Tools

DiResta: Leather Pants

DiResta: Leather Pants

In each bi-monthly episode of DiResta (every other Wednesday at 2pm PST), artist and master builder Jimmy DiResta (Dirty Money, Hammered, Against the Grain, Trash for Cash) lets us into his workshop, to look over his shoulder while he builds whatever strikes his fancy. On this episode of DiResta, Jimmy fashions himself a badass pair […]

Your Favorite Tools, Part 1

Your Favorite Tools, Part 1

The most recent special edition of the Make: Newsletter asked readers: What is your favorite tool? We got some fantastic responses, many with photographs, from makers all over the world. These are just a few of them. Thanks to all our newsletter subscribers, to everyone who responded, and especially to those of you who sent […]

Decorating Eggs With the EggLathe

Decorating Eggs With the EggLathe

Chris Connors is a master of low-tech making, and he’s built this “poor maker’s Eggbot” — an EggLathe. This EggLathe was built of laser cut corrugated plastic, and is an early iteration of the design. The first parts were cut of cardboard, but future parts should be cut from either acrylic or baltic birch plywood. […]

The Lost Art of Aztec Prismatic Blades

The Lost Art of Aztec Prismatic Blades

Start talking about flintknapping, and most people probably think of arrowheads or other projectile points. Though made using essentially the same fundamental techniques, a “prismatic blade” is a very different animal. In the archaeological record, prismatic blades appear as long, thin flakes of stone, usually having two parallel cutting edges and a trapezoidal or triangular cross-section. A few modern flintknappers make prismatic blades, but the leading light (online, at least) is probably Californian Jim Winn, aka paleomanjim.

The Aluminum Velociraptor

The Aluminum Velociraptor

I’m not an expert on dinosaurs, but the velociraptor is one of the more respected of their ilk (so I am told) and you really do have to respect such a clever girl properly, so I grabbed this velociraptor silhouette from OpenClipArt knowing that I’d find a use for it some day…

11 From 11: Apollo Moonshot Tools

In 1969, human beings first set foot on the moon. The mission was Apollo 11. Here are eleven tools that helped us do it. These are not rockets, spaceships, or robots–though those are certainly “tools,” in their own way–but humbler implements, having more in common with the bone club (to use the 2001 metaphor) than the satellite. But that is precisely why they are remarkable.