THE BEST Metal

Olson Form makes high-end desk accessories, milling components from 6061 aluminum alloy. The set includes a phone stand, business card holder, bolt action pen, paperclip bowl, pen holder, money/paper clip, coaster, spinning top, letter opener, and a cable weight. In black or silver, with a grooved or straight edge.

This stainless steel tool helps draw circles, arcs, and straight lines, and can also measure. It combines a protractor, straight edge, T-square and compass functions, and can measure in inches, centimeters, picas, and pixels. It packs neatly in your wallet alongside your credit cards.

Keep all your vinyl records organized and easily accessible with this hand-welded metal storage tower from Design Atelier Article. It comes in two variants – one that holds 240 LPs and one that holds 300 LPs. Both measure 45″ high, but vary in width from 15 3/4″ to 19 2/3″. They also make a squared-off storage unit with casters.

Fishbone’s metal gadget is designed for knotless joining and tying of ropes and straps. It holds up to 0.5″ rope or 1″ flat webbing, and has built-in neodymium magnets for stacking and storage. Available in stainless steel or lightweight aluminum. They also make a mini version for paracord and skinny cord.

Machined from a solid hunk of aluminum or brass, the Flipo Flip offers a unique take on the desktop fidget toy. This metal plaything is designed to feel great in the hand, and is perfectly weighted for flipping, spinning, and manipulation with your fingers. Available in hexagonal and square designs.

BrainfooTV show us how he transformed an stainless steel connection nut into a piece of jewelry inspired by Tony Stark’s armored helmet. He first removed the threads, then cut and shaped it using a Dremel and hand tools, before polishing it to a high sheen. As a finishing touch, he added a pair of tritium tubes to give it glowing eyes.

In a scene that plays out like the end of Terminator 2, watch as these disused aluminum car rims are melted down in a hot furnace, so they can be reincarnated into other products. We kept waiting for some screaming heads to start bursting out of the molten metal.

Fabricator Brian Oltrogge walks us thorough a truly modern process for casting a custom hammer. He used a 3D printer to generate patterns, hand-sanded and smoothed the parts, then used them to make sand molds for its aluminum handle and lead head.

Looking for a good way to burn off a little stress? Fidgeting is a good way to occupy your mind and to focus on something other than the day’s worries. The guys over at Everyday Carry have picked out 10 of their favorite fidget toys, including one of our go-tos, the stainless steel Mechforce EDC Gyroscope.

This stainless steel stencil is ideal for sketching out user interface and user experience concepts. It features common icons for things like menus, arrows, buttons, and sliders, as well as social media. Its top edge includes a pixel ruler and column guides as well. Consider picking up some UI sketch pads to go with.

This heavy duty carabiner-style keychain features a rustproof zinc alloy body with smooth chamfered edges that won’t catch on clothing or bags. The black and gold clip has two holes for key rings, along with a built-in bottle opener. Also available in a silver finish.

As impressive as large-scale milling machines can be, compact machines that can create intricate parts are equally fascinating to us. In this clip, Bantam Tools shows off their Desktop PCB Milling Machine as it carves a miniature topographic map of Washington’s Mount Rainier out of a cube of aluminum.

TITANS of CNC: Academy presents footage of a truly epic creation – a hefty chess board machined from a massive hunk of metal. It’s got a grooved playing surface, and logo art on its sides. We’d love to see how they milled all of those beautiful titanium chess pieces too.

Machine shop DataPro shares hypnotic time-lapse footage of a Datron CNC milling machine, as it takes a disc of aluminum and transforms it into a precise and smoothly formed gear. It was shot as a time-lapse, but won’t it be awesome when machines can do this in real time?

Utah artist Andrew Chase creates truly impressive metal sculptures of animals, each of which includes, as he puts it “heavy, greasy, and lethally sharp edges.” Many of his creations even have articulated joints, so they can be put into different poses.

Microworld makes these intricate metal building kits of mech-animal hybrids. The collection includes a polar bear, crocodile, lion, flying tiger, scorpion, and a police dog. Each one is made from iron and brass, with fade-resistant color coatings. Expect a challenge for all but the most experienced builders.

After wowing us with his Fallout-inspired Red Rocket, metal artist Engineer BrunS is back with an even more challenging build, a big bronze rocketship. Watching the precision-milled components fit together so perfectly is wonderfully satisfying. If you’ve got 1500 bucks to spare, you can even own this masterpiece

We love the simplicity of FutureRelic’s rod-shaped bottle opener. Its shape reminds us of keychain flashlights, but this tool is perfect for opening a cold brew. Available in copper-finish bronze or brass, with a knurled grip. Measured 2.25″ long.

Designed by Wales-based sculptor Ivan Black, this hypnotic, kinetic plaything is made from 21 interconnected metal rods, which can be spun and twisted to produce visually-stimulating patterns inspired by the Fibonacci sequence. It’s available in silver, gold, bronze, or a limited edition scarlet color. Be sure to watch the video.

Plane Pieces’ drink coasters are the perfect gift for aviation enthusiasts. They’re made using authentic Pratt & Whitney gears from vintage WWII radial airplane engines. Each one is encased in clear resin, surrounded with a machined aluminum outer ring, and has a protective bumper underneath. Sold individually, or in sets of four.

Metal shop Midwest Tungsten makes this elegant desktop conversation piece that includes five 1″ cubes, each made from the element it describes. Includes blocks made from 100% pure copper, aluminum, titanium, iron, and 95% pure tungsten, each engraved with the element’s symbol, electron configuration, and atomic mass.

In this clip from Japanese metalsmith Swap Lamp, he shows us how to use an offset disc to mill repeating geometric patterns into a piece of metal. It takes a bit of manual work to re-position the workpiece, but the resulting design is something like a Spirograph would make if it could engrave metal instead of drawing on paper.

These beautifully-crafted metal chopsticks offer substance and permanence, while nodding to tradition with their bamboo-inspired form. Each one is molded from pure titanium, which won’t rust, and is resistant to germs. Available in black, silver, grey, or gold.

Watch as a pile of ordinary brass nuts and bolts is transformed into a shiny sculpture of an insect by artist Ross the Random. We weren’t quite sure where he was going at first with the wing piece, but the finished work turned out to be quite amazing.

Keep your fingers occupied with this different kind of fidget toy. This pocket-sized plaything is made up of multiple metal cylinders which spin around a central ring. Roll its center around the palm of your hand, or play with its individual rollers between your fingertips. Available in four sizes, from 1″ to 1.75″ diameter.

This keychain storage cache has two sections, so you can store different items in each of halves. It’s airtight, and perfect for carrying pills, emergency cash, or other small items. Internal dimensions are .45″ across, 0.63″ deep on one side, and 0.71″ deep on the other. Available in brass, stainless steel, or titanium.