A couple of weeks ago, Target recalled LED flashlight gift sets due to fire and burn hazards. BJ’s Wholesale Club is now doing the same with LED flashlight sets sold at their stores from July 2011 through December 2011.

BJs is recalling about 41,000 “Safe to Go” LED flashlight family packs. The flashlights can heat up, smoke or melt when turned on, thus posing fire and burn hazards. There were 2 reports of incidents, with one consumer suffering a minor hand injury.

If you purchased or received one of these sets, dispose of the batteries and then return the flashlights to the store for a full refund. The retail price was about $15.

More Info via CPSC

By now you’ve probably already read about how Dante Autullo shot a 3.5″ framing nail into his brain and went more than a day before realizing it. The story of how this happened is a bit unclear. Some reports say that the nailer recoiled after firing a nail. Dante has his finger on the trigger, presumably with the nail gun set to bump-firing mode, and the gun fired when it turned and pressed against his head.

If Dante had been wearing safety goggles, this probably still would have happened. But that doesn’t mean that this was not preventable. What I’m wondering is why his head was so close to the nail gun? Nails can ricochet, and nailers can recoil.

There’s no word as to whether SawStop inventor Steve Gass will now heavily lobby for lawmakers to force nailer manufacturers to license his flesh-detecting technology in their products.

Lista has assured us that they are not closing down their US factories and sending production overseas. What happened is that the FTC updated their regulations regarding the percentage of foreign materials that can be used in a product when saying it is made in the USA. Since a large proportion of Lista’s cabinets and storage products are fabricated from imported steel, they can no longer advertise that the products are made in the USA.

We asked if they will now mention the products being Made in USA global materials instead, and were told that they’re going to stay away from a COO marketing angle in case the FTC guidelines change again.

Long story short, Lista products are still as kick-ass as they’ve been, with the only changes being done to advertising and marketing language.

Stanley Black and Decker and Lista North America, major players in the industrial storage and workspace market, have announced that they will be merging. More specifically, Stanley has acquired Lista NA and will be creating a new partnership that also includes its Vidmar storage division.

Stanley Vidmar and Lista will be establish a newly formed Storage Workspace Solutions group within Stanley Black & Decker. Both companies have announced that business will continue as usual in the short term.

Moving forward, it is said that the merger will allow for joint product development, expanded product offerings, and increased sales support.

Stanley Vidmar Press Release
Lista Press Release

I have to say, this is surprising, but not shocking news. Although Lista and Stanley Vidmar occasionally vie for the same customers, both offer unique products that make them stronger together.

After Stanley and Black and Decker merged, there was a bit of internal reorganization, but both company’s brands maintained their respective identities. Without a doubt, we will continue to see both Vidmar and Lista independently branded products in the future.

It will be interesting to see how this all develops and if it will affect other Stanley brands. For example, perhaps Lista’s technician mobile tool boxes will grow in popularity if promoted alongside Mac tool storage products. Time will tell.

BatteriesPlus is recalling about 111,800 replacement power tool batteries due to the risk of an unexpected explosion. There were five incidents reported, with no injuries.

These batteries were sold at BatteriesPlus locations and online and ranged from 2.4V to 18V in sizes and styles to fit many brands’ power tools: Black and Decker, Bosch, DeWalt, Makita, Milwaukee, Panasonic, Ryobi and Skil.

The Rayovac-branded batteries included in the recall were sold between June 2008 and October 2011, and were priced at about $60. If you have one of these batteries, discontinue use immediately, remove the batteries from their tools and contact Batteries Plus for information about how to return the product for store credit.

More Info via CPSC

Target has voluntarily recalled 55,000 6-piece LED flashlight sets due to a fire and burn hazard. It has been reported that, when turned on, these flashlights can heat up to the point of smoking or melting. Thus far there have been four incidents, including two minor burn hand injuries.

These sets were priced at $10 and were sold from Oct 2010 through Dec 2011. The remedy is to return the flashlight sets to any Target store for a full refund.

Sounds to me like a major design flaw where flashlight bodies and LED modules were slapped together without regard to proper heatsink design. This is why everyone should be cautious of all those “special buys” that pop up during the winter holiday shopping season.

More Info via CPSC

Some analysts have already predicted a bleak 2012 outlook for Sears. Sears’ closing of up to 120 of their 890 full-line Sears and 1307 Kmart stores isn’t doing a lot to prove these predictions wrong. How will vendors respond? How will consumers respond? If Sears’ long-term future is potentially in question, things will likely get progressively worse unless they find a way to increase sales.

So what does this mean for the Craftsman brand and the tool department? Nothing, yet. But we’ve already seen the Craftsman Professional brand vanish, with quite a few hand and power tools gone for good. And no, they haven’t been pulled into the Craftsman Industrial line, if that’s what you were thinking.

A listing of which stores will be closing will be made available via this Sears media page. For reference, there are currently 2700+ Sears stores, including 890 full-line and 1350+ specialty locations. As of Jan 2011 there were 1307 Kmart locations.

Original Press Release (Dec 27th 2011)

Update: The first 79 store closures have been announced here (PDF).

Lowes Store Closings

Los Banos, CA
Westminster, CA
Denver, CO
Aurora, IL
Oswego, IL
Chalmette, LA
Haverhill, MA
Biddeford, ME
Ellsworth, ME
Ionia, MI
Rogers, MN
Claremont, NH
Hooksett, NH
Manchester, NH
Old Bridge, NJ
Batavia, NY
N. Kingstown, RI
Emporia, VA
S. Tacoma, WA
Brown Deer, WI

2 of these stores were opened before 2006, 8 between 2006 and 2007, and 10 were opened after 2007. These stores must have been hemorrhaging money for Lowes’ top brass to shut them down just ahead of the winter holidays. On the other hand, nearby stores will probably see a boost in revenue as additional customers flock through their doors.

In the past year and a half, Sears has entered agreements to sell a limited number of Craftsman tools at Ace Hardware and Costco stores. Licensing is different, and to our understand this would essentially mean that other brands and stores would pay a fee for the right to slap the Craftsman brand onto their own products.

Isn’t this what Snap-on did 2-3 years ago, resulting in “cordless” work lights that require cords and dozens of other low-cost imported tools and accessories? And Sears thinks that this will help the company in the long run?

In my opinion, Sears should just spin off the Craftsman brand entirely as an independent entity, allowing it to remain profitable and hopefully immune to the potential downward spiral that many analysis predict to be in Sears’ near future.

Yesterday we posted about how Festool’s CT dust extractors are now fully HEPA certified and in compliance with USA EPA regulations regarding remodeling and other work done when lead paint may be present.

Festool reps caught our post and offered additional information that may be helpful to contractors, renovators, remodelers, and anyone else who may governed by the EPA regulations. The underline emphasis is ours.

We have had HEPA certified dust extractors since 2006, that’s nothing new. The important distinction is that Festool has further tested and had its units certified by an independent lab for FULL UNIT HEPA. Meaning that the entire unit is HEPA certified, not just the filter.

Why is this important? Because the EPA’s RRP regulations specify that the vacuum must 1) have a HEPA filter – check, and 2) have no bypass leakage – check. The second part of that requirement is what no other manufacturer, to my knowledge, has tested their vacuums for nor certified them to meet. By meeting the spirit and definition of the rule to the letter, Festool meets and exceeds the requirements of a HEPA Vacuum having no bypass leakage with the certification to back it up.

The free filter is for those who purchased a CT 26 or CT 36 unit in the last year. The free filter will upgrade the unit to FULL UNIT HEPA Certification, rather than just having a HEPA filter which they had already employed since day one. Anyone who purchased a non-HEPA version of the CT MINI or MIDI can purchase a HEPA filterand have Full Unit HEPA Certification.

All dust extractors being shipped from our warehouse as of October 1st, come standard with the new HEPA filter and have the Full Unit HEPA Certificate included in the box.

Helpful links:

Q&A page addressing the new CT HEPA Dust Extractor compliance
Free HEPA filter claim form for users who purchased CT26 or CT36 units before Oct 1st 2011
Even more info via Festool

Festool CT Dust Extractors via Amazon

Craftsman tools will be appearing at Costco locations as early as this Saturday.

It’s been more than 18 months since Sears announced that select Craftsman tools will be sold at Ace Hardware locations. It looks like that experiment must have paid off.

Our prediction that Craftsman would be split from Sears as a spinoff has not come true, yet. But if Sears continues to externalize the [Craftsman] brand, we may turn out to be right.

As part of a special arrangement, Sears will be bundling a few Craftsman tools in “unique combinations” for Costco. Our thoughts are that they may also change product numbers as well, similar to what happened when Craftsman tools appeared on Amazon.

It is reported that Sears has a 35% share in the hand tool market, followed by Home Depot (15%) and Lowes (13%), but lags behind in power tools (17% vs. 26% and 20%) respectively. Many business reports in the past few months have suggested Sears may be struggling to keep its head over water. Increasing exposure of the Craftsman brand in different retail markets may be just what they need to bounce back.

Sears Holdings drills into Costco clubs with Craftsman tool offerings, hopes to tap new customers via Chicago Tribune

Following up on our original post about the recall, Target has expanded the recall of step stools with storage to include 341,000 products.

New Recall Details via CPSC

Ben Johnson’s got one of these step stools, and reports that it has been falling apart for years. After periodically pounding it back together, Ben heard about the recall and took measures to dowel-up and glue the stool together properly. The result – the stool’s better than in was straight from the factory.

Repairing a Recalled Stool via Ben’s Workshop (choc-full of easy to follow steps and pics)

Reminder: Modifying a recalled stool is done at your own risk.

The CPSC and Target have announced the recall of an entire line of wooden step stools due to the risk of collapse during use. There have been 26 reports of the stools collapsing or breaking during use, with 14 of the incidents involving children.

Looking at the stools in question, I cannot help wonder if it’s the materials used or improper joinery that led to their failure.

Small step stools are probably the most popular beginners’ woodworking projects there is. I remember building small step stools in summer camp, with my uncle as the wood shop instructor. I still have those stools, and my uncle has quite a few of his own. He occasionally gets a kick out of demonstrating the strength of the stools, which can support upwards of 250lbs.

In any case, for more information about the recall, take a look at the CPSC website.

A few months ago, Delta was sold off by Black & Decker to a Taiwan-based manufacturer. The heads of the new company conveyed that they would continue manufacturing the Unisaw table saws in the USA. They’ve kept to their word, as 300 brand spankin’ new Unisaws just rolled out of their Anderson, SC facility.

Delta Unisaw via Amazon

Delta Power Equipment Corp, a popular woodworking power tool manufacturer that was recently sold to a new parent company,  has recently announced that all new machinery will carry a five year limited warranty. All new equipment purchased on or after Feb 4th 2011 will be covered for 5 years against manufacturer’s defects. UniSaw saws are covered under the new warranty as well, but Biesemeyer products will continue to carry a 2-year limited warranty.

Sometimes it does take quite some time and much use for a tool’s manufacturing defects to become apparent. I’m not a fan of defects or having to deal with warranties in the first place, but it’s reassuring to know that these tools will be covered for a full 5 years.

Duo-Fast, makers of professional carpet and flooring installation tools, have also announced a new warranty policy for their hardwood floor stapler and cleat nailer. Their FLOORMASTER™ 200-S hardwood flooring stapler and FLOORMASTER™ 200-C hardwood flooring cleat nailer will be covered for a full 10 years for durable parts. Wearable parts will be covered under a 1-year warranty.

The new warranty on the 200-S and 200-C tools went into effect for all tools sold in stores starting April 1st, 2011. We’re told that the tools’ new packaging reflects the new warranty policy so there should be no mistaking which tools are covered.