Awesome Making

Fortnite‘s Boom Bow shoots shotgun shell-tipped arrows. It sounds ridiculous, but The Backyard Scientist shows how relatively easy it is to actually make the arrows. The resulting projectile doesn’t quite explode theatrically, but it’s loud and lethal.

The Q show off another one of their awesome low-budget builds, a robot arm that’s made primarily from cardboard and popsicle sticks, and controlled by plastic syringes filled with colored liquid. If there’s anyone we’d want to be stranded on a desert island with, it’s these guys.

A look inside the Illinois factory where Weber makes their iconic kettle grills. They take sheets of steel, and press them into the familiar spherical shape that barbeque fanatics know and love. Then see how another factory makes the charcoal briquettes that go inside of them.

Primitive Technology made durable, permanent and water-resistant clay bricks by firing them on a kiln. The hardened bricks can then be used to make a larger kiln, like a primitive self-replicating factory.

Ben Uyeda of Homemade Modern shows us how to build a modern, geometric chair using nothing more than plywood, a drill, and zipties. Check out the full build guide and templates here. He recommends using 1/2″ ply instead of 1/4″ ply for maximum durability.

Odin Makes built a replica of Thanos’ sick double-bladed sword from Avengers: Endgame out of his usual craft and found materials. He used PVC pipes, an old fiberglass rod and of course craft foam to make a lightweight 7ft sword.

While we prefer pizzas that we can actually eat, we still enjoyed watching woodworker Kyle Toth as he created a pizza that only a termite or carpenter ant could enjoy. The pepperoni is made from bloodwood, the cheese is yellowheart, and the crust is hickory.

Using not much more than cardboard, ball bearings, popsicle sticks, and glue, V. Idea created a working model of a manual transmission. While its not likely to drive a Corvette, its offers seven forward gears, and one reverse gear, just like the current generation of Chevy’s sports car.

(PG-13: Language) “I like making big versions of small things… and I like sharp objects.” Simone Giertz and her pals built a gigantic pair of scissors just because she felt like it. They’re made from sturdy sheet metal, and just sharp enough to cut paper.

We’ve seen how jelly beans are made, and they’re not made from beans. Still, How to Make Everything figured it was possible to make the candy from actual beans such as mung beans, peanuts, coffee and chocolate that he either grew or picked himself.

Hypnotic video footage of a rocket propellant tank being made by wrapping and weaving layers of carbon composite filament around an aluminum form. The custom-built machine and software were engineered by the literal rocket scientists at Interorbital Systems.

“A frothing, bubbling, cooking mess.” Townsends reads passages from an 18th century British sailor’s memoir that lists some of the things that they ate, and cooks one simple item from the list. It’s burgoo – boiled ground oatmeal served with molasses. Or pork and beef fat.

Love you some Pringles? Just remember that next time you chow down on one of those neatly-stacked, perfect potato chips, you’re actually eating a delicious pressed, formed, and precision-cut mush of potato flakes. They’re like the Chicken McNuggets of chips.

There are lots of really cheap speakers out there, and most of them sound like garbage. YouTuber Jisaku kōbō shows us how a pair of $3 speakers can sound much, much better when placed into a pair of proper wooden enclosures. Of course, skilled labor is the real cost here.

Bladesmith Jake’s Custom Knives takes an old pipe wrench and works his magic, transforming the rusty plumber’s tool into a beautiful and unique new knife, perfect for throwing at a bullseye. While this one isn’t for sale can buy other knives over at Jake’s Etsy shop.

Want to build a cool little toy for your desktop? Watch this clip by Amr MCI in which he shows us how to construct a tiny battery-powered tank that is powerful enough to climb over obstacles. Making the drive wheels from rolled up tape is a neat hack.

(PG-13: Language) Joel Creates read a comment on fellow maker Michael Reeves’ video that inspired him to create a weapon that fires projectiles with a hardened hot glue exterior, each filled with a nasty and dangerous payload of molten adhesive.

Before LEDs and LCDs, the best way to display digits or text was using vacuum tubes that contain layers of bent filament, each of which can display shapes when current is applied. After Nixies went out of production, glass artist Dalibor Farný started making his own.

An immensely satisfying time-lapse video of luthier (string instrument maker) and plectrier (pick maker) Patrick Hufschmid as he creates one of his gorgeous hand-built electric guitars. The sped-up carpentry sounds are just as awesome as the imagery.

Styrofoam is great for packing stuff, but it’s horrible to try and get rid of the stuff. Unconventional blademaker kiwami japan put the material to good use, melting it down and shaping it into a razor sharp kitchen knife. But first, he has to peel some oranges.

Keith’s Test Garage has been making organizer trays for his collection of router and Dremel bits. He started out by drilling holes that fit the bits, then he thought of a much simpler method: intersecting dadoes. The grooves take only five minutes to make with a table saw.

“How hard can it be to make a cracker?” It turns out it’s pretty hard. But is it impossible? Watch Bon Appetit’s resident pastry chef Claire Saffitz try to recreate the color, texture and of course the flavor of original Cheez-Its snack crackers.

There are ready made kits for iron-on or heat transfer printing. Shmoxd tried out two of them, then at 5:24 shows us how you can make ones just as good using screen printing and heat transfer powder. This method is cheap and good for low volume production.