Awesome Making

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.

This video from the Crown Point High School machine shop works on multiple levels. It’s not only a cool demonstration of how to create a complicated metal sculpture, but we’re also convinced the school has developed the ability to time travel back to the 1980s.

Lauri and Anni from the Hydraulic Press Channel took a break from their typical destruction to create something with their tools. By crushing rolls of toilet paper within an inch of their life, they were able to eventually come up with a semi-workable skateboard deck.

Jack Flynn and Nick David present a wonderful short documentary about the men and women who work tirelessly to weave, mill, dye, blend, spin, warp, finish, and stamp Scotland’s famous Harris tweed fabric.

Clickspring edited down footage from their extensive 23-part video series of a long-term build which took them over 1,000 hours to create – an elegant, fully functional timepiece built entirely in their machine shop. Sit back and chill for the next 12 minutes of wonder.

We don’t usually play with dolls (just Funko figures), but we couldn’t resist sharing this video that showcases the craftsmanship that goes into handmaking these classic Japanese figurines. The part where artist Yasuo Okazaki applies the paint rings is just so satisfying.

For his latest one-day build, Adam Savage and his Tested pals cheated a bit, spending a couple of days cutting, welding, and assembling a complicated walking machine inspired by the work of Theo Jansen. And you thought assembling IKEA furniture was tricky.

Man at Arms: Reforged takes on what is perhaps the most famous sword of all time – King Arthur’s legendary Excalibur, as based on its appearance in the video game King of Avalon. It’s one of their most impressive builds, and the engraving alone is phenomenal.