can you believe it's almost been a half of a year since we did a Cool Tools video well I'm going to make up for it today because this might be among the best that I've done yet and that is saying something if you're new to this series a few times a year I kind of bring people up to date on some of the coolest Innovations in woodworking these are things that I've personally used and found to be truly useful additions to my workshop today I'm going to talk about Diamond floor mats black rulers knee pads with wheels a clever sharpening tool a router with an amazing array of features and the knife I carry in my pocket every day plus a couple extra surprises that you have to wait to the end of the video to see so I'm going to put links to all these Cool Tools below because I can't tell you everything about them here and you want to check the latest price so that'll be in the video description which you'll have to expand and it will also be pinned to the top of the comments if that's more convenient check those links out because you're going to often find discount codes down there and relevant disclosures all right let's not waste any more time let's get started years ago I found a pair of diamond deck floor mats at a yard sale and they have always been my favorites back then I had cement floors in the shop and I had lots of mats laying around but these were the ones that I always moved to the spots that I stood the most whenever I rearranged the shop like behind the table saw or the bench because they were by far the best ones I always wanted to get my hands on more but I couldn't find them for a reasonable price they were always really expensive well now I have a carpeted shop which is a real luxury in many ways I made a video about that once if you want to search my channel but I still put mats in places where I stand a lot and recently I was thrilled to discover an affordable source for the diamond Dex mats that I've always wanted I can't describe how excited I am about that these things are amazing they are thick and soft in the center but they taper off around the edges so it's easy to sweep around them of course I don't sweep my carpet nowadays I'm just showing you how that works in my case I vacuum and the vacuum doesn't catch on the edges these things are also really tough these two I've had for I don't know how long I've had them but they're probably about 20 years old because they were used when I got them still going strong they come in two sizes two foot by three foot and three foot by five foot you want to get the ones that have the diamond plate pattern on the surface they make some that look like they're just foam I've never used those but the diamond plate pattern have a durable shiny surface on them and those are the ones that I use I really think you should invest maybe in just one small or large your choice just put it in front of your bench or your table saw and use it for a while I guarantee you're going to agree this is the best mat that you've used in your shop and you're going to be looking for more like I was I'll put a link to them below the video over the years I've become at least a self-styled connoisseur of fine rules I've tried a lot of them and I have several brands that I like there's not just one brand but last week I showed this one in a video and a lot of you have since agreed that these are definitely worth getting so I want to briefly share them here with the cool tool audience the first thing folks noticed is that they're black now this makes it very easy to read especially because they're a contrasting White markings my eyesight is fine with my glasses on but I can read this thing even with my glasses off another important feature is the scales there are no 30 seconds 1 is 16th the other is eighths now ask yourself do you really use 30 seconds for most woodworking projects I'm not saying do you only measure to the nearest eighth what I mean is do you measure do you lay something out that is like 22 30 seconds most often you're using eights like quarter 3 8 half 5 8 3 4 and sometimes sixteenths like 5 16 or 11 16 or whatever my point is I like to use a scale that is as uncluttered as possible for those measurements usually eights and sometimes sixteenths because if there are fewer marks on the scale that you're not going to use anyway it's faster and more accurate to get your readings and you're going to make fewer mistakes so when you combine the white on black markings with the simplified scales these become I think the easiest to read and perhaps handiest rules in my shop honestly you're going to be amazed at how much this simplifies your work I still like my shinmo rules and my Bridge City Rules and half a dozen others I'm not saying get rid of your rules I also have some that have finer scales because sometimes I do want 30 seconds but for under 10 bucks especially because it's of exceptional quality I highly recommend grabbing at least one black Benchmark rule from my link below this video and just trying it out it may become your all-time favorite this is one of the more unique products that I've ever used and I admit at first I was a little skeptical but it only took me a couple minutes using them and I've become a Believer these are gel knee pads with a hard plastic shell now if you do any work on your knees you're familiar with this sort of thing and if you ever use the gel pad version of these you know they're much more comfortable but the knee blades have an extra unique feature you can clip on these wheel bases now imagine the implications of that no more getting up and down and crawling around to reposition yourself as you work you just roll they work on wood floors cement even carpet I've done a fair amount of floor installation in the past and I would have loved something like this if I had had it at the time in fact I almost want to put new floors in my house just so I can use them for it I can also think of a bunch of other uses for it such as installing baseboards painting large finishing projects tiling I'm even thinking of taking them to a roller skating rink and maybe starting up a knee hockey league like I said the wheel part pops on and off the included gel knee pad so you don't have to walk around with the wheels on your knees all the time in fact sometimes I don't even strap on the knee pad I just put them right on the floor and then I kneel on top of them then I can roll around and do my work and if I want to stand up and go somewhere I just leave them on the floor until I come back they are super comfortable and super handy and even though I don't work on the floor very often these days I admit I thought they were definitely worth adding to my tool collection I'll link to them below so you can check them out for yourself this is another one from a recent video that got a lot of attention it's a burnisher that's specifically designed for forming the hook on the edge of a card scraper which can then be used t
