible for the battery to take a charge. I went with Xtreme Charge's "marine" charger because it's water-proof and comes in a rubber casing. These days my battery is fresher in the spring than it is at the end of the driving season.

-- Ken Herrera

Xtreme Charge
$114
Available from Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000O707IO/ref=nosim/kkorg-20

Manufactured by PulseTech
http://www.xtremecharge.com/index.html

 --
Related items previously reviewed on Cool Tools:


Jump-N-Carry
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/001352.php


Rain-X
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/000636.php


Get Used Parts
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/000907.php


*****************************************
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--
Steven Leckart        
Editor, Cool Tools

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