Great Kids’ Gifts: My First Craftsman Kits
It’s never too early to start your kid on a life of satisfying project making. I saw these awesome “My First Craftsman” kids’ kits at the Craftsman Experience (I’ll be there later this week for a trebuchet build) and just got home from picking…
Whiskey Tricks: Proving Alcohol Content and Preserving Matter
(Quick reminder: add me on twitter and sign up for my newsletter for more cool science demos and awesome DIY projects) A few months ago I appeared in a couple episodes of How Stuff Works on Discovery channel. One of the episodes, “How Whiskey…
Improve Your TV Viewing With This 30-Minute Antenna Project For Free HDTV Broadcasts
I recently bit the bullet and bought a TV. Nothing extravagant, just a 28″ Hannspree LCD with enough resolution to allow it to double as a second computer monitor (and it does so nicely). But after years of using a Mac Mini, 19″ monitor,…
Make Awesome Neapolitan Pizza Using the Slice Broiler-Pizza Technique
One of the challenges I’m discovering as I push deeper and deeper for pizzamaking excellence is that the tools, techniques, and time involved become more intensive and demanding with each step forward. My pizza progression: Childhood pizzas were spaghetti sauce and cheese on french…
San Francisco Fire Department’s Ladder Shop-and Building Your Own Ladder
Inside the Ladder Shop at the San Francisco Fire Department – a wonderful look at a historic institution that has been building wooden ladders for the SFFD since the early 1900’s. Used instead of the modern lightweight metal versions due to the amount of…
DIY Folding Plywood Rack for Tacoma Pickups
Small pickups have advantages over their larger brothers, and in the case of Mike in Missouri, he decided to trade the cargo space of his big truck for the efficiency of a Toyota Tacoma. Unfortunately, the Tacoma’s wheel wells cramp the bed space and…
Calculating Trajectory – A Few Notes In Case You Ever Find Yourself Near a Giant Slingshot
Not every episode of Catch It Keep It involves saving falling objects – but as the title of the show indicates, it does happen from time to time. And when an object is launched through the air, it helps to know how to track the…
Una Pizza Napoletana Opening in San Francisco, Street Food, and Building Your Own Mobile Pizza Cooker
A few weeks ago I traveled to my old home of San Francisco to experience the opening days of an eagerly awaited new pizzeria: Una Pizza Napoletana. The opening was actually the rebirth of what had become a legendary pizzeria in NYC (which had…
Trebuchet Roundup: Eight Online Plans Reviewed For Building Your Own
It’s autumn again. Such a wonderful time of year. Cider, hay rides, freshly bought school supplies. And launching things far through the air with catapults and trebuchets. This year, instead of being a mere catapult observer, why not build your own? Building a basic…
How To Re-Key a Lock. How to Pick a Lock. How to Break a Kryptonite Lock
I have a bin full of keyless locks – probably a couple hundred dollars’ worth of them. One in particular, a bicycle cable lock made by Master Lock, would be perfect to help keep any potential barbeque thieves from stealing my new Weber from…
Hi, I'm Mike. I’m the executive editor of Make: magazine, and host of Discovery channel’s Punkin' Chunkin' and Catch It Keep It, TV shows where I build and explain crazy machines that crush stuff, blow things up, shoot fire, all in the name of science.
I've previously worked at Wired and ReadyMade magazines, writing about how to utilize new technology in our everyday lives.
This site is where I keep a list of instructions for fun projects I've done, am working on, or draw inspiration from. I encourage everyone to get involved — get up and do something!