I bought this 11 x 18 inch Fiskars Ultralight Kneeling Cushion in 2011 for $8 and have used it hundreds of times since then. It has come in handy when repairing appliances, working on and washing cars, weeding, and any other activity that requires getting on my knees. More recently I bought these $7 Fiskars Ultralight Knee Pads, which let me crawl around the backyard or garage without pain. —MF

Old yellowed plastic looks unrecoverable but it can be magically brought back to its original whiteness or bright color using hydrogen peroxide gel from a hair salon. The gel prevents the concentrated hydrogen peroxide from slipping off; you also wrap it in cling plastic to keep it moist. Plenty of YouTubers demonstrate how they restore old computers, old toys, old appliances with this stuff. I used Super Star Cream Peroxide to bring back white plastic parts in our bathroom. (Also good for whitening old bones.) — KK

Our 50-year-old grease-encrusted drain pipes kept getting clogged, and lye-based drain openers weren’t helping. Even frequent plumber visits weren’t fixing the problem. In desperation, I bought this 25-pound pail of powder called Green Gobbler. I poured a few cups down a clean-out drain with a bit of hot water. It started bubbling and our house soon smelled like rotten eggs (this is apparently normal when using this stuff). It worked — no more slow draining sinks. Much cheaper and more effective than a plumber! — MF

After you finish painting a room, pour a little of the left-over paint into one of these small BIBR touch up bottles. One for each color. The plastic bottles contain a small applicator brush inside (plus a marble to shake/stir the paint) which makes it super easy to break it out to touch-up as things happen. Gareth Branwyn suggests keeping the touchup bottle in a drawer in the room itself, making it a no-brainer to grab when needed. Touch up will never happen when the paint is at the bottom of a can in the basement. — KK

I am a convert to a needle-nosed marker. It’s a sharpie pen with its inky tip at the end of a long thin stalk, thin as a bamboo skewer. I am amazed how often I need to mark something through a hole, in a slot, or in a tight corner, or trace a pattern — situations the usual fat pen or pencil tip won’t fit in. Its body is as thin as its tip, except at the end where its fat enough to hold. This makes it easier to mark anything. A number of different but similar brands make these; I use the FastCap Long Nosed Pattern Marker ($7), which also has a chisel tip marker on its opposite end. — KK

My friend Rob gave me the ThruNite Archer LED Flashlight ($30) and it is the best small flashlight I’ve ever owned. It throws a bright beam, and because it’s made from aluminum, it feels solid. Importantly, it uses AA batteries instead of less-common batteries often required in bright flashlights. I bought one for my father for Father’s Day because I knew he’d appreciate it. — MF

I enjoy the way Adam Savage, formerly Mythbuster co-host, builds complicated things. He has a new show, Savage Builds, running on Discovery Channel. In the first episode he made a “real” bullet-proof, flying Ironman suit, which is inspiring. For the next 7 days only, that episode is streaming for free on the internet. — KK

For fast, clean, straight paper cuts, I pull out my Fiskars SureCut Deluxe Craft Paper Trimmer ($21). It’s foolproof and kids can use it without supervision because there’s no exposed blade. — MF

I’m enjoying Gareth Branwyn’s new email newsletter, Gareth’s Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales. Each weekly issue has several handy tidbits about interesting tools, novel ways to use tools, and how to maintain your workshop. The latest issue has a tip from Adam Savage on where to store infrequently used tools: “'If I didn’t have it right now, where would I look for it?’ And that’s where he stashes it. He tries to not get clever, not overthink it, but rather, he goes with the first place that pops to mind.” – MF

I borrowed a friend’s gasoline-powered pressure washer to clean the mossy-covered bricks in my back yard. The machine was noisy and smelly and I had to keep refilling the tank, but I loved the results, so I bought an electric pressure washer (the Sun Joe SPX3200 for $168). It’s superior in every way to the gasoline-powered washer. It’s quiet and goes into idle mode when you release the trigger. It has five different nozzles, including one to spray soap. If you have never seen what a pressure washer can do, this subreddit will make you a true believer. — MF

Reminder: Your local Home Depot or other big box building store rents an amazing array of tools. Not just carpet shampooers, but carpet dryers, concrete cutting saws, pipe locators, ditch diggers, stump grinders, wallpaper removers, cherry pickers — all kinds of tools you will use only once in your life. Check out their selection. It’s a great way to try out a tool. My rule is if I want to rent a tool a second time, it’s worth buying. Last year I rented an electric power-washer. This year, I bought one. — KK

This ThorFire is the brightest, cheapest ($15), smallest, lightest LED flashlight that runs on a single AA (rechargeable) battery. Rugged, made of metal, it will stand up on its end. I have them everywhere. — KK

The Vise-Grip self-adjusting wirestripper is the best wirestripper, period. It perfectly strips the insulation off of small wires for electronic projects, or large wires for running power. No muss, no fuss; it just works automatically. This hand tool fits kids, and pros. It’s the one I grab. This is not just my experience, but also the opinion of Donald Bell who tested 10 different wire strippers for Cool Tools. This is the wirestripper you want. — KK

I finally upgraded my one-speed cordless driver with a variable speed drill driver ($35). Made by Tacklife it has adjustable torque, and speed is controlled by how much you pull the trigger. A built-in light turns on when you use it. I wish I would have bought this a long time ago. — MF

These look like old fashioned safety razor blades, but they’re made of plastic and you can’t shave with them. You can’t cut paper with them, either. But they excel as scrapers. Put one into the included handle and you can cleanly remove labels and stickers stuck to almost any surface (add a bit of Goo Gone to speed up the process, if you wish). I used one to clean the labels off a cigar box for a project I recently made. — MF

This battery-powered headlamp ($15) has a bunch of LEDs spread across the front so it throws a very wide beam. I used it recently to bring trash cans in at night and it was much better than a flashlight or traditional headlamp because I could see everything in front of me without having to turn my head. — MF

In my ongoing campaign to make myself literate in metric (used everywhere in the world except the US), as much as possible I try to measure only in metric. I got a Komelon dual scale measuring tape (both metric and inches on one side) and after a month or so, I can think in metric. I really like Komelon measuring tapes because they are inexpensive but high quality. They have four in different sizes in dual scale from 3.5m/12ft for only $5, to a 9m/30ft for $8.50. The 9-meter one is big in the hand but an incredible bargain; however their 5-meter is probably a good size for general use. — KK

Most of my discretionary media time is spent watching YouTube. I derive immense pleasure in finding out how things work and how to make and repair things. Over several years of watching all kinds of video, lousy and great, I’ve collected a bunch of channels for dependable high-quality content. In a long post on our blog Cool Tools, I review the top 30 YouTube informational channels that I subscribe to. (#1 on my list is Cody’s Lab.) — KK

About 8 years ago I hired someone to help my organize my stuff, after we met at my house, she told me to order some Gorilla Racks for our garage. They turned out to be a good purchase. They’re easy to assemble and sturdy. — MF

It is easy to mock the importer Harbor Freight for their insanely cheap Chinese-made tools, but in fact I’ve had great success with the tools I’ve bought from them. I may only use them a few times a year, and for that frequency their quality is more than sufficient, and their self-proclaimed “ridiculously low prices” are in fact a tremendous bargain. Over the years I’ve bought a welder, a larger sanding wheel, a buffer, and recently a new compound miter saw for less than $100. – KK