Unitasker Wednesday: Pumpkin-carving drill kit
Pumpkin carving season is here and Williams-Sonoma has you covered with the Pumpkin-Carving Drill Kit. If you have been searching for a tool that does the same thing as a Dremel, but comes in festive Halloween colors, you are in luck.
Why not invest in a black and orange carving drill kit that you will use once a year and store in your Halloween toolbox? It will match perfectly with your Halloween window soaping gear, pumpkin smashing accessory tool belt, and your popcorn ball making kit. No Halloween toolbox is complete without a black and orange drill kit to make the perfectly carved pumpkin.
** Unitasker Wednesday posts humorously poke fun at the single-use items that seem to find their way into our homes.
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Posted by Matt on Oct 3, 2007 |
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21 comments posted
Posted by radish - 10/03/2007
I actually want this item – my boyfriend just got us a pumpkin and I’m going to carve my very first one! I can’t wait!
Posted by Jenny - 10/03/2007
Hmmm…perhaps it does the same thing as a Dremel because…uh…it is a Dremel? Actually, this is a light-duty Dremel tool so while the things you could actually use this for are limited, it’s not a true unitasker. So, you can carve pumpkins and groom your pet’s nails with it, but you wouldn’t want to use it to engrave cast iron. That said, Dremels are fairly versatile tools anyway, so I imagine there’s more you can do with this tool, especially if you’re an artist. Watermelon engraving, anyone?
Posted by Andamom - 10/03/2007
What ever happened to knives? Seriously, it has always been a tradition that my daughter come up with a pattern for the pumpkin and I carve it with a kitchen knife. She supervises of course… Our pumpkins are always unique and interesting. No drill needed!
Posted by LazyLightning - 10/03/2007
I’m pretty sure you can actually get a set of little bits and pieces that work WITH a Dremel, if you’re going for the power-carving route. Alas, they would not be orange
Posted by Melissa A. - 10/03/2007
Hmm…I wonder if I could use my regular drill for this?
Posted by Brian - 10/03/2007
You’d be better advised to buy a thin filet knife or a cheap set of pumpkin-carving saws. This tool makes a mush out of the pumpkin because the bit runs too fast. Worthless, IMO.
Posted by Kat - 10/03/2007
I am feeling very silly because I did buy this. We are auctioning off carved pumpkins for a fundraiser coming up. I understand these have their limitations but you are supposed to be able to get certain effects from them. I will be practicing. So far, though, I can’t understand the assembly directions. Not too mechanically inclined. This was probably not a smart purchase.
Posted by Ryan - 10/03/2007
The fibrous nature of pumpkin flesh makes carving with any tool that has a rotating bit (Dremel, Rotozip, etc) very difficult.
IMHO, the best and cheapest way to carve a pumpkin is to put a coping saw blade into the handle of an Xacto knife. It’s cheap, cuts through the pumpkin flesh with ease, and is small enough to give you minute details.
I carved this pumpkin using the coping saw method, and it came out fantastic!
http://static.flickr.com/112/2.....afcf4e.jpg
Posted by supersocco - 10/03/2007
Posting these items on here is like leaving a big pile of donuts in front of someone on a diet. It is too tempting for a lot of consumers it seems.
Posted by Elaine - 10/03/2007
Actually, I think I *have* a Dremel in festive Halloween colors. OTOH, I don’t think I would’ve ever thought to use it to carve a pumpkin.
Posted by Serene and Not Herd - 10/03/2007
Halloween coloured tools are really cool, but A) This is a fairly low powered Dremel for my general needs B) I have a multispeed Dremel and C) I can just imagine the flung pumpkin skin and pulp on my ceiling and walls.
Anyone know where I can get Orange and Black Stud Finder tool?
Posted by Cyrano - 10/03/2007
@Ryan – Dude, if an 80’s death metal band was reincarnated as pumpkin, it would like exactly like that.
Good job!
Posted by Mike - 10/03/2007
All the Halloween colored gear you need.
For the Serious Pumkin Carver:
http://www.blackanddecker.com/.....=1496.1504
Serene here’s your Stud Finder:
http://www.blackanddecker.com/.....uctID=7841
Real Tool for same price (Still black and orange):
http://www.target.com/gp/detai.....v_XPNT0069
Posted by subgirl - 10/03/2007
Re: the Dremel
I have this, not because it carves pumpkins (it’s not so much for carving as it is for cutting off the top layer of flesh so that you can illuminate the pumpkin’s inner flesh like a luminary) but because it’s a CORDLESS Dremel. It’s not as powerful as my corded one, but it’s CORDLESS. Plus, since it was “seasonal” it was cheaper after Halloween. Certainly NOT a unitasker, as I’ve used it for everything from drilling mannequins for art projects to engraving jewelry.
re: Serene -
Black and Decker has a stud finder that is… black and orange, just like ALL their tools.
Posted by lucille - 10/04/2007
This looks exactly like my cordless Dremel, only mine is blue and black. The bit in it looks like a normal wood carving bit.
Posted by RadiantMatrix - 10/05/2007
I have one of these — it’s a weak Dremel that runs on 4 AA cells, and you can use any standard Dremel bits with it.
For the record, it’s *terrible* at actually carving pumpkins, but not too bad at etching patterns on them. It’s also very useful for the task I actually purchased it to accomplish — my partner makes jewelery, and nothing polishes like a Dremel.
It may be *marketed* as a unitasker, but it’s far from it.
Posted by Swaper - 10/09/2007
Um, I’m new to this site but this gadget seems the opposite of uncluttering. It is an expensive gadget for use once a year that does a job that you can do with smaller manual tools. JMO…
Posted by Christine - 10/06/2008
@Swaper
** Unitasker Wednesday posts humorously poke fun at the single-use items that seem to find their way into our homes.
Thanks for being the weekly Unitasker Newbie! I was beginning to think that we wouldn’t have one this week.
As far as the Halloween Dremel is concerned, I have to say that I’m impressed that they’ve cottoned on to the fact that there are a lot of Halloween fanatics out there. I know people who spend more time prepping for Halloween than they do for all the other holidays combined. Find somebody who has a jumbo storage closet just for their decorations and confront them the with absolute perfect tool for making the best jack o’ lantern ever? Cha-ching!
Posted by Richard Friese - 10/06/2008
Actually the cheap plastic pumpkin carving sets are great. We bought one years ago, put the set in an old peanut butter jar and have reused them over and over. The little saws and knives work great for carving the little holes. Most kitchen knives get to big for any face details, and even carving the top is easier with a simple coping saw that comes with them. RJF
Posted by momofthree - 10/07/2008
Golly, If you feel you really need this versus a good old fashioned knife to carve your pumpkins, there is a bridge in brooklyn that I believe is for sale too!
Posted by Beth - 10/21/2009
I actually saw this in a store the other day and immediately dialed my sister. We have a family get-together every Halloween and do a pumpkin carving contest. Her hubby, who had NEVER carved a pumpkin in his entire life, laughed at us the first year, became intrigued the second, and has declared this year he was breaking out his power tools to win (they’re a mechanical family, she’s a welder and he’s a machinist). So, it was great for a good laugh for us.
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