FixitUp Find: Irwin SL6X Chalk Reel

I love chalk boxes.

The tool speaks to an old-fashioned (ancient even) innovation and cleverness that it seems like you don’t have occasion to see much any more. I know circular saws and nail guns take serious smarts and infrastructure to manufacture, but the simple cleverness of coating a string with chalk and snapping it across boards or block is just, well, cool. To me, anyway.

I carry my chalk box with me all the time. It’s one of those tools that I either use constantly or it sits for long periods while I do other things. Still I keep it in my bags because when I want it — whether for snapping a line on plywood, determining a plumb line, or pulling string to straighten something — I want it immediately, if not sooner.

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