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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Lynda Lyday

Aired August 18, 2002 - 09:11   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: These days, often the handyman in the house is not a man at all. Women are making their way to the home improvement aisle, and what they're finding are some cool new tools that are easy to use. Lynda Lyday is the host of the Do-It- Yourself Network.
I'm just in heaven here. Can I have all of this for Christmas? We're going to have some good stuff here.

LYNDA LYDAY, DIY NETWORK HOST: We're going to have a little girl talk, little tool girl talk here.

CALLAWAY: I brought some of my favorite tools that I use around the house, because I am definitely the handyman in the house. My husband doesn't like to do any of that.

This is one of my favorites. But let me ask you -- I started out with this, the battery operated...

LYDAY: This is kindergarten.

CALLAWAY: I know. I know.

LYDAY: Then you went to elementary school.

CALLAWAY: Went to elementary school, and got this. But now I'm ready for this.

LYDAY: A lot more power.

CALLAWAY: A lot more power.

LYDAY: That's right.

CALLAWAY: How many volts is this?

LYDAY: That's 7.2 and this is 18 volt. Now, this is the Riobi (ph) line. And this line is great. As a matter of fact, there is a lot of women in the marketing department, so it has to pass them, too. They have to feel comfortable.

Now, on the show that I do on the DIY Network, we get as many women callers as we do men.

CALLAWAY: And you know, there are so many new tools out there. And I've got to tell you, women, this is great. It's not heavy and it does the work in about half the time. It's got the magnetic tip here that keeps the nail on.

LYDAY: It's a beautiful thing, yeah.

CALLAWAY: It is a beautiful thing.

LYDAY: OK, let me go real quick and talk about our hands. Our hands are smaller than men, so of course we have to find tools that are going to work for that. Check out this hammer here. This hammer is made by Stiletto. It's titanium head. They were really thinking when they made this. Ten ounces will pound in a nail. Here, let's put on some safety glasses here. Will pound in a nail as well as my 16-ounce hammer.

My drill is going off. You like this? This is a holster for my drill.

CALLAWAY: Yeah, I was looking like this.

LYDAY: Wonderful. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) made that.

Let me go over here. Channel Locks (ph) makes this. Any time in my tool bag you will see these Channel Locks (ph). They are blue- handled tools.

CALLAWAY: Easy to use.

LYDAY: Absolutely. Vice grip. These are great. This company makes all these locking pliers. Wonderful. You like this?

CALLAWAY: You know, I'm thinking of the typical woman in their home, the things they do. They're going to have to use a screwdriver at some point, which is why we like this one here, because they're fast, and you're going to need a staple gun. And the good thing about this one is it doesn't make your wrist sore.

LYDAY: You turn it around. Usually, they go like this. Well, this company, Easy Shot, they were really thinking. Try this out. Try how easy that is that. Now, of course, that's going to be for a quarter-inch to a 3/8-inch staple in there.

CALLAWAY: Because normally you're pushing down with your wrist to get it to work. And after you do one or two staples, your wrist is sore. But this is great. Who makes this?

LYDAY: Easy Shot, and they also make a thermogrip glue gun. Stanley (ph) makes this Fat Max (ph) line. This is a great line here. As you can see, they have jab saws. This is all rubber handle. Feel how good that feels. They make some great screwdrivers. The whole Fat Max (ph) line, they're thinking of us. Let me quickly go to this. Look at this. This is a laser line. Can you see this on this table?

CALLAWAY: How many times in your home, ladies, have you needed a straight line...

LYDAY: Isn't that fantastic?

CALLAWAY: ... and it's impossible to use a yardstick or a measuring tape. This is great, easy to use.

LYDAY: Fantastic. You were telling me that your kids love the stud finder.

CALLAWAY: The stud finder. And this is another -- this is the one thing I'd recommend for your toolbox, besides this line (ph) that I want to take home is the stud finder, because it does work. It's not one of those gadgets you see advertised on television that doesn't work. This really does find your stud.

LYDAY: It will find your stud, it will find your electric wires, and it will find your metal wires where you're plumbing. OK? The light will set off up here when you get to the edge of it.

Let's get quickly now to the power tools, OK? The power tools, of course I can't talk about them unless I talk about safety. Of course you want to make sure you protect your eyes. AO Safety has this great eye protection here. As you can see, that's the glasses that we're wearing. They're tinted, 99.9 percent UV protected. If you want to tune out everything but tune into the tunes, they even have this, it protects your ears and it lets you listen to the radio. And this is a cool max (ph). This is a neat product that they've made, and this is actually cooler than your usual..

(CROSSTALK)

LYDAY: It sure does. OK, let's get to the combination kit. Riobi (ph), the flashlight, the reciprocating saw, the drill, and the circular saw.

CALLAWAY: Yeah, you were using this earlier. This is so light and so easy to use, and there is no cord.

LYDAY: Let's fire it up. Let me show you how quick this is. I'll come over here. Put your safety glasses on, and if you can see this over here. Like butter, right? Now, put your hand, your left hand up there. Up on top here. There you go. And away, start it away from the board. Let it go.

CALLAWAY: Can't get it to go.

LYDAY: OK. That's because you have to press this safety.

CALLAWAY: There you go.

LYDAY: OK. Very simple. As a matter of fact, this is affordable as well. They have really thought about things. Let me go into quickly, and Makida (ph) was my first drill. Makida (ph) now has this jigsaw that has a light that lights up. You can see your work then. Of course, I can't talk about any of these tools unless I talk about the accessories. We love accessories. The drill bits made by Hanson (ph). Duwalt (ph) makes these rapid load drill bits.

CALLAWAY: For me, the problem is on the drill bits is that they're easy to get in and out, and I find that they're getting a lot easier. I hate when you have to use the key, which inevitably you lose and you can't open up the...

LYDAY: That's what's so nice about these drills. You just hold it and it tightens by hand.

Irwin (ph) over here, these are drill bits. They will cut through concrete, wood and metal. I don't know how it works, but it works. You can get it in the set here.

CALLAWAY: I don't want to go without talking about the sanders, because I think everyone has had to plug a hole in the wall, and then you fill it up and you've got to sand. This is one of my favorites here. It's called a mouse. It looks like a mouse. It's very easy to use. It's very light. This is mine, which is filthy because I just used it the other day.

LYDAY: That's fantastic. I have one of these, the Duwalt (ph). The bag, of course, catches all the dust. Important to have. It's also very light. You can feel how light that is as well.

CALLAWAY: Easy to use.

LYDAY: Let me talk about impact drivers. If you're doing a lot of decks or any kind of -- anything that's going to require a lot of screwing and screws, let me show you what this sounds like when it's screwing in a screw. It will use the tool and not your arm. You see that? It goes right in, and of course doesn't take much.

CALLAWAY: You know, let me ask you this. Are you amazed at how the tools have changed over the years? Because like, you know, I buy a tool, and in a year or so there's a better one out there on the market.

LYDAY: There is.

CALLAWAY: They really are catering to women now, aren't they?

LYDAY: Yes, they are, and the thing is, is that you really have to feel what feels the best in your hand.

CALLAWAY: And they'll let you do that in stores. You can go and there is always someone in there, and try them out.

LYDAY: You sure can. If you want to go to a more contractor grade, of course you have the porter cable, and you have the Milwaukee. These are for you women who are really doing the work in construction sites, going to do work every day. You can see this...

CALLAWAY: This is college. We've graduated to college.

LYDAY: Absolutely.

CALLAWAY: I'm still in high school, I think, but I'm ready to move on to college.

LYDAY: I think you're going to be ready to move on to maybe a 12-volt or maybe even the 18-volt. CALLAWAY: You know, I'm ready. I just want to say, you were an actress, weren't you, and you got into this?

LYDAY: Yeah, I was doing comedy.

CALLAWAY: From Shakespeare to this?

LYDAY: That's right.

CALLAWAY: Well, it's been amazing having you here, Lynda, and like I said, I plan to steal a couple of your tools before I go home.

LYDAY: Well, I am working on my own tool line, so soon I will have that out. But in the meantime, there is a lot of things you can get out there.

CALLAWAY: Lynda Lyday, thank you so much for being with us.

LYDAY: Thank you.

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