The National Hardware Show is the place for manufacturers to hawk their wares to the hardware stores, home centers and lumberyards across the country. But, changes in retailing over the last ten years or so, have produced a real shift in what we see at this annual event. Names like DeWalt, Porter-Cable, Skil and Bosch—with huge booths often two-stories high—vied for the attention of buyers and press alike, each year offering new and exciting power tool designs, innovations and demonstrations. Tools like folding wheel barrows or concrete mixers you can throw in the trunk of your car; novel chimney cleaners and gardening clothes that repel insects; socket wrenches that won't slip no matter how damaged the bolt head and, for all you plumbers out there, even high-tech cordless copper-tubing cutters.Of course, big names still abound at the show. GE, Liquid Nails and Red Devil all have new adhesive/caulk products, Channellock has a few twists on its veritable wrench line and Campbell Hausfeld is in the cordless-tool business.