Awesome Making

You can run down to the Home Depot and pick up a tool that uses gunpowder or compressed air to drive nails. I Did a Thing tried his hand at building his own explosive-powered nail gun, but his looks like a hammer, plus, it’s much more dangerous than off-the shelf tools. Kids, don’t dance barefoot on your lathe.

Maker Random Hands created an impressive real-world version of the Valhalla Axe from Assassin’s Creed using a rusty old anvil. To create the weapon, he heated the metal in a furnace, shaped its head with a power hammer, cut it with an angle grinder, then ground it into its final shape. The finished piece has cast metal and wooden handle.

A table saw is one of the most useful tools in the shop when it comes to cutting long pieces of wood. Maker KJDOT decided to see if he could build a working model of one in miniature, and the result is impressive enough that we’d love one for our workbench. It turns out that MicroMark sells something similar, but it’s very pricey.

Burls Art creates guitars from unusual materials. This time, he made an lap steel guitar from aluminum $1 coins that were once good for a discount at RadioShack. He started by making a sand mold, melted the coins to cast its body, then anodized it in red. We were hoping he would have embedded some unmelted coins though.

Maker DiesInEveryFilm wanted to see a sword with a flexible blade could be as effective as a straight blade. He created his unusual weapon by machining a custom blade, cutting it into segments, sliding them onto a length of aircraft cable, and welding them into place. The result is a bit floppy but still dishes out damage.

Artist Uri Tuchman is an expert at building unique devices with a Steampunk aesthetic. This time, he built a pair of mechanical wooden hands that appear to type on an imaginary keyboard. It’s part of a larger installation headed to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Ironically, Uri broke his hand after he completed the project.

If you’ve played badminton, you’re familiar with these feathered playing pieces, also known as “birdies.” In this clip from Science Channel’s How It’s Made, you’ll go inside a factory where they still make them with actual duck feathers. The process is surprisingly hands-on, given the volume of birdies they churn out.

Arcade cabinets are usually made from plywood or particle board. For his entry into DainerMade’s Pallet Challenge, Wooden It Be Grand decided to make an arcade machine. He built its panels by gluing the wood planks side by side, then planed and sanded them even. It’s one of the coolest arcade machines we’ve seen.

Steelpan drums are made from the bottom of an oil drum. Filmmaker Chas Sheppard met artist Jimi Phillip to see how they’re made. He starts by pounding a concave shape, then sketches each pan and hammers them before heating, tempering, and tuning by ear. This BTS footage from Sounds Like Steel stands on its own.

Ilya from That Works has made some impressive historical weapons, but this is the first time he’s built a samurai helmet. He created the headgear with inspiration from the character Takeda in the game Naraka Bladepoint. The steel helmet is made from five pieces, with a two-piece Mempo mask and layered neck armor.

After artist Kayakasaurus saw a photo of a colorful slug caterpillar, he wanted to make a larger-than-life version. He started by sculpting a digital model of the blue and yellow creature’s body, then output it on a Elegoo Jupiter resin 3D printer. His application of transparent paint and fuzzy flocking really bring it to life.

Maker Peter Brown once made a handle for an ice cream scoop out of moldable thermoplastic, but it didn’t last. So he decided to retrofit his brass scoop with something more appropriate. He took a big batch of colorful sprinkles, submerged them in resin, then turned the block on a lathe to form the handle.

From the “just because it can be done doesn’t mean it should be done” file comes this fully-functional washing machine that’s not even big enough to hold a single sock. But this is the internet, and Inventus thought he’d show off by building a tiny appliance using Coca-Cola cans, straws, popsicle sticks, and a USB-powered motor.

Moscow mules are served in a copper mug for a reason. Not only does copper look awesome, it helps keep cold drinks cool. Not content with storebought mugs, Robinson Foundry decided to make his own. In this video, he shows how he made a pair of beautiful mugs using ceramic molds he created from 3D-printed forms.

Olivier Gomis created this impressive piece of furniture – a table that looks like it has a wormhole that connects two points of space and time. He built the table from rough walnut planks he cut into sticks and glued into grids. He then assembled them into rough shapes, turned the rounded pieces, then assembled and finished them.

Mayku’s FormBox brings the power of vacu-forming to your desktop. It connects to an ordinary vacuum cleaner and heats thermoplastic sheets to create objects and molds. Its can mold objects up to 150mm x 150mm (~5.9″ x 5.9″) and can mold objects up to 130mm tall (~5.11″). It works with a various plastics in from 0.25 – 1.5mm thick.