This is review is for the Dremel Versa Tip butane soldering torch (Amazon link). It’s sells for around $38 on Amazon Prime. This is a portable soldering iron/heat gun/hot cutter/wood burning tool, that runs on butane. You click to light it, use the lock to keep the flame on, and then you adjust it for the temperature you need.

If you do any soldering you probably have a pair of helping hands, or some bulky heavy thing like this that can hold your project or components steady while you wire them. They’re useful, but a little clunky to travel with, and often overkill if you’re just splicing a wire or two.

In terms of price and portability, poster tack (a.k.a. poster putty) is a great alternative.

This week for my 1-minute tool review brought to you by Cool Tools, I’ve got gaffer tape from Gaffer Power. I’ve got two flavors here, Gaffer Power Gaffer Tape 2 Inch X 30 Yards  and Gaffer Power Gaffer Tape 3 Inch X 30 Yards. 

Have you ever held screws or nails in your mouth as a way to keep them nearby while working on a project? This week for my tool review I’m going to show you a better solution. This is the MagnoGrip (Amazon), it’s a $14 magnetic wristband available on Amazon. I found it through the Cool Tools blog. 

We’re going to take a quick look at three very different options in portable soldering irons. The point here is really just to give you a demo of each on the same table and you can draw your own conclusions on what might work best for you. 

In this Cool Tools video review I’m going to show you a bone folder (Amazon link), or as I like to call it THE BONE FOLDER! I learned about this from Kevin Kelly’s review on the Cool Tools blog. If you’re interested in picking up this exact one, using the Amazon link in the description helps to support my videos and the Cool Tools blog.

Heat Shrink! This week, for my one-minute tool review brought to you by the Cools Tools blog at cool-tools.org, I’m going to show off this $6 assortment of color coded heat shrink tubing I found on Amazon.

This is the FastCap Babe-Bot (Amazon link). It is a 4-oz. bottle made for glue. I’ve got mine filled with wood glue. They also make a bigger 16oz. version but I find this one a little more handy.

This is the Hakko FX-901 portable soldering iron (available on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2sh7g0t). It runs off 4 AA batteries that you can swap out really fast with this removable cartridge design. I use rechargeables in mine and I get over an hour of use out of it before I notice the temperature drops. Alkaline batteries will run hotter, but not last as long.

These are Knipex High Leverage Cutters (Amazon link). They cost around $35-40 on Amazon, which isn’t cheap for a pair of clippers, but they seem indestructible. They’re drop forged, so they’re extremely tough. They’re rated for cutting through Piano Wire, which is essentially tempered spring steel and easily damages most cutters.