Top 15 New Tools from the 2009 National Hardware Show: Editor's Choice Awards

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What it is: One of our favorite tools at the show also had the coolest name. The Blade Runner is a drywall cutting tool with two halves held in place with powerful rare earth magnets. Each half sits on one side of the drywall panel, so they move in tandem. As you push the pieces, embedded circular blades score both sides of the sheet at once. A company rep told us he had taken the tool to a drywall contractors' union hall in Philadelphia, where he told the pros that he could cut a panel faster than they could using the traditional score-and-snap method. The contractors loudly disagreed—but they were silenced when the Blade Runner won the challenge.

Goldlbatt Tool



What it is: Like a bundle of blades in your back pocket, the Rapid Warrior combines a folding utility knife and a handle with a reciprocating saw blade. Use the utility knife for myriad cutting tasks, then switch it out for a beefy recip blade for demanding work. Reciprocating saw blades can be surprisingly efficient when operated as hand tools—we've used them to cut brush, lumber, small pipes and tubing.

Rapid Tools



What it is: The first tool of its kind, this level uses a precision aviation ball instead of bubbles in liquid-filled vials. The inventor took inspiration from watching his son play a flight-simulation video game, and modeled his device after the horizon indicator in a plane's cockpit. The resulting tool measures plumb and level, and also calculates angles and compound angles when determining pitch. It combines for a skill set that the average level can't touch—and its black and white ball looks pretty cool, too.

C.H. Hanson

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