Reviews & Features

Knipex Electrician’s Shears

I wandered into a friend’s shop today, a man deep in the guts of some vintage travel trailer, chasing wires through wall cavities like a man possessed. Electricity is pure voodoo to me, so I kept my distance and watched him wrestle a high-tech inverter, a bank of solar panels, and various other contraptions that demanded cable so thick it looked like it belonged on a suspension bridge. Then I noticed the shears. Tiny, almost dainty little Knipex bastards, barely bigger than what your grandmother uses at her sewing machine. The man was running them through wire after wire, fat …
News & Editorial

Amalgam Model Aging

I’m not a model guy really. Tiny cars, tiny tools, tiny little paint brushes… I appreciate the craft, but don’t have much interest in the final product. And this probably isn’t even in our lane since the video barely gets into the nuts and bolts of how the thing is built. But the early 911R? That car has lived in my bloodstream for years. I once built a clone and promptly balled it up like a reckless animal with more enthusiasm than talent. So yeah… I’ve got a soft spot. And then there’s Type 7. Those maniacs don’t just make …
Featured Spaces

The Bauhaus Garage

Okay… so maybe it’s not bauhaus. Maybe it’s more akin to mid-century modern. Either way, it’s perfect. Add to that, a Porsche 964 and a BMW 2002… Well, what more could you ask for? This is one of those gallery threads I’ve been quietly following for years. One of the very few that makes me stop whatever pointless task I’m in the middle of, sit down at a proper computer, and actually click the notification the second it pops up. And that got me thinking—if it gets under my skin like that, it probably deserves a little more attention. Some …
Featured Spaces

The Horologist’s Shop

Another day, another deep dive into a shop space. This time it’s the bench and tools of a horologist who specializes in vintage timepieces. I should say up front, I dabble in this world myself. Or more accurately, I dabble in watch modding. I love taking vintage watch parts, mostly Rolex and Tudor, mixing original components from different eras with a few well-made reproductions (read:fake), and building what I think of as hot rod watches. But this is a whole different animal. This is a guy restoring watches with tools and techniques I can’t even pretend to understand. He’s clearly …
Featured Spaces

A Cobbler’s Shop

I’ve said it a hundred times, but I never get tired of poking around shops run by people who do work I know nothing about. The specialized tools, the unfamiliar disciplines, the methods that look half–mad-science and half–old-world craft… it all feels a little mystical to me. This morning I somehow slipped headfirst into a cobbler rabbit hole. There’s a surprisingly deep pool of boot and shoe repair channels on YouTube, and I have no idea if this guy is the guy, but I love how he approaches his work. And as a Red Wing devotee, I can’t argue with the end …