KF I am six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp The House Whisper on demand on the iHeart Radio app. Hey, welcome home. I am Dean Sharp the House Whisper. I design custom homes, I build custom homes, and I'm also your guide to better understand that place where you live. Today on the show, we are doing part two. It's probably like Part one point one based on how far I got through this list yesterday, but part two of this year's House Whisper Holiday Gift Guide. Yeah, gift guide.
It just totally it just totally escaped me. I do it every year. I write the damn thing House Whisper Holiday Gift Guide. That's what we're doing today. Lots of great stuff. It's an all tools and gear gift guide this year, which many of you will welcome. And you know, sometimes I digress, I talk about some books and some other things, and this year, you know, and just getting
back to basics this year. So it's it's all tools and gear, and I'm excited to talk to you about each and every one of them so that you understand the value behind each of these suggestions. And of course we're going to take your calls The phone lines are open right now, right now, Yes, they are. Producer Richie standing by. Anything that's got you scratching your head about your house today, whether it's a design issue, construction issue, DIY question, whatever the case may be, give me a call.
You set the agenda when it comes to calls. The number to reach me eight three three two. Ask Dean eight three to three the numeral two. Ask Dean eight three three two, ask Dean. It's just that simple. Phone lines are open now. We'll be going to the phones in just a bit. Richie will tell you everything you need to know. Popping into the queue, you can listen to the show while you wait. Let's see here. Oh look, you know. Let me introduce you to our awesome team.
Elmer is on the board. Good morning, Elmer, Good morning Dean. How you doing by doing really good? Yeah? Did you get that burrito that you wanted or not yet? No, it's it's it's coming after the shift, you know, all right? All right? Elmer's like, hey, man, did you have breakfast this morning? I'm hungry, like there is something I can do.
He's been snacking all morning.
He's been snacking all morning. He doesn't count. It's like rice crispy treats. It's not like, uh, it's not food food all right, Okay, well, I'm glad to hear you say that, Rice, Christmy treats are not food food. That's that's a good thing. That lovely voice you just heard. Eileen Gonzalez, sitting at the news desk. Good morning, Eileen, Good morning. How's it going good? Have you had breakfast this morning? Yeah?
You should see. I bring a ton of food with me. It's like, I'm going to be gone for a week. I'm well prepared news and food, and I need to share with Elmore.
You should share with Elmer. He could pass out, and then where would we all be? You and I both we'd be like, hello, Hello, is this Mike hot? Hello? All right? Good to have you, Bud. Appreciate you.
Uh.
Sitting across the table from me. Who look at you? Look at you. You're just amazing. My better half, still recovering from her unplanned, unexpected surgery, but recovering strong. I mean, I feel pretty good. Strong. What do we We're like day eleven, day eleven, Yeah, and you're doing good. You're doing so good. I'm going to talk about this later in the show. That that our granddaughter Olivia had to police you. Oh my gosh, that was so far over Thanksgiving.
If anyone wants to go look, I did post one of her videos she posted, she actually made about five, but of her calling me out for all the things I was doing wrong. So you just go to at Tina Sharp on Instagram and I it's it's hilarious to watch her.
She just out of the blue, she just decided I'm going to create a video news report.
Yeah, she suddenly became an an investigative journalist hunting down yours your infractions of doctor's recovery orders.
It was very funny. There were several reports that came throughout Thanksgiving Day. And then of course she doesn't post social media. She just posts to us.
She just sends us she makes a video, and then.
We'd all get these text messages. We're like looking at it and there and there she is. She does she does the bumper music.
Yeah, she does her own music.
She does her own fade in if that's what you want to call it, her head coming in from the bottom of the screen up and then a full report on Tina's crimes.
Yes, and she calls me mina that's my little nickname. So she coined their mina tastrophees. Now she didn't say that in this video, but in other.
Mina tastrophe past. Yeah, it might be a little overblown. It might be a little over blown, thank you, but it was adorable. It was adorable. And you're looking great. Oh, thanks so much better. All right to y'all. Here's the thing. Oh, we got some calls coming on the board. You know what. It is a beautiful, beautiful Sunday morning here in southern California. I don't know where what the weather is looking like wherever you may find yourself, but I hope it's as lovely.
Today is December first, the first day of December. Christmas is twenty four days away. We've got so much to do. Friday, that's right, Friday was a Black Friday. Yesterday was small business Saturday. Tomorrow Cyber Monday. Today, today is just awesome day.
He is house Whisper a gift guide, that's right, which also is posted to social media.
Okay, yeah, yeah, tell everybody that before we run to the news.
At home with Dean Instagram, Facebook, and I think that's it. I think only puts it to those two and then you can also there's a there's a link in the bio of Instagram to actually go to the KFI website and you can actually download and interactive PDF, so it has links to all of the places to buy these items.
Yeah, So if you don't like like having to do the search yourself, you can go to the KFI website, our little corner of it, you know, find the Dean Sharp Corner page on the KFI website and right at the top there is the PDF that you can download, and then each of the links are active, so you just click them and boom, you're there. It doesn't mean that that's the only place you can buy this stuff, but it's where we source them this year.
Yeah, and we just tried to find best prices.
Best price, that kind of thing. So it's all good, all right. When we come back, let's dive back in too, part two of the House Whisper Holiday Gift Guide.
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from KFI AM six forty.
You know, whether your home is a condo or a cottage or a castle, doesn't matter. I'm here to help you take it to the next level. We're going to be taking calls in just a bit. The number to reach me eight three three two. Ask Dean eight three to three, the numeral two as Dean eight three three to two asding anything you want to talk about? What am I talking about? We are diving into part two. This is episode two of our twenty twenty four House
Whisper Holiday Gift Guide. So let's get to it. Let's see here before I leave this page here on the gift guide. Oh, let's talk about a screwdrive now. In the previous episode yesterday's show, I broke through barriers that people didn't even know were there when I recommended a screwed driver set, And this particular screwdriver set that I recommended yesterday was if you're going to buy a new set of screwdrivers, you might as well get an insulated
Electricians screwdriver set. And you're not going to find those over where the normal screwdrivers are sitting. You're going to find them with the electrical tools in the electrical aisle of the big box store or where the hardware store. The difference is that an electrician screwdriver set are insulated, meaning that not only the handle, but all the way
down the shaft only. The only metal that's really showing is just at the tip where the actual screwdriver tip is, whether it's phillips or torques or flathead, whatever the case
may be. And I think I believe for your conscientious di wire who just might get involved in some electrical activity at some point, whether it's just a switch or an outlet, why not have a screwdriver that does not have all that exposed metal on it when you're sticking it into a place, like, you know, an electrical box that may although it shouldn't if you've done your job right, but may have some live wires in there. So better safe than sorry. And these are always beautiful screwdriver sets.
And do they cost more than regularly, Well, they cost more than the cheapest of screwdrivers, but generally speaking, no, they come in beautiful cases. So anyway, that was yesterday's screwdriver recommendation, but here's today's. And I've recommended this before. This says it's almost always a part of the gift guide. And that is a multi tip screwdriver, Okay, so, or a multi bit screwdriver if you want to call it that.
This is the kind of screwdriver that just sends it should be in the little tool drawer, the junk drawer, your go to, right because it's got so much going on for it. But I want you to be aware of my preference when it comes to this, and I think this is a reasonable, rational professional tool using preference, and that is there are a lot of multi bit screwdrivers out there, a lot. I personally do not like
the ones that store the bits in the handle. There's usually a cap and you unscrew it and then you know you got all these bits in there. And those are the ones that are like twenty one twenty four different. Okay, I get it, I get it. It's all good, and you know, other people may do better with this. But
here's the thing. The bits are small and inevitably, I don't think I've ever myself used one for more than a year without losing some bits somewhere or picked up somebody else's at somebody else's home and I'm helping them out with something looking for a bit in there, and like half the things are missing, especially the one that you really wanted. They're just probably not the in my opinion, the easiest or best way to have access to this.
So I would rather have a screwdriver that has fewer bits, but they are all locked in and part of the actual screwdriver shaft itself. Okay, that they're all right there for you. And that is what a screwdriver like the Milwaukee thirteen and one magnetic multi bit screwdriver is. It's like a twenty two dollars screwdriver. It's literally, you know, it's got several bits large and small Phillip's head, large and small, flathead square bits. Also, the shaft itself, being hollow,
becomes a nut driver. It's just a really really solid one. And this year's version, by the way, is different than previous year's version because right in front of the handle, right before the shaft starts, there's a big what looks like a nut, like a large nut. What that is is a what they call a wrench ready bolster, and
it is a nut essentially. And what that does is, let's say you've got a really tough screw to undo, okay, to take out, or one that you have got to drive in that's tough and you need a little bit more leverage, you can basically that nut is there so you can put an adjustable end wrench or a set of pliers and grab on to that thing and give you some sideways spinning torque on it. Anyway, have I
ever used it that way? No, but I think it's a good ad because it's not taking up any space that would be used by anything else, so why not have it there? It's by Milwaukee, And yes, I am a little Milwaukee biased when it comes to tools in general, only because I think they're awesome. And no, not all of my tools are Milwaukee tools, not even close. Okay, but Milwaukee makes a fine tool. And this happens to be my favorite multi tip, multi bit screwdriver. So there
you go. I spoke yesterday also about the you know, I waxed poetic on the usefulness of a utility knife and how you know the blades are interchangeable and so on. So you got to check out the previous episode yesterday's show on the podcast and you can hear me talk about what I think the best utility knife is out there. That does not mean that I hate pocket knives. Pocket knives are great, okay, but your typical pocket knife, the
traditional pocket knife, not much use for that. Okay. They're dangerous. They're dangerous, and what I mean, is you know, the old style just fold out the blade even you know, I gotta say Swiss army pocket knives. Not a fan
because the blades don't lock. I don't like a folding knife that doesn't have a locking blade, because that's a situation where you push it just the wrong way, just the wrong angle, just the wrong force forward, and all of a sudden, the blade is folding back towards your fingers. Let's not think about that, but it happens. So I like a locking blade, and there are a gabillion knives on the mark. So which one have I recommended to you? You know what, in the spirit of keeping it simple,
keeping it classy, I happen to love. It's probably because my own life and heritage. I have my father's version of this still in my possession, that he bought back in the early nineteen seventies, still in perfect condition, a buck knife, the buck one ten. In fact, I think mine is the buck one ten Hunter buck knives. You know, you will hear a thousand reviews from other tactical knife makers saying, well, the buck knife doesn't live up to there's a you know what. Buck knives are still around
and still going strong. You know why, because they're great knives the end period. They do their job, they feel great in your hand, they look great, the blade locks. Whether you're you know, want a knife like that because you're gonna whittle or carve, or you're a hunter, or whatever the case may be, if you want a great knife laying around that is a folding knife. Buck actually is the first company to introduce a folding knife that is as strong as non folding knives. And you know what,
they've just been going strong forever. So yeah, I have a preference because of my own family heritage. I have my new one that I use, and I have my dad's who I would never use for anything because I don't want to mess it up. But the Buck one ten somebody asked me that the other day, what kind of buck knife are you going to? Oh the Buck one ten hunter? Where did that even come from? In my brain? But it's here in the gift guide and you should check it out. And by the way, I
recommend the drop point. Why we'll talk about that right on the other side of the news.
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from KFI AM six forty.
Dean Sharp. The house Whisper here with you. We are moving through the twenty twenty four House Whisper Holiday Gift Guide. We're going to be going to the phones in a bit. The number to reach me eight three three two. Ask Dean eight three to three the numeral two Ask Dean that's coming up in just a bit. Make your call now you can get into the queue, all right. The gift Guide, by the way, you can find it online
in a couple of different places on social media. You'll find it on our Instagram and Facebook page at Home with Dean. You can just follow right along on the gift Guide, or you can follow a link over to the KFI web page our little corner of it where you can download the gift Guide and all of the links to the actual shopping locations are live and interactive on that one. So either way, open up social media
while you're there, why don't you follow us? But you can follow along on the gift guide as I go all right back to it. So I had said Buck Knight as a just you know, I'm not gonna repeat myself in terms of just how awesome buck knives are just a standard duty knife, pocket kind of knife to have on hand. But right at the end, right before the news, I slipped in that I prefer the drop point blade as opposed to the clipped blade. Clip blade
is kind of the classic buck knife blade. And if you're gonna be carving or whittling with it, then go with the clip blade because it to the top of it swoops down, it comes out to a real sharp point, and it allows you to kind of get in there into some real tight spaces for some real tight cuts.
But if anything beyond the need for getting into a really really tiny little spot like whittling or wood carving, if you get beyond that and you're just looking for multi purpose, and I prefer a drop point blade, which is a little thicker out. It's a stronger blade. It's a stronger blade, it's got more metal out there near the tip. It will last longer, it'll put up with more abuse. It's probably not quite as sexy looking as the clip point blake because that looks pretty cool, but
but overall multipurpose, it's a better blake. So there you go. I have some more cutting implements to talk about a little later, but I want to do it in conjunction. Tina with a little video so that everybody can see if you have ever thought about giving the one you love an ax. I know, I know it sounds weird. You got to trust them. Trust You got to trust
a person you gift an axe too. But I've got a very very strong recommendation for you, whether they just want to split wood, or they're a bushcrafter, or you just want that utility tool around for various purposes. First time on the Gift Guide that I've got one for you, the one that I personally love and use the most. But that's coming up in just a bit because we're gonna do a video with that. Uh. Here is something
that everybody's been asking me about. I mean everybody. I mean a lot of people emailing saying, Hey, you know when you talked about the fireplace episode and you were talking about taking a gas log fireplace and making it sound realistic by putting a little bluetooth speaker in there, could you tell us where to get that bluetooth speaker Number seven on the Gift Guide. There it is the
EWA one oh six pro micro Bluetooth speaker. Now you don't have to remember all that, but the point is this is the little speaker that I refer to as the marsh mellow. And because it's about the size of a jumbo marsh mellow, it's got a full play eight to ten hour battery life metal case that it is encased with. So this is the speaker that I put near the front of a fireplace box when the fireplace
is just a gas log set. And then what you do is you take one of your devices, an iPad or a tablet or one of your phones, and you bluetooth out to that speaker. You know, one a YouTube video of a crackling fireplace that goes on for like twelve hours, and you adjust the volume and then when you stand back away from you know, just a couple of feet away from a gas log fireplace, suddenly it's a crackling, popping gas log fireplace. Now it's a real fireplace. Anyway,
it's a great effect. It is so easy to do, and it makes all the difference in the world for just ambiance in a room where you're going to spend the evening with folks and the fire going, and you know what, it's just these little layers, just these little ads. So it is on the gift guide there it is right, and you'll find the link to it. And how much is this miraculous device. It's eighteen bucks, that's right. It is the size and the cost of a really good
stocking stuffer. So there you go. What else, Oh, how about a set of pliers. But unlike most pliers that you've seen in the past, what if a really good wrench, like an adjustable end wrench, and a good set of like channel locking pliers got together and had a love child, Well you would end up with the ten inch plier wrench from Nippicks Nippicks nippicknit knit knit knit k n I p X. I think it's pronounced Nippicks or nips or I don't know. I don't know. It's a weird word. Anyway,
really great tool manufacture, and these are fantastic. What they literally are is a set of that you can lock like a wrench, not just like a channel locking players, but truly lockable so that they keep returning, you know, like a wrench. Once you've set it on a nut, you turn it, it gives a little bit and you can reset it and reset it. And these are fantastic players.
Anybody who works with these kinds of things will tell you. Yeah, yeah, that is like one of the This is like a gold element to have inside your family toolbox right there, because it does both. And usually when you find a tool that does so many things different things, you're kind of like, at least I am, I'm very skeptical because what you find out is like, Okay, technically it does fourteen things, but it does them all sort of kind of good. But this is straight up great plers, great
wrench together. This is the love child tool that most home toolboxes and pro toolboxes should have. It's a sixty dollars wrench, but it's one of those lifetime wrenches that once you've got it, you will never regret having this thing available for you. Okay, all right, when we come back, let's see where are we at here? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, when we come back, let's talk about a kind of saw, a handsaw that will literally change your life, will transform you.
For those of you who just want to get a little bit more into the craftsmanship side of your home, then I need to talk to you about buying the right coping saw or gifting somebody with the saw that will start them on a path that they will never regret. Going down. And also a really really cool, amazing battery operated inflation tool that is worth every penny, if not more. All of that and more when we return.
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from KFI AM six forty.
We are moving through our annual twenty twenty four House Whisper Holiday Gift Guide. I'm making some great gift suggestions for you, explaining why they are as good as they are, and also we've got them online you can follow along. You can find the entire gift guide on our socials
on Instagram and Facebook, both Home with Dean. Also on our little corner of the KFI website you'll find the gift guide where you can download it and there all of the links are active and you can just click on those links and go straight to the stores that are selling these great products, these great to it's all tools and gear this year. So anyway, we're right in the middle of that. Coming up next break. Right at the t top of the hour, we're going to the phones.
We've got a couple of calls on the board right now, but there's plenty of room for you. If you're interested, now's your chance. Eight three to three to ask Dean is the number to reach me anything that's got you scratching your head about your home? Eight three three two ask Dean. That's coming up right after the top of the hour here next segment, all right back to it.
Where did I leave off? Oh? Yeah, So if you are a woodworker or a carpenter, or you have dabbled in these things, then you will understand the meaning of what I'm about to express of this little saw. If you are not, if you're a di wire who's like you know what, I would love to just I would love to do what Dean is always talking about and just introduce more craft into my home, more craftsmanship, more quality, more more conscientious quality of the deal details. Then, this,
my friend, is the beginning. This is the first step in the journey of one thousand miles. Truly. Okay, No, it's not a hammer. Yeah, I mean those are great. I talked about an awesome finished hammer yesterday. But this, this sets you apart in a way you may not even realize. A really good quality coping saw A coping saw. Now, what is a coping saw? For those of you who are unaware, a coping saw is a very very small saw.
Has a little handle off to the side, and it has a you know, for all intents and purposes, a bow, A large, square shaped bow that holds a very very thin blade. I mean we're talking about a metal blade, a replaceable blade that is six to eight inches long and about three sixteenths of an inch at the most a quarter of an inch, but that's a big one, about three sixteen of an inch tall, with very very tiny finishing teeth on them. For wood, Okay, this is
a coping saw. A coping saw is this shape for one reason and one reason alone, because it allows you to start to you know, think of a jigsaw. Most of you know what a jigsaw is. It's a saw, a powered saw that allows you to make scrolly, kind of curvy, you know, conforming cuts on a piece of wood. Well, a coping saw is a handheld version of that, except on crack. A coping saw is a very very tiny pathway saw that makes all sorts of crazy, amazing little turns.
So what's the point. It's like, well, I'm not a wood carver, Dean, so nobody in my family is a wood carver. I don't think we need a coping saw. But that's not what it's for. It's not primarily for your little handy projects, even though those hobby projects would
benefit greatly by it. If you, for instance, know somebody who you love who is thinking about doing you know, remodeling on their house, or they want to do crown molding or base board, and they want to just do it the very best that it can be done, then this is the gift for them. This little coping saw that's in the gift guide is by Jorgensen. It's a pro coping saw. And yeah, it's nineteen dollars. Okay, so it's not an expensive gift. It is, though, so important.
So here's the deal. Here's a little story I'll tell you about the coping saw. If I ever walk on to a job site when the finished carpenters are there present, doing what they do, and I'm there for some other reason, design reason, whatever the case may be, and if I see a finished a carpenter walking around and hanging off their little tool bag, I actually see or in one
of their pouches, I see a coping saw. I will literally find the general, I'll find the builder, or I'll approach them directly if I'm not interrupting their work and I'll get a card. I'll get a card or contact information about that finished carpentry if there's somebody in our area that we could use. There is nothing that sells your finished carpentry skills more to me as a pro when I walk onto a job site than to see a trim carpenter with a coping saw in their bags.
And I'll tell you why, Because what you think is the normal, or i should say, the best way or the proper way to do molding to run baseboard or crown molding into the corner of a room, what you probably think is the best way to do that is with a miter cut, like a miter saw, where you cut the molding back at forty five degree angles and you join another molding to it at a forty five degree angle, and in a perfect universe, it makes a perfect,
beautiful seam. And that happens. And there's nothing wrong with a well executed miter cut. But the best cut, the best, the cut that will never open up, that will never miss a ligne, the cut that will be there thirty forty one hundred years from now, is not a miter cut on a piece of inside corner molding, but a coped cut, and that is where one board runs all the way through into the corner. Just square cut all the way into the corner. Forget about even putting a
cut on that board. But the other board that joins it, you've back cut it so that the profile whatever the shape of the molding is on the face. And then you take your coping saw and you spend just a few seconds, that's all. It takes just a few seconds coping off the detail of that face. And when you push that one into the other board, the seam is perfection. The seam will never open because it's not a miter scene.
And here is the best part of all. If for any reason, that corner is not perfect ninety degrees, which you know what most corners are not. If it's a little bit tight or a little bit wide. On a miter cut, it's gonna leave a gap, it's not gonna fit properly. You're gonna have to recut it or just kind of accept it and caulk it. But a coped cut, that cope cut can bend several degrees in either direction and still have a perfect join in the corner. It's
true for crown molding. It's true for base board. When I see you holding a coping saw in your hand, I will be so proud of you. And so that is why I say this little saw, this little twenty dollars tool that is not very familiar to the average di wire. This is the first step in a journey of one thousand miles for those of you who want to introduce quality. And it's not that hard to learn. It's not that hard to learn how to do this.
But it's brilliant and it's wonderful and it's sweet. And now that I have spun it for you, now that I've sizzled it for you, you can take this story and you can relay it to the individual who you're giving this gift to. And believe me, it's going to make a huge difference for twenty bucks. That's why that's why you come to me for the gift guide. These
are the pearls. All right, we're going to return to the gift guide, but first, when we come back from the top of the hour news, we're going to the phones. The number to reach me again eight three to three two. Ask Dean a three to three, the numeral two, ask Dean your Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper on KFI. This has been Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper.
Tune into the live broadcast on k PHI A M. Six forty every Saturday morning from six to eight Pacific time, and every Sunday morning from nine to noon Pacific time, or any time on demand on the iHeartRadio app