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I think I’ve got a chalk reel around here somewhere, and for the longest time I had a small bottle of Irwin’s purple dust-off chalk staring at me from the shelf. Of course now that I want to find it, I can’t. Not to sound uncertain, but I can’t remember if I ever used a chalk reel before.
Chalk reels are used for layout work. You anchor the hook, release a length of line, pull it taut, let it go, and the chalk-loaded line snaps across whatever flat material you want a straight layout mark on. Bam, there’s your instant layout line.
Nearly 2 years ago, I talked about which brands I would pick if I had to replace all of my tools. For chalk lines, I left a series of question marks. In the time before and since then, I played around with chalk reels at media events, but never had a real use for one. Maybe there were times I could have used one, but I never found the need to go out and buy one.
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At Milwaukee’s recent media event, they showed off some new hand tools, including a geared chalk reel. The chalk line comes out easy, and is returned into the reel housing with speed, thanks to the 6:1 gear ratio.
I can definitely see why you would want a chalk reel to have geared return. Compared to a non-geared chalk reel, you can return the line in 1/6th the time with 1/6th the effort.
Is there any value in buying and using a chalk reel that doesn’t offer this a geared return crank?
Looking at Amazon, there are all of the familiar construction tool brand names: Irwin, Stanley, Dewalt, and also Tajima – a brand I’ve been hearing about more and more – but also other brands, such as Keson and M-D Building Products, that I am completely unfamiliar with.
You guys recently shared valuable insights, opinions, and recommendations for A-frame step ladders, and then caulk guns. I figured that maybe you would be willing to do the same for chalk line reels.
So what do you like to see in a chalk line reel? Do you have any brand or style preferences? A favorite chalk to use?
If I had to run out right now, I’d likely buy an Irwin chalk line reel and some basic chalk. They offer a 100-foot reel with 4 oz of blue chalk as a $6 combo pack on Amazon (add-on item). I presume it’s similarly priced in stores. Apparently Amazon is currently offering an extra 20% instant-at-checkout discount on that combo pack, thru 10/31/2015. There’s also a 100-foot reel with 4 oz of red chalk, for $3.70 via Amazon (add-on item).
I can’t tell you why I’d gravitate towards Irwin and their Strait-Line options.
But if I knew I would need a long run, or that I would definitely get multiple uses out of the chalk reel, I might invest in a geared return reel, but which one…?
