Tooltime

ToolTime

Gotta drill a hole in something? Okay, so here's the "drill," pardon the pun: You go to the toolbox, slide open the required drawer, take out the drill index, flip it open, look for the desired drill bit, remove it, chuck it in the drill motor, drill the hole, then reverse the entire procedure. No big deal-unless you re peatedly need to access the index. Wouldn't it be nice if you could keep those bits readily at hand, allowing you to quickly bypass most of those half-dozen or so steps?

With the Polyurethane Drill Stand from Graham Tools (www.grahamtool.com), you can do just that. This 5½ x 2½ x I ¾-inch block of molded plastic can hold 29 drill bits in sizes from 1A6to 1/2IflCh in Y64inch increments, and each hole is marked for the exact drill size it accepts. Plus, one side is fitted with two large, powerful neodymium (rare-earth) magnets that let you firmly stick the Drill Stand on a toolbox or any other han dy ferrous surface.

Aside from the ability to be mounted in a number of convenient, easy-to-reach loca tions, another of the Stand's benefits is that the plastic is just pliable enough to allow a drill bit with a slight burr on its shank to slip into its designated hole. Plus, if you would rather attach the index to a horizontal surface than a vertical one, there's a version that lo cates the magnets on the bottom instead of the side. If you'd prefer it had no magnets at all, Graham sells one of those, too. And if you fear that red might clash tastelessly with your garage's elegant color scheme, the Stands are also available in blue or black.

With magnets, the Stands list for $49.99, which includes free shipping anywhere in the U.S. Without the two magnets, the price drops to $39.95.

When a product comes through the door at Cycle World that is claimed to ab sorb many times its weight in oil, there is but one staffer we must call: Mark Hover, EditorIn-Chief. Hoyer owns a fleet of legendary leakers; just pick the grade of oil you wish to absorb. In this case, he chose his 1954 Velocette MSS, a veritable Rain Bird of ZDDP rich 20W-50.

That qualified the Velocette as an ideal candidate for Pig Mat Liaht-Weiciht Absorbent pads (part #77583; $19.95) from Griot's Garage (wwwgriotsgarage.com). The Mat comes in a 1 5-inch-wide, 50-foot-long roll that's perforated every 10 inches, making it easy to tear off a sheet or two like you can with conventional paper towels.

t-ioyer put two sneets 01 FI~ Mat Sl1~-b~side under his Velo and found that they were an effective oil-absorber, even after a couple of weeks. In the area of concentrat ed dripping, the pads tended to saturate and lightly wet the concrete beneath, and the dimples in the material sometimes allowed little spots of oil to form on the floor. To compensate, he simply doubled up the pads, which helped on both counts since they then were thicker and because the holes in the two layers didn't line up.

When Hoyer tried rolling the MSS over the pads when they were ultra-saturated, oil would squish out and get on the tire. But if they were only lightly oiled, the pads tended to retain the oil, even when he rolled the bike over them.

So, what was Hoyer's final verdict on Pig Mat? "As far as I'm concerned," he said, "they're God's own paper towels."