Awesome Making

Primitive Technology set up a new garden to plant sweet cassava and yams – two crops that are relatively easy to maintain and produce lots of food. He also shows us the old stone hut that he built 10 years ago, and his pet mammoth turkey.

ElectroBOOM needed a vacuum chamber to see if his Tesla coil will still make sparks in a vacuum. But instead of buying one or looking up guides, he decided to wing it. “Sometimes spending money saves you more money and time.” We coulda told you that, Mehdi.

Applied Science shows off a thermodynamic property of rubber bands – that they change in temperature as they stretch and contract, then takes advantage of this to create a refrigerator. It’s not very effective, but still a cool idea. That Shaper CNC router is awesome too.

Woodworker I Like to Make Stuff tries his hand at concrete to make an ocean-themed table for his wife. He used the concrete as the bottom surface then added layers of blue-dyed clear epoxy resin to mimic the sea.

Serial fast learner Mike Boyd picked up an Arduino kit for beginners and figured out how to code and tinker with electronics so he could toggle his coffee maker using his phone. Check out his YouTube comment for the twist.

For their latest video, Miller Knives walks us through the process of handmaking a micro karambit-style knife. We found the flying sparks, the sped-up sound of the belt sander, and the polishing of the handle to be especially satisfying.

Michael Cthulhu’s build videos are far more exhaustive than other weapon making videos, but we enjoyed being a fly on the wall in his metal shop, and hearing his him explain his thought process as he created a weighty replica of the Sun Keeper mace from Diablo III.

Corning Museum of Glass shares footage of a machine which produces lightbulbs, as a ribbon of molten glass is shaped through a mix of heat, air, and gravity. The now-defunct assembly line was in an OSRAM Sylvania factory and produced as many as 1600 bulbs per minute.

A fantastically satisfying bit of factory footage, in which a steel rod is heated and bent into the shape of a giant spring. The fire at the end is because of oil and dirt particles burning off. More hot coil-bending action here.

G.I Customs posted this cool time-lapse video that shows off the painstaking process of hand-machining a custom bronze and brass steampunk-style lighter. We would have liked to see how he created the skull design though.

Since his paper books have been replaced by digital ones, 17-year-old Blake Hawkins didn’t have much use for his school locker. So he built a soda vending machine that fit the cabinet perfectly. It has two dispensers that can hold up to six cans each. Instructions here.

Saffron is a truly tasty flavoring, that’s also ridiculously expensive. Discovery UK shows us how much effort goes into harvesting this exotic spice. Next time you go to a Spanish restaurant, take a moment to think about these folks who worked so hard so you can enjoy your paella.

Primitive Technology’s new year’s resolution – whatever year it is in his dimension – must have been to sleep better. He built a shed that has enough space for a cot. It took him two weeks to make the shed and the bed frame, but he says he spent most of that time gathering grass.

Man at Arms: Reforged used two different methods to create replicas of Elektra’s – and Raphael’s – weapons of choice. They made one sai out of a single piece of metal, and the other with three pieces welded together.

MudbrainsTvDIY gives us a brief glimpse at an amazing build – he replicated the T-800 arm that Miles Dyson had in Terminator 2. It’s made entirely from cardboard, glue, and varnish. If you’ve got about 7 hours to spare, you can watch how he built it, step by laborious step.

Vladimir Zhilenko’s video is in Russian, but you don’t need to speak the language to admire his craft as he builds a wooden soccer ball replica. It required lots of geometry and patience, but the result is impressive. Sanding the edges into a sphere had to be so satisfying. Skip to 2:02.

Time-lapse footage of one of Thunder Laser’s cutting machines as it precisely slices through a sheet of MDF plywood, gradually revealing the intricate latticework of a flat-pack model of the Eiffel Tower. We don’t really need one, but we want one of these machines in our office now.

Tallahassee, Florida confectioner Lofty Pursuits shows off some of their old-school methods for making candies, as they pull melted sugar, crank it through vintage equipment, then crack it apart to create the final forms for their sweet treats. You can buy their candies here.

WeAreX shows off a fun technique for creating a DIY billfold entirely out of hot glue. The trick is using a cut-up soda can as the non-stick form for making the pieces. Just be careful not to cut your fingers on the sharp edges of the can.

“I think in a way that destroying things is a creative process…” Alan Williams explains how his childhood knack for breaking and re-configuring toys inspired his design aesthetic. His current works are intricate animals with bio-mechanical bodies. A film by Ben Cox.

An old segment from How It’s Made which shows how a steel rod is gradually made thinner and thinner, then run through a metal shaving machine, and woven together to transform it into the scrubby cleaning material we’re familiar with.

Another amazing blacksmithing video by Miller Knives, in which he takes a rusty old railroad spike, and gradually hammers, grinds, and sculpts it into a completely usable tomahawk. We’d love to see what he could turn an old tomahawk into.

A look inside the process of crafting one of the world’s greatest grand pianos, from the careful bending of its frame, to the arduous hand-stringing of the soundboard, and precision placement and tuning of each key. Narrated by the late John H. Steinway.