Why did you replace the brightly colored plastic-handles with the lumpy gray/white ones?

So glad you asked. It is all part and parcel of our neverending quest to provide the world at large with professional grade sand carving tools that can be lovingly handed down from generation to generation. In other words, we want to build tools that will last -- even in the most adverse of conditions.

Curve it, shorten or lengthen it, thicken or thin it -- the new handles on the next generation of SoB sand carving tools can easily be altered to perfectly fit the hand that’s going to use it -- yours.

As tool makers and users, it is easy to get obsessed with the business end - the shape that causes a solid mass of packed sand to break and fall just so - without giving too much thought to the handle. In the past we have manufactured tools with x-acto knife handles, both aluminum and plastic, which had to be modified to accept our stainless steel tool heads. These handles were relatively expensive and were made moreso due to the fact that they had to be altered to serve our purposes.

A recent parting of ways with our tool supplier was just the impetus we needed to think outside the x-acto handle box, and the result is a handle that can be easily customized - as often as necessary - to perfectly accommodate the hand of the person who will be using it.

The new tool will arrive with a handle not unlike the plastic handles we have been using the past several years, and it is usable as it right out of the box. To alter its size a shape, all you have to do is dunk the whole thing in a pot of hot (140 - 170 degrees F) water for 2-3 minutes. The handle material will soften quickly. Remove the tool from the water with a set of tongs and let cool until it can be comfortably handled. Squeeze, twist, and stretch your handle until it feels just right in your hand. As the material cools, it will harden and maintain its new shape -- until you dunk it back in hot water.

More about Thermo-Loc

I carve sand in the hot sun. Is there a danger that these tool handles will melt under extreme conditions?

That is actually a really good question. We have been using these tools in deep south Texas - which is a pretty good test - without issue for several years now. The one time I had a problem, it was with a set that had been left in a clear cellophane bag out in the sun. I suggest you not do that -- the clear plastic seems to magnify the heat. Keep your tools in anything else, or laying out in the open and you should not have a problem. Should a tool handle soften and become stuck to something, putting them somewhere cooler (less than 140 degrees!) should let you peel it right off. Should one handle become stuck to another, you may have to put both tools in hot water to separate them.