A Bit of Daily Mindfulness: Becoming Your Best Self

Mindfulness. It's a buzz word, and seems to be something everybody's after, even if we aren't totally sure what it is. But, the benefits are obvious — the ability to be wholly present, cognizant of where you are and what you’re doing, and not being concerned or overwhelmed by what’s going on around you, seems, well, kinda the whole point of  life, right?

Good news. This is something we are all capable of achieving, and like any craft or skill, we'll become better when we practice daily. Here's how to start:     … Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

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Maxims for Makers: Free Printable Posters for your Workshop

Have you ever marked out a board, went to cut, and re-checked your measurements after hearing the words "Measure twice, cut once" echo in your ears? It's remarkable how nuggets of shop wisdom can stick with you and save you a ton of trouble on a project.

At ManMade, we're big on collecting aphorisms, witticisms, and maxims that deliver helpful lessons in tidy packages. Sometimes, they're just what we need to stay productive, and get motivated to try something new. So, we're providing a few of our favorite in the form of free downloads: printable artwork to hang in your home, office, or wherever you create your DIY projects. 

… Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

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'Halloween' Repeats at #1, Helping October 2018 Reach Record Heights

The weekend played out mostly as expected with a repeat of last weekend's top four films, led by Universal's Halloween, which has now delivered over $126 million in just ten days in release. Lionsgate's release of Summit's Hunter Killer led the week's new wide releases with a top five finish while A24's expansion of Jonah Hill's Mid90s secured a top ten finish. The biggest news, however, might be the overall month of October, which is now the highest grossing October of all-time with gross...

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How to Restore a Vintage Chisel

Unless you're a millionaire, I always recommend going with used hand tools when getting started in woodworking. (Though, full disclosure, no millionaires have yet to ask my advice.) Vintage tools are plentiful, much less expensive, and depending on their age, usually a better, longer-lasting tool than you can buy at your local big box store. And the best part? Antique tools are more likely to be made in the USA or Europe, where they've been crafted from higher quality steels than modern tools from the home improvement center. 

Over the weekend, I found this nice, broad 1 1/2" chisel at a favorite antique mall, with a mere $7.50 on the price tag hanging from the handle. It was in mostly great condition. The top and back had been coarsely ground a few times, and the bevel wasn't square to the sides, but the steel was in beautiful shape and the handle looks like it's never been pounded on.    … Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

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'Halloween' Set for Second Weekend at #1 as Holdovers Continue to Dominate

October 2018 is still running at a record pace. As of October 24, the month was pacing +49% higher than last year, not to mention +7.8% ahead of 2014, the largest October on record, though that's about to change by the end of this weekend. That said, it won't be the weekend's new releases doing the heavy lifting, but the weekend's holdovers, starting with last weekend's chart-topping horror hit Halloween. The weekend's new wide releases will mostly debut in the low-to-mid single digit milli...

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7 Essential Hot Sauces to Keep in Your Pantry at All Times

Here's the thing people who don't like spicy food don't really understand: adding heat to your food, whether in the form of fresh chile peppers, their dried counterparts, or any number or cooked, mixed, and fermented chile-based condiments, is not… Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

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What to Put in Your Coffee This Fall

Its the season of nippy evenings and crisp mornings and the smell of leaves gathering over mossy ground. For most of the nation at this point in the calendar, the temperature has finally started tipping toward a chill. It is also the season when the entire world of marketed goods becomes pumpkin spiced, cinnamon sprinkled and otherwise given a taste that makes it seem like you're sucking on a mouth full of allspice berries. And you know what? I love it. I really do. We don't have a lot of big, broad ways in which we all, as a people experience the passage of time. So we might as well let our common appetite for sugar and spice become something that binds us together.

One way to let this explosion of cliché fall flavors come into your world, responsibly, is in your coffee cup. Because why not? Coffee is a daily part of many of our lives. And unless you are the Scroogiest grouch when it comes to the amusements of the months of October through December, why not let the occasional cup get gussied up with the joy of the season and its holidays? So, if you are the kind of person who likes to drink a little whimsy now and then, here's how to bring all of the warmth and cheer of the fall into your morning cup.    … Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

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How to: Make a Set of Custom Wooden Cufflinks

For most men, cufflinks are one of those accessories that are seldomly used, but when you need 'em, you need 'em.  You can buy custom cufflinks from anywhere between $20 to hundreds of dollars…or, you can make your own masculine, custom cufflinks… Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

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'Halloween' Slices Up a Monster $77.5 Million Opening

With a staggering, $77.5 million debut, Universal and Blumhouse's Halloween topped the weekend with the second largest October opening weekend of all-time. The horror film headlined a massive weekend overall weekend, that saw the top twelve combine for over $160 million, making this the second largest October weekend ever. As already mentioned, Halloween's $77.5 million three-day debut was the second largest October opening weekend of all-time, coming less than $3 million shy of the re...

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7 Amazing Apple Cider Cocktails for Fall

When fall falls, it falls hard. It fills our eyes, our noses, and, if we're doing things right, our cocktail glasses. 

Apple cider is a seasonal classic, and its can't-beat-it flavor is a perfect match for all sorts of spirits and simple cocktail ingredients. You can make these seven apple cider cocktails with things you probably already have, turning a simple jug of cider into something that will make the whole month of October much more festive.    … Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

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How to Drill, Saw, Plane, or Do Almost Anything Straighter

Stationary power tools are often the most full-proof way to do a job. They're anchored to the floor or bench, and come with flat tables and fence systems so you can guarantee your cuts, holes, and other bits of shaping are square and straight.

But, besides being expensive, they're not always the right tool for the job. So, instead we turn to handheld tools, both electric and manual, to get things done. And therein lies the rub - human beings are not machines. Try as we might, we often can't do something with our hands as straight or square as a large stationary tool. 

Besides using guides and other accuracy aids, there's a super simple and easy trick you can add to your mental toolbox to help guide the tool to do its best.    … Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

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'Halloween' Looks to Scare Up $70M Opening, Helping October 2018 Maintain a Record Pace

As of yesterday, October is pacing a massive +42.3% ahead of October 2017. In fact, October 2018 is narrowly outpacing October 2014, the largest October on record, and this weekend should help increase that lead. Universal and Blumhouse's Halloween is poised to deliver what will now be the second largest October opening ever behind Venom, which broke the record only a couple weeks ago. The weekend also sees the nationwide expansion of Fox's The Hate U Give, which is expected to deliver in t...

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Let's Talk: What are You Reading This Fall?

Okay. It's time to call it. The long days of summer are gone, and with them went the endless opportunity to take on a new project or adventure, no matter the time. For the next few months, the daylight hours will be spent mostly at work, with our free time coinciding with the dark, crisp nights of the season. The perfect time to do a little whittling or carving by the fireplace, or perhaps time to start a pot of your famous chili and cast iron cornbread. Or, when you just have a few spare minutes to yourself, read a great book. … Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

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11 Tools to Take Your Woodworking Projects from Hammer & Nails to Fit & Finished

Most of us get into woodworking from a practical point of view: we need to work on something around the house, so we head to the home center and get tools to break down dimensional lumber and bang it back together. So you upgrade from a circular saw to a compound miter saw, and maybe even get yourself a pocket hole jig so you can hide your hardware from sight. 

And then, as it inevitably happens, something changes in your point of view. You're now longer just doing "home improvement" or "building things"... you're now: a woodworker.   … Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

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How to Make an Awesome Meat and Cheese Board for Fall

You want your meat board to be a statement of your ambition. Not as a cook, but as an eater. If you can avoid it, don't just let this be a venue for a dinner plate. You want a board that seems deliberate and larger than life. Wood is good. But so is slate or stone or anything smooth and safe for food. In this moment, when you are putting together a board, you are not a chef, nor even a cook. You are an artist in front of a fresh canvas, but your paints are going to be the foods that you most love. … Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

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Fact: This Early 20th Century Swedish Tool Chest is Super Cool

Get ready to grab a bucket for all that drool...   … Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

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How to Make Decent Coffee in the Wilderness

Etymology often helps shape thought: when you're aware of a word's origins, you're in touch with the full context of the words that filter your inclinations. For example, did you know that wilderness comes from the Old English for "wild deer"?

Think about that for a moment: it's a place filled with animals unaccustomed to human contact, where humans have minimized their prints on the world. So when we go out to the wilderness, we're immersing ourselves in the beauty of nature, we're adventuring outside of civilization, and we're escaping from the creature comforts that can dull our sense of connection to the cosmos.

Well... maybe not 100% escape. Because while I love taking a break, I've never been interested in taking vacation from a good cup of coffee. If you're the same, read on for how we at ManMade make decent coffee in the wilderness, and our choices for a great camping coffee maker.

… Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

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'Venom' & 'Star is Born' Reign Atop Box Office for Second Weekend in a Row

It wasn't quite as close as we thought it might be at the top of the box office, but last weekend's top two films definitely disappoint. Sony's Venom held on even better than expected, delivering a second weekend at #1 while Warner Bros.'s A Star is Born continued to shine. As for the weekend's three new wide releases, Universal's First Man led the way, narrowly edging out Sony's Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween for third place on the weekend chart while Fox's Bad Times at the El Royale fell...

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How to: Make a Cast Iron Apple Pie

Apple pie. For my money, it's the best dessert to grace our tables and slide down our gullets in the past bazillion years. Sweet, tart, warm, gooey, and crumbly... it's no wonder it's an American icon. But why limit this goodness to your oven? Let's take a journey with the recipe, step out of the kitchen, and head into the great outdoors (or your backyard) to create a rustic cast iron apple pie cooked over an open flame.  

… Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

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How to Divide Any Board into Equal Parts without Fractions or Complicated Math

If you do your woodworking and DIYing in inches, a solid understanding of fractions is essential. Being able to calculate that half of 4 1/4" is 2 1/8", or that 1 1/2 + 1 3/16 = 2 11/16" is basic shop math that will keep your projects moving quickly.

But sometimes, messing with fractions at all is completely unnecessary. Let's say you have a board that you'd like to divide into equal parts. You could measure it, then bust out a pencil, paper, and the calculator app, and eventually have to Google a decimal-to-fraction converter to figure out the size of each section. Then, you'd have to find that crazy number on your ruler, and carefully add the units together to mark out your parts. Or... you could just do this.    … Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

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'Venom' & 'Star is Born' Look to Fend Off 'First Man', 'Goosebumps 2' & 'El Royale'

Thanks to a record October weekend last week the month is already off to its best start ever and things don't look as if they'll be slowing down this weekend. At the top, look for last weekend's two new releases — Venom and A Star is Born — to be in a close race for the weekend's #1 spot. Meanwhile, Universal's awards hopeful First Man should lead a crop of three new wide releases followed by Sony's Goosebumps 2 and Fox's Bad Times at the El Royale. Overall, we're lookin...

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ManMade Giveaway: Win a Pair of ISOTunes PRO Headphones, the Best Earbuds for Makers and DIYers

A few weeks ago, I declared ISOTunes the best headphones for woodworkers and DIYers. They include both audio drivers for sound and 27 dB of OHSA-compliant hearing protection from machine noises in the same package, and after spending all summer testing them out in real world situations, I can't think of a better investment to improve your shop time. 

So, I'm pretty excited to share that I've collaborated with ISOTunes to give away three pairs of ISOTunes PRO headphones to ManMade readers.

This isn't a sponsored post; just folks who love to help people make stuff getting together to spread the love.      … Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

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Warner Bros. and 'The Nun' Lead Second Highest Grossing September Ever

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7 Ways to Make Your Homemade Cocktails Taste Like Fall

Summer is the season of fresh, lively cocktails: Collinses and flips and spritzes and 'garitas. But as the weather chills down, it's time to switch into a more subtle mode. Fall cocktails are all about deep, earthy, and woodsy flavors, those that match the smell outside and the sorts of rustic, homey dishes that taste so perfect on a cool evening. … Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

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Visit Roadside America: 5 Unique Stops throughout the Southwestern US

It's a big country, the USA. And the myth of the open road remains strong, even if it will be self-driving cars that move us there. A little bit of research about roadside attractions in America will yield a host of unique and bizarre results. So here are a couple unique sites located off the beaten path that are worth visiting in the American Southwest.   … Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

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How to Make the Best Pancakes of Your Life

 

If you ask me, the single best place to get breakfast in NYC is Bubby's. They have incredibly delicious and addictive pancakes. And yet, Bubby's is not a secret, and as it is with the "best" places in any city, getting in often requires a long wait. It's popular with tourists who want a chance to get their forks into this magical creations, and I can't blame them. They're that good.

I, on the other hand, hate waiting, and I so I figured out how to modify the recipe a bit and, instead, I'm making brunch in my own kitchen this weekend.

Here's how to make better pancakes at home. 

… Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

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'Venom' Delivers October Opening Weekend Record While 'Star is Born' Shines

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How to Sharpen and Care For Your Axe

Fall means many things. Most important among them: firewood season. Whether building a campfire in a stone ring for cooking, heating your space via a woodstove, or just setting your indoor fireplace ablaze for some warmth, these next six months are all about the open flame. 
So, as we settle into the new half of the year, let's take a moment to address humankind's most primitive tool: the axe. Whether your splitting hole tree rounds, dividing logs into kindling, or getting creative with woodcarving and shaping, the process is simple, and only needs to happen once a year for the average non-lumberjack. Here's how to sharpen an axe.    … Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

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11 Surprisingly Good Finds You Should Actually Buy at Harbor Freight (and 8 You Never Should)

There are a few adages with which I can start this post. "You get what you pay for." "Some things are too good to be true." Yes, it would be awesome if there were a store in every town that sold solid, dependable tools at bargain prices. When you're just getting started, a place to fully outfit your shop on the cheap would be an amazing gift. I get it. I've been there.

But anyone who knows about Harbor Freight also knows about the reputation of the products it stocks: namely, that the quality is rather unreliable. Today, as I was discussing this post with my friend and colleague, M.E., her immediate response was, "There was one in the same plaza as my old job, so whenever we needed anything, we got it there. And ultimately whatever we bought, broke five days later. That place is the Dollar Store of the home improvement world."

And that's the trick: Harbor Freight stocks items that are designed to be sold, not to be used. I'm not saying their business model is dishonest or nefarious. Nor am I a tool snob with an unlimited budget. I'm only interested in spending as much money as necessary to get the job done. I know what its like to have your aspirations be bigger than your budget. But buying things that don't work, no matter how much they cost, is not saving money. The majority of products there simply will not stand up to repeated use, nor give the you the results you're after. When it comes to their sell-line of "Quality Tools, Lowest Prices"... well, one of them is true. 

Except... … Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

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'Venom' & 'A Star is Born' are Ready to Get October Off to a Strong Start

October 2018 is primed to get off to a record start with Sony's release of Venom debuting in a massive 4,250 locations, which already serves as the widest October release of all-time. At stake is the October opening weekend record, currently held by Gravity and its $55.7 million debut back in 2013, but things don't end there. On top of that, Warner Bros. is unveiling what is sure to be their latest 2018 hit in the awards contender A Star is Born, which has already made waves on the festiva...

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How to: Fold a Pocket Square

So you've snagged your new go-to blazer, upgrading your the 13-year-old-at-his-first-school-dance look of solo white shirt and black dress pants. Congratulations! You're now hovering at the upper style echelon that the big boys call classiness. Now, this may be a perfectly acceptable sartorial level to rest, one where you can command all the professional respect you'd ever need. But you're not satisfied with simply acceptable, right? Of course not! You want to pursue panache, you want to exude aplomb, you want to chase other fancy-pants dictionary words.

My friend, you're in need of a pocket square.

You know, the dandy cousin of the handkerchief that's there to just look cool and wouldn't dare catch a snot drop. Clothing is a nonverbal speech bubble, and conscious choices display confidence; the pocket square elevates the wearer another notch into the realm of "I know what I'm doing," provides variety for a frequently-worn outfit, and radiates the warmth of self-expression.

Read on for the ManMade primer on choosing your pocket square, then learn how to fold a pocket square and starting off with three basic pocket square folds!

… Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

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How To: Make a Canoe from a Single Sheet of Plywood

In my neighborhood, we have an excellent urban bike trail that runs along the a fairly large river that divides my city in half. Often, while cycling, I'll see folks, mostly elderly men, pop out onto the trail with their large canoes and kayaks.

"How fun," I always think, but there's no liveries or rentable canoe places until you drive an hour or so out of the city. Of course, I wouldn't need to rent one if I could get my hands on a piece of softwood plywood and a saw.

Which I can.

… Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

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Seriously, This is the Best Travel Coffee Mug You Can Buy

A travel mug is a simple device. So simple, that it's so notable when so many get things wrong. And then you use the perfect one, and you realize all the care and design that goes into the things we use everyday, and it's amazing. 

There's a travel coffee or tea mug that keeps your drink warm for hours, you can throw in a bag and never worry about it spilling, and provides a safe and pleasant drinking surface from which to sip. And it costs $20. And that mug… Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

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Food from Fields and Forests: How to Get Started Foraging