Awesome Making

Metalsmith Freerk Wieringa walks us through the lengthy process of transforming a steel blank into an incredible weapon – an oversized bowie knife that would make Crocodile Dundee proud. The grinding and sanding sequences are especially satisfying.

Master woodworker Paul Sellers posted this brief, but hypnotic clip of him carefully using his razor-sharp chisel to create perfect spirals of wood. We wonder how far he could go if he had a really long piece of wood.

With enough resin to bind it together, you can make a guitar out of just about anything. With a few glitches along the way, Burls Art managed to cut out a sweet looking electric guitar body using 800 sheets of paper, saturated with resin.

Builder Ollari’s takes a rusty old hammer head he found at a flea market and makes it look good as new after polishing away the rust and creating a new wooden handle from a hunk of ash. We’d be proud to hang the resulting sledgehammer over our workbench.

We’ve seen how it’s possible to turn a bowling ball into a bowl. Carpenter Carl Jacobson was kind enough to send some of the scraps to jewelry artist Patrick Adair, who managed to transform the leftovers into some really cool and colorful rings, complete with a finger hole design.

Despite its popularity as a building material, wood is rarely used in the construction of PC cases. Bucking that trend, DIY Perks built a truly unique computer system from wood, with rope trim. We love how he incorporated the air cooling system as a sculptural design element.

Bench vises are typically made from metal. But John Heisz of I Build It decided to see if he could make a fully-functional version of the ubiquitous shop tool from the material it’s typically used to hold in place. Build guide here.

Maker of cool stuff Ollari’s shows us how to turn plywood into a sweet modern ceiling lamp which has a shade made from bent slats placed around its circumference. It actually doesn’t look that hard to do yourself with a little time, effort, and the proper tools.

Engineer BrunS is an expert at metalcraft. In this clip, he machines an impressive, smooth-spinning, 3-axis gyroscope toy that looks a bit like a flying saucer. Along the way, he fabricates a couple of simpler spinning tops to tease us, while his buddies pimp a phone for their sponsor.

This desktop device aims to democratize the creation of vinyl records. The Phonocut is designed to carve grooves directly into a 10″ wax disk, allowing for the creation of custom records at home. It’s makers are hoping for a 2020 release and will start raising funds on Kickstarter 10/15/19 at 4:20pm LA time.

Those pin art boards that you can press your face or other body parts into are cheap and easy to come by. But The Q decided he wanted a much bigger one, so he set about the arduous task of drilling 4,758 tiny holes into plywood, then poking a skewer through each one.

Builder Navin Khambhala aka “Mr. NK” shows us how to create a nifty, low-budget RC car that can climb stairs thanks to its Mars Rover inspired wheel mechanisms. It’s made from easy to find parts like PVC, hose clamps, and off-the-shelf motors and wheels.

Builder Andrew Szeto created an awesome custom version of the iconic Eames lounge chair, replacing the traditional bent wood components with layers of laminated skateboard decks. We love the touch of color that Andrew’s design adds to this classic piece of furniture. More here.

Maker The Q built this awesome larger-than-life, fully-articulated LEGO minifig costume using cardboard and hot glue. With more than three weeks left until Halloween, you should have plenty of time to try and replicate the design yourself. Are you up to the challenge?

Bob Clagett of I Like to Make Stuff admittedly isn’t a weapon-making expert, but he sure knows his way around a bandsaw. In this clip, he shows us how he used some scraps of hardwood flooring to create a wooden practice katana with some very impressive results.

Maker pocket83 walks us through the painstaking process of building a geodesic sphere which not only looks super cool, but offers up a good challenge for those fascinated with puzzles. See how to assemble the wood pieces and rubber bands here.

We previously visited a speaker factory, but couldn’t share any video footage. How To has posted a pair of videos which show a bit more of the process. After the metal speaker baskets are prepared, it’s a time-consuming process to attach each part with just the right amounts of specific glues as each speaker spins around.

Metalsmith and watchmaker Clickspring created this incredible 24k gold-plated card press for puzzle collector Chris Ramsay. The process of meticulously milling, cutting, and engraving each part is just as fascinating as the piece itself. Those snake pieces alone are stunning.

Graz Makes realized he didn’t have a good pizza cutter, so he created one inspired by one of his favorite groups, The Wu-Tang Clan. He stole an old table saw blade from Jimmy DiResta, and fashioned it it to look like the rap group’s iconic “W” logo. The finished tool ain’t nuthing ta f’ wit. Full build instructions on Instructables.

A look at the time-consuming process of hand-making ceramic tiles from raw clay, carefully chipping away and cutting them, then assembling them into intricate mosaics. The end result of the laborious process is stunning.

Artist Hah Jeong-hee started making felt toys for her kids. She’s made dozens of small toys, but recently she became interested in making robots. Her creations are so detailed that people sometimes mistake them for model kits. Turn captions on.

With enough shop skills and patience, you can turn ordinary sheets of plywood into beautiful patterned works of art. Woodworker Michael Alm takes us through his process as he transforms thin strips of ply into chevron, diamond, basketweave, and other patterns by cutting them at different angles and intervals.

We’ve seen footage of pencils being made before, but the guys at Faber-Castell want us to know that their process is the best. Watch as they make black leads from graphite and clay, and colorful ones from powders and wax, then sandwich them into wooden shells, and paint them to match.