#HTE

Clever Tool Design: Air Shims

When it comes to recommendations for good tool designs, old ID classmates that work in the field are a great source. One of them just dropped us a line, and I wish I’d heard from him six months ago. Here’s why. The last time I had to hang a door, I used these:

Those are just shims cut from a scrap of Doug Fir 2x6 I had lying around. After enough tries they worked, but you have to kick them in with alternating taps, and if you go too far, there’s no way to smoothly back them off without having to lift the door and start over again. Lastly, you’ve got to remember to keep the smooth side down (I sanded one side and broke the edges) to protect the floors.

Is there a better way? Of course there is. “I just got this air shim, and I used it about fifty times today on a solo cabinet install,” our ID classmate writes. “It’s amazing.” Here’s the product he’s referring to, called the Winbag:

How awesome is that? Also, I have to admit, after listening to the carpenter in the video: Because I’m kind of a dummy, I didn’t even think to sand the top sides of the shims to protect the actual door, I was only thinking of the floor. This is why you ask me to help you at your own peril.

Lastly: Given the current climate of political correctness, are we still allowed to use six-year-old girls as a benchmark for the amount of strength required for a particular application? I mean it seems harmless enough in this context, but I feel like these days, people get fired for less.

Someone should marshal a group of five-year-old girls to mount an official protest.