As grilling season is starting back up in force, I thought it was time to expand a bit from my well-used staple brown-sugar BBQ sauce. Here are a few completely different but interesting ideas to spice up your next cookout.   With a list like this, there's no reason to be grilling with a store-bought sauce. Most will take about an hour total to make, and it will last for a few weeks in the refrigerator. So take the time to make something special and you'll be set for a great time behind the grill.1. Sriracha Bourbon Barbecue Sauce - There are plenty of reasons to love the ubiquitous Sriracha, and here's another one. Combine bourbon's hearty sweetness with a heathy portion of spice for something you can mix with ribs, pulled pork, or even slathered on a side of chicken.

2. Alabama White BBQ Sauce - Not the typical sauce, but if you're looking for something a bit more creamy, this may be your pick. The sauce has a helping of vinegar and horseradish so expect a bit of tang and spice mixed in.

3. Smokey Bourbon BBQ Sauce

4. Carolina Mustard BBQ Sauce - It may be just me, but I think mustard improved just about anything. Take a healthy dose of mustard and add in some sweet, spice, and a bit of Worchestershire sauce for something off the traditional path but still bound to be amazing.

5. Pineapple Brown Sugar BBQ Sauce

6. Fireball Apple Butter BBQ Sauce - Apple Butter adds the sweetness and the kick of cinnamon fireball for a sauce that will keep up the kick right through to a nightcap around the fire-pit.

7. Blueberry BBQ Sauce - For a full-on kick of sweet, this blueberry sauce still has the spice to hold up well on your grilled meats. I love to color this adds to the meal, and with a hearty consistency, it will coat the meat well when the heat turns up.

8. Sweet and Spicy Jalapeño BBQ Sauce - Rounding out this list is a solid twist on the classic BBQ staple. Adding in some smoked Jalapeño gives it a toasty heat that compliments thick cuts.

So, now you have no excuse to forego the handcrafted sauce, so go ahead and whip one up with weekend.

We're no sports scientists, but every one of us here at ManMade are athletes - runners, climbers, cyclists, lifters, and hikers. And what those hours on the road, gym, or trail have taught us is: you need energy to keep going, perform high-intensity intervals or bursts, and do the work to get yourself to your destination. And then get yourself home again.

That means that if you're exercising for more than 30-60 minutes, you need to consume more than just water.  

Sports drinks are a great way to get both fluid replacement, carbohydrate replenishment, and extra electrolytes to combat those lost by sweat. For high-intensity or long-distance endurance training, you should shoot for 25-50 mg of carbohydrates per hour, and at least 24 oz of fluid, depending on how much you're sweating.

And you can buy commercial products for this, and they work...though sometimes too well. They often contain more sugar than you need, and don't provide a variety of carbohydrates (glucose, fructose). And...they're expensive. 

So, we do what we do on ManMade, and make our own using ingredients you can find in any kitchen. Here's how to do it. 

Materials and Tools

• Water bottle
• 100% fruit juice
• sea salt
• permanent marker
• assorted measuring tools (measuring cups, spoons, etc)

1. First, if you don't know it, determine the volume capacity of you water bottle. You can just fill it with water, 1/2 cup at a time, until it's full. Remember 1 cup = 8 oz. Most standard sports bottles (like those you don't wear on a runners belt) are either 20 or 24 ozs. Larger bottles uses for backpacking or outdoor recreation tend to have the volume measurements right on them.

Once you've figured out the size of your bottle, divide the oz/ml by three. So, for a 24 oz bottle, that's 8 oz, or one cup. Leave that amount of liquid in the bottle.

2. Hold your bottle up to the light, so you can see the liquid inside. Note the line, and mark it with a permanent marker. If you can't see through your bottle, and it's relatively cylindrical, you can measure the height and divide by three. Close enough for these purposes.

3. Now, the measuring part is done and your bottle is set up for every workout. So, begin by filling your bottle up to line with fruit juice - try something like cranberry, orange, grapefruit, white grape, etc. All of these are easily absorbed.

4. Add a 1/4 teaspoon of coarse sea salt. Measure it once, and note what this amount looks like. After this, you can just grab a nice pinch and forgo the spoons. Sea salt is preferred over regular iodized table salt, because it contains minerals other than sodium that get sweated out as you work. But, of course, use what you have. If you do use fine grain table salt, dial back the amount just a bit, since its grains are a much smaller size.

5. Now, fill the bottle to the top with cold water. This creates a ratio with the magic formula of 2:1 water to juice, with a pinch of salt. Note that this doesn't mean 2:1 water to sugar, since the juice itself is also something like 95% water. This adds just the right amount of easy-to-absorb carbohydrates to keep fueling your high-intensity exercise. 

6. Lastly, shake it all up to combine, and give it a sip. What's it taste like? Sports drink? A little sweet, a little sour, and a bit salty? Great! We've done our job.

You can, of course, experiment with different taste and flavor combinations to find one to fuel your session. If you find one you love, let us know in the comments below.

Now, get out there and move.

What started as a series of drunken emails between two food blogs birthed a sandwich that sounds almost too good to be true. As a non-ironic fan of both PBR and Reuben sandwiches, I've gotta say, I'm very interested.   

The official description from the recipe's creator reads:

"Imagine a classic Reuben sandwich: piping hot corned beef covered in Swiss cheese, crunchy sauerkraut, and creamy dressing between buttery toasted slices of rye bread. Then imagine all that good-good battered in PBR beer batter and deep fried."

Click here for the recipe from Foodbeast.com.

Chris Lyons is the master craftsman behind Clyons Creations, where he specializes in handcrafted guitars and other DIY woodworking projects. He's also a "technology education instructor" at a local junior high, but he prefers the old school title of "shop teacher." And as such, here are his 10 Tips From Shop Class You Should Never, Ever Forget...   Little tips from things like making clamps your friends to cutting angled pieces a little long and then trimming them to fit are all sure to keep you in the zone on your next woodworking project. 

Click here to view all the tipsand let us know what are your fundamental tips would be!

There's no such thing as "too many camping chairs" or outdoor seating. Seriously, the more the merrier, particularly if they fold flat for storage and especially in the summer.

The Merry Thought has put together a new DIY post with detailed instructions to create this great lounge chair.

I love that it's compact enough to carry around without too much hassle, and plenty customizable. You could paint in any color you want - which may be wise if it'll have prolonged exposure to water.

Usually this type of chairs sell for around $250-300, but to make your own should definitely cost you less than $100. Way less if you already have some of the materials. 

Can you picture yourself by a bonfire roasting some s'mores or at the lake reading? Yeah, we can totally see it, so you should go make one! Tick Tock, summer's here.

To get the full list of materials and step by step instructions, visit The Merry Thought.

Here's a great look at how those denim jeans look so just worn enough before you even pull them on. From material cutting all the way to hand pressing the buttons on.Man, I love these process videos.  

Way back in the 40's, Cohen and Sons Apparel started to churn out quality clothing for the demanding Boomer generation. After decades of successfully holding their own, the company was shuttered thanks to cheap overseas competition. But, the revival came when the dream couldn't be held back any longer and a grandson re-opened the brand with the money from a totaled motorcycle and a kickstarter shot in the arm. Take a look at their process for making a quality set of jeans from raw spool to finished shelf.

Now that I seen how a small shop makes those distressed denim, it gives me just a bit more appreciation for the clothes I buy and the history behind them. 

In the last few decades, lard has gotten a bad wrap in the U.S. From playground name-calling to the low-fat (and high chemical) diet of the 90s, we became scared of pig fat. We imagined it as a heart attack in a tub, a spoonful of which will immediately clog every artery in your body and you might as well just give up right then and there.

But here's the thing - first off, fresh, naturally rendered pork fat is a completely different product than the whipped, hydrogenated stuff you find in the supermarket. And lard actually contains about half the cholesterol and one-third of the saturated fat of butter. Really. 

So, cooking with it once in while will not kill you. What it will do is make all your food taste a lot, a lot better. And since it's not always easy to find - though most Latin American markets or Eastern European markets with a butcher counter usually stock it - it's time to make our own. Here's how. 

The cool thing about rendering lard is - it's not a recipe, really. It's a technique. All you need is some pig fat, which you can get from any high-quality butcher shop, or you can save your own trimmings from pork chops, roasts, etc. 

If you want to use your lard for desserts like pie crusts, scones, or even biscuits, try to obtain leaf lard, which is the soft, visceral fat from around the pig's kidneys. It has a cleaner flavor that won't add any meatiness to your sweets. But, here, meatiness is exactly what I'm going for, so I'm using a mix of fats that I took home from my recent pig butchery class at the Portland Meat Collective. (Which was, FYI, totally amazing and very, very fun).

Begin by chopping your fat into small pieces. Don't worry about little bits of muscle that cling to it. Those will naturally separate themselves out and become cracklings, and, having confit-ed all day, are totally delicious to pick out and treat yourself with a sprinkle of salt.

There are many ways to render out the goodness, but the easiest, and least messy, way is to simply use the slow cooker set to high. Add your fat, and pour in a short layer of water to prevent burning.

As the mixture begins to cook and bubble, the clear, clean fat will naturally rise to the top. Use a ladle to remove it every half and hour or so, leaving any particulates behind.

Strain the liquid into a heat-proof container (a Mason jar works great). When everything is done cooking, there will still be lots of solids in the cooker. The stuff that looks edible and delicious is. Enjoy it.

Stored in the refrigerator, it will keep for... a long time. Just make sure it's covered and sealed, so it doesn't pick up the funky flavors of the fridge. You can warm it up and reuse it, say for confit or carnitas, and it will only get better as it picks up more savory flavor.

Use as you'd like - it will make any sautéed vegetable taste better, and add loads of richness to a pot of beans. I like to sear my steak or chicken thighs in it - it's a got a pretty high smoke point, and add serious, serious flavor.

Enjoy. Just not with a spoon. Or do. No one here will judge you. 

Starting a fire is an essential life skill, for sure, and most of us have our preferred technique: the lean-to, the tepee, the log cabin. But, even though most fires aren't started in emergency, or even in one-match situations, that's part of the fun. Once you've learned how to do it without turning a gas knob or lighting one of those Duralast logs, lighting a fire with one match (or spark from a starter) becomes part of the game, even if you have a whole box at your side.    

This video from Backpacker magazine has the most thorough explanation I can find, so I'll let them do the talking. 

As expected, success lies in the prep work. Here's to a whole new season of campfires, friends. 

Top photo: Steven Leonti cc 2.0

The brand name Levi Strauss is so well known it's practically interchangeable with "jeans." And I'm a huge a fan of jeans in general. They're perhaps the most iconic form of American apparel. They can be classy and dressed up, or rugged and practical. And here's a one of a kind documentary from Levi tracing the brand's history, examining manufacturing techniques, and discussing the relevance of the cut on society. With gorgeous retro cinematography, it's inspirational to watch, and it's narrated by Ramblin' Jack Elliot to boot.    

The documentary traces the influence of the Levi 501 Jeans on popular culture from its early roots as a functional necessity for cowboys and the coal mining industry through its adoption by Hollywood icons where its ubiquity becomes a fashion statement, and up through the counter-culture years as Levi's were associated (perhaps somewhat retroactively by modern branding) with the rebellion culture. 

If you're like me, there is a small stack of books close by. They're piled up on many flat surfaces in my house and slide off with no warning. Here's a simple countertop bookcase to spiff up that well-loved set of books.   I'm what you would call an avid reader, and also a purist. While I love my tech, it's still way too hard and plastic to replace the feel and smell of the printed book. So, I collect, stack, sort, and stash books all over my house. It's a problem I'm not really ashamed to have, but I do like ways to keep them close and orderly. That's why I'm really excited to put one of these simple countertop bookcases together the next time I find some time in the shop.

For one thing, It's great to see such a simple solution to the problem of keeping books in order but still in sight. Also, using easy materials makes it a project that can be done for just about nothing with the scraps and cut-offs I have in the shop.

Take a look at the rest of the project pictures and a simple to follow plan on making a set of these for your favorite pile of books here.

If you're a consistent reader of ManMade, you're probably someone who's investigated a fair number of TED talks. From classics like Do Schools Kill Creativity? and The Psychology of Evil, I'm guessing you've been around the proverbial TED Talk block. So now, here are 10 great ones on to add to your list, and 8 of them are one's I'd never heard of before.   

Click here to see the full list from Cool Material and let us know what are some of your favorite TED Talks! I've added some of my personal favorites here too.

In the 1990's Craig Bernhardt came across a pamphlet for Rockwater Ltd., a company that specialized in building gorgeous stone walls and benches. He didn't have a need for either of those things, but for some reason he held onto the brochure, and the idea never left his mind. When his back patio and outdoor shower needed a complete overhaul, he decided to start a journey that would take over two years and a half years and 50 tons of hand-placed stone to complete.   

Craig began by hiring the company in the pamphlet to show him how to master the necessary techniques and then found himself falling in love with the meditative process of finding the right stone to fit in the right place to build an organic structure, never chipping or shaping a stone to fit his pre-designed plan. 

Click here to read about Craig's story in Popular Mechanics and more about getting started with mortar and stone.

With spring in the air, it's time to start thinking of long nights on the patio with food friends, and a bit of vino. Nothing goes better with that bottle of wine than the cheese plate, and here's a handcrafted cutter that looks as good as it works.   The process of making this cutter is pretty straightforward, with only a few parts it's easy to make in a short morning and have on the table the same day.

I like to see the combination of wood pieces and a bit of metal working, as it expands the skill set and makes me more of a versatile maker. Here's a quick video of the process, and you can read all about the tools and materials at the post here

I haven't seen a slicer quite like this before, and if it works half as good as it looks, there won't be much of that smoked Gouda left after the guests head home.

You may not even know you're wearing them, but there is a little piece of style in your closet that needs an upgrade. Those pointed collars have a little backbone in them called a collar stay, and a little bit of work will make them look great again.   I started thinking about upgrading my collar stays when one of my favorite shirts started looking a bit haggard. After a good starching, the collar was still a bit rounded and sagging. A few minutes in my shop turned out some new collar stays and I was back to looking sharp. Here are the easy steps to make your own:

1. Pick the wood - I picked a spare piece if bubinga that I had in the shop for a few reasons. First, the thick, oily wood polishes up nicely with a smooth reddish finish. Second, it smells amazing when you cut into it - I'm a sucker for the smell of fresh sawdust.

2. Cut a few pieces to rough size -I used the bandsaw to slice off 6 small pieces that are roughly the size I need them, about 1/4" x3".

3. Use a set of plastic stays to trace out the design - using the flimsy stays from one of my shirts, i traced out the rough shape. Keep in mind there are 2-3 standard sizes so it's best to take a look at the stays you will be replacing to get the right sizing.

4. Cut out the shapes - Using the bandsaw, I cut the pieces close to finished size. Since I'm planning on sanding on the belt sander, I left a bit of room to be able to sneak up on the shape at the sander.

5. Sand to final size - With 120 grit on the sanding belt, i sanded the pieces to final size. Sanding such small pieces can sometimes be hard, so I used a pencil to hold it close. The eraser is grippy enough to hold tight, and it's not problem if it touches the sanding belt.

6. Finish sanding - i sanded all pieces with 120, 240, 400, and steel wool until they were smooth and just about all of the marks had been removed. I then wiped clean and added a thin layer of oil-based finish to keep them protected.

7. Dapper up that collar - now that you have some custom collar stays, it's only fitting to slip them in and instantly tighten up that outfit. Although this is something no one will see unless you're showing off your workmanship, it adds a clean line to your collar that those flimsy plastic pieces just can't match.

This whole project took about 20 minutes to make 3 sets of stays, so now you have no excuse to skip the shop this weekend. We'd love to see you set of collar stays, send us some pictures when you finish up you own set of handcrafted stays.

We all know charismatic people. The people who have that extra "woo" capability, who you love being around, and who always seem like they're comfortable and having a good time. But what exactly is charisma and how can we be more charismatic?   I first found the following video on Airows.com and it's short - barely over a minute long. But I wanted to point it out because it's actually changed the way that I think about charisma and the kind of man I want to be. 

By focusing on appreciating things around you rather than matching them against your expectations, there really is great potential for all of us to be more at peace with ourselves and as a result more charismatic in general. 

Regular ManMade readers know we love a good cocktail. Whether it's a simple highball, a classic gin and tonic, a bright and fresh French 75, or a smokey Swedish Flame, we think knowing how to make and enjoy a high-quality drink at home is part and parcel of the ManMade ethos. So when Olmeca Altos Tequila reached out to us to celebrate this awesome time of year — late spring and early summer — we were pretty excited about the chance to team up and create some tasty cocktail and food recipes.

Olmeca Altos is one of my go-to brands when I want a high-quality, authentic Mexican tequila at a reasonable price. In fact, we chose their Reposado last year when we created our own "pumpkin spice" tequila to toast the flavors of fall. Altos is a versatile and delicious tequila that adds a supreme taste to your favorite libations all season long.

So, over the next few months, I'll get to share some simple, but super tasty tequila cocktail recipes to during one of our favorite times of year. Sometimes, we'll throwing in some food/snack pairing ideas to match.

To start off with, we're keeping things simple with a tequila twist on the classic Old Fashioned, and seriously tasty "bar snack"-inspired popcorn with a Latin twist. It's a simple but ... zesty? can I say zesty? Yes? Cool so... it's a simple and zesty combo that's great for a Friday night of Netflix-related activities. 

Here it is:

El Pasado de Moda: La Naranja Old Fashioned

This drink traces its lineage to the classic Old Fashioned. It starts with a dash of bitters and some simple syrup. Then add Olmeca Altos Plata Tequila, a splash of fresh orange juice and an orange rind for garnish.

Olmeca Altos Plata has a fruity, slightly citric and sweet aroma with herbal notes of cooked agave. Its sweet and citric taste is well-balanced and has a long-lasting aftertaste. Plata is not aged; it's bottled it right after distillation for bright and fresh agave flavor.

Place one ounce simple syrup, an large section of orange peel, and three dashes of Angostura bitters in a rocks glass. Use a muddler or back of a heavy wooden spoon to press the oils out of the orange peel, and stir to combine with the syrup and bitters. Then fill the glass with ice, and add 2 oz. of Olmeca Altos Plata and 1 oz of fresh orange juice. Stir to combine, and enjoy!

Spicy Chile-Lime Popcorn 

Take some fresh-popped popcorn, and toss it with chile-lime powder (like Tajín) and salt. You can make your own chile-lime powder by combining 2 parts smoked paprika to 1 part each chile flakes and fresh lime zest. Toss it with the popcorn and some fine sea salt and just a small pinch of sugar. Yum. 

You can follow @AltosTequila on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for lots of great entertaining ideas and tequila recipes. 

And now some more delicious food/drink for your eyes (pin at will, people):

This post is sponsored by Olmeca Altos Tequila, but all opinions are mine alone. Thanks for supporting the brands that support ManMade.

This simple wooden box is part of the Crate series by London designer Jasper Morrison. It's made of Douglas fir and, as the designer suggests, "is suited to many applications such as a bedside table, storage or occasional table."   

It doesn't seem like the series is available for purchase anymore...which is okay, cost it was pretty costly. Doug fir is incredibly affordable and very easy to work. The genius of these boxes is the solid back panel, which provides lots of rigidity and allows the crates to be used for storage in multiple configurations. 

Of course, fir is a softwood, and if you really wanted these to be secure (say for sitting) you'd want to up the joinery to something more than just butt joints (Morrison's design used box joints). But for lightweight use, you could assembly one of these with $20 worth of wood, plenty of glue, and a simple handsaw. Grab some clamps, and go. 

See more at Jasper Morrison: The Crate and Established and Sons 

I'm a fan of making some sawdust, and I produce plenty of it in my shop every chance I get. While it might be fun making the mess, breathing those fine particles is a major problem for your health. That's where shop air filters come in.   The principle behind it is to run dusty shop air through a set of filters to catch the fine specks that would otherwise settle in your lungs. There are plenty of ways to get sawdust clogged air moving and pushed through a filter, and most are built of two simple, easy-to-find parts: the filter and the air filter. Here are 4 shop-made projects to get you breathing easier today:

1. Attic Fan - This flat fan is set in foam and has a flat profile. A bit underpowered compared to a squirrel-cage fan, but will still get the job done.

2. Squirrel Cage Fan - High volume fans can be bulky, loud, and a bit hard to find but take a look at local HVAC contractors for an older fan you can pick up cheap. The amount of air they move makes it a pretty solid choice.

3. Handmade Filter - This builder actually went far enough to build his own filters. Not really worth the effort in my opinion, but still a cool process to see him work out.

4. Box Fan - The cheapest, easiest choice is to buy a simple plastic box fan and a few furnace filters. This is an entry level fix that is underpowered but still worth looking at if you're on a budget.

5. HVAC In-Line Booster - HVAC systems sometimes have booster fans built into the lines to push air to the furthest reaches of a big house. That small and compact fan is quiet but likely underpowered, but it still moves air through that filter.

With all of these shop-built air filters easily weekend projects, there is no reason to breath that dusty air another day.

Now that the days are warming up the thought of a hot latte with milk and cinnamon sure adds a drop of sweat to my brow. It's usually this time of year, I swap my typical addiction to hot coffee to sweet, syrupy iced coffee. I just can't get enough of the stuff!

Recently I had a fantastic, refreshing spin on iced coffee when a local shop added a splash of sparkling water and orange peel. If that shop was any closer to me, they'd put me out of a home with this drink! 

In order to save time and money I tinkered around with my own recipe and thought I'd share it with you!

It starts with a batch of homemade cold brew coffee. I made mine in a growler, you can use a mason jar or a cold brewing system if you have one.

Here's what you'll need

• 6 ounces of coffee
• 5 Cups of filtered water
• a growler or large glass container
• paper coffee filter
• filter holder
• funnel

The process couldn't be easier. Set your coffee grinder to coarse and grind all 5 ounces of coffee. 

with a funnel spoon all the grounds into the growler.

Next, add filtered water.

Once you've added all the ingredients to your growler, put the lid on, give it a light shake and let sit out for at least 12 hours.

Once your coffee has been brewing for at least 12 hours, you need to filter out the grounds. I used my Chemex system to pour the water and separate out the grounds. You can certainly use any other clever method to separate the grounds and coffee.

At this point, you can use this concentrated brew to mix up several glasses of iced coffee and milk, add it to ice cream, mixed drinks and more. 

But for now we're going to make a tasty cold brew soda with a hint of orange zest!

What you'll need

• A bottle of sparkling water
• Your fresh batch of cold brew concentrate 
• an orange
• a veggie peeler
• a tumbler glass
• Ice

Now it's time to make the soda! Pour yourself a serving of concentrated cold brew coffee, about half a cup, into a short glass. Your ratios here will be determined on your preference.

I added about 1/4 a cup of sparkling water. Mountain Valley is my absolute favorite—if it's possible to have a favorite water—I find this brand is less bitter. 

Using a vegetable peeler, peel a nice long piece of orange zest. You'll be adding it to the soda.

For the final touch, squeeze the peel above your drink, rub the rim and drop it into the mix, like you're making an old fashioned. That's it! The tastiest summer drink this side of lemonade!

When Scrap Wood Cityneeded a tiny lathe (smaller than a mini-lathe) to turn truly tiny things, he set out to make his own using a Dremel rotary tool and some wood blocks. A lathe this tiny allowed him to create small furniture, miniature models, and other tiny reproductions that would otherwise require numerous man hours carving them by hand.    But now, he's saved countless hours with this DIY Mini Lathe that he built using only a handful of tools.