Ryan – The Garage Journal | The Garage Journal

A Savage Inventory of the Tools That Actually Matter

I was in the shop this morning, putting shit away where shit goes, and somewhere between the third coffee and a mild argument with a stubborn drawer that wouldn’t close, I started thinking: what are the real MVPs here? Not the obvious stuff. Not wrenches and sockets and the basic artillery that any functioning human being needs to get work done. I mean the things that changed the game. The things you didn’t know you needed until you had them, and now life without them seems barbaric. So I made a list. I thought about it for a few more …

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Reviews & Features

The OKnife U1 Utility Folder

I’ve been preaching the gospel of the EDC utility knife for years now. Not because it’s trendy or tactical or whatever the hell people are calling it this week, but because it works. Disposable blades just make more sense for the way I work and live. And over the last decade, I’ve probably burned through 20 or 30 different setups chasing something that didn’t annoy me. For the past five years, that something has been the Chaves Knives C.H.U.B. flipper, the black G10 bruiser sitting up top in the photos. It’s been flawless. Not “pretty good.” Flawless. It opens, it cuts, it …

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Featured Spaces

A MidCentury Shop In Scotland

My shop was never designed to be pretty. It was built to work. Every decision leaned toward function, and if the aesthetics didn’t quite follow, so be it. I don’t regret that approach at all. But as I’ve gotten older, and the all-night thrash sessions have become fewer and farther between, I’ve started to appreciate spaces that put a little more emphasis on comfort and atmosphere. Not above function, but closer to it. Which brings me to Nick Grant and his vintage-inspired workshop in Scotland. There’s something about the way he’s blended a proper working shop with a space you …

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Reviews & Features

The Mileseey XTAPE1

A few months back I gave a pretty glowing review of the Mileseey S50. Shortly after, they sent over their latest contraption, the $240 XTAPE1. I was supposed to get this write-up done months ago, but life did what life does and kicked the can down the road. Silver lining though, I’ve had a lot more time to live with the thing. So… what do I think? If there’s one thing that matters above all else with any measuring device, it’s trust. If you don’t trust it, it doesn’t matter how many features it has, your work is going to …

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Featured Spaces

Laura Kampf

I’ve been following Laura Kampf for close to a decade now, and there’s just something about the way she works that hits home. The style, the aesthetic, the willingness to jump between disciplines without overthinking it, she’s the definition of a true maker of things. Over the last couple of years she’s moved from Germany and is now in the middle of setting up a new shop in LA. Somewhere in the chaos of that, she picked up a $1 camper and decided to turn it into a backyard ADU of sorts… It’s exactly the kind of project I daydream …

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