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Awesome Metal

Diesel Fish Rope Tie

Diesel Fish Rope Tie

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 0.25″ or smaller rope or paracord.

Machining a 500-Pound Chess Board

Machining a 500-Pound Chess Board

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.

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How Steel Chains are Made

How Steel Chains are Made

Think of how strong a steel chain can be. Then imagine the forces that must be necessary to shape and connect its links. In this video from Engineering and Architecture, we get an up-close look at a specialized machine that takes lengths of steel wire, then scores, cuts, bends, and presses the pieces together.

Superegg

Superegg
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The latest addition to AltDynamic’s series of collectible desktop curiosities comes in a satisfying tubular egg shape. Inspired by the mathematics of Gabriel Lamé and the 1960s Superegg design by Piet Hein, the roly-poly metal egg comes in titanium, stainless steel, and copper editions with machined or mirrored finishes.

Pivot Magnetic Fidget Toy

Pivot Magnetic Fidget Toy

We love seeing unique takes on fidget toy designs, and the Pivot is unlike any other we’ve seen. It consists of a Reuleaux triangle body and an oblong flipper which can be pushed from corner to corner thanks to neodymium magnets. Available in titanium or bronze, as well as anodized colors and laser-etched patterns.

Skull Door Knocker

Skull Door Knocker
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Sure, you could go with one of those newfangled Ring video doorbells, or you could go old school and put a knocker on your door. Etsy shop Skulls4All sells these cast aluminum skull door knockers that are sure to scare off any unwanted solicitors who show up at your door.

Metal Animals by Andrew Chase

Metal Animals by Andrew Chase

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.

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ForeverPen

ForeverPen

This tiny writing instrument goes anywhere and never needs ink. It uses a special silver composite tip that can leave its mark on a wide variety of surfaces. It measures less than 1″ long, and can also be used for opening boxes. Choose from titanium, copper, or brass variants.

Machined Metal Soap Dishes

Machined Metal Soap Dishes

Most soap dishes are made from plastic, ceramic, or wood. But we dig the more substantial look of Lukas Alberts’ soap dishes, which are machined from metal with strategically-placed ridges to keep soap bars from getting soggy. They come in solid aluminum or copper, both of which will oxidize and patina over time.

Mephisto Spiral Illusion

Mephisto Spiral Illusion

This pair of stiff wires have each been bent into a spiral shape, then coiled together. You would think that pulling on their ends would pull them apart, but they don’t. Vsauce’s Jake Roper shows off this curious illusion and explains how it works. The Mephisto Spiral and other fun items can be found in The Curiosity Box.

Hexahog Metal Puzzle

Hexahog Metal Puzzle

Rademic Puzzles creates awesome-looking metal puzzles, including the stainless steel Hexahog. This 3-dimensional puzzle is made of 14 unique pieces which interlock to form an outer cage and an inner cage, which contains a sculptural brass nugget. PuzzleMaster explains the puzzle’s design without giving away any tricks.

The Home Blacksmith

The Home Blacksmith
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We’ve featured lots of blacksmithing videos over the years, and perhaps we’ve inspired a few of you to try it for yourself. Ryan Ridgway’s book provides step-by-step instructions and photos for 40 projects you can do with basic equipment at home. You’ll also learn about the science and history of blacksmithing along the way.

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Making a Hornet from Hardware

Making a Hornet from Hardware

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.

Nelles Metal Ray Gun

Nelles Metal Ray Gun
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Michigan artist Scott Nelles hand crafts all kinds of neat objects from cast metals. Among them is this awesome retro-futurist ray gun that looks straight out of Flash Gordon. The 15″ long space artifact is made from bronze and aluminum and features a working trigger. We also love his flying saucer and rocket coin bank.

Making Round Dice Spinners

Making Round Dice Spinners

Standard 6-sided dice are cube-shaped. But it’s also possible to make cylindrical dice – the trick is that they spin instead of roll. Metalsmith W&M Levsha demonstrates their craft by fabricating a pair of smooth-rolling metal dice spinners, each laser-engraved with six numbers. Tiny magnets ensure they stop in the right spots.

Aircraft Instrument Coasters

Aircraft Instrument Coasters
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The perfect gift for aviation fanatics, this set of round nickel coasters features images of four critical instruments from an airplane cockpit – the turn indicator, the attitude indicator, the heading indicator, and the altimeter. Backed with felt to protect your coffee table.

Hydraulic Press vs. Red Hot Steel

Hydraulic Press vs. Red Hot Steel

The Hydraulic Press Channel usually shows how machines can be used to destroy stuff. But in this video, they take us inside Componenta, where such equipment is used to create things. Watch as a molten pillar of steel is loaded into a duo of presses, which gradually shape it into a ring that will be used to make a giant gear.

Dirty Dozen Puzzle

Dirty Dozen Puzzle
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Puzzle Master’s metal plaything offers a Level 9 challenge for serious puzzle fiends. It’s made from 12 identical interlocking pieces that are painfully difficult to take apart and put back together. Despite having four fewer pieces, their similar Lattice puzzle is rated a Level 10 difficulty.

Milling a Metal Gear

Milling a Metal Gear

Machine shop DataPro shares hypnotic 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?

AKO DICE III: Dragon Stone

AKO DICE III: Dragon Stone

These unique metal dice from AKO have a modern look while incorporating a texture inspired by a dragon’s scales. Instead of round dice pips, numbers are represented with lines that mimic a dragon’s claw marks. They’re machined from aluminum and come in five colors. A 10-dice set includes a case/dice tower combo.

Hex Nut Dog Sculpture

Hex Nut Dog Sculpture

Metalsmith Alec Steele takes a momentary break from forging cool things to create a sculpture of his dog, Yoga. After measuring his pup’s proportions, he created a wire skeleton, then welded together numerous steel nuts in various sizes to form the metal dog-ppelganger’s bust.

Metal Earth Star Wars Figures

Metal Earth Star Wars Figures
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Why buy off-the-shelf Star Wars figures when you can build your own? These flat-pack metal models aren’t easy to assemble, but the resulting sculptures will be worth the effort. They come in Darth Vader, Stormtrooper, Boba Fett, C-3PO, and R2-D2 variants. Patience and tweezers not included.

Automog Machined Metal Pens

Automog Machined Metal Pens

Machinist Brian Howey of Automog designs and fabricates these smooth metal writing instruments. Available in brass, copper, or aluminum, the pens feature a satisfyingly clicky mechanism. Options include a cleanly-integrated pocket clip, a textured grip, and a custom leather pen case from UpState Handmade.

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