Tool of the Week-Pocket Knife

Specifically the Benchmade 806D2 AFCK AXIS.

I've had the knife for about 6 years, I've carried it through 2 combat tours in Iraq and the general harsh conditions that being with Brett on a daily basis entails and this thing has performed admirably.  Nowadays, I use the blade for farm related tasks, cutting bailing wire, breaking off chunks of lime, spot prunnings, etc...  As you can see from the pic on the left, the screws that hold the pocket clip on can get loose and fall out.  This is not a fault of the blade but more a factor of me carrying the blade on my right hand pocket which is also where my M-4 rifle fell on a tactical sling so the  pocket clip took a lot of abuse.  Benchmade warranties their knives for life and will send you replacement parts for as long as you own the knife (I've got a new clip and screw set on the way).  Though the D2 steel model is no longer made the same knife is available with a new type of steel as the 806-901 AFCK, I can highly recommend this knife and this company, they are truly Brett-Proof and thus they are Brett-Approved.

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Tool of the Week-Carpenter's Square

Okay, NEW FEATURE!!!  Gonna try and do a "Tool of the Week" feature on Sundays that highlights a tool or implement that makes my life easier cause let's face it, there's a lotta schlock out there designed to take your monies and trick you into thinking said 'tool' will save you time/effort.  It'll go along with the "Smarter Not Harder" series as well, this week I'd like to cover the Carpenter's Square.

Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF): If you are building it, and it is made of wood, and involves 2 or more pieces of wood, you need this tool.

If what you are building is going to bear ANY sort of load then you REALLY need this tool.  What it does is aid you in verifying that the two pieces of wood that you are joining are 'square' or truly perpendicular.

Let's look at it this way, let's say you wanna build a square out of 2x4s that you can stand on. Without the square, you are 'assuming' that the vertical legs of the square are perpendicular to the horizontal legs of the square. If you are wrong in your assumption, when you stand on top of the square you are relying, to some degree, on the screws/nails/glue that you used to join the wood to bear your weight.  

If you had used the square and verified that the vert. supports were square to the horizontal supports, then the vertical supports would have been bearing your weight as you stood on the top horizontal support and you would have been happy instead of lying twisted and broken at the bottom of a pile of collapsed 2x4s because you thought you had a 'calibrated eyeball' and your wife wouldn't be on the phone to the ER and your kids wouldn't be going "mama! mama! why is paw bleeding profusely and cursing the demon gods of gravity and Darwin?"

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