Awesome Metal

Blacksmith Mark Aspery walks us through the process of hand-forging a traditional corkscrew. He starts out with a rod of 3/8″ square chrome-molybdenum steel, which he hammers, stretches, bends, and twists into the final shape. Anyone got a good bottle of wine to test it on?

The king cobra is the world’s longest venomous snake – and one of the most intimidating. This small, but imposing brass cobra from Coppertist.wu will hold your phone and keep watch over your desk. Every detail is present in the casting, and hand-set zircon eyes bring it to life. It measures 3.76″ high and weighs 8 oz.

The process of knurling metal involves applying a criss-cross pattern to create a grippy, textured surface. This satisfying video from My Mechanics Insights shows how the metalworker created the handle for a dumbbell and applied knurling to both ends of the shaft, along with an overlapping section in the middle.

When it comes to barbecue, we like large meat. But maker W&M Levsha went and built a teensy oven that cooks the tiniest portions of food ever. They used a laser cutter to create the metal structure and skewers, then milled its handles out of a block of wood. We can’t help but think of playing foosball with the chicken, though.

We can’t think of a practical use for a vise you can fit between your fingertips, but that doesn’t make this tiny vise any less impressive. W&M Levsha created the micro tool by milling shapes from a small block of metal, drilling holes for its mechanism, then fitting it together with a teensy threaded rod and handle to make it work.

Bonsai trees are typically living plants that require an immense amount of care and precision pruning. These talented artists show us how they make bonsais that require no watering – using thousands of strands of stiff metal wire to create their intricate designs. We wonder how long the process takes to do in real time.

The Process K channel shares videos of industry at work in factories around Korea. In this clip, you’ll see how thick steel bars are stretched and pulled while hot to create skinny lengths of rebar used for reinforcing concrete. Let’s face it, can you ever get enough footage of molten hot steel?

Carry your beer or other canned drinks in style with this cool metal box from QnA Design. It’s handmade from aluminum sheets, riveted to form a hinged box. It has a built-in handle and holds up to six 12oz. cans. It also works as a lunch box when you’re not carrying beer. They also sell a premium model with a wooden handle.

As we’ve learned over and over again, crushing things with a hydraulic press can be quite satisfying. In this clip, the master of the machine shop, Lauri subjects tungsten, titanium, aluminum, magnesium, and copper cubes to the force of his press. Will freezing them in liquid nitrogen first cause them to explode?

Natasha, aka Cannon Doll-X, is just learning about blacksmithing. She recently attended Catskills Maker Camp, where she picked up some new skills and shows us some of what she learned by welding and hot-bending a metal rose. The event looks like a great opportunity for makers of all skill levels to get hands-on experience.

Scott from Wonder World was fascinated by a video that showed how large metal spheres are made using explosive hydroforming. Here, he dives deeper into the process, along with other methods used for making spheres from steel, such as the shiny art pieces made by Shenzhen Maoping Sculpture Arts.

Remember when you were a kid and burnt leaves with the sun and a magnifying glass? This is just like that, only bigger. For his graduation presentation, Jelle Seegers built a metal rig with a handmade fresnel lens on top that can concentrate solar rays tightly enough to smelt metal. It can achieve temperatures up to 1000ºC.

These personalized mugs from Germany’s Atelier Corvus are great for sipping coffee by the campfire. Each is made from colorful enameled steel wrapped with a handmade leather strap embossed with the mug owner’s name and fastened with brass studs. A handstitched leather sleeve covers the handle.

No animals were harmed in the making of these wire trophy heads from L.A.’s Bend Goods. They come in longhorn steer, gazelle, buffalo, and bear designs. Each one is made from galvanized steel and powder coated in orange, black, white, blue, or gold, so they’re safe to hang indoors or out.

This punch-out metal kit lets you assemble a 3D replica of a camera inspired by the Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV DSLR. Expect a challenging build that requires patience, a good set of needle-nose pliers, and the occasional Band-Aid. As it’s clearly not an official Canon product, it says “anon,” which we find kind of amusing.

Makers Simone Giertz and Laura Kampf were looking for inspiration for projects and came up with Build Dice. This set of aluminum dice helps set parameters for creative projects. The first cube has objects, the second has materials, and the third one has properties. They come in a handsome walnut display box.

We love the minimal form of these writing instruments from Stilform. They feature a smooth, anti-roll design and accept two kinds of magnetic tips – an “eternal” metal tip or a graphite tip. They come in four different materials: anodized aluminum, brass, titanium, and 24k gold. Pre-orders start shipping 11.2022.

Located in Quebec, Canada, the Shiship is a tiny home built into a high-cube shipping container. The 31-foot-long cabin has a massive picture window in the bedroom, custom wood cabinetry, a full kitchen, and a bathroom with a shower. Best of all, you can rent the house from Repère Boréal with access to their baths and sauna.

This stainless steel card incorporates a variety of drawing and measuring guides. It has a protractor for marking angles, and inch, centimeter, pica, and pixel rulers. It’s also got compass points, isometric grids and cubes, circles, and edge stencils. An upgraded package includes a leather card holder and a matching memo book.

After wowing us with their 60-sided RPG dice, Flying Horseduck is back with a series of 120-sided metal dice. Each 53mm die is CNC-milled from solid aluminum and weighs an impressive 0.5 pounds. Available in d20 and d120 variants in five colors plus a hefty 1.4-pound stainless steel version.

Displate makes distinctive wall art printed onto sheets of metal. This unique Star Trek poster features a bold and colorful representation of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701. The 12.6″ x 17.7″ print features 3D line art, glossy and matte accents, and a varnish that glows under UV light or briefly in the dark — limited to 1000 pieces.

A slick and futuristic desk for gamers or any computer setup. Its triple-decker design provides room for dual or ultra-wide monitors, a keyboard, mouse, controllers, headphones, and more. It has built-in cable management, a front-facing USB hub, and RGB LED accent lighting. They also sell a matching gaming chair.

An ordinary disco ball is made from hollow cardboard or plastic covered with a bunch of tiny mirrored tiles. But this unique disco ball from the Titans of CNC Machining is made entirely from a single block of aluminum. After milling the sphere, they used a unique burnishing tool to create its shiny facets.