From the editors of Tool Box Buzz, Home Construction Improvement and A Concord Carpenter
IN THIS ISSUE Volume 34
In addition to How-To's and Tool Reviews were all about making the trades more professional and mentoring young contractors. If your new to the trades, make sure you check out Rob's tips on better communicating below... it'll help you with your clients.
In one of the videos below we reveal the secret to how our newsletter
was named ... can you find it? Also, Kershaw is running a cool giveaway on ACC - check it out.
Lastly, we spent some time at JLC LIVE in Providence, RI this week and were the 1st to preview the new Festool HK saw and guide rail - check out the sneak peek video at the bottom of this page.
Todd Fratzel
Box Level Head-2-Head ~ Coming Soon
Did you know that the Spirit Level was invented in 1661 and later got its name from the mineral spirit solution inside the vials.
Early spirit levels had very slightly curved glass vials filled with, a colored mineral spirit or alcohol, which left a bubble in the tube.
The reason for using alcohol, like ethanol, was for lower viscosity and surface tension,
which allows the bubble to travel the tube quickly and settle accurately with minimal interference with the glass surface.
This spring we will be doing a Head-2-Head with several of your favorite box level manufacturers. Stay tuned!! ~ TODD
Conversation competence may be the single most skill many of us lack. Is there any better skill that maintaining coherent, confident conversation?
Having conversation without getting board, wasting your time or offending someone can be difficult. At least
for me.
Don’t multi-task – I am a huge offender of this!
Don’t pontificate – Assume that you have something to learn and listen without an opinion!
Use open-ended questions like: who, what, where, when and why!
Go with the flow – don’t let new thoughts and cleaver ideas rise in your mind, stopping listening only to comment on your idea
If you do not know – say so!
Don’t equate your experience with theirs –
“one-up-man-ship.”Your experiences will never the same as theirs, all experiences are individual, leave it that way.It is not about you!
Try not to repeat yourself
Stay out of the weeds – people don’t care about the names, dates, details. They care about you and what you have in common.
Listen!!! People would rather talk to be in control and bolster their own identity. Most of us don’t listen with the intent to understand, we listen with the intent to reply ~ Stephen
Covey. If you mouth is open your not learning ~ Buddha.
Be brief! Be interested in other people. Like a mini-skirt, be short enough to get interest and long enough to cover the subject!
Once you start talking to people and actually listen to them, be prepared to be amazed.
If you've already mastered verbal communication then lets move on to emails!
Makita has 3 new impact tools coming out: two impact wrenches and an impact driver.
Of
the new Makita impact tools, the wrenches are of particular interest to me in my current company. We’re a commercial general contracting company that specializes in concrete and steel buildings. This means that we do a ton of heavy duty anchoring to concrete and masonry. READ MORE
Durable work Clothing
Over the years I’ve worn all kinds of different brands and styles of work wear. One of the biggest challenges is finding a good combination of comfort and durability. The balance between comfort and durability can be a real challenge as durable clothing is seldom comfortable.
I recently tested out the Wrangler RIGGS pants and shirts, here's what I think . . .
