tools

“Tips My Dad Says” (with a SuperTool 300 Giveaway from Leatherman!)

“Tips My Dad Says” (with a SuperTool 300 Giveaway from Leatherman!)

By Gareth Branwyn

Gareth Branwyn

Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. His free weekly-ish maker tips newsletter can be found at garstipsandtools.com.

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This Father’s Day, we’re running a number of features on the site dedicated to dear ol’ dad. One of the them involves reaching out to you, our readers, and asking for tips and sayings from your father (or grandfathers) about the noble art of making things. We want to gather up the best of these “Tips My Dad Says” and will run a feature piece on Father’s Day (Sunday, June 18).

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Skill Builder: Making A Butterfly Spline (Or “Arikata”)

Skill Builder: Making A Butterfly Spline (Or “Arikata”)

By Gareth Branwyn

Gareth Branwyn

Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. His free weekly-ish maker tips newsletter can be found at garstipsandtools.com.

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Japanese-style woodworker, Len Cullum, shows us how to create a butterfly spline.

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A Better Way to Slice a Pumpkin

A Better Way to Slice a Pumpkin

By Sean Michael Ragan

Sean Michael Ragan

I am descended from 5,000 generations of tool-using primates. Also, I went to college and stuff. I am a long-time contributor to MAKE magazine and makezine.com. My work has also appeared in ReadyMade, c't – Magazin für Computertechnik, and The Wall Street Journal.

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A clever modification to the traditional way of cutting an opening in a pumpkin.

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Lost Knowledge: Cable Lacing

Lost Knowledge: Cable Lacing

By Gareth Branwyn

Gareth Branwyn

Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. His free weekly-ish maker tips newsletter can be found at garstipsandtools.com.

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Rediscover the lost art of cable and wire organizing known as cable lacing.

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HOW TO – Make the “Brain machine”

HOW TO – Make the “Brain machine”

Mitch Altman

By Mitch Altman

Mitch Altman

Mitch Altman is a San Francisco-based hacker and inventor, best known for inventing TV-B-Gone remote controls, a keychain that turns off TVs in public places. He was also co-founder of 3ware, a successful Silicon Valley startup in the late 1990s, and did pioneering work in Virtual Reality in the mid-1980s. He has contributed to MAKE Magazine and other magazines, and wrote a chapter for “Maker Pro”, a book about making a living from projects one loves. For the last several years Mitch has been giving talks, and leading workshops around the world, teaching people to make cool things with microcontrollers and teaching everyone to solder. He promotes hackerspaces and open source hardware wherever he goes. He is a co-founder of Noisebridge hackerspace in San Francisco, and is President and CEO of Cornfield Electronics.

Wikipedia page

TEDxBrussels talk: "The Hackerspace Movement"

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Best known for inventing TV-B-Gone, a keychain that turns off TVs in public places, Mitch Altman is interested in any technology that gives people more choices for improving their lives. You don’t have to be a Buddhist monk to meditate, or a Sleeping Beauty to sleep well. Achieve these altered states of consciousness, and others, […]

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