2026-09-01 00:00:00
Tools need a home. Setting Up Shop is the best guide I’ve found for designing a workshop. It focuses on the practical details that other workshop books tend to ignore, like how to arrange the lighting, or set up dust collectors, design the placement of wiring, even determining the height of work surfaces. It got me thinking about aspects of a shop I had not considered before and helped me improve the plans for my shop. Its very thorough coverage of sound, light, air, and movement options makes it the most useful of the three books mentioned here.
Workshop Idea Book is a scrapbook of hundreds of tips and clever solutions for a shop discovered by others. It showcases a lot of storage suggestions, and ideas for arranging stuff, such as how to handle large sheets of materials. Think of it as a kind of great, well-curated Pinterest board for workshops.
Both of these books are biased to wood. A better version of either book would include metal and plastic working tools, which are ignored. This failing is somewhat countered by The Workshop Book which tours through a much larger variety of work places. It documents several workshops installed in trucks, or fit into apartments, or made portable with everything mounted on casters. I found the greater diversity of shops covered in this collection to be more useful to me since my shop is more general purpose.
The great designer’s guide to creating a small-time prototype shop with laser cutters, 3D printers, solder stations, as well as drill presses and table saws, has not be written yet. In the meantime, these three idea books will get you started. — KK
From Setting Up Shop
Orienting Machines in a Line
By carefully coordinating the positions and table heights of stationary machines, you can reduce the amount of clearance between certain machines. For example, by placing machines such as a shaper/router table, oscillating-spindle sander or disc sander, and horizontal boring machine in line, then setting them up with all their tables level and at the same height, a long workpiece may rest or slide on an adjacent machine’s table (as shown here). Such an arrangement allows you to handle large or long work without having to rely on outfeed tables or roller stands for support. For this same reason, it’s a good idea to level the tabletops of benchtop tools that are in close proximity to one another.
From Workshop Idea Book
THREE SAWS IN ONE. For serious production work, two or more saws combined into one sawing station let you mill wood and cut joints without breaking down your setups. The three cabinet saws at Placeways Woodworking share a central shopbuilt table, which doubles as an auxiliary work surface.
PLUGGED PIPES. Make good use of inexpensive PVC pipe to store lathe tools and make them portable as well. Doug Stowe’s pipes are mounted to a French-cleat system on the wall and can be moved to the lathe when needed. The top of the pipes are cut at an angle to facilitate loading, and the bottoms are plugged with wood.
SHOPPING IN THE SHOP. A converted shopping cart makes a convenient rolling hardware station. For his cart, dubbed the “piercing pagoda,” Gabe Aucott added a plywood top fitted with divided boxes to keep screws and other hardware neatly sorted and a staging platform at one end. Below, a large plywood box holds glue and other assembly tools.
From The Workshop Book
Once a week we’ll send out a page from Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities. The tools might be outdated or obsolete, and the links to them may or may not work. We present these vintage recommendations as is because the possibilities they inspire are new. Sign up here to get Tools for Possibilities a week early in your inbox.
2026-08-31 00:00:00
I watch a LOT of YouTube videos about making stuff. Mostly people in their workshops making furniture, or props, or costumes, or miniatures, or their own tools, or weird art. One of the best teachers in this maker-verse is Laura Kampf. Based in LA, she calls herself the Janitor of LA because she likes to pick up junk and turn it into useful stuff. I like her style, both her style in videos and her style of creations. She is a born teacher, and more than most makers, manages to extract teachable pithy advice from what she does. As just one example: she says the best art pieces come from pairing worn, old junky things with new glossy parts for contrast, so the artifacts are hybrids — slick new knobs on a rust box — which is true but it would have taken me a long time to notice that. — KK
This is a reference card of nine somatic exercises for resetting your nervous system. Three of them made me realize I’ve been instinctually self-soothing for years: the physiological sigh helps me expel anxious energy, situational humming has been happening without my awareness since childhood, and the butterfly hug helps slow me down and relax. I didn’t realize humming was self-regulation until I was an adult, after enough annoyed people pointed it out and I looked into it. If you read through the rest, you might recognize a few things your body already knows how to do. — CD
The U.S. Department of State website has an at-a-glance travel advisories world map that shows the safety of different countries. You can click on any country to see the full travel advisory. I was surprised to see that many European countries, such as Germany, are at Level 2 (Exercise increased caution), while Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan are at Level 1 (Exercise normal precautions). — MF
Copynpaste is a one-tool webpage for moving text between apps without losing its formatting. Paste in something bolded, italicized, or otherwise styled, choose where it’s going, and it converts the formatting into the language that app understands, all privately in your browser. The tool feels related to another one I’ve recommended before and still use at least once a week: ConvertCase, which does exactly what it says. — CD
Neal Stephenson publishes impossibly long science-fictiony novels. He also is a keen observer and writes an irregular Substack with much shorter essays featuring his eclectic interests. He doesn’t post often on Graphomane, but it is always interesting when he does. — KK
It’s a hassle to carry reading glasses everywhere I go. I bought some ThinOptics Keychain Reading Glasses that bend in half and slide into a case the size of a car key. They pinch comfortably on my nose, so they don’t need arms. They are nearly flat and incredibly lightweight. — MF
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2026-08-30 00:00:00
Tools That Continue to Delight Daily
Here’s a new periodic column where I again profress my love for a tool I recommended in a previous newsletter.
I wrote about Sewing Machine Lights in issue #208. These cheap, corded, gooseneck lights on a magnetic base use 36 bright LEDs to give you extra illumination on or near a tool or workbench. They come with six adhesive metal disks that you can mount around the shop so the light can be moved to where you need it. There are battery/rechargeable versions, but they’re more expensive and obviously need regular charging. You can get a 3-pack of the corded lights for $18.
My friend and former work colleague, Sean Ragan, shared this 3D print on Facebook recently, saying “This NPT thread checker…may be the most useful thing I’ve made this year.” Sean has long been a thread-checker enthusiast. Here he is extolling the virtues of two commercial checkers six years ago on Cool Tools (a wall-mounted checker and one cable-wired model).
For the above 3D-printed checker, on its Thingiverse page, he writes:
This quick 5-minute print organizes 5 pairs of male-to-female NPT thread adapters in every standard size between 1/8” and 3/4”. If you’ve ever worked with this kind of pipe before, you know that the nominal size is only loosely related to the actual size and having a reference like this is a lot faster than breaking out the calipers, taking an OD measurement, and looking it up. You could also laser-cut it from any stock about 3/16” thick. To assemble, just pass the male end of each adapter through the corresponding opening on the front side of the plate, then tighten the female end onto the male threads from the back side.
Do you have favorite “adaptive tech” that you use in your work and home life? I’d love to hear about it.
For a healthy wrist, to bend at, say a 30-degree angle to hold a vacuum hose or other tool is not a problem. For a person like myself with arthritis, it’s a literal pain. Woodworker Glenn Frazee put this handle together with scraps from the shop. Not the prettiest solution, but it looks like it gets the job done.
When I was a kid, my dad went through a phase where he fancied himself an inventor. One of the things he tried to patent was a clip-on soda/beer can handle. It was really cool to watch him sketch out and then create technical drawings (he was a civil engineer), prototype different handle designs, and draw up the patent. At 10, or whatever age I was, this was a great early maker lesson in just doing it (and the value in having developed the skill-sets to do it). This 3D printed ergonomic handle reminded me of dear ol’ dad’s design.
Small tools often come with big compromises. They can be awkward to hold, flimsy, or simply don’t work very well. In this video from the American Electrician, Sparky looks at a collection of genuinely professional-grade mini tools that prove compact doesn’t have to mean cheap.
The clear standout is the PB Swiss Pocket Driver. Sparky admits he thought these palm-sized drivers were gimmicks until he tried one. With a smooth rotating bit carousel, powerful magnet, standard 1/4-inch bits, and impeccable Swiss fit n’ finish, it’s become one of his favorite compact drivers. He’s equally enthused over Milwaukee’s tiny 5-inch pliers wrench, which packs surprising capability into a pocket-sized tool. He also praises Knipex‘s TwinGrip and miniature Cobra pliers, which he considers the gold standard for compact grippers.
Other favorites include Klein’s compact digital angle gauge, Makita’s clever compact socket sets, and Klein’s interchangeable flip-socket nut driver system, all of which save considerable space without sacrificing a lot functionality.
If you’re putting together an EDC toolkit, travel kit, or simply looking to lighten your tool bag load, there are several gems here worth knowing about.
I’ve been a devoted fan of Donald Bell’s Maker Update since the first episode. Every week, Donald or Tyler Wingarner (and periodic quest hosts) do something I deeply appreciate: they comb through the vast maker world, find some of the most interesting projects, clever tools, and unexpected, whimsical ideas, and package them into tight, entertaining roundups. It saves me hours of wandering down YouTube rabbit holes (when I don’t have time fo’ dat) while still making me feel connected to what’s happening across the maker world.
This most recent episode is especially strong. The first project features one of the coolest phone-based robots I’ve ever seen. It repurposes an old iPhone, using it as the robot’s brains. Download a $20 app, add some simple electronics and a handful of 3D-printed parts, and you’ve got a surprisingly capable little walking robot. I suspect many of us have an aging iPhone cast off in a drawer somewhere, waiting for a second life as a robot brain.
The next project heads in a decidedly different direction. A maker used recordings of his late grandfather’s voice, along with ChatGPT, to create a talking Big Mouth Billy Bass that lets him continue conversations with a sort of AI analog of gramps. On paper, it sounds like the setup for a Black Mirror episode. In practice, it’s unexpectedly moving, and it raises all sort of interesting questions.
Some will find it unsettling, even staright-up inappropriate. Others may see it as a new kind of memory object, one that preserves not just someone’s image or voice, but a little of the way they thought and spoke (see Rudy Rucker’s lifebox and soft death concepts in some of his writing, especially The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul). Wherever you come down on it, it’s definitely a fascinating project.
I now have well over 10,000 subscribers to this humble little newsletter. And 50 paid subscribers. A million thanks to all of you. Doing this newsletters is a true joy for me and I especially like feeling like I’m connected to a community of fellow makers. Thanks to everyone who’s sent me an email, made a comment, shared a tip or tool. Let’s keep the ball rolling for another 200 issues!
If you want to financially support this work, please consider a paid subscription. It helps keep me in handsome, black Carhartt workshirts. I appreciate you.
A very special thanks to Hero of the Realm subscribers: Moses Hawk, Jim Coraci, Donobster, Peter Sugarman, and Will Phillips for your generous support.
2026-08-29 00:00:00
Exactly is a history of precision engineering. It reveals how our ability to make and measure things to increasingly fine tolerances enabled people to create everything from steam engines to microprocessors.
Precision engineering kicked off in 18th-century Britain with John “Iron-Mad” Wilkinson, who bored cannon barrels accurate enough to make James Watt’s steam engine possible. Before this, mechanisms were one-offs without swappable parts.
Assembly lines depend on matching components. Interchangeable parts made mass production and modern consumer goods like the Model T affordable.
Each section of the book is labeled with an order-of-magnitude accuracy, starting at 0.1 inches (boring cannons) and decreasing by factors of 1,000 until reaching the atomic level (fabricating microchips with billions of transistors).
The pursuit of the ultra-precise can sometimes work against craftsmanship, art, and the beauty of imperfection. Japan displays “an aesthetic sensibility wherein asymmetry and roughness and impermanence are accorded every bit as much weight as are the exact, the immaculate, and the precise.”
“There are now more transistors at work on this planet (some 15 quintillion, or 15,000,000,000,000,000,000) than there are leaves on all the trees in the world.”
Book Freak is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run Recomendo, the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Recomendo Deals, Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper, and Book Freak.
2026-08-28 00:00:00
I highlighted this product years ago in passing when I first started using it, but it has been in my bag ever since: Bigelow Shaving Cream with eucalyptus and coconut oil. Most home shaving creams are large, pressurized, and utilize lots of single-use plastic, but this one is in a carry-on-sized metal tube that gets smaller as you use more of it. One tube can last a year of trips, even for frequent travelers.
Now we know where all those tourists who skipped the USA went last year. The full 2025 numbers are out and Europe pulled in a third of all travel spending worldwide, a mind-boggling $2 trillion in expenditures. This is despite heat waves in high season, overcrowding in famous destinations, and attraction prices that can max out the credit card. If there’s a lesson from that article, it’s to avoid July and August if at all possible and try to get into less-visited areas that will be happy to see you instead of destinations that are wishing you would stay away.
When Going.com crunched the data for the most frequent flight deals in the USA, Denver and New Orleans had the most domestic deals, thanks to lots of competition. For international flights, you’re fortunate if you live near Boston, New York City, or Orlando. See the details here. A similar study for Europe found that the most frequent flight bargains are to or from airports with a strong budget airline presence: Dublin, Barcelona, Lisbon, Milan, and the non-Heathrow London airports. If you’re flying business class though, the differences flatten out. Dublin, Oslo, Stockholm, and Madrid offer the best fares, but the variance between them and the most expensive (Zurich) is much smaller than in economy class.
I recently updated and republished this post from a few years ago on the cheapest places to travel in South America because political factors have radically changed the exchange rate landscape in some destinations. The U.S. dollar has lost a lot of its value under the current administration, so articles from earlier than January 20, 2025 are likely to be way off base. Then the local political situations in Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia have further influenced what you’ll pay. Same as it ever was in Ecuador though: they use the greenback as their official currency.
A weekly newsletter with four quick bites, edited by Tim Leffel, author of A Better Life for Half the Price and The World’s Cheapest Destinations. See past editions here, where your like-minded friends can subscribe and join you.
2026-08-27 00:00:00
I’m a wife, mom, daughter, friend, and residential interior decorator. Some of my most meaningful work is creating shelter-room makeovers for families experiencing homelessness through A Lotta Love. I’m also a flea market enthusiast, party planner and hostess, British programming aficionado, and delighted friend to all dogs.
“Healthy Birds Leave the Nest”
Our son and only child is leaving for college in August and spending his very first semester overseas in Rome. We are filled with excitement for him, while our hearts ache at the thought of his absence from our daily lives.
My motherly instinct is to keep him close and safe forever, but I keep reminding myself: healthy birds leave the nest. He is meant to go out into the world, discover who he is and who he wants to become, grow through new experiences and challenges, and begin finding his own way.
We are endlessly proud of the kind, thoughtful young man he has become, and we will always be here, cheering him on from home.
He’s got this. And, eventually, so will we.
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