Jesus taught in parables, and Polonius advised his king "by indirections to find directions out." One of the best things about revisiting classic sports movies as an adult is suddenly realizing all the incredible themes and lessons that were way over your head as a boy, but you likely absorbed through osmosis. Whether you’ve never seen these films or can practically do them as a one-man show, here are seven classic movies about sports that are really about something else…   

Field of Dreams: Fatherhood

“If you build it, he will come,” says a mysterious voice on the wind to Iowa farmer, Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner). What follows is an iconic saga of family and Americana as Ray transforms his cornfield into a fully functional baseball field in the conscious hope that it’ll bring Shoeless Joe Jackson back from the dead. Under the surface though lies a heartwarming and heartbreaking tale of a modern man’s struggle to understand adulthood and connect with the dreams of his lost father and the simultaneous idealism and compromise of his father’s generation. The movie unfolds like a pastoral fable and never ceases to bring the tears a-flowin’.

Remember The Titans: Racism/Acceptance (duh) 

Nothing pastoral here. It’s grit and racism in this small town true story of 1971 and the undefeated high school football team that fought each game to overcome the hatred surrounding their recently integrated high school. This one is pretty obviously about something besides simply winning the championship, but it set the bar for modern sports movies by overtly taking a thematic stand on something greater than football. If you were alive if 00’s, you must have seen this movie and would recognize the majority of the high school players for their now-famous careers (Ryan Gosling, Wood Harris, Donald Faison, Kate Bosworth, Hayden Panettiere). 

Bull Durham: Manhood 

What begins as a story about the “religion of baseball” unfolds to be a tale about manhood in this unique romantic film. Kevin Costner stars (yet again) as veteran catcher Crash Davis who’s been hired to mentor hotshot pitching prodigy Nuke LaLoosh (Tim Robbins) and help mold him into major league material. In the meantime there’s a fantastic love triangle thanks to Susan Sarandon that makes this film a great one to share with a lady. Perhaps the most memorable scene is Crash’s speech to Susan Sarandon about what he believes in (and thereby what kind of man he is), although I also think this sceneis a great second place as well.   

The Natural: Integrity

Based on Bernard Malamud’s 1952 novel (albeit with a markedly different ending), The Natural tells the romanticized tale of Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford) on his interrupted quest to become “the best there ever was.” Generally considered to be the best baseball film of all time, the film is an American tale of one man’s struggle to stay true to his dream for himself despite stacked odds and being surrounded by soul-corrupting evils. It’s exciting to watch an Hobbs’ perspective through the movie as it’s rare to see a character with such thorough self-knowledge. Also needing to be mentioned is the films spectacular cinematography (by Zooey Deschanel’s father) and an Aaron Copland-esque score by Randy Newman. I envy people who get to see this movie for the first time for all of its feel-good sports moments.

[N.B. I’m a firm believer in viewing the original cut of the film since the Director’s Cut includes flashbacks/forwards that take away from the power of one of the film’s most jarring and shocking scenes. Trust me.]

Rudy: Perseverance 

Rudy tells the true story of Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger, a hopelessly small and talentless young man who dreams of playing football for Notre Dame. Throughout the film you watch Rudy face setback after setback, as he struggles to keep the faith alive to achieve the impossible for himself. Aside from stirring montages and one of the most emotionally fulfilling third act payoffs, one of the best scenes features this confrontational speech from Rudy’s janitorial boss played by Charles S. Dutton.

Rocky: Resilience 

In contrast to Rudy’s moral of perseverance, Rocky is much more about resilience – simply working hard enough and having enough guts to stand tall at the end of a truly impossible fight. When a down-and-out nobody is given an impossible shot at the boxing heavyweight championship of the world, Rocky Balboa knows he doesn’t stand a chance. Nevertheless, he brings the heart one could hope for in this stirring story of resilience.  It takes guts to make a film in which the hero doesn’t win, and it’s all the more charming when you know that Sylvester Stallone wrote this Best Picture winner that later spawned 5 sequels with a new spinoff just about to begin production.

Hoosiers: Redemption 

It’s been said that there are only two types of stories in the world: a hero goes on a journey, and a stranger comes to town. I can’t think of a more emblematic film for the latter sentiment than David Anspaugh’s 1988 film Hoosiers. Everything changes for the lone town of Hickory, Indiana when a blunt coach (the stellar Gene Hackman) with a mysterious past tries to lead the high school team to the state finals in 1954. The tale (loosely based on a true story) tells an uplifting story exemplifying the importance of fundamentals in everything while also asking important questions about manhood. Can you escape your past? Can a lost man be redeemed? How much good can a flawed man still do? Not to be missed is one of the all time best performances by Dennis Hopper as the town drunk and father of one of the starting players.

[I’ve now wasted so much time re-watching clips from every film for this article. I regret nothing.]

Gives a whole new meaning to the concept of "finish coat," right?

Woodworker Rob Brown invites us to look at our hand tool collection in whole new light... not simply using the tool only for tasks it was intended for, but as opportunities to see these common items beyond their typical use.

Specifically, how can nails and sets and screws and chisels and gouges and even small power tools continue to interact with the wood to create signature textures on you projects, giving them a whole new look? 

Brown explores several common tools, most of which you probably have in your workshop already, and shows the kind of reoccurring patterns and textures they can create in the surfaces of your stock and materials. The results are pretty amazing, and a great way to add a signature look to your finished projects. 

Check out the full piece at Canadian Woodworking: 12 Ways To Add Texture With Tools You Already Have [via Makezine]

I have a million e-mails. It's not actually a million, but it makes my soul feel that way. I know this feeling. It happens when I've been staring too long at a screen, clicking reply until I lose track of time and space and what name I'm supposed to sign in the sendoff. (It's Chris. My name is Chris.) The only way to fix it? Get away from the computer, turn on some music, and build something.

So let's go out to the shop and build a box that will never, ever have e-mails in it. Here's a simple woodworking project that can get you back to working with your hands, but isn't too fussy or complicated. And the cool part — it uses just a few basic tools and single board. When it's done, you'll have a stylish, versatile, stacking storage solution that will come in handy in any room in your house.  

Tools & Materials

• Circular saw (Hint: we're giving this away! Scroll down for info)
• Cordless drill/driver (This too! Scroll down for info)
• Two 18" clamps
• Tape measure
• Coping saw
• Wood glue
• 3/8" diameter dowel rod
• 8' long 1x12" wood board, one per box (we used select grade pine)
• Sandpaper (medium and fine)
• 1" Forstner bit
• #6 Coutersink/counterbore bit 
• Speed square
• Hammer and nail
• 2" long #7 wood screws

This build uses only two power tools, one eight-foot-long pine board, and some basic hand tools. If you don't want to cut the lumber yourself, you can get it cut to size at The Workbench, an innovate customer service center at your local Orchard Supply Hardware store (they can cut rope, wire, chain and wood, make keys, and sharpen tools too).  

Step 1

Begin by cutting your wood to size. One great way to get straight cuts with a circular saw is by using a speed square as a guide fence. Cut five pieces of wood to the following dimensions:

• Front and back: 14 3/4" x 11 1/4"
• 2 sides: 11 1/4" square
• Bottom: 13 1/4" by 11 1/4"

Step 2

On each side panel, draw a horizontal line near the top (we placed ours 2" from the top). Now find the center of the side, and mark. This will be the center of your box handle. Measure out 1.5" to each side from this spot and make a mark. These crosshairs are the starting point (center) of your Forstner bit. 

As shown below in the image below, make a starting divot for your 1" Forstner bit using a hammer and nail. This prevents the bit from wandering when you start drilling, making for a cleaner hole. Next, drill down all the way through, keeping your bit as plumb as possible. Use some scrap wood underneath your work piece to prevent tearout. Repeat for both side panels of the box.

Step 3

Now, use a coping saw to cut out the waste between the two holes you just drilled. A coping saw is a great, affordable tool that allows you to make difficult cuts in tight spaces. It take a little practice to get the hang of it, so if you've never used one before, try a few cuts on some scrap wood first.  

Step 4

We're going to be joining our pieces together using counterbored screws.  This allows us to sink the screw heads below the surface, and hide them under wooden plugs. It's also really strong; great for moving heavy objects around, and you'll never have to worry about dropping your precious record collection. 

Lay out your drill points first by marking a line 3/8" from the outside edges of the front and back boards. Your drill holes will run along both sides (across the grain) and the bottom of the front and back boards. I evenly spaced five holes along the sides, and six holes along the bottom. Once your points are marked, drill through (again, use scrap wood below) using your counter bore bit. Adjust the stop on the counter bore bit so that the tip of the counterbore will not blow the opposite side. Then drill each hole until the stop collar hits your work piece.

Step 5

Now it's time to put everything together. Use your clamps to assemble the box, making sure your edges are flush. Insert the bottom piece to keep everything square.  

Now, using a 1/8" drill bit, drill through the counterbores to make pilot holes in the side pieces. This will keep your screws from splitting the material. 

Step 6

Use a driver bit to screw the pieces together. If you've done everything right, you can't really screw this up (no pun intended). Just make sure you slow the drill down toward the end so you don't strip the screws. You can also finish the job by hand with a #2 screwdriver. 

Step 7

The counterbores are filled in with 3/8" dowel rods. These aren't structural; they just hide the screw heads. Cut thirty-two 1"-long pieces out of your dowel rods. You can do this with a coping saw, like I did, or if you have another crosscut saw, like a miter saw, you can cut them that way. Just make sure you stay safe with the small size. (Check your local Orchard store; they may have pre-cut dowel rods for just this sort of thing. Look in the hardware aisle.) 

Once cut, dip one end in glue and insert them into the counter bores, tapping them in gently with a hammer. 

Step 8

Wait about half an hour for the glue to set up, then use the coping saw to cut off the excess dowel rod material. Be careful not to mar the finished surfaces when you do this; it's better to leave a little too much than to cut too close.   

Step 9

Sand the remaining material down until it's flush with the surface. Use a scrap block of wood to back up the sandpaper so you don't round over the edges. Sand with the grain and don't use too much pressure.  

What I love about these boxes is that they're strong, stackable, and you can fit all kinds of stuff in 'em. I'm using them for my  record collection, but they'd also be great for toys, , winter clothing (hats and gloves), or as closet organizers. They're sturdy enough for tools or heavy items; you can even stand on them without worrying that they'll break.

They work resting on either the long or short sides, or the base, and can be mixed and matched as needed. I made an extra one to house my lineup of books to read.  I plan to whip up a few more to use in my garage for strong project-specific storage.

The Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow along with the #OrchardSimple campaign on their blog, Facebook, and Pinterest pages. It's all about thoughtful DIY projects that you can take on to help simplify your daily life. Can't beat that. 

This post is sponsored by Orchard Supply Hardware. Thanks for supporting the brands that make ManMade possible.

We believe in investing in long-lasting, high-quality kitchen gear; things worth saving up for, that you know will stand up to daily use. Opting for a legit forged steel chef's knife, say... one that can be sharpened and honed over and over and will last you the rest of your life, and then some.

But, investment pieces are just that: investments. Those things cost money, and they're well worth it. But thankfully, you can fill in the gaps with a selection of totally affordable and super useful kitchen tools, many of which cost less than a lunch at a local bistro. So with that in mind, here's our list of inexpensive, high-quality, and crazy versatile culinary tools with which you should be stocking your kitchen, all of which come in at less than twenty-five bucks.

1. The Best Ever $7 Y-Peeler: The vegetable peeler than puts others in their place. Traditional "long" peelers, with the handle to the side, work best for long things like carrots or cucumbers, but the stouter Y-design makes quick work of round or oblong shapes... like a nice, thick swatch of orange peel for your Old Fashioned.

2. One Wooden Spoon to Rule Them All: Every dish cooked on the stovetop needs turned, flip, stirred, scraped, or otherwise fussed with in order to turn out just right. You can't do everything with one utensil, but a properly-shaped spoon can get you pretty far. 

My current favorite is this "corner spoon" from Oxo. It's made of solid beech, has a nice heft and balance, and one corner is honed into a spatula-like edge that allows you get into corners of a pan, and wedge it under food to flip.

3. A Nice-Enough, Reliable Instant Read Thermometer: The definition of cooking is to change something to the right temperature. Often, you can tell what that is by smell or visual clues, but there are countless times where it's nice just to know what temp something actually is. 

I'm lucky enough to have one of those super fancy, $100 laboratory grade digital thermometers, and it's amazing. But I also have this $24.99 version from Javelin...and the truth is, I use them interchangeably. Sure, it's a bit slower to give a reading, but unless you're a scientist, save yourself $75 and grab one of these. 

4.  A collapsible funnel: I tend to think it's hard to improve on a classic, and most contemporary, "as seen on TV" takes on standard tools are just novelties. (Designated avocado tool? Banana keeper?) The collapsible silicone funnel is a true exception. Why? Well, it's small, it funnels things, and then it squashes down to flat and therefore actually fits in a drawer instead of banging into the walls and top of your cabinetry. Just like it says it will.

And it's precise. I admit, most of my joy with this thing comes during photoshoots, where I regularly need to pour wet and messy ingredients over styled setups with no spilling or splashing. And this thing gets the job done. Use it, rinse it, use it again, throw it in the dishwasher, and store until next time. It may be the best $3.00 I've ever spent.

5. Handle Mitt/Hot Handle Holder/Whatever This Is: One of my favorite cooking methods is to start browning something in a stainless steel or cast iron skillet on a burner to create a great caramelized exterior, then finish it in the oven to cook evenly to temp. Here's the thing: when you stick a pan handle in the oven, it gets hot. And even if you remember that when you take it out of the oven at first, odds are, you'll forget once it's back on the stovetop and you go to serve the dish. Or worse, someone else in your house doesn't know it's hot and tries to help wash the dishes, and then - boom! - singed flesh.

These hot handles take care of both shielding the handle, and signaling to yourself and others that, yep, it's still hot. 

ManMade Recommended: Lodge Striped Hot Handle Holders/Mitts, Set of 2- $7.05

6. Small Footprint, Long-Handled Steel Mashing Tool - Technically, the item in the photo is a potato masher. I can't speak to how well it makes mashed potatoes (I do mine in a ricer), but it's super awesome at mashing everything else.

What? Well, whole tomatoes for a sauce. Refried beans. Parts of soup when you just want to add a little thickening texture. Fresh fruit. Fresh vegetables. Lemons and limes for drinks. Basically, everything. 

So, what's the deal with the "small footprint" size? Easy — it fits in my countertop utensil caddy with all the other long-handled doodads. And it's not huge like my old masher that perhaps made less lumpy potatoes, but constantly got stuck in a shallow drawer and prevented me from accessing any tools inside ever and eventually got so frustrating that I threw it across the kitchen. (To its credit, it survived the crash.)

7. Wooden Baking Peel - Do you need one of these? Nope. Are they $14 and crazy helpful when dealing with hot stuff and you should buy one anyway? Absolutely.

Besides easily handling of raw and cooked pizza and breads, theses are awesome for serving appetizers, paddling out polenta, and make a decent cutting board when all others in your house are in use. Make it easier to store by drilling a large hole in the handle and then taking some sandpaper to the whole thing.

8. Come-Apart Kitchen Shears: These dudes are exactly what they look like: scissors, for your kitchen. Why is that awesome? They get into places a knife cannot, make quick work of small veg and herbs, and, because they're a kitchen tool, are always on hand when you're cooking and need to cut some twine or open a package. The come-apart-ness just makes them easy to clean; essential when you've used them to cut the backbone out of a chicken and you've got salmonella all up in the hinge. 

9. Cooking Chopsticks:  What makes chopsticks "cooking chopsticks?" Their length. Unlike the 10" or so of dining chopsticks, these are thicker, and clock in at 15 - 18". These gets your hand away from the heat when stir-frying or sauteeing. And, often, chopsticks in general are the best tool for the job. Like when stirring noodles or pasta in liquid, or flipping particularly small pieces of veg or meat when browning. And you won't find a better way to scramble eggs.

Bonus! These cost $2.00 at your local Asian grocery store.

10. Stainless Steel Tongs with a Locking Handle: Seriously, this is the one tool I'm guaranteed to use on every meal I cook. They're strong, dexterous, and made of steel, like a heatproof extension of your hand. Killer on the grill or in the skillet. I have three pairs, and it's not enough. (It might be, if my wife agreed to my request to hand wash them and put them back instead of stashing in the dishwasher, but some battles are not worth fighting. For $12, I'm ordering another pair.)

Get 'em, use 'em, love 'em. Best value on this list. 

11. Julienne Cutter: This might be a bit of an indulgence, but I love mine and use it constantly. It's basically a vegetable peeler with a series of crosscut blades, turning whole pieces of produce into neat little juliennes that make your food look professional, and adds tons of texture. I can't do that with a knife, and wouldn't want to spend the time even if I could. I use mine when making slaw, pickles, prepping veg for stir-fries and salads. You can also make those vegetable "noodles" all the low-carb and Paleo people are into. Cheaper and takes up way less space than a spiralizer. 

12. A small whisk that will make your big whisk unnecessary: Preface — I'm not really a baker, and so this might not apply to those of you who crank out cookies and cakes with aplomb. But, in my savory-food-making experience, the average-sized balloon whisk is way too big for, like, 95% of tasks. 

Instead, I prefer this smaller, 9" size, which is great for getting into corners of a pan, and for using with smaller bowls for dressings and sauces. The only time is doesn't really shine is for whipping a whole bunch of egg whites or making whipped cream, but I'll happily bust out the hand mixer for such laborious tasks. As you can see in the photo above, mine is all mangled and worn out. That's because it's one of the most used tools in my kitchen. 

13. Microplane Zester:  This tool was originally designed as a woodworking rasp, and it still works great for that, too. But in the kitchen, this guy is fantastic for working with firm items like citrus zest, hard cheeses, and wood-y spices like cinnamon and nutmeg.

You can get a version with a handle, but my vote is to go without - this way, you can slip the cover on backwards, and use it to catch whatever you're grating for measuring and containing the mess. 

14. Cut-Resistant Glove: I used to be afraid of my mandoline. Actually, I'm still afraid of my mandoline, but not too afraid to use it. A cut resistant glove isn't a replacement for your blade guard, but an extra step of insurance that means you'll actually bust out the tool and use it to make those incredibly thin, consistent slices.

FWIW, I also have a pair of these for the shop. I use them when carving linoleum blocks for printmaking and sometimes with making sharp, quick motions with hand tools. They're more dexterous that any work glove I own. 

Speaking of mandolines...

15. Japanese Mandoline Slicer: Yes, it's scary to slide your hand over a super sharp blade repeatedly. But that's what makes this thing great: you get incredibly crisp, clean, and consistent cuts that you could never achieve with a knife. (Or perhaps you can, but I know I certainly cannot.)

The simplicity of the Japanese style makes it a win over a French model.  It's a deck and a blade. No stand, no inserts, no fiddly parts. (It also costs half as much.) And because you can grab it, put on a glove and the hand guard, and get to cutting means you'll actually take advantage of this tool for a weeknight dinner. Look into professional kitchens everywhere, and you'll find this can't-miss-green classic. Treat it with respect, and it'll get the job done, over and over. 

16. Orange Citrus Press/Squeezer: You can buy these things in all sorts of colors, intended for lemons, limes, oranges, and probably a tiny little one for kumquats. No? Okay, well, they do come in at least three sizes, but the truth is: you only need one. Get the biggest one (orange), and you can quickly deal with lemons, limes, oranges, and quartered grapefruits.  A squeezer gets much more juice than a manual reamer, and you can capture the liquid directly in a little measuring cup or jigger for your fresh cocktails ;)

Okay, that's my list. But... 

What are some of your favorite kitchen best buys? Share them with us in the comments below. 

We believe in investing in long-lasting, high-quality kitchen gear; things worth saving up for, that you know will stand up to daily use. Opting for a legit forged steel chef's knife, say... one that can be sharpened and honed over and over and will last you the rest of your life, and then some.

But, investment pieces are just that: investments. Those things cost money, and they're well worth it. But thankfully, you can fill in the gaps with a selection of totally affordable and super useful kitchen tools, many of which cost less than a lunch at a local bistro. So with that in mind, here's our list of inexpensive, high-quality, and crazy versatile culinary tools with which you should be stocking your kitchen, all of which come in at less than twenty-five bucks.

1. The Best Ever $7 Y-Peeler: The vegetable peeler than puts others in their place. Traditional "long" peelers, with the handle to the side, work best for long things like carrots or cucumbers, but the stouter Y-design makes quick work of round or oblong shapes... like a nice, thick swatch of orange peel for your Old Fashioned.

2. One Wooden Spoon to Rule Them All: Every dish cooked on the stovetop needs turned, flip, stirred, scraped, or otherwise fussed with in order to turn out just right. You can't do everything with one utensil, but a properly-shaped spoon can get you pretty far. 

My current favorite is this "corner spoon" from Oxo. It's made of solid beech, has a nice heft and balance, and one corner is honed into a spatula-like edge that allows you get into corners of a pan, and wedge it under food to flip.

3. A Nice-Enough, Reliable Instant Read Thermometer: The definition of cooking is to change something to the right temperature. Often, you can tell what that is by smell or visual clues, but there are countless times where it's nice just to know what temp something actually is. 

I'm lucky enough to have one of those super fancy, $100 laboratory grade digital thermometers, and it's amazing. But I also have this $24.99 version from Javelin...and the truth is, I use them interchangeably. Sure, it's a bit slower to give a reading, but unless you're a scientist, save yourself $75 and grab one of these. 

4.  A collapsible funnel: I tend to think it's hard to improve on a classic, and most contemporary, "as seen on TV" takes on standard tools are just novelties. (Designated avocado tool? Banana keeper?) The collapsible silicone funnel is a true exception. Why? Well, it's small, it funnels things, and then it squashes down to flat and therefore actually fits in a drawer instead of banging into the walls and top of your cabinetry. Just like it says it will.

And it's precise. I admit, most of my joy with this thing comes during photoshoots, where I regularly need to pour wet and messy ingredients over styled setups with no spilling or splashing. And this thing gets the job done. Use it, rinse it, use it again, throw it in the dishwasher, and store until next time. It may be the best $3.00 I've ever spent.

5. Handle Mitt/Hot Handle Holder/Whatever This Is: One of my favorite cooking methods is to start browning something in a stainless steel or cast iron skillet on a burner to create a great caramelized exterior, then finish it in the oven to cook evenly to temp. Here's the thing: when you stick a pan handle in the oven, it gets hot. And even if you remember that when you take it out of the oven at first, odds are, you'll forget once it's back on the stovetop and you go to serve the dish. Or worse, someone else in your house doesn't know it's hot and tries to help wash the dishes, and then - boom! - singed flesh.

These hot handles take care of both shielding the handle, and signaling to yourself and others that, yep, it's still hot. 

ManMade Recommended: Lodge Striped Hot Handle Holders/Mitts, Set of 2- $7.05

6. Small Footprint, Long-Handled Steel Mashing Tool - Technically, the item in the photo is a potato masher. I can't speak to how well it makes mashed potatoes (I do mine in a ricer), but it's super awesome at mashing everything else.

What? Well, whole tomatoes for a sauce. Refried beans. Parts of soup when you just want to add a little thickening texture. Fresh fruit. Fresh vegetables. Lemons and limes for drinks. Basically, everything. 

So, what's the deal with the "small footprint" size? Easy — it fits in my countertop utensil caddy with all the other long-handled doodads. And it's not huge like my old masher that perhaps made less lumpy potatoes, but constantly got stuck in a shallow drawer and prevented me from accessing any tools inside ever and eventually got so frustrating that I threw it across the kitchen. (To its credit, it survived the crash before I put it in the.)

7. Wooden Baking Peel - Do you need one of these? Nope. Are they $14 and crazy helpful when dealing with hot stuff and you should buy one anyway? Absolutely.

Besides easily handling of raw and cooked pizza and breads, theses are awesome for serving appetizers, paddling out polenta, and make a decent cutting board when all others in your house are in use. Make it easier to store by drilling a large hole in the handle and then taking some sandpaper to the whole thing.

8. Come-Apart Kitchen Shears: These dudes are exactly what they look like: scissors, for your kitchen. Why is that awesome? They get into places a knife cannot, make quick work of small veg and herbs, and, because they're a kitchen tool, are always on hand when you're cooking and need to cut some twine or open a package. The come-apart-ness just makes them easy to clean; essential when you've used them to cut the backbone out of a chicken and you've got salmonella all up in the hinge. 

9. Cooking Chopsticks:  What makes chopsticks "cooking chopsticks?" Their length. Unlike the 10" or so of dining chopsticks, these are thicker, and clock in at 15 - 18". These gets your hand away from the heat when stir-frying or sauteeing. And, often, chopsticks in general are the best tool for the job. Like when stirring noodles or pasta in liquid, or flipping particularly small pieces of veg or meat when browning. And you won't find a better way to scramble eggs.

Bonus! These cost $2.00 at your local Asian grocery store.

10. Stainless Steel Tongs with a Locking Handle: Seriously, this is the one tool I'm guaranteed to use on every meal I cook. They're strong, dexterous, and made of steel, like a heatproof extension of your hand. Killer on the grill or in the skillet. I have three pairs, and it's not enough. (It might be, if my wife agreed to my request to hand wash them and put them back instead of stashing in the dishwasher, but some battles are not worth fighting. For $12, I'm ordering another pair.)

Get 'em, use 'em, love 'em. Best value on this list. 

11. Julienne Cutter: This might be a bit of an indulgence, but I love mine and use it constantly. It's basically a vegetable peeler with a series of crosscut blades, turning whole pieces of produce into neat little juliennes that make your food look professional, and adds tons of texture. I can't do that with a knife, and wouldn't want to spend the time even if I could. I use mine when making slaw, pickles, prepping veg for stir-fries and salads. You can also make those vegetable "noodles" all the low-carb and Paleo people are into. Cheaper and takes up way less space than a spiralizer. 

12. A small whisk that will make your big whisk unnecessary: Preface — I'm not really a baker, and so this might not apply to those of you who crank out cookies and cakes with aplomb. But, in my savory-food-making experience, the average-sized balloon whisk is way too big for, like, 95% of tasks. 

Instead, I prefer this smaller, 9" size, which is great for getting into corners of a pan, and for using with smaller bowls for dressings and sauces. The only time is doesn't really shine is for whipping a whole bunch of egg whites or making whipped cream, but I'll happily bust out the hand mixer for such laborious tasks. As you can see in the photo above, mine is all mangled and worn out. That's because it's one of the most used tools in my kitchen. 

13. Microplane Zester:  This tool was originally designed as a woodworking rasp, and it still works great for that, too. But in the kitchen, this guy is fantastic for working with firm items like citrus zest, hard cheeses, and wood-y spices like cinnamon and nutmeg.

You can get a version with a handle, but my vote is to go without - this way, you can slip the cover on backwards, and use it to catch whatever you're grating for measuring and containing the mess. 

14. Cut-Resistant Glove: I used to be afraid of my mandoline. Actually, I'm still afraid of my mandoline, but not too afraid to use it. A cut resistant glove isn't a replacement for your blade guard, but an extra step of insurance that means you'll actually bust out the tool and use it to make those incredibly thin, consistent slices.

FWIW, I also have a pair of these for the shop. I use them when carving linoleum blocks for printmaking and sometimes with making sharp, quick motions with hand tools. They're more dexterous that any work glove I own. 

Speaking of mandolines...

15. Japanese Mandoline Slicer: Yes, it's scary to slide your hand over a super sharp blade repeatedly. But that's what makes this thing great: you get incredibly crisp, clean, and consistent cuts that you could never achieve with a knife. (Or perhaps you can, but I know I certainly cannot.)

The simplicity of the Japanese style makes it a win over a French model.  It's a deck and a blade. No stand, no inserts, no fiddly parts. (It also costs half as much.) And because you can grab it, put on a glove and the hand guard, and get to cutting means you'll actually take advantage of this tool for a weeknight dinner. Look into professional kitchens everywhere, and you'll find this can't-miss-green classic. Treat it with respect, and it'll get the job done, over and over. 

16. Orange Citrus Press/Squeezer: You can buy these things in all sorts of colors, intended for lemons, limes, oranges, and probably a tiny little one for kumquats. No? Okay, well, they do come in at least three sizes, but the truth is: you only need one. Get the biggest one (orange), and you can quickly deal with lemons, limes, oranges, and quartered grapefruits.  A squeezer gets much more juice than a manual reamer, and you can capture the liquid directly in a little measuring cup or jigger for your fresh cocktails ;)

Okay, that's my list. But... 

What are some of your favorite kitchen best buys? Share them with us in the comments below. 

We all have designs, and we all have ideas. And sometimes, they just have to get out of our heads and into the real world. Screen printing is a great way to ink art on just about anything from shirts to posters to wood. If you figure out how to do it right, it's the easiest way to create dozens of copies fast. So here's our look at the right gear and techniques you'll need to get started today.    

The Essentials ($50):

1. Ink mesh ($15) - Start with a simple 110 mesh. This is tight enough to allow detail, but still open enough for the ink to flow without much pressure. Sure you can buy pre-made screens for about  $15 each here but for that same price I bought nine feet of mesh. That and some scrap wood built up into square frames means I can make about two dozen screens for the price of one. Here's the process to make your own.

2. Printer's Squeegee ($10) - Get a few sizes in these so you can be sure to have the right width for a single swipe. It's worth getting the rubber version as well for a bit more forgiving control.

3. Printing ink set ($20) - When you're starting out, go for dark colors, they're easier to transfer. I went for a small variety pack to try out some different colors before grabbing a big bottle.

4. Photo emulsion and diazo ($10) - Stick to a smaller bottle on this stuff as it goes bad over time. It comes in two bottles, and takes a few hours to combine after mixing so plan accordingly. If you want, add an emulsion scoop ($10) to make the process a bit cleaner and more consistent.

Helpful Extra Gear to Finish Up Your Kit ($50):

5. Waterproof transparent film ($15) - You can use office supply transparencies, but these can hold more ink for a much more solid image and better pattern development.

5. Hinge clamps ($20) - This simple set of hinges make any board into a workstation. It holds the screen just above the surface for the bounce you need for a crisp ink transfer.

7. UV exposure light ($10) and darkroom safelight ($5) - There are a few options here, and it comes down to preference. The photo emulsion cures with exposure to UV light, so you can use the sun, a high wattage bulb, or a special exposure bulb placed about 12" above the screen. The UV light takes about 10-15 minutes (or less, depending on all kinds of variables), and the high watt bulb bakes for closer to 40 minutes. Another important light is the classic darkroom "safe bulb" with no UV so you can light up the workspace without exposing the emulsion. Go for yellow over red; it's easier to see detail. (But, admittedly, not as cool.)

Now that you've got the stuff, it's time to get it all set up. Here's our process piece on our first DIY screen print session. Read all the way to the end for some lessons learned and helpful tips. 

I used to hate when things were the same. I grew up in a family where everything was always changing. We never ate the same thing twice, we had no hallowed holiday traditions, no yearly vacation spot, no alarm clocks, no bedtimes, no church, no chore chart or laundry days. We did everything ad hoc, on the fly, winging it from sun up to sunset.

Sometimes, on a weekend morning, we'd leave the house, all of us together, with some vague destination in mind – maybe a museum or a park – and end up somewhere completely different (a cemetery or a different state). If we went out to dinner to celebrate a birthday, we usually chose the restaurant in the car, on the way to the restaurant, amid furious bickering, haggling, and back-seat negotiations.

I can't say exactly why our family was like this. Definitely I think our immigrant identity played a big role. We didn't have an extended family support structure to make routine easy or enjoyable. My experience with immigration (although I was born in the U.S., just barely) was one of uprooting. When my parents came here they made a clean break and a fresh start, but that meant there was no playbook to go by, no set plays to repeat.

And for a long time, I embraced that. In many ways, growing up semi-itinerant makes you improvisationally gifted. I prided myself on my ability to adapt to any situation, make decisions in the moment, and deal with ambiguity. Spontaneity is fun, useful, and invigorating. But for me, it came at the cost of discipline, and so, over the last year, I've started re-learning how to follow a pattern.

And I love it.

Here's how it happened.

In 2016, I decided I would try to meditate every weekday morning at 6 am. Mind you, I'm someone who has basically never used an alarm clock. The thought of waking up at the same time, every day, was almost painful to me. It's not that I like to sleep in, I used to wake up at reasonable hours anyway; I just did it with no plan ... no consistency.

Oddly enough, it came pretty easily to me. I started by setting my alarm at 6:45, which was close to when I was normally getting up (or when my kids would get me up). And then I began moving the time up a few minutes every other day. When my clock would ring, I'd go downstairs, stretch a little, and then sit quietly for a while (anywhere from 5 to 25 minutes, depending on how I was feeling).

This bit is important, or at least it was for me. I left some flexibility in the routine, something I could adjust, something not fixed in stone. Repetition (waking up at 6am) is the path to discipline, but too many restrictions add too much pressure, and that would have made my goal too hard to achieve. So I meditated for however long I felt like, as long as I meditated.

And I did it every weekday ... not every single day of the week. Again, I think I just needed to give myself a mental break, an opportunity to go off the script. If I had tried to do it every day, I think I would have found myself breaking the commitment too often, and feeling like I wasn't able to follow through. No use setting yourself up for failure.

The routine changed me relatively quickly. When I talk to friends about it, they often want to know how the meditation affected me. But – maybe I was doing it wrong – the meditation didn't change me nearly as much as the practice of meditation did. The act of committing to doing it every weekday morning, and of doing it at the same time, that was transformative. Having a reason to get out of bed when I really just wanted to hit the snooze button, that was transformative. I was proving to myself that I could follow a routine, commit to a goal, and make it happen, bit by bit.

For me, this was an incremental, but in many ways, life-changing discovery. That I could just choose a small, achievable daily practice and over a long period achieve something that felt huge and substantive. It changed the way I think about myself.

So over the course of 2016, I became a person who learned to love his routine. A morning person! An alarm-clock person! This year I spent a little more time thinking about what I wanted to do with my newfound super-power, and came up with a slightly different approach.

In 2017, I wake up every weekday morning at 5:40am. I go downstairs, put water in the electric teakettle, and start a timer on my phone. While the water heats up, I take out the coffee-making stuff (we use the Aeropress, which makes an incredibly good cup, if you've never tried it) and set out the mugs (same two every day). When the timer reads 3:30, the water is hot enough, and I brew the first cup. While that's going, I grind beans for my wife's coffee (she'll be down later, having not yet adopted my point of view when it comes to alarm clocks). Once coffee is done, I sit at the kitchen counter with my laptop, open up a blank page, and write.

Even when it comes to making coffee, I've become someone who embraces repetition!

This pattern – the making the coffee the exact same way every day, trying to do it with precision and skill, making the fewest movements, the least noise, getting the timing just right – has become extremely gratifying. It doesn't feel boring or repetitive to me at all. In fact, quite the opposite, every morning I find myself absorbed by trying to perfect my routine a little bit more, comforted by the familiar steps, but looking for ways to make it slightly better.

I have begun to understand, now, what people mean when they say humans are creatures of habit. Habits get a bad wrap, usually, because we think of only the bad ones. But good habits are just as powerful as bad ones, just as easy to develop (in tiny steps), and just as difficult to break.

I used to hate when things were the same. I grew up in a family where everything was always changing. We never ate the same thing twice, we had no hallowed holiday traditions, no yearly vacation spot, no alarm clocks, no bedtimes, no church, no chore chart or laundry days. We did everything ad hoc, on the fly, winging it from sun up to sunset.

Sometimes, on a weekend morning, we'd leave the house, all of us together, with some vague destination in mind – maybe a museum or a park – and end up somewhere completely different (a cemetery or a different state). If we went out to dinner to celebrate a birthday, we usually chose the restaurant in the car, on the way to the restaurant, amid furious bickering, haggling, and back-seat negotiations.

I can't say exactly why our family was like this. Definitely I think our immigrant identity played a big role. We didn't have an extended family support structure to make routine easy or enjoyable. My experience with immigration (although I was born in the U.S., just barely) was one of uprooting. When my parents came here they made a clean break and a fresh start, but that meant there was no playbook to go by, no set plays to repeat.

And for a long time, I embraced that. In many ways, growing up semi-itinerant makes you improvisationally gifted. I prided myself on my ability to adapt to any situation, make decisions in the moment, and deal with ambiguity. Spontaneity is fun, useful, and invigorating. But for me, it came at the cost of discipline, and so, over the last year, I've started re-learning how to follow a pattern.

And I love it.

Here's how it happened.

In 2016, I decided I would try to meditate every weekday morning at 6 am. Mind you, I'm someone who has basically never used an alarm clock. The thought of waking up at the same time, every day, was almost painful to me. It's not that I like to sleep in, I used to wake up at reasonable hours anyway; I just did it with no plan ... no consistency.

Oddly enough, it came pretty easily to me. I started by setting my alarm at 6:45, which was close to when I was normally getting up (or when my kids would get me up). And then I began moving the time up a few minutes every other day. When my clock would ring, I'd go downstairs, stretch a little, and then sit quietly for a while (anywhere from 5 to 25 minutes, depending on how I was feeling).

This bit is important, or at least it was for me. I left some flexibility in the routine, something I could adjust, something not fixed in stone. Repetition (waking up at 6am) is the path to discipline, but too many restrictions add too much pressure, and that would have made my goal too hard to achieve. So I meditated for however long I felt like, as long as I meditated.

And I did it every weekday ... not every single day of the week. Again, I think I just needed to give myself a mental break, an opportunity to go off the script. If I had tried to do it every day, I think I would have found myself breaking the commitment too often, and feeling like I wasn't able to follow through. No use setting yourself up for failure.

The routine changed me relatively quickly. When I talk to friends about it, they often want to know how the meditation affected me. But – maybe I was doing it wrong – the meditation didn't change me nearly as much as the practice of meditation did. The act of committing to doing it every weekday morning, and of doing it at the same time, that was transformative. Having a reason to get out of bed when I really just wanted to hit the snooze button, that was transformative. I was proving to myself that I could follow a routine, commit to a goal, and make it happen, bit by bit.

For me, this was an incremental, but in many ways, life-changing discovery. That I could just choose a small, achievable daily practice and over a long period achieve something that felt huge and substantive. It changed the way I think about myself.

So over the course of 2016, I became a person who learned to love his routine. A morning person! An alarm-clock person! This year I spent a little more time thinking about what I wanted to do with my newfound super-power, and came up with a slightly different approach.

In 2017, I wake up every weekday morning at 5:40am. I go downstairs, put water in the electric teakettle, and start a timer on my phone. While the water heats up, I take out the coffee-making stuff (we use the Aeropress, which makes an incredibly good cup, if you've never tried it) and set out the mugs (same two every day). When the timer reads 3:30, the water is hot enough, and I brew the first cup. While that's going, I grind beans for my wife's coffee (she'll be down later, having not yet adopted my point of view when it comes to alarm clocks). Once coffee is done, I sit at the kitchen counter with my laptop, open up a blank page, and write.

Even when it comes to making coffee, I've become someone who embraces repetition!

This pattern – the making the coffee the exact same way every day, trying to do it with precision and skill, making the fewest movements, the least noise, getting the timing just right – has become extremely gratifying. It doesn't feel boring or repetitive to me at all. In fact, quite the opposite, every morning I find myself absorbed by trying to perfect my routine a little bit more, comforted by the familiar steps, but looking for ways to make it slightly better.

I have begun to understand, now, what people mean when they say humans are creatures of habit. Habits get a bad wrap, usually, because we think of only the bad ones. But good habits are just as powerful as bad ones, just as easy to develop (in tiny steps), and just as difficult to break.

A few weeks ago, I decided to try my hand at screen printing. It seemed like a simple, straightforward process: Get the supplies and make it happen. Well, I made it "happen" and ended up learning a bit along the way. Here's my process and the things to watch out for when starting out.

There are a number of simple kits out there with all the supplies you need to get started. While they all seem to be complete, you can get better materials by gathering it all yourself. Here's my list of everything you'll need for $50 - $100. 

Make the Screens:

The first step is making your screens. While I used scrap wood in my shop, I wish I would have sprung for cheap but uniform pieces of wood. Go for a consistent size, so you can use a consistent emulsion tray and squeegee for each frame. It's also easier to get the hinges set up for multiple layers this way.

First, I made the frames. These were simple 2x2 lumber screwed and glued while making sure they remained square. It's important to make sure the frame is flat and level on the bottom to make sure the screen has even contact when printing.

Next, I stapled the fabric tight, pulling it evenly to make sure it was smooth without wrinkles. For some extra durability, I doubled the edges over when stapling.

That's it. The frames were fast and easy to make, but if you're not up for it, but the pre-made versions listed in the supplies list.

Develop the Design:

The next step in the process is coating the screens with emulsion. Since light needs to be avoided during this step we skipped the photos. It's use a yellow dark-room light to avoid exposing the emulsion. 

1.Coat the screen - Mix the emulsion and diazo. After mixing the two, wait about 2 hours for it to be ready. Once it's ready, coat the screen. The key is to coat both sides of the screen evenly with a thin coat of emulsion. It's best to use an emulsion scoop, but you can brush it on and then evenly draw it flat with a wide putty knife.

2. Let cure - Prop the frames up with tacks or push-pins in the corners to keep the surface from sticking.It's best to let the screens cure in zero light for about 24 hours. Make sure the screens stay flat-side down so any drips will be on the print side, not the ink side. If you want to store the dried screens for up to a few weeks, insert them into a black plastic bag and store in a cool, completely dark place.

3. Print the design - Using transparency paper, print the design. I wasn't happy with the quantity of ink, so I printed two copies and taped them together for a really black pattern. 

4. Set up the light - Hang a light about 12" above where the screen will be placed, and put a black piece of fabric or paper on the surface. Make sure there are no flammable materials around the area where the high wattage bulb may start a fire.

5. Expose the screen - This step should still be done in a light-safe environment. Tape the design onto the screen, reversed. This is so the inverse will come through when it's placed onto the surface to be printed. Make sure it's square and lined up in the center of the screen. At this time, you can expose the screen. Place it directly below the UV or high wattage bulb face up and turn on the light. You can place a sheet of glass onto the screen to hold the design down a bit tighter to the surface. The tighter the design is against the surface, the cleaner the lines will be when it's done. Exposure times differ based on the light, humidity, thickness of the emulsion, and other variables so curing time is something you'll have to figure out. I started out with 45 minutes under a 250 watt light and it came out mostly clean. Note: if you overexpose, the design area won't rinse out, or will be too difficult to be detailed as it will all be hardened from exposure.

6. Rinse out the design - Get the screen lightly wet under a faucet and let sit for about 4-5 minutes to let the material soften a bit. Then, gently rub with fingers or a toothbrush to loosen the design. start slow to dissolve the materials. After a few minutes, use a high pressure spray nozzle to rinse out the design, working any stubborn areas until it is all rinsed out. Don't get it too wet, as the emulsion is water soluble.  You can see in the image above where I let it get a bit too wet and it started to un-bond. Once the design is rinsed out, blow out with air and place back under the light for another 20-30 minutes to further cure the screen.

At this time, it's important to let the screen fully dry. wait about an hour or two until it is ready to use.

Use the Screen:

With the developed screen, it's time to get printing. But first, tape the perimeter to keep the ink from escaping under the frame. I used packing tape around the inside, and taped any holes in the screen.

1. Secure the screen - Set the screen in the hinges and make sure it's lined up square. The screen should not sit flush with the surface, it's important that there's about a 1/8" gap for the "bounce" that holds the fabric back off the surface once it's been drawn across the printed surface. If printing on fabric, be sure to put a cardboard spacer between layers to prevent bleed-through.

2. Prep the screen - apply a thick bead of ink on one side of the screen, wide enough for the squeegee to pull across the screen in one swipe without any gaps. Any left-over ink can be collected, so don't be stingy on this. 

3. Print - Set the screen firmly on the surface and with a single stroke evenly pull the ink across the screen with steady pressure. Watch the screen for any gaps in the ink. Carefully pull the ink over a second time if any gaps occur. Pull the screen up slowly, and you should see the printed design well-transferred. Repeat as desired, cleaning the screen with water as needed to keep the ink from clogging the holes.

4. Heat it - Once the design is finished, be sure to cure the ink by heating it up with an iron over wax paper to set the ink for good.

A few tips:

• Be sure to only put on a thin layer of emulsion. I put it on too thick, and it dried unevenly. It also was a bit thicker on one side, so I was under-exposed in one thicker area.
• Be sure to allow the emulsion to fully dry before exposing. I didn't allow a few of the drips to fully dry and they bubbled when I rinsed the screen.
• Don't skimp on the lighting. Spring for a yellow bulb so you can see what you're doing. It's $5. I didn't get it in time so I did the work in relative darkness and put on the material too thick. Next time, I'll wait for better lighting.
• Keep it simple. Thin lines and complex details make the design hard to expose. Go for simple and you'll have a much easier time of it all.

I’ve technically lived in five cities so far if we include my college town (Minneapolis, New Haven, London, Brooklyn, and Los Angeles). And I’ve come to realize that as a creature of habit I eventually start frequenting a couple different venues that all have similar things in common. I think every man should have a couple of these. Let me explain…       

1. A Solid Brunch Spot
Every man needs a good brunch spot. The most written-about, tourist visited one in your town? No. Just you're own go-to. 

But what are you looking for in a brunch spot? Personally, I’m only going out for brunch if it’s social occasion and usually only when we’re celebrating something. Now that something might be as simple a out of town guests or old friends who I haven’t seen in awhile, but it’s usually a rare enough occasion that I’m willing to spend a little more money than I usually would on a typical breakfast. The things I look for in a good brunch spot are: 

• Good lighting and staff. You want it to feel pleasant and uplifting since you’re usually celebrating and you’ll probably be there for awhile. 
• The vibe should be either be clean and crisp (i.e probably has good mimosas) or a place that feels comforting and homey. 

My personal go-to brunch spot is actually just called “Home” on Hillhurst Avenue in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, because it meets the all the above criteria at a good price point. Plus it's outdoors.

2. A High-Quality Coffeeshop
We’re talking a place that feels good. And obviously serves great coffee. This is a place that will inevitably be overrun by some high-achieving hipsters trying to write the next great American novel, but hey we probably fit at least into the fringe boundary of that categorization too, so easy on the judgement, Dan! Be prepared to shell out a little money here for the quality coffee and the croissant. 

This should be the ideal place to invite:

• A quality client that you want to casually impress with your good taste while buttering them up for a good pitch
• That friend you want to edge into the more-than-friends’ space but it’s too early to ask on a direct date
• Yourself. This is where you go to sit by yourself and have good thoughts, listen to music, journal. A place you treat yourself. 

My quality coffeeshops are Dinosaur Coffee (pictured above) or Intellengsia in Silver Lake, Los Angeles. 

3. An Everyday Coffeeshop for Getting Down to Business
Here’s a problem that I have: I can’t write in good-looking journals. I honestly wish I could because I love a well-crafted journal. The smell of leather, those warm off-white pages, the creak of the spine when you first crack open that glorious binding. But that’s the thing: I love them too much. I can’t write in them. They’re too beautiful for my pedestrian thoughts. I’m unworthy. As if the blank page wasn’t hard enough, here’s a hand-crafted Italian leather-bound beauty I’m supposed to enhance with my own thoughts? No way. Even when I do get a thought I deem as worthy enough to be set down, I end focusing on my penmanship as I try to elevate my output to the level of the journal.

In other words, I’ve found that I can pretty much only write in boring, beat up, janky journals that don’t have any frills or cool designs. It’s just my work and the simplest tool to help me do the work.

Ok, now apply that thinking to the coffeeshop. If your coffeeshop is too hip, with a too-well-curated interior, , how are you going to get anything done? Personally I’m just very aware of how hip I am writing my hip screenplay or blog post or whatever, drinking good coffee surrounded by hip people. I’m too aware of being a writer to actually write. 

So to with the coffeeshop. Get a place where you can actually work. Where you can plug in your laptop, the music isn’t too loud, and if you leave your stuff to go to the bathroom you can trust that nobody will swoop in to steal your spot (or your stuff).

I also think a good diner might suffice here, although you really want to make sure you’ve read the room correctly so that you’re not the guy who’s taking up a server’s source of income by occupying her space for hours while only ordering coffee. Do not be that guy.

My personal working coffeeshop is the Inner Sanctum (which I believe everybody just calls the UCB cafe) inside the new Upright Citizen’s Brigade theater on Sunset Blvd. 

4. Find Your “Cheers!”

You can love it for whatever reason you choose. Maybe you’re a microbrew nut or a fancy cocktail extraordinaire or even just looking for a local dive joint, but find a place that fits your style and says something about your taste. It’s your casual spot you can meet your friends at any given time, one that will reward your more distant friends for schlepping across town to meet you in your neck of the woods. And frankly, even if you’re in a small town that doesn’t offer any options that match your particular sensibility, I think the simple act of repetitive patronage lends a place significance. 

Oddly enough my Cheers! joint of recent years is a Korean BBQ fusion spot called The Bun Shop, located in LA’s Koreatown. The food is incredible taco-truck style eats, and they’re always low-key playing 90’s hip hop, which is amazing as you think. Be sure to check out the deep-fried oreos with green tea ice cream if you go. 

5. Your Go-To Local Bar

For a lot of you, this will likely be the same as your Cheers! spot. Convenience here is a big part of the equation. If you live in a more urban space, it’s always good to look for walkable spots first. But perhaps it's not the space to meet friends, talk up the barflies and hear war stories from the day drinkers. Perhaps it's where you go when you need to be left alone, to think, or escape to the night before Thankgiving when your family is driving you crazy.

Two rules:

• They must have great happy hour deals from 4-6p, to motivate you to get there early and leave before the crowds set in
• They cannot place music released after 2010.

My local bar of choice is a hole in the wall spot called Jay’s, chosen mostly for its proximity to my home and its $5 Old Fashioned Fridays, although it's recently become a favored haunt of the indie/genre film scene and critics. It's obscure enough to not have a photo I could use for this article.

6. Your Date Spot (Dinner + _____)

Dinner has been and still is a large part of dating culture whether you’re a single person dating around or part of a long-standing marriage. I always appreciate in movies when someone tries to pick someone else up at a party for the first time, and suggests dinner at a certain place the following weekend. In order to pull this move however, you’ve gotta have a go-to idea on hand. And in my opinion, dinner itself isn’t enough; you always want to have an optional part two for when the date is going particularly well. Consider:

• A nearby ice cream place
• A cute rooftop bar with a good view
• A park or walking path that’s open late
• A hip movie theater that plays classic movies
• A late-night comedy club or jazz club

Also, this doesn’t have to be date night specific. Ideally you could do any of these things with a friend just as easily.

7. That Inexpensive Place with Amazing Food You Take Out-of-Towners to Show Off Your City

Your town, no doubt, has amazing restaurants. Chefs with tattoos and Instagram accounts, places that get written up in Bon Appetit and every alt-weekly "Best Of" list. Those places are awesome.

But so is that food truck that produces flavors you've never had before. Or the falafel shop near the university, or the by-the-slice pizza place that stays open until three a.m. These are the places you take your friends and family when they visit. Avid the lines, and just given them flavor.

Find them, love them, go to it when you only have forty-five minutes before the movies start.

Editor's Note: 

Please share your favorite local haunts and why you love your city's food and drink scene in the comments below. 

My first "workbench" was a simple table-style surface. 2x4 legs, 1/2" plywood top, held together with black drywall screws. I built it in my first apartment when I was twenty-two, with my first (and only) power tools: a circular saw and a drill. 

In the back left corner, I mounted a shiny, new, bright blue Irwin swiveling bench vise. It was awesome to have it there when I needed it - holding metal stock and angle iron for cutting, helping me bend rod and pipe, even keeping dowels and small wood parts in place while working on them. Unfortunately, these activities constituted a very small amount of the projects I was doing, and mostly, the vise just got in the way during the other 97% percent of tasks.

So, for the past few years, that vise has just been in a storage crate, and I get it out and try to hold it in place when I need it. Which, in case you can't guess, does not work. Ever. So, I wanted to come up with a solution that would allow me to install a machinist's style swiveling benchtop vise, without having to permanently install it, or drill holes in my benchtop and have to thread and tighten nuts and bolts every time I use it.     

The Design

I have two workspaces and benches - one in basement wood shop, and the other in my garage for around-the-house stuff: repairs, gardening, working on bikes, etc. I wanted to come up with a plan that would allow me to use a general purpose, metalworking benchtop vise in both places, when I needed it. This design uses a L-shaped support glued into a dado, which takes advantage of the holding power of my woodworking bench's front vise — I just insert the machinist's vise support into the front vise, and tighten. But I would recommend this design even if you don't have a front vise; because vise work often involves heavy twisting and pressure for bending, having the additional edge pressed against the front of the bench allows the force to go into the benchtop and uses its weight to your advantage, making less work for the downward pressure of the clamps. 

Step One: Begin by making a plate to mount the vise. I'm using a double layer of 3/4" plywood here, since it's dimensionally stable and strong in both directions, and can be easily cut to larger sizes without milling and gluing up panels. I went with a 10 3/4" long piece, because I had it lying around my scrap pile, and cut two 7" widths. Because I was cutting across the grain, I scored the line first to prevent tearout. 

Step Two: Cut two matching layers of plywood to the same size. 

Step Three: Cover one side of each piece with glue, then sandwich them together and clamp to allow the glue to dry. This makes one  1 1/2" thick plate.  

Step Four: Now, determine where you'd like to mount your vise, and how far over you might want it to hang from the edge, for clearance etc. Dead center was good for me, but you can adapt as needed. Mark the thickness of your plywood here.  Don't just measure with a ruler; it's probably not a true 3/4".

Step Five: Making sure you have a flat-top rip blade in your saw, set the blade so it goes all the way through the first layer of plywood and about halfway into the second.

Then, cut out this thickness down the length, creating a dado. Start on one side, then the other, then make overlapping passes to clear out the waste in the middle. Keep it a bit tight at first, checking it with your plywood, then make small cuts to fit. 

If you don't have a table saw, you can do this with a circular saw or even a handsaw. Just make sure to mark a baseline, and keep everything secure. 

Step Six: Now, lay out the mounting holes on the bottom of your top plate. Trace the outlines, then find the center. 

Drill out counterbores on the bottom, wide and deep enough to accept the nut and washer. I used a 7/8" Forstner bit here. The width is not determined but the nut, but by the outer diameter of the socket wrench you'll use to tighten it. (Mine was 3/4" OD)

Then, using the brad point hole of the Forstner bit, drill through clearance holes wide enough to accept your bolts. 

Step Seven: Determine the length of your L-shaped support by checking any screws from your front vise, your bench thickness etc. This isn't super important; just make sure it's not going to hit anything before gluing it in. Once you have a number (mine was 5 3/4"), cut it to size. 

Apply a thin layer of glue in the dado, and insert the piece of plywood you just cut. 

Allow the glue to cure. You could reinforce this dado joint with screws or dowels if you want, but with this much contact and the dimensional strength of the plywood, I think it'll stand up to any force I can apply with my hands. Also, at this point, I wiped on a coat of Danish Oil.

Step Eight: Now, use two wrenches to attach the vise to the plate with bolts, nuts, and washers on each side. I used the following hardware sizes:

• (Four) 5/16 - 18 bolts, 1 3/4" long
• (Four) 5/16 - 18 lock washers
• (Eight) 1/2" OD washers, 3/8" hole

You'll want to double check the hardware with your vise's thickness, mounting holes, etc. Mine was small and light enough, I just carried into the hardware store with me. 

Tighten everything up, and you're done. Here's what it looks like installed in my front vise. 

Open the quick release, tighten, and - boom! - installed in under two seconds. 

It also attaches anywhere along the bench using holdfasts and my row of benchdog holes. This might be useful in the future if I'm cutting something quite long and need the side-to-side clearance and support in the middle.  This took about 6 seconds.

To install without a front vise, just use two small but heavy-duty clamps on either side, making sure to butt the vertical piece right against the edge of your bench. This approach secures the vise in under ten seconds.

Obviously, if you're doing a lot of metal working or bending, you'll want a heavy duty vise that's securely bolted to heavy duty table. But for a middle-of-the-road vise like this one for general work, this is a super versatile, easy-to-secure solution. Which means that next time I need to cut a lenght of aluminum with a hacksaw, I'll take the 10 seconds to secure it properly, instead of wasting ten minutes cursing it for jumping around.

It's time to actually build something for the shop upgrade. First up, we take a look at how to build wall cabinets from scratch (sheet goods at least).

The first phase of the shop upgrade meant clearing off the counter tops, removing all shelves, piping, and a thick layer of dust, and then painting the entire wall. Here's a look at what I ended up with when I cleared it all off (before I stripped all the shelves and other pieces).

I realized about halfway through the project that I have kept too many small items – pieces of wood, random screws or fittings, and cheap tools I never use. This was the perfect time to purge a huge amount of junk. 

The clean slate of a freshly painted wall was the perfect background to build my three wall cabinets.

I built my cabinets in three distinct pieces: The carcass, the face frame, and the doors.

The Carcass:

The carcass of a cabinet is the rough box that is covered by the face frame.I made two identical boxes, with the third shorter but the same width. This meant that the tops and bottoms for all 3 cases were the same dimensions, and the sides and backs were identical for two out of the three which cut down on measurement time. To construct the boxes for the cabinets, I used ½” OSB for the top and bottom, ¾” Particle Board for the sides, and ¼” ply on the back. I would have gone with Plywood for strength, but cost was a big factor and the materials should be fine with a face frame and back support pieces.

1. Break Sheet Materials into Manageable Pieces – The first step working with sheet goods is to break the pieces down into pieces that can be handled in the shop. I elevated each sheet off my workbench with boards, and adjusted my saw depth to keep from digging into the work surface. Cut the pieces to rough dimension and finalize the pieces on the table saw so they are all squared up and evenly matched.
2. Cut the Grooves and Joints – The cabinet frame will be much stronger with notches in the joints instead of face gluing. I used a Dado blade to cut ½” rabbets in all 4 corners (top and bottom of each side) about ¼” deep to match the panels. I also cut a 1/4” groove ¾” from the back edge on all pieces to account for the plywood back panel and to give room for the mounting boards to integrate on the top and bottom.
3. Add the Shelf Pin Holes – I used my Kreg Cabinet Pin Jig to drill all the holes for the shelves. The best way to do this so they line up is the use an index board so you can position the jig at the same spot relative to the edge on each piece. Be sure to make the top and bottom of each side so the holes are level across the case.
4. Glue Up all Pieces – Gluing all pieces up takes a few hands, or at least plenty of preparation. I used two large pipe clamps on the bottom and two on the top to make sure the joint was strong.
5. Add the Mounting Boards – The mounting board gives the cabinet a strong frame to mount it on the wall. It’s important that the board is well secured to the cabinet frame, so I used pocket holes and glue to install it in place. The groove I cut in the back of the frames for the back panel were exactly ¾” from the back edge, creating a small relief where the ¾” mounting boards fit perfectly.You can drill mounting screws directly through the back panel into the wall studs, but I prefer to use the French cleat method. This is a great technique for a few reasons: first, it’s much easier to line up the French cleat level and at the right height than it is to get the cabinet in place and drill through the panel into the stud. Second, there is some side-to-side play with a French cleat so you can snug up the cabinets to each other. Lastly, it’s a strong joint that holds well but can be easily removed in the future if things change.

To build the French Cleat: The French cleat is simply two boards with corresponding angles on one edge. I cut mine at 45 degrees each. One piece was cut to width to fit snugly in the cabinet behind the back panel along the top edge. This pieces has the angle facing the cabinet. The mating piece was cut about 25% smaller to give some room for adjustment. This piece was mounted with the angle facing the wall leveled with 4 long screws through the studs for support. Once it is installed, it’s a simple matter to put the cabinet on the wall and lower onto the cleat for a sturdy mount. I add two screws through the bottom mounting board along the bottom edge to keep it secured to the wall.

I did this for all three cabinets, mounting them securely to each other and connecting together with a few small counter-sunk screws to hold it all securely on the wall and to each other. Next, I added the face frame.

The Face Frame –

The face frame is a simple wood frame along the outside front of the carcass to hide the plywood edges and to give hinges something to securely mount to. It is generally thin wood held together with pocket holes or simply glued and nailed to the front of the cabinets. The side pieces are cut to height, and the horizontal pieces are cut to fit for a seamless look. Be sure to account for door overhand and hinge mounting when deciding how wide to make the frame. I used 2.5” pine boards for my frame.

The Doors – I will be building the doors next week for the cabinets, here’s the plan:

In the interest of cost, I’m building my shop doors out of ¼” plywood, with a decorative pine frame over them for strength and rigidity. These doors won’t win style points, but will keep out the dust and clean up the overall look of the shop.

1. Measure the Openings – The doors should overlay the openings on all sides by about ½” to ¾” if using overlay doors. Measure the opening and add the overlap on all sides to account for a final dimension for the doors (except where there will be double doors, then only add the overlap to the outside dimension).
2. Cut the Panels – With the door dimensions calculated, cut the panels to final dimensions. I’ll add ¼” strips along the sides of the doors to clean up the look, so I deducted this measurement on each side from the panel dimensions.
3. Cut the Rails and Stiles – While not traditionally a rail and stile, I’ll cut ½” pine boards to make a frame on top of the panels to add a bit of depth and make the doors a bit stiffer. I used an overlap joint to make them stronger.
4. Glue, Pin, Mount – Glue and pin the doors and let dry overnight, then mount them with face frame hinges.

Stay tuned for more updates every other week as the garage upgrades keep going. Next we'll talk about door installation, and Phase 2 - the rolling tool island.

If you have a few wardrobe items that haven't seen the light of day due to some wear and tear. Take a look at the Japanese method of mending textiles, especially denim, with unique, stylized stitchery.

This style of mending certainly beats the traditional method of finding a matching pattern to cover up the hold. Instead, you can embrace the flaw through embellishment.

See the entire story and learn a little how-to over on Design Sponge.

I've wanted to build a boat ever since I sunk my small dingy on the Trinity Lake as a kid. Once I have the space, I will fashion a sea-worthy vessel and take it out to brave the ocean, or at least a sizeable pond.   The exceptional craftsmen over at Merchants and Makers know what quality is. Their articles highlight some incredible craftsmen that carry on traditions for generations (for example, check out their piece on Wheelwrighting). While I love to read about craftsmen, a piece that really inspired me was from an interview with Yvonne Green, Principle of the Boat Building Academy in Dorset. I've always loved the extreme detail that goes into a handmade boat, from the materials to the techniques there's something incredible about being a maker that can build a boat. Boats are so complex, and require so many different skills to construct; which essentially makes it my unicorn, the something I must one day create.

Once I have the time, I will build an 18ft stitch and glue sea kayak. This boat has been on my mind for years. As an avid water rat, slicing through the water in a svelt kayak is one of my favorite pastimes, doing it in a custom handmade boat would be the closest to Nirvana that I can imagine.

So go ahead and read the interview, and then leave a comment on the boat you plan to build one day.

It's been a few months since you made your New Year's resolutions, and chances are you're starting to get tired of the fitness grind. It happens to all of us, so here are a few tips to push past the hump and stick with those fitness goals for the long term.    I've been working out for the past few months on a pretty regular basis. Sure, the typical hiccups happened along the way, but sticking to the right food, and working out at least 5 times a week I've seen some great progress. But, here's where things start to get a bit rough. Life is getting busier, spring is coming up, and I'm kinda tired.

 This fitness grind is so close to becoming a permanent shift in my lifestyle.  Here is my plan to keep going: 

Switch it up:  I'm not talking about taking a month off, but take a break from your now established routine with a few days of something else - running, swimming, hiking, bouldering, or a fitness video. You can also add in some classes at a local gym for a different style workout, like Tai Chi or a spin class. Most give you a free first try, so it's a good way to do something different but still get your sweat on. Also, I've found that it's encouraging to go out and do something active and realize how many gains have been made in strength and endurance.

Set some time-sensitive goals:  Now is the time to register for a mud run, or marathon to really help give a purpose to the work. I'm set for a Tough Mudder later this year, and I'm also looking at a few local races to help me appreciate leg day.

Get a buddy:  There's definitely someone else out there who needs to workout with someone. It doesn't have to be every day, but setting up a regular day or two to work out with a friend is a great way to keep up the accountability and motivation.

Also, while it's cool to find someone who matches you, it can also be helpful to connect with people of a different skill level, or who practice different types of fitness to keep things interesting. 

Upgrade the equipment: I splurged on a nice set of adjustable weights this year to give me something that I've invested in. They're compact and easy to use, so it makes working out easier and less of a hassle. I'm eyeing a set of the TRX straps for traveling, since they pack up small but still deliver a solid workout.

Change the time: I've moved my workouts from early morning to the evenings, then back again, a few times. This change is a good break as you can sleep in a bit more, or get some things done after work. That small change makes the whole experience different, and can feel like a big enough change to break up the monotony of a daily routine.

Switch that playlist: Sometimes a new workout mix will keep the daily workout interesting. I've been streaming channels for a while, so it's a pretty easy switch from something hard to something with a beat. I recommend Apple Music, Google Play, or Amazon Prime Music if you're a member over there. They all seem to learn what you like and have a robust recommended station system.

What are your suggestions for breaking through the grind and sticking with your fitness goals? We'd love to hear your advice and comments below!

The winter to spring is a time of contrasts: the days can be bright and sunny, but the air and wind still cool and bitter. Or the air warms up, but the fog and drizzle moves in, so that it feels like early summer but the trees are all still barren branches. 

So, it's the still the season of layers, but lighter ones; flexible systems that breathe, look sharp, and still keep you warm and dry during days that span lions and lambs and showers and flowers and those sorts of things. Here are five staples to invest in now (or pull out from the back of your closet) that will still be useful as the season develops, and you can snatch again come fall.    

1. Dark Denim: A dark, even "raw", pair of jeans can work better than chinos this time of year for one simple reason: you can wear them with anything. As spring happens, most of us might pull a little more and brighter colors into our wardrobe, and a dark denim goes with everything. You can dress it up if need be, and it'll match, in texture, color, and formality, anything that goes on your torso. 

Just be sure to wear dark socks.
Pictured: J. Crew 484 Jean

2. Field Jacket: These are inspired by classic European farming jackets with a little bit of a militant silhouette, made of breathable waxed cotton or light wool. They're much lighter than a heavy snow jacket, but still weather resistant. Something rugged, without the bulk, that'll still cut wind and keep out moisture. Buy the right one now, and you can wear it every spring for the rest of your life. 

Pictured: Orvis Woodside Meadow Jacket

3. Chukka or Desert Boots: These are lightweight, ankle-height boots that will still keep your feet dry in spring puddles or melting snow without the heft. Their origins are unclear (some say Northern African military [hence: dessert], some say British polo players), but these low-on-laces boots are a staple that can work any time of year, and especially well during these transitional seasons. 

Pictured: Clarks Desert Boot

4. Heavy Duty Cotton Oxford Button Down: The tartan flannels of fall and big plaids of winter give way to simple, sportier shirts. These aren't the fine white pinpoint linens that you wear under a suit, but thick, button-color shirts made for layering. White is classic, blue has a collegiate vibe, and light gray is for getting dirty. 

Pictured: Gap Modern Oxford 

5. Crew neck pullover: This one's to help you get away from the earth tones of winter but avoid those Easter egg colored v-necks, which its either not time for yet, or you, like me, can't pull those off anyway. This can be a fine merino or a casual jersey knit;  over a collar-shirt, it's great for a coffee date or casual meeting, and with a basic white t-shirt, they just look like what a guy should wear on a spring Saturday. 

Pictured: Banana Republic Heritage Linen Terry Sweatshirt

[At top: J. Crew Mechanics Field Jacket] Originally published March 5, 2015

Did you know you can make your own sketch and shop journals with just the materials you have on your shelf? Now you can scrap those yellow pads for something a lot more classy.    

I dipped my toe into bookbinding a few years ago, and let me tell you: there's a lot to learn about it. Making a bound book the traditional way is a very involved process that requires a few special materials and a block of time. But I learned to make some super useful journals that are perfect for sketches, notes, and general shop needs in an afternoon, and they keep me working well into the future. Here are two simple methods to make your own:

 Leather Cover Journal

This project is a super simple leather cover stitched directly to a few signatures (units of folded paper). It takes just a bit of sewing and cutting to make a convenient, portable, and classy journal.

1. Paper - I used standard printer paper for this journal, and cut it in half to 5 1/2" by 8 1/2" dimensions. I took stacks of 10 pages and folded them in half then pressed them flat with a smooth piece of wood. This folded group of papers is officially called a signature, or just sig for short. The final dimensions on the sigs were 5 1/2" by 4 1/4" once folded.

2. Cut the holes - I took three sigs and lined them up square and clamped them together with the folded edge sitting about 1/4" proud of the clamping board. I then used a razor knife to cut three small "v's" in the spines. Be sure to get through all the pages, without making this opening too wide (too wide means the papers will be loose when sewed together). It's important the make sure the spines stay perfectly lined up for this step.

3. Make the cover - I used a simple piece of flat leather for the cover. I cut it about 1/4" larger on 3 sides so the pages would be well protected. That means my 5 1/2" by 4 1/4" signatures fit into a flat piece of leather that was 6" by 4 1/2". I cut a long piece of leather to hold the journal closed and cut a 1/4" slit near one end. I  fastened it by cutting two small slits in the cover on one side, and threading it through itself. I used preservative to give the leather a smooth feel and protect it a bit from shop abuse.

4. Sew in the signatures - With the sigs stacked up, I threaded a waxed needle through the center hole then back out the bottom hole. Then I passed it through the bottom hole in the cover and back through the top hole in the cover and the signature. It then came back out the center hole, and into the center hole in the next signature. I repeated this step with each signature until they were all secured to the cover.  Easy enough, right? Here's a small picture of the threading:

That's the simple journal process. It took me about an hour to complete one, and it was an excellent gift for a fellow maker. You can make it thicker by adding a few more signatures, or dress it up with some burned custom lettering.

Exposed-Stitch Waxed Journal

Another great process is the bit more complicated fabric covered wooden journal. I used some 1/8" plywood I had, along with some fabric from my Waxed Tool Roll Project. This version is a it more involved in the cover construction, but the signature sewing is pretty similar.

1. Signature Prep - Look above on step 1 and 2 for preparing the signatures. The only difference is that on this one I used the entire 8.5" by 11" paper, so my folded signatures were 8.5" by 5.5".

2. Make the cover - I cut two pieces of 1/4" plywood to 9" by 5 3/4". I then lined up the signatures and marked where the holes in the spine were on the wood. I then drilled small pilot holes to thread through on the drill press.

With the holes drilled, I sprayed a layer of adhesive on the wood and stuck fabric to them, making sure it overhung on all sides by about 2". I then stretched the fabric over and glued it to the back of the wood using CA glue. The corners are a bit tricky, but keep them as flat as possible and make sure the fabric is tight on all the edges. I trimmed the excess fabric once it was glued tightly.

3. Sew on the signatures - I used a bit different sewing pattern on this one because of the exposed signature spines. I first passed the thread through the bottom hole in the cover and into the bottom hole on the first signature. I passed it out the center hole, through the hole in the cover, then back through the center hole. Then through the top hole in the signature and through the top hole in the cover. I then went through the top hole in the second signature, back through the center hole, looped around the thread from the first signature and back through the center hole in the second signature. I then thread it through the bottom hole, around the thread in the first signature, and then back through to the bottom hole on the third signature. Repeat this until you're through all signatures and the other cover. I finished up by looping it a few times around the last thread and tying it tight to that last loop. It may take some trial and error, but it's a pretty secure method for a shop book and the exposed stitching is a cool detail. 

4. Finish it up - The inside of the covers at this point are pretty ugly with the exposed fabric glue line, so this is where you add a heavier end sheet. The end sheet attaches the signature to the cover, and covers up the stitching and back of the covers. It also adds some stability to the book, so use a bit higher weight paper if you have some. I had some 120 weight cover paper that I used. Fold it in half, and glue to the cover with contact adhesive or something similar. Then, glue the other side to the first page of the first signature. You can glue the entire page to the signature page, or just put a bead of glue along the bottom and glue the first 1/4" of the page.

I added a design to my journal cover, then waxed it with some waterproof fabric wax to fend off shop dirt and stains.

You can finish up a few of these journals in an easy afternoon, they are perfect for collecting your shop work, or they make excellent gifts for anyone who loves to write, customize the cover, or even print some pages out with sayings or designs that you can bind into the book.

Have you ever made a notebook or shop journal? Any comments on the process? We'd love to hear from you! Please leave a note below.

Do me a favor this St. Patrick's Day: skip the green beer. Please. But, while you're not drinking that silliness, do try some Irish Whiskey. Often overlook by bourbon and Scotch drinkers, the Irish whiskey tradition is as old as it is varied. In fact, they kinda invented it.    

Irish whiskeys are made from both malted and unmalted barley, which contributes to its unique flavor profile. They're often distilled three times, giving the whiskey a lighter flavor compared to Scotch, and the styles are varied: "single pot still", "single malt", "single grain", "blended", etc. 

Like with most spirits, you can spend a fortune, but you don't have to. With that in mind, here are five favorites under $30. Of course, you can opt for the most popular Irish whiskey - Jameson - and there's nothing wrong with it. It's kinda like Jack Daniels or Budweiser or Glenlivet - they're well known for a reason. These picks are intended to stretch your palette a bit without breaking the bank. Sláinte!

1. Bushmills Black Bush - $28.99 - This blend only costs about $6.00 more than the standard Bushmills, and I think it's worth the upgrade, especially if you're drinking it neat with a small splash of water to open it up. Mostly malt and aged in sherry casks. Very good. 

2. Kilbeggan Traditional Irish Whiskey - $23.99 - Another solid blend. Very smooth and sweet, with a grain flavor that's a great introduction to the flavor of pot still whiskey. Kilbeggan is the oldest licensed distillery in Ireland.

3. Tyrconnell Single Malt - $29.99 - A great option for trying an Irish Single Malt at an affordable price. Tyrconnell was a legendary racing horse who won at 100:1 odds. Also distilled at Kilbeggan. 

4. Tullamore Dew - $21.00 - An excellent value at just over a Jackson. Its green label reads "the Legendary Irish Whiskey" and features the signature of Daniel E. Williams, the master distiller in the late 19th century who perfected the recipe. A great option to bring to share with friends.

5. Powers Gold Label - $23.00 - This is the one I'd order if I were at a bar. More character than Jameson, and likely costs a few dollars less. Would work will as the shot half of a Boilermaker, and would complement bitter or yeasty beers well. 

Do you have a favorite Irish whiskey? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Also, check out the ManMade roundup of affordable favorites of all styles of whiskey:

The Best Affordable Whiskey: 6 Top Shelf Bottles Under $40

 This post was originally published on March 13th, 2014.

Last weekend, I was hanging out with a friend in his garage, and he dropped the F-bomb. This is not typical for this friend, so while a little surprised, I was mostly intrigued. He'd made a mistake and installed something backwards, which, according to him, he does 60% of the time because it's impossible to tell which end is which. He says he's tried to identify it, but tape doesn't work, and a Sharpie marker wouldn't show up on the black surface. 

So I says to him, 

"Why don't you just mark it with some nail polish?" He shot back immediately, "where am I supposed to get nail polish?"

I thought everyone knew the glorious usability of nail polish for all sorts of marking and identifying tasks, but I guess he just wasn't hip to its glories. Growing up with a sister in the 90s, we always had all kinds of colors around the house, and I used it for everything. I have three bottles in my shop right now that have never been used for their intended purpose, but have been used for practically everything else. Here's how.

Why Nail Polish?

Here's the thing: nail polish is basically highly polymerized colored paint. It's got a ton of pigment, and is specially formulated so that it's thick, super adhesive, and, because it's suspended in an esther-based solvent, it's not water soluble and therefore sticks around for a long time. Its quite opaque, so it shows up great, and most importantly, it sticks to basically everything: wood, plastic, aluminum, steel, and fabric. Furthermore, it has a go-to way to remove it: nail polish remover (acetone). 

I'm sure you could get a similar paint made for models or little figurine painting, but I don't frequent the hobby shop, and I'm at a place that sells nail polish, like a grocery or pharmacy, multiple times a week. Add that it costs about two bucks and comes with a built-in brush that requires zero cleanup, and it's a perfect marking solution for makers, DIYers, woodworkers, and general around-the-house tasks. 

How to Use Nail Polish in the Workshop

Here's a classic example. I have three pairs of identical earbuds, one of which plays audio great, but the microphone doesn't work. So, I added a simple dot of nail polish to the busted one, so I know not to grab that pair when I'm about to hop on a phone meeting or conference call. (I did that once, and was talking for two-three minutes before I realized they couldn't hear me.)

Similarly, here's a rocker switch that I use daily that the manufacturer's didn't think to mark which end is on. A quick dab of nail polish, and I'll always know whether it's on or off. 

I also like to use nail polish to make tools better. Here's a small framing square that I like to use for layout. Its stamped numbers can be quite hard to see under the glare of light, so I filled in the numbers to make them easier to read. Wipe off the top, and the color just stays in the recesses. Boom!

I also like to use nail polish to mark my tools. I sometime volunteer with non-profits and group projects, and I'll often take my own tools for everyone to use. Throughout the day, they get mixed up with others,  and at the end of the day, I want to make sure mine come home with me. I got this simple three-dot pattern from an old 1880s-era Stanley No. 7 handplane I bought. A previous owner had lightly tapped it into the plane body, and I liked it so much it's now how I identify all my tools. 

I try to keep a white, and a high-visibility color like yellow or orange on hand. I somehow inherited this green color as well (my wife?). I usually have a black around, but I either used it or can't find it after this latest move. But, seeing how it costs two bucks, it's easy to pick up the next time I go to the supermarket.

Nail polish, my friends. It's super versatile stuff.

What are some other DIY and maker ways you could use nail polish in the workshop? Please share your ideas in the comments below. 

Did you know you can make your own sketch and shop journals with just the materials you have on your shelf? Now you can scrap those yellow pads for something a lot more classy.    

I dipped my toe into bookbinding a few years ago, and let me tell you: there's a lot to learn about it. Making a bound book the traditional way is a very involved process that requires a few special materials and a block of time. But I learned to make some super useful journals that are perfect for sketches, notes, and general shop needs in an afternoon, and they keep me working well into the future. Here are two simple methods to make your own:

 Leather Cover Journal

This project is a super simple leather cover stitched directly to a few signatures (units of folded paper). It takes just a bit of sewing and cutting to make a convenient, portable, and classy journal.

1. Paper - I used standard printer paper for this journal, and cut it in half to 5 1/2" by 8 1/2" dimensions. I took stacks of 10 pages and folded them in half then pressed them flat with a smooth piece of wood. This folded group of papers is officially called a signature, or just sig for short. The final dimensions on the sigs were 5 1/2" by 4 1/4" once folded.

2. Cut the holes - I took three sigs and lined them up square and clamped them together with the folded edge sitting about 1/4" proud of the clamping board. I then used a razor knife to cut three small "v's" in the spines. Be sure to get through all the pages, without making this opening too wide (too wide means the papers will be loose when sewed together). It's important the make sure the spines stay perfectly lined up for this step.

3. Make the cover - I used a simple piece of flat leather for the cover. I cut it about 1/4" larger on 3 sides so the pages would be well protected. That means my 5 1/2" by 4 1/4" signatures fit into a flat piece of leather that was 6" by 4 1/2". I cut a long piece of leather to hold the journal closed and cut a 1/4" slit near one end. I  fastened it by cutting two small slits in the cover on one side, and threading it through itself. I used preservative to give the leather a smooth feel and protect it a bit from shop abuse.

4. Sew in the signatures - With the sigs stacked up, I threaded a waxed needle through the center hole then back out the bottom hole. Then I passed it through the bottom hole in the cover and back through the top hole in the cover and the signature. It then came back out the center hole, and into the center hole in the next signature. I repeated this step with each signature until they were all secured to the cover.  Easy enough, right? Here's a small picture of the threading:

That's the simple journal process. It took me about an hour to complete one, and it was an excellent gift for a fellow maker. You can make it thicker by adding a few more signatures, or dress it up with some burned custom lettering.

Exposed-Stitch Waxed Journal

Another great process is the bit more complicated fabric covered wooden journal. I used some 1/8" plywood I had, along with some fabric from my Waxed Tool Roll Project. This version is a it more involved in the cover construction, but the signature sewing is pretty similar.

1. Signature Prep - Look above on step 1 and 2 for preparing the signatures. The only difference is that on this one I used the entire 8.5" by 11" paper, so my folded signatures were 8.5" by 5.5".

2. Make the cover - I cut two pieces of 1/4" plywood to 9" by 5 3/4". I then lined up the signatures and marked where the holes in the spine were on the wood. I then drilled small pilot holes to thread through on the drill press.

With the holes drilled, I sprayed a layer of adhesive on the wood and stuck fabric to them, making sure it overhung on all sides by about 2". I then stretched the fabric over and glued it to the back of the wood using CA glue. The corners are a bit tricky, but keep them as flat as possible and make sure the fabric is tight on all the edges. I trimmed the excess fabric once it was glued tightly.

3. Sew on the signatures - I used a bit different sewing pattern on this one because of the exposed signature spines. I first passed the thread through the bottom hole in the cover and into the bottom hole on the first signature. I passed it out the center hole, through the hole in the cover, then back through the center hole. Then through the top hole in the signature and through the top hole in the cover. I then went through the top hole in the second signature, back through the center hole, looped around the thread from the first signature and back through the center hole in the second signature. I then thread it through the bottom hole, around the thread in the first signature, and then back through to the bottom hole on the third signature. Repeat this until you're through all signatures and the other cover. I finished up by looping it a few times around the last thread and tying it tight to that last loop. It may take some trial and error, but it's a pretty secure method for a shop book and the exposed stitching is a cool detail. 

4. Finish it up - The inside of the covers at this point are pretty ugly with the exposed fabric glue line, so this is where you add a heavier end sheet. The end sheet attaches the signature to the cover, and covers up the stitching and back of the covers. It also adds some stability to the book, so use a bit higher weight paper if you have some. I had some 120 weight cover paper that I used. Fold it in half, and glue to the cover with contact adhesive or something similar. Then, glue the other side to the first page of the first signature. You can glue the entire page to the signature page, or just put a bead of glue along the bottom and glue the first 1/4" of the page.

I added a design to my journal cover, then waxed it with some waterproof fabric wax to fend off shop dirt and stains.

You can finish up a few of these journals in an easy afternoon, they are perfect for collecting your shop work, or they make excellent gifts for anyone who loves to write, customize the cover, or even print some pages out with sayings or designs that you can bind into the book.

Have you ever made a notebook or shop journal? Any comments on the process? We'd love to hear from you! Please leave a note below.