A Fancy Dead Blow Hammer, a Back-Saving Quick Lift, and a Bargain Router Plane | Tools Unleashed 02

Impact Poly Dead Blow Hammer, Irwin Quick Lift Construction Jack, and Melbourne Tool Router Plane

Ready to get your hands on some BackSide? Backside Sandpaper!

Welcome to another Tool Unleashed, where I provide first impressions and mini tool reviews for your enjoyment. UNLEASH THE TOOLS! 

Impact Poly Dead Blow Hammer – Retails for $104. Sent to me for free. No affiliate link.

This dead blow hammer is quite expensive  at about 5x the cost of competitors. It’s truly the kind of tool you can pass down to future generations as it’s made with a welded steel frame (with a lifetime guarantee), has a soft yet tough chemically-bonded poly coating, and features a completely open head cavity where the shot is free to move back and forth for very effective dead blow action. Nice! But is it worth it? That’s for you to decide.

Irwin Quick-Lift Construction Jack – Retails for $99. Sent to me for free. Amazon affiliate link.

When these jacks came into the shop, I thought they were neat but didn’t immediately see a use for them. Then, I had to move my bench. I’m trying to respect my back as much as possible these days so I needed a safe way to get the bench onto some dollies. That’s when I remembered I had these jacks. Within minutes I had the whole bench fully mobile without risking life and limb. That’s just one use-case and I’m sure I’ll come up with more in the future.

Melbourne Tool Router Plane – Retails for $169. Sent to me for free. Affiliate Link.

This is a no-frills workhorse of a router plane with a reasonable price to match. In use it’s solid, capable, and gives great results. The blades are bedded at 50 degrees which means we’re not dealing with any L-shaped blade sharpening. You can sharpen these blades as easily as a chisel. If you don’t need all the bells and whistles and you want a good solid-performing router plane, this one is worth a look.