Hoses

Tools for Possibilities: issue no. 134

Push & click hose adaptors

Melnor Quick Connects

These plastic quick connects from Melnor are the gobetweens for the hose and whatever nozzle, sprinklers or other hose-end attachments you may have. They’re especially good for quickly moving and attaching hoses from one faucet to another. I installed them on ALL my faucets (5) and hoses (perhaps 7) and external attachments (probably 10). I have used them for about a year and wonder how I ever got along without them. It takes less than a second (maybe 1/2 second) to attach or detach any hose or attachment. They are installed in pairs, a male and corresponding female connector, with the appropriate threaded fitting to attach to the faucet, hose or nozzle attachment, one on each side of the connection. You just firmly push the connector into its counterpart, and it easily pops into place — firmly means it does need a little pressure, but even a small child could do it. To disconnect, you push the green collar about an eighth of an inch in the one direction it’s capable of moving, and it pops off. (Similar devices have been in use in industry for a long time — on compressed air lines, for example). No more screwing and unscrewing (no more scraped knuckles); no more leaks from incompletely tightened hoses; no more stuck connections because some gorilla (i.e. me) tried to stop a leak by tightening too hard.

One type is designed so that when you disconnect from it, an internal plug pops into place and stops water from coming out. The other type, for between a faucet and hose, does not have the shutoff. When you disconnect the hose from the faucet, water will still flow and the faucet can still be used. There are other brands and styles; some are even made of pricier brass, but I recommend you stick with one manufacturer because connectors are generally not interchangeable between brands. And these inexpensive plastic ones from Melnor are well made: I have (intentionally) very high water pressure (~100 psi, sufficient to burst hoses) on my garden faucets, and I have had no leaks from these connectors. — Robert Ando

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Reaching the high spots

Trombone Tree Sprayer

We are lucky to have a few apple & peach trees, but they have to be sprayed to insure tasty fruit. Trouble is some are about 20 feet high. I tried a bunch of sprayers, all poor performers, until I discovered the Hudson Trombone Tree Sprayer. It works like using a trombone and throws a great spray — they claim to around 25 feet high and that looks about right. A connecting hose maybe 7-8 feet long rests with a sort of small shower-head-like filter in the bottom of a bucket (not provided).

It uses plain old arm power. You feel like Elliot Ness in the “Untouchables” wielding a Tommy gun, but it works great, is only about $40 (get the one with the two gun grips) and even builds up your forearms and shoulder muscles. It’s also got an adjustable nozzle to adjust spray. It really throws a good heavy directed or dispersed spray; I’m surprised at how much more quickly it gets the job done. Way outperforms pump-up pressure tank ones. — Vince Crisci

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Brass connectors

Nelson Quick Hose Connectors

These brass connectors are MUCH better than the plastic Melnor Quick Connects.

These little brass hose connectors make the job of attaching and detaching hoses quick and simple. You pull the collar back on the female connector, and insert the male connector, and you’re ready to roll. Really, it just takes a second or two to provide a secure, leak-proof connection. There are several brands of cheap plastic connectors out there, but these brass ones will last a lifetime. I have a number of them that are 10+ years old, and they work amazingly well. I attach these to everything hose-related: faucets, both ends of the hoses, and all the attachments, and they save me a lot of time and annoyance.

There are two drawbacks to these connectors: people unfamiliar with them will unscrew the whole set up, so if you have handymen, contractors, or yard men who are going to deal with your hoses, you’ll need to explain how they work. The second is that they’re easily lost and misplaced. Even though these connectors are easily lost, they’re so long-lasting and sturdy that when they turn up again, they’ll work perfectly! — Amy Thomson

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Fine misting nozzles

Dramm Fogg-It

I have used Dramm Fogg-it hose nozzles ($12) for a variety of watering and irrigation purposes for more than ten years. They deliver a fine mist of water and are available in different strengths, measured as gallons per minute: ½ GPM, 1 GPM, 2 GPM and 4 GPM. I’ve used all but the 4 GPM model. The ½ GPM nozzle, attached to a wand, is perfect for laying down a fine mist of water on a hot deck to cool things down using a minimal amount of water. You can also water very fragile seedlings, or mist cuttings with it. I use the 1 GPM nozzle for watering seedlings and seed beds. The 2 GPM nozzle is great for general watering of established plants. The fine mist will not break down soil structure, and delivers slowly enough for the soil to take in the moisture without run-off.

I like the fact that I can tweak the flow rate by switching nozzles. If one takes too long, I use a nozzle with a higher flow rate. Or if the spray is damaging tender seedlings, then I use a more gentle nozzle. The fine spray is also a great way to revive a heat-wilted plant.

These nozzles are solid brass, tough and well made. I toss them around mercilessly. Also, mine have never clogged. They fit onto a standard ¾-inch fitting, so you can screw them onto your hose, or any water wand with a hose fitting. Their only drawback is that they’re small enough to get lost easily. — Amy Thomson

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Superior garden hose reel

Rapid Reel

This is a heavy-duty cast aluminum garden hose reel. It costs about twice as much as the plastic reel I replaced and is at least four times the quality and longevity. The materials used are thick cast aluminum, powder-coated, with real stainless steel fasteners and brass fittings. The fittings and bearings are replaceable and heavy duty. The term bulletproof comes to mind.

The reel is configurable as a parallel or perpendicular mount with either a right or left hand hose mount. The design is modular and well thought out. Even the included hex wrenches are well thought out and long enough to reach easily and are of high quality. As a mechanical designer myself, I am able to appreciate a nice robust design and execution. — Jack Kellythorne

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Best garden hose

Craftsman Premium Rubber Hose

I spent 20 hours researching garden hoses and discovered that the 50-foot Craftsman Premium Rubber Hose for $40 is the best choice for a garden hose. It is built like a tank — heavy rubber construction and nickel plated brass connectors. It should last years if cared for properly. Not only is it affordable, but it comes with a lifetime warranty that covers you when, not if, the hose eventually breaks. — Oliver Hulland

Once a week we’ll send out a page from Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities. The tools might be outdated or obsolete, and the links to them may or may not work. We present these vintage recommendations as is because the possibilities they inspire are new. Sign up here to get Tools for Possibilities a week early in your inbox.

04/21/25

Retro Recomendo: Nature

Recomendo - issue #458

Our subscriber base has grown so much since we first started eight years ago, that most of you have missed all our earliest recommendations. The best of these are still valid and useful, so we’re trying out something new — Retro Recomendo. Once every 6 weeks, we’ll send out a throwback issue of evergreen recommendations focused on one theme from the past 9 years.

Learn from Nature

Asknature.org is a free online tool where you can search thousands of nature’s solutions to various challenges. Like how a decentralized society helps ants to recover from a food shortage or how maple tree seeds twirl in a tornado-like vortex to increase the reach of where their seeds are planted. Just ten minutes a day exploring this website will get you thinking differently. — CD

Amphibian love songs

A few years ago I took an unforgettable night time tour in a Costa Rican jungle to listen to frog calls, and discovered that humans aren’t the only musicians on Earth. This playlist titled Amphibian Love Songs and Soundscapes took me back to that magical evening. — MF

Star gazing navigation

Stargazing apps on your phone are magic. They work like AR-augmented reality — overlaying the night sky with outlines of constellations, star and planet names, paths of the moon, and even satellite, comet and asteroid sightings. The apps are uncannily accurate, and easy to understand. There are free apps and expensive subscriptions, but I use Star Walk 2 which cost $3. It’s the best $3 space investment I’ve ever made. — KK

Namibia live stream

This live feed of a watering hole in the Namib Desert streams live 24/7. I drop in a couple times a week and I’ve seen so many different animals sharing the waterhole. I’ve seen zebras, wildebeests, warthogs, ostriches and lot of different birds. The camera has a microphone and night vision, so you’re always connected to this magical and awesome wildlife. — CD

Nature live cams

For a dose of awe and wonder head over to Explore. org and choose from almost 100 live nature cams available at any time. There’s ocean cams, bears, gorillas, puppies and kittens and other animal sanctuaries (this sheep barn can be pretty mesmerizing to watch when they’re in for the night). — CD

Identify nature app

There is utility and pleasure in being able to identify wild creatures and plants. But it’s a steep learning curve. The fastest way I found to learn is via the iOS app Seek, which will identify flowers, plants, fungi, animals, bugs instantly. It’s kind of magical. You point your phone at the specimen and it tells you the species about 95% of the time (in North America). The other 5% it can often identify the family. Someone called it Shazam for nature. The app is patient; you can keep asking it to ID the same thing you asked about before and it will will answer again with no judgement. Seek is free; it was developed by folks who did iNaturalist, an app that uses crowdsourcing to identify species, but Seek uses machine learning to render the ID instantly. I’ve been impressed by how well this magic works. Kids and teachers love it. It gives them a superpower to name everything around them. — KK

04/20/25

Gar’s Tips & Tools – Issue #197

Access to tools, techniques, and shop tales from the diverse worlds of DIY

5 Newbie Tape Measure Mistakes

I have watched so many tape measure tips and tricks videos over the years that you’d think I’ve seen everything. But there’s always more to learn about any tool, so it’s always worth giving them a peek. In this Honest Carpenter video, he covers things like not marking under the curve (that’s built into the tape for stability and strength), not marking too close to the case, and understanding how the end tab works for getting accurate inside and outside measurements. All pretty basic stuff, but definitely a must-watch for any beginner.

The Best Adjustable Wrench Might Surprise You

Adjustable wrenches are a must-have in any toolbox, but do you really need to spend over $100 on a Snap-On to get the best? Todd of Project Farm recently test-compared budget-friendly options (as low as $10) against high-end models ($136), putting them through strength, precision, and grip tests. Surprisingly, the $25 Milwaukee outperformed many competitors, offering a solid grip, six points of contact for better stability, and resistance to self-adjustment under vibration. Craftsman and SK also delivered impressive results at a fraction of Snap-On’s $136 price. For pros who need the absolute best and don’t mind paying for it, Snap-On still dominated in turning power and durability, but if you’re looking for big bang for your buck, Milwaukee is the way to go. Want a wrench that won’t round bolts and will literally last a lifetime? Weight, precision machining, and a solid adjustment screw make all the difference.

Getting Rid of Toxic Liquids

Did he just say he uses diapers? That was my response when I overheard an artist friend talking to another artist about how he gets rid of waist acrylic paint instead of dumping it down the sink. He buys cheap adult diapers, keeps them in his studio, and then when he’s done cleaning his brushes and tools, he dumps the waste water into the diaper. That got me thinking about other safe disposal methods for other toxics. Below is a video of Dirt Farmer Jay discussing various methods of getting rid of latex paint. What are some of the methods you use for getting rid of nasty liquids in in the shop?

Buying Locally

I’ve also always been a fan of the concept of resilient community, efforts to create local communities that are strong, that have intelligent systems in place for natural disasters and other threats, that encourage sustainability, small businesses, local farm-to-table, etc. Lately, I’ve made it more of a priority to support small businesses here in my small town, and every time I do, I feel like I’m contributing positively to our community’s growth and well-being. It feels good to go to the local hardware store, talk to actual people who know tools and materials, and buy from them rather than an online source. I also try and support small online businesses, like Taylor Toolworks and Adafruit.

3D Printed Soldering Station/Fume Extractor

I love this 3D-printed fume extractor that The Byte-Sized Engineer created to marry with the iFixit portable soldering station. As Zach points out, there are instances where you need your electronics to be away from your workbench. This little set-up is perfect for that. In the video, Zach tests out different ways of powering the 12-volt PC fan for the extractor before settling on using the second USB-C port thoughtfully included in the soldering station. He added a USB-C breakout board and a USB-C Power Delivery ‎‎(PD) board. Some CAD work and 3D printing later, and he now has a sweet little portable, battery-powered soldering station.

3D-Printable Solder Scroll

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A post shared by Prusa3D by Josef Prusa (@josefprusa)

In more 3D printing and soldering news, the 3D guru himself, Josef Prusa, posted this to his Instagram channel. It’s a solder spool pencil where your feed the solder to your workpiece with a scroll wheel.

More of Your Inspired Objects

I’m still getting fun and interesting responses to my inspired object piece from a few issues ago:

Michael Finn:
The Europiccola from La Pavoni is not just a thing of beauty, but an elegant tool that one must practice and work at to achieve coffee brilliance. Even if I never become a latte artist, my Europiccola will be my favorite expression of coffee making. This one is from 1983 rebuilt and used every day.

John Young:
My candidate is my Nikon F camera. This 56-year-old photo shows me, still in high school, using one that I bought from a returning Vietnam vet. After using it heavily in high school and college, it served me through a 30-year newspaper career and still functions as new after thousands of rolls of film. The design of the Nikon F — if not the durability –was mimicked by just about every camera-maker into the digital age. Few shop tools outside of a hammer could survive that level of use and abuse while maintaining functionality — certainly nothing as complex as a camera’s mechanisms.

Gar’s Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales is published by Cool Tools Lab. To receive the newsletter a week early, sign up here.

04/18/25

Last-minute Ticket Savings/Best Food Cities/40K Amtrak Points

Nomadico issue #151

Airlines Where it Pays to Wait

Is it better to buy flight tickets way ahead of time or wait until the last minute? The answer sometimes depends on the airline, as this study on last-minute ticket prices in the USA lays out. The conventional wisdom that it’s best to plan ahead is true for JetBlue, Hawaiian, and United. On those you’d pay 16% to 30% more than if you booked ahead. On the other hand, you could score a deal by waiting until the last minute for Alaska, Southwest, Frontier, and Spirit. It only averaged 3.6% and 3.1% less for those last two though, so do it for convenience rather than savings unless your trip will be on Alaska Air (a 22.6% difference).

Best Food Cities in the World?

You’ll surely find plenty to quibble with in this Time Out rundown of the world’s best cities for food (Medellin ahead of Lima and Mexico City, Cairo but not NYC or Tokyo?) Turns out that affordability was one of the factors and they asked locals to chime it, so cities full of picky cynics apparently didn’t fare well. Having any city in Central America on a list like this is just plain wrong, but it’s still fun to look through and think about for future trips. Plans for Lagos anyone?

Expat Stories From Mexico

If you’re looking to escape to another country, Mexico has a lot going for it and has great air connections to get in and out. Many of the articles out there don’t dig very deep into what life is really like for expats through, so if you want the real deal, check out this book from resident Janet Blaser called Going Expat Mexico. It contains 24 in-depth stories from those who have made the move, including one chapter from yours truly. Get it here in paperback or for Kindle.

40,000 Amtrak Points

I’ve got an Amtrak trip from Montreal to Albany coming up in June after recently riding from Atlanta to Charlottesville to go visit my mom and sis. The economy class legroom is more than you get in domestic business class on a plane, there are no luggage fees, and the staffers on my last trip were quite helpful. We arrived on time even. If you love train travel and you’re an American in the market for a new credit card, through the end of April you can get 40,000 Amtrak points by getting this one. If I didn’t live in Mexico I’d be jumping on it pronto.

A weekly newsletter with four quick bites, edited by Tim Leffel, author of A Better Life for Half the Price and The World’s Cheapest Destinations. See past editions here, where your like-minded friends can subscribe and join you.

04/17/25

What’s in my NOW? — Crystal Mangahas

issue #210

Crystal Mangahas is an Associate Professor Business at a community college in her town, after a career in management consulting and non-profit management. She occasionally contributes to her friend’s Steve’s podcast called Intern Steve and found on MixCloud.com.

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PHYSICAL

• The FEED tote bag is my everyday bag and it’s almost perfect. It’s roomy with the right number and size of pockets. I need to pay someone to make a similar design but using oilcloth (or similar) fabric and with a zipper on top. This is my third bag: they come in a few colors, but are only available used at this time.
• I’ve been following Neil Finn since his days in Split Enz with his brother. My absolute favorite album of his is Crowded House: Recurring Dream on vinyl, preferably. I never grow tired of this music.
• Coleur Nature napkins are my favorite for our dining table because of their beautiful patterns and durability. I have the Pansy and Jardin styles, and I’m saving for the Poppies print.

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DIGITAL

• The Signal Messenger app is easy to use, has end to end encryption, and is run by a foundation. I like that messages can be set to automatically delete after a certain pattern and group threads are straightforward.
• Libro.fm is my choice for listening to audiobooks, which I do everyday. I like that I can support my local independent bookseller when I buy audiobooks.

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INVISIBLE

After all my years of cooking, I still need this advice from Alton Brown who explains how to read a recipe:

1. Sit Down: That’s right…sit down at the kitchen table and simply read the recipe all the way through. Don’t make notes, don’t make lists, just read.

2. Read It Again: Highlight any special procedures or sidebars that might change your timeline, like bringing butter to room temperature or soaking dry beans— that’s the one that used to get me. Be careful to note punctuation. For instance, “1 cup chopped nuts” is not the same as “1 cup nuts, chopped.” The first reference measures the nuts after chopping, whereas the latter measures before chopping.

It continues at https://altonbrown.com/how-to-read-a-recipe/.

Sign up here to get What’s in my NOW? a week early in your inbox.

04/16/25

Memento Mori / Atlas Obscura

Issue No. 62

MEMENTO MORI – SPECTACULAR BOOK OF ESSAYS AND 500 PHOTOS OF THE DEAD AMONG US

Memento Mori: The Dead Among Us
by Paul Koudounaris
Thames and Hudson
2015, 208 pages, 9 x 13.3 x 1 inches (hardcover)

Buy on Amazon

One of my most unforgettable travel experiences was visiting the Sedlec Ossuary in Kutná Hora, near Prague. This small 19-century monastery chapel would be unremarkable, except that it is decorated with thousands of human bones and skulls. There are skull- and femur-decorated columns, hanging garlands of bones, a chandelier made of every bone in the human body, and a replica of the Schwarzenberg family coat of “arms” – that also includes leg, finger, scapula, and coccyx bones! The memory of that space makes any Halloween display seem tame and unimaginative.

If Kutná Hora isn’t in your travel plans, check out Memento Mori, a spectacular book of essays and photographs by UCLA PhD and art historian Paul Koudounaris. His 500 color photographs here are arresting, both in subject matter and photographic technique. The handsome hardbound book includes a stunning centerfold of a bejeweled and gold-encrusted mummy. The detail and visual opulence of the photo justifies the giant four-page spread. I enjoyed reading the informative essays about the use of human bones as a form of remembrance in cultures around the world, from Europe to Thailand, Japan to Peru, and from ancient times to the present day. Here’s just one fun fact: there are two venerated human skulls (ñatitas) enshrined in the homicide division of the national law enforcement agency in El Alto, Bolivia. These two cranium crime-stoppers have provided “clues to difficult cases and have been credited with helping to solve hundreds of crimes.” – Bob Knetzger

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ATLAS OBSCURA – THE INTRIGUING WEBSITE OF LIFE ODDITIES MOVES TO ILLUSTRATED BOOK FORM

Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders
by Joshua Foer, Dylan Thuras, and Ella Morton
Workman Publishing Company
2016, 480 pages, 7 x 10.5 x 2.1 inches (hardcover)

Buy on Amazon

It’s a big world we live in, full of fortune-telling fox-woman hybrids, libraries where books are chained to the shelves, rusting shipwrecks, and amusement parks at the bottom of salt mines. The website Atlas Obscura collects the most intriguing of them, and now Atlas Obscura is in book form, perfect for flipping through while waiting for water to boil. It’s plentifully illustrated, with photographs or drawings on every page.

This is not The Book of Lists, and it is not for young children. Many of the entries concern war or atrocities, and some photos are gruesome; the world is full of mummified limbs. The authors treat the subjects respectfully, and have done their research. The story of the Bicycle Tree in Washington State, for example, has both the glurgy and the factual versions.

Some entries are not location based, such as the two pages of entheogens from around the world, or the list of abandoned nuclear power plants. But most entries have the latitude and longitude for each attraction, and sometimes street addresses; you could use this as a guidebook for a particularly unconventional wanderjahr. – Sara Lorimer

Books That Belong On Paper first appeared on the web as Wink Books and was edited by Carla Sinclair. Sign up here to get the issues a week early in your inbox.

04/15/25

What’s in my NOW? — Crystal Mangahas