Awesome Metal

These metallic keycaps from Little Cutie Designs are absolutely stunning. They’re made from real metal that’s been finished to produce an iridescence in shades of blue, purple, and a hint of orange. They’re compatible with standard Cherry MX switches and clones, and come in a 93-key base kit, a 17-key numpad kit, and a 7-key modifier and spacebar kit.

If you love watching things get obliterated under extreme pressure, check out this video of the best hydraulic press metal crushes of 2025. This compilation features nuts, bolts, tow balls, and machine parts meeting their demise under a 150-ton and 300-ton press inside a bunker. It seems like the softer the metal, the more satisfying the squeeze.

Hand Tool Rescue revives a quirky piece of engineering history by recreating and massively scaling up Terry’s Turbine Spanner, a 1910 adjustable wrench that uses swinging shims to change jaw size. This custom 12″ version is crafted from 4140 steel with precision-ground O1 tool steel shims, all heat-treated and tempered for durability.

This blue-and-white enameled metal flask from Foster & Rye is a great way to carry a wee bit of your favorite spirit. The stainless steel container holds up to 6 oz. and has a secure screw-cap lid. Its attachment point and carabiner let you carry it outside of your backpack to save space. The matching cocktail shaker is sold separately and includes a jigger.

Before you start checking for obstructions and aligning angles to fine-tune the azimuth and elevation, look at this short demonstration of how inexpensive satellite dishes are made by bending discs of sheet metal. After that, try to figure out if you’ve figured it out quicker than it takes to transmit information via satellite signal. See what we did there?

This hefty, 5-pound hunk of aluminum has been machined to look like a giant LEGO brick. Made in Montana by Machined Hobbies, the 6.25″ x 3″ x 2.5″ metal brick would look great on any desktop and has LEGO-compatible studs on one side so you can attach minifigures or bricks to make it your own. They also make standard-size aluminum bricks.

GravaStar’s unique mouse is engineered for elite gamers, offering responsive feedback and customizable controls. Its skeletonized shell is made from lightweight magnesium alloy. Features include a 26,000 DPI sensor with a 4K polling rate, programmable RGB lighting, and wired/wireless connectivity. Available in a black/white gradient or grey.

While Wolverine’s Adamantium isn’t a real material, there are some actual metals that are incredibly strong. Among them is Nanovate, a lightweight alloy that can be plated onto surfaces to amp up their strength. The Hacksmith used a CT scan of his skull to make a 3D-printed model and coated it with the stuff to see if he could make it truly bulletproof.

A typical snare drum is made by bending a sheet of wood, acrylic, or metal to form its shell before attaching all of its hardware. Drummer Dan Pawlovich of Panic! At the Disco envisioned a drum with a 1-piece brass shell, and the guys from Titans of CNC Machining prove they were up to the challenge of bringing it to life. Check out the rough machining here.

We love the sound of a good mechanical keyboard. Now we’ve heard what could be the greatest sounding mix of key caps, switches, and case, courtesy of keyboard enthusiast dango.niko. In this clip, she shows off Acco MU02 keyboard with Rosewood switches and Awekeys Viking metal keycaps. The resulting thocky sound is music to our ears.

While it doesn’t hold as many cards as some modern wallets, the Slidemorph has slick looks and a neat trick up its sleeve. The lightweight aluminum wallet fans open with a satisfying click to provide easy access to up to five cards. For added versatility, its multitool edge incorporates a flathead screwdriver, a utility knife, and a bottle opener.

Artist Zak Miskry likes to make sculptures of animals and insects by recycling old electronics and other junk. Here, he shows us how he created a spider with gangly metal legs and a working light bulb for its body. He rigged up three LEDs inside an old incandescent bulb and powered them with a button cell battery, making it completely wireless.

The Majextand S is an ultra-thin, ultra-light iPhone stand that’s just 0.1″ thin and weighs only 2 oz. The slimline stainless steel stand attaches to the back of your phone without adding bulk. It offers 10º forward tilt, 170º backward tilt, and 360º rotation adjustments, and maintains MagSafe compatibility. Works with all iPhones with built-in magnets.

We find it fascinating that steel, one of Earth’s strongest materials, comes from crushing and melting rocks. This video from Factory Monster shows how Korea’s largest steel foundry, POSCO, processes massive quantities of iron ore, combines it with coal, melts it in a blast furnace, and then forms it into billets to produce wire rods to make steel hardware.

Who woulda thought that actress Vera Farmiga could/would sing a goth-metal song with Gogol Bordello frontman Eugene Hütz? Turns out that Vera fronts her own rock band, The Yagas, and that she and Eugene share Ukrainian roots. They recently collaborated for a live performance of Chervona Ruta, one of Vera’s favorite Ukrainian songs.

A standard ping pong ball is made from a lightweight plastic that can easily be crushed. The guys from Hacksmith Industries have engineered this unique ping pong ball from a lightweight metal called Nanovate. Its unique grain structure gives it incredible strength, yet it still weighs under 20 g – about 0.7 oz. It’s not very bouncy, though.