Video of energy efficient home in Wyoming.

A holiday tip from Karen.

A few questions before buying investment property.

Tom helps weld up a large steel church steeple.

Tom fabricates a dry diving board for the local diving club.

Tom reviews tips on securing a metal building frame during construction.

Tom’s brother, Jim, purchased a new Kubota LA 854 tractor last spring. He brought it down to the shop so Tom could build and weld on a few accessories before using it. Tom fabricated a hook and chain holder for the front end loader. The holder is made out of half inch hot rolled steel [...]

Tom and family travel a few miles south the Estes Park Colorado for a long weekend get away.

The week between Christmas and New Year tends to be a little slow at Trade Tool Innovations. We usually take advantage of the time off and pop in and out of town as the weather allows. This past Christmas day we were up in Boulder Colorado preparing for our Christmas dinner and I (Karen) came [...]

Tom reviews a deep fry kit from Bass Pro Shop in honor of Thanksgiving.

One great way to save money and boost the look of your home in any kind of economy is to replace carpet yourself. Tom usually replaces living room carpet about every 3-5 years. The living room is heavy used in the Gabriel household and it is directly adjacent to Tom’s busy shop area. It is [...]

When traveling in the northern New Mexico area, one stop along the way that you won’t want to miss is the Visitors Center for Earthship homes. These structures are very interesting.
Earthships are buildings that are designed to be built with recycled materials. These structures take green living to it’s extreme. Each structure is basically old tires packed with earth and stacked on top of one another to form walls.

Tom explains what to look for when purchasing a new gas grill.

In this video Tom explains how to wire lights on a snowplow attached to the front of a pickup truck.  Tom is transfering a Bosch plow from a 1991 pickup to a 2004 pickup.  Tom finds himself fighting the wiring harness from the plow.  Tom has to trase the wire using a multimeter so he [...]

This video shows how Tom built his dream shop/house.  The shell of the building was ordered through Fast Trac Buildings, Inc. in Colorado.  Much of the interior of the shop and home was purchased as was needed through local building supply houses and stores like Builders Square, Lowes, and Home Depot. The two and a [...]

Tom and Dave test out a new air compressor.

Tom built a custom welding table for his shop.  His old welding table was built out of 1/2 inch steel plate.  After three or so years of use it began to warp slightly.  He used it primarily to weld a lot of jigs.   He ran across a guy in Nebraska who cut apart a press [...]

Tom had the chance to stop and visit with Steve Yuhl of Triton Marine Construction out of Aiea Hawaii on a recent trip to Oahu. Steve and his company, Triton Marine Construction, have modified the TTI Screedright Pro to help them repair bridge decks on interstates. When concrete breaks out of the decks on interstates [...]

A great new website to check out for all you decorative concrete guru’s is www.concreteideas.com The creators of the site have found a way to cut through the clutter… so to speak. High speed internet concrete fans are treated to a smooth rotation of project photo’s right off the get go. The home page is [...]

Check out a great resource we found on welding.