Gar’s Tips & Tools – Issue #196

Access to tools, techniques, and shop tales from the diverse worlds of DIY

The Clam Switches of Warsaw

I found this 14-minute documentary utterly captivating. In Warsaw, Poland, they use clams to monitor water quality—an ingenious and surprisingly elegant system. Eight clams are outfitted with a tiny, spring-mounted contact on their top shells. If the water becomes too polluted, the clams instinctively shut, triggering an alarm and closing off the water supply. Simple, natural, brilliant. The film itself has a slow-burn, meditative European quality—like if Ingmar Bergman did a documentary on city water management. [Via Jay Townsend]

Clamps: Their History and Uses

One of me besties, Peter Bebergal, sent me a link to this 1980 guide to clamps from the Cincinnati Tool Company. Basic stuff, but a fun browse for anyone who loves tools, tool history, and vintage industrial training materials.

Tips from an Engineer: Improving Workflow and Precision

In this insightful video, Zach, The Byte-Sized Engineer, shares eight invaluable lessons he’s learned during his years of hands-on engineering and project building. From the importance of failing quickly to improving problem-solving efficiency, to the hidden functions of digital calipers (depth gauge, step measuring) that enhance measurement accuracy, these practical tips can save time and frustration. He highlights tools like logic analyzers for debugging, deburring tools for cleaning 3D prints, and corrugated tubing for better wire management, all aimed at making engineering work more efficient. Additional tips include using isopropyl alcohol to remove hot glue easily, strengthening CA/super glue bonds with baking soda, and adopting better soldering techniques using flux gels and third-hand tools. Whether you’re a seasoned engineer or a hobby maker, these tips might help improve your workflow and precision.

Did He Say ‘Home Depot Arrowheads”?

Maker pal Dug North sent me this recent video of his ‘cause he thought that I “might get a kick out of it.” He was right! Having always been interested in flintknapping, I love watching videos of people doing it. And I especially fine glassknapping fascinating. In this video, Dug makes his own knapping tools from common Home Depot materials.

Cool Tools’ Kevin Kelly has pointed out something interesting about flintknapping (and other “bygone” technologies). There are actually more people practicing this stone age technology today than when it was the reigning tool tech. In fact, Kevin argues, technologies rarely die off. Once conceived, human inventions, regardless of their obsolescence, continue to exist through enthusiasts, historians, and niche communities. Dug knows a few things about this. When not knapping glass arrowheads and doing bushcraft, he also engages in the ancient art of mechanical automata.

Making a Screw Shortening Jig

Quinn of Blondihacks delivers another fantastic machining tutorial, this time focusing on creating a custom screw shortening tool—a handy bit ‘o kit for model engineers, watchmakers, and anyone needing small, precision screws cut to length. The project evolved from a makeshift aluminum jig she originally made into a durable steel fixture with precisely-machined threaded holes, solving the problem of deforming screw ends while ensuring repeatable accuracy. As usual, along the way, Quinn offers valuable machining insights, including stress-relief techniques, optimal cutting methods, and the importance of deburring. A clever last-minute fix—adding a “keeper” to stabilize the tool’s jaws—proves the iterative nature of good design. Finished with cold bluing and stamped size markings, the final tool is both functional and refined. Another fun and informative watch for machining enthusiasts, armchair [raises hand[, or otherwise.

Your Inspired Objects

I got a wonderful response to my piece about inspired objects. I’ll be showing them over the next few issues. This is inspired objects — humble objects edition. If you have an object you think is inspired (humble or otherwise), please share it!

Sydney Smith writes:

This is an inexpensive Japanese utility knife purchased on Amazon. Search for Takagi Gisuke Cutting. Before decorating with chip carving, it was so-so. After decoration, it’s enjoyable to pick up and use. Now it’s a workbench favorite.

I love this handle “hack” from reader Gideon Weinerth. I think I’m going to have to try this:

This is my inspired object. I took a Rada brand vegetable peeler which was excellent but had a crummy discolored handle. I wrapped the handle in aluminum foil and then applied a layer of Sculpey polymer clay over it. I then squeezed the bulkier handle until it perfectly matched my hand positions for way I like to peel. I baked it, let it cool, then dipped it in Plasti-Dip which needs another application. Makes meal prep a dream. Great technique for any other sub-par handle.

Ernie Hayden writes:

I was given one of these iSlice ceramic cutters about 10-15 years ago and use it almost daily to cut open tight, cellophane packaging, sealed packages, etc. It is really terrific. My old one even has a magnet in the handle so it can be placed on a metal cabinet or metal toolbox for handy use.

---

Consider a Paid Subscription

Gar’s Tips & Tools is free, but if you really like what I’m doing here and want to support me, please consider a paid subscription. Same great taste, but more cheddar for me to help keep me stocked in neodymium magnets. I will also pick paid subscribers at random and send them out little treats on occasion.

We have a winner! Rob Stone, you were the winner of our Work Pro multitool (or PDFs of my tips books) drawing. Congrats! I sent you an email.

Special thanks to all of my paid subscribers so far and an extra special thanks to Hero of the Realm, Jim Coraci.

Gar’s Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales is published by Cool Tools Lab. To receive the newsletter a week early, sign up here.

03/28/25

Splitwise App/Free Lounge Access/Most Comfortable Airlines

Nomadico issue #148

Georgia is a Great Value

Greetings from the Republic of Georgia, where I’ve been leading a group tour that involved cultural sightseeing, days of skiing, and lots of food and wine debauchery. This was the only country in my living abroad book that I hadn’t set foot in personally, so I’m glad to see it is still holding up well on the value side. One-day ski passes are $29, beer and wine are half or less what you’d pay in the USA or Canada, and a subway ride is under 40 cents. My first hotel when arriving early was $32 per night and we stayed at one of the nicest ones in Tbilisi, right next to Parliament, for under $100 per night. My local expat friends Tom and Meg from Eat This! Tours say the majority of monthly rents are currently running $400 to $1,400 so it doesn’t cost much to live well here.

Splitwise App for Group Travel

Separate checks are a server’s worst nightmare if they will even do it, but usually they won’t for a group in countries where that is not common. I used the Splitwise app for the first time this month as 10 of us dined and drank around Georgia together, with one person picking up the check each time then entering what other individuals owed into Splitwise. After 19 “Check please” transactions, most of the expenses canceled out and I owed 3 people a small balance that added up to $49 total. Because of this app, we hardly ever needed cash (and people could take turns racking up travel points).

A Cheaper Priority Pass Back Door

If you don’t fly business class or have another way into specific airline lounges, Priority Pass is a great alternative in most international airports. I wanted to have it in place before a long layover in the Istanbul airport, but to get it included with a credit card now usually requires an annual fee of $400 or more, more than just buying membership outright. I found one exception though. This Altitude Connect card from US Bank only gets you four included lounge visits a year, but it has no annual fee, no foreign transaction fees, and you get 20K travel portal points after a $1,000 minimum spend. So yes, I got my Istanbul food and drinks gratis in the nice lounge there instead of paying some of the highest airport prices in the world.

World’s Best Airlines

I’ve been flying on Turkish Airlines on this trip, which was #10 overall in the full-service category of this list of the best airlines in the world. Rankings are all about the criteria used and the criteria in this one are the factors that really matter once you’re on the plane, like seat pitch, meal/drink service, entertainment, and charging outlets. Taking the top spots were Korean Air and Qatar in the full-service category, JetBlue and Westjet in the hybrid category, and AirAsia and Jetstar in the budget category. Click the link to see a few other classifications for regional airlines.

A weekly newsletter with four quick bites, edited by Tim Leffel, author of A Better Life for Half the Price and The World’s Cheapest Destinations. See past editions here, where your like-minded friends can subscribe and join you.

03/27/25

What’s in my NOW? — Mary Lucia Darst

issue #206

Mary Lucia Darst founded ClefRights, a music publishing and technology startup. She holds a DPhil (PhD) in Music from the University of Oxford and is a member of St Hilda’s College. She is an avid polyglot and speaks twelve languages to varying degrees of fluency.

---

PHYSICAL

• A broken PenBBS 489 – The 489 is a vacuum-filler fountain pen that’s one of my personal favourites to use, but the finial has come off. All my attempts to reattach it have failed, but I leave it on my desk and fiddle with it between calls.
• Traveler’s Company brass pencil case – my desk doesn’t have any drawers, so I use the pencil case to keep track of small objects, such as USB drives, ink cartridges, erasers, etc.
• Assorted books – currently on my desk are Lord Chesterfield’s Letters to His Son, Chocolate Wars: From Cadbury to Kraft: 200 Years of Sweet Success and Bitter Rivalry by Deborah Cadbury, Barbarossa: And the Bloodiest War in History by Stewart Binns, and The Right It: Why So Many Ideas Fail and How to Make Sure Yours Succeed by Alberto Savoia

---

DIGITAL

• LibraryThing – I prefer LibraryThing to GoodReads for tracking and cataloguing my books.
• My own digital humanities project Oxford Dawn. I publish it every other week or so and the topics are based on what I’m reading or researching at the moment.

---

INVISIBLE

My health.

When I was in my doctoral programme, I realised that my health was crucial. I’m counting it as invisible because when everything is working, one never notices it.

03/26/25

B.P.R.D / Manabeshima Island Japan

Issue No. 59

IF YOU’RE IN FOR LOVECRAFTIAN HORROR AND NAZI PUNCHING, PICK UP B.P.R.D: 1946-1948

B.P.R.D: 1946-1948
by Mike Mignola
Dark Horse Books
2015, 472 pages, 6.9 x 10.4 x 1.4 inches (hardcover)

Buy on Amazon

I can’t get enough of Mignola’s occult investigators. The Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense first appeared in the Hellboy series, however the comics have spiraled off to rightfully stand on their own. This HUGE hardback collects stories from the Bureau’s early years, not long after its creation in 1944. If you’ve been following the series, this collection fills in a large gap between the organization’s inception, and where the Hellboy comics pick up in the modern day.

A year after WWII ends, the Bureau is left trying to stamp out one of Hitler’s last ditch efforts to turn the war around. Professor Trevor Bruttenholm, Hellboy’s guardian, is seen here as a younger man battling the forces of evil, and trying to prevent the Reich from amassing power yet again.

There’s so much to love about this book – vampires, an evil Nazi head in a jar, sentient chimpanzees. The artwork is incredible. Mignola worked with a whole slew of illustrators all who brought a unique interpretation to the gothic style that fills out this world. Knowing a little about the Hellboy universe is helpful, but not necessary. If you’re up for some Lovecraftian horror and Nazi punching, definitely pick this one up. – JP LeRoux

---

MANABESHIMA ISLAND – A TRAVEL DIARY ABOUT GETTING LOST ON THE MOST ISOLATED ISLAND IN JAPAN

Manabeshima Island Japan: One Island, Two Months, One Minicar, Sixty Crabs, Eighty Bites, and Fifty Shots of Shochu
by Florent Chavouet
Tuttle Publishing
2015, 144 pages, 7.5 x 10 x 0.6 inches (softcover)

Buy on Amazon

In 2009, illustrator Florent Chavouet decided to shrug off city life and get lost somewhere off the beaten path. Way off the beaten path. Stating, “The country [Japan] claims more than four thousand islands. But I only know two,“ as reason enough and taking pencils in hand, Chavouet traveled to the smallest, most isolated island he could find: the small fishing island of Manabeshima.

A good travel diary is built on unfamiliar, sometimes incomprehensible scenes brought to life by the ability of its author to paint pictures in the readers’ minds. He or she must make both the physical and cultural descriptions of a place and its people understandable, and relatable. In lovely, delicate colors, Chavouet does exactly that. Whether it is by detailing the furnishings and artifacts layered in a photographer’s home or in the odd and surprising detritus cluttering up the local post office, the author shows us all the minutia of daily life on this tiny island.

Chavouet has a knack for finding the little details that define people and places in our minds. We meet Hironobu, whose “round belly fills him with joy.” We meet a nameless vagabond who seems to take delight in inserting himself into Chavouet’s personal space. We meet Reizo-san, an old man who taught English in Hiroshima after the war. And on and on until it seems that the entirety of the town must have come straight from central casting just to populate this charming locale.

In between and alongside the descriptions and sketches of people and places are all the tiny things that make up daily life. There are sketches of fish and vegetables and maps of the local cat gangs’ territories. There are structured stories about spending a day crab fishing or attending the village festival. There is a glossary and an appendix and even a fold-out map of the island.

I had never heard of Manabeshima before I picked up this book. I still have a hard time finding it on a map. But that’s not really all that important. What matters is Chavouet’s sense of earnest enthusiasm. It’s contagious. Which makes this a book worth reading again and again while you plot your next adventure. While watching a local production about gods and devils, Chavouet notes, “[It’s] A bit on the light side for a script but it makes you want to be in it.” I guess you could say that about Manabeshima, too. – Joel Neff

03/25/25

Bike Tires

Tools for Possibilities: issue no. 130

Dependable bike pump

Topeak Joe Blow Floor Pump

After breaking four or five “rugged” bike pumps in four or five years, I made the hefty investment into a Topeak Floor Pump four years ago, which cost about half what I had paid for the “cheap” ones before. It’s still going strong and doesn’t show any sign of wear.

As to which model to choose, it depends on the bike. For a racing bike you’ll want a pump with a small-diameter cylinder, e.g. “Topeak Joe Blow Sport II” while for a commuter bike or a mountain bike you’ll want one with more volume, e.g. “Topeak Joe Blow Max II”.

These pumps are well-built, large enough (that includes handles, too) and have a good pressure gauge. The tube is long enough. But probably the best thing is the “TwinHead”. Depending on the valve type, either side fits. One side for Schrader valves, the other one for narrow valves. No adapter, no hassle, just push on and turn the lever. — Bernhard

---

Puncture-proof bike tires

NoTubes

Most days I ride my bike to work, and about twice a week I do a several-hour trail ride. On average I was getting a flat a week (mostly rear pinch flats on downhill trail rides). My friend told me about Stan’s NoTubes system. The next time I sat in the dark cursing yet another flat, I decided to convert.

In the NoTubes system you remove your inner tube from your tire. No tubes! You add a rim strip that seals your spoke holes. Since there is no tube you need a filling stem to put air into the tire…..this is built into the NoTubes rim strip. Then you add some white liquid inside the tire that seals it airtight. It’s one of those things that seems like it would never work, but it works amazingly well. The white liquid sloshes around inside the tire and immediately reseals any punctures as they occur without any air loss. If you still need convincing, watch this amazing video.

I have not had a flat since switching, and I can run at much lower pressures when needed for technical downhill without the danger of pinch flats. The system even saves some weight (and un-sprung rotational weight at that). Installing the system is pretty easy, especially if you use lots of soapy water while installing the rim strip and tire. The only maintenance is that you have to keep adding a bit of the liquid every few months or so. The site also has preferred tires that work the best, and other good installation tips worth looking at before committing. I will never go back to tubes. — Alexander Rose

---

Travel-size floor pump

Topeak Turbo Morph Bike Pump

The Topeak Turbo Morph is a lightweight frame pump that functions like a floor pump. It has a fold-out anchor for your foot, and the handle also flips sideways into a T-shape. It’s also got a hose, so you can easily inflate the tire while it’s mounted on the bike. Before getting the Turbo Morph about two years ago, I had a tiny frame pump that was just this side of useless. Most portable bicycle pumps are designed to be used exclusively with your arms/hands. Since they attach directly to the tire, they’re cumbersome to use and difficult to get to the full tire pressure. Contrast this to the floor pump in your garage. You anchor it with your feet and use your body weight to power it. Unfortunately, they are also too large to easily carry with you. I tried another “mini foot pump” before the Topeak, but it wouldn’t quite work with a Presta adapter. With my other frame pumps, I’d spend more time inflating the tire than I would fixing it, and it would be hard getting the thing past 60 PSI. With this pump, I can get the tire to its full 120 PSI in just a couple of minutes. I have the G model, which has a built-in gauge. More convenient to have a gauge on the pump than to have to carry a separate one. But if you’ve already got a gauge, then you probably won’t want the gauge version. I have puncture-resistant tires, but the key word is “resistant.” I still wind up getting a flat a couple times a year. This is well worth carrying. — Joe D.

---

Puncture-resistant cycling tires

Schwalbe Marathon Plus Bike Tires

I had two punctured tires in three weeks right before I bought these. Since I switched to the Marathon Plus tires a few months ago, I haven’t had a single puncture. The Marathon tires come in two grades: normal and Plus, which is the more flat resistant of the two (Schwalbe also makes a model called the Supreme, which I haven’t tried). They are truly for everyday commuting, with tread and real heft. Most importantly, they have Schwalbe’s SmartGuard, a layer of “highly elastic, special india rubber” to help better protect your tubes from sharp objects.

The Marathon tires aren’t cheap — and it’s hard to tell whether it’s just been good luck or good engineering — but I feel confident it’s the latter. I ride a lot (28 km, two or three times a week, 10 months or so a year) and I used to get tons of flat tires, sometimes once a week. This month in particular is very bad for debris; it’s the thaw here in Toronto, so all sorts of junk gets left behind as the snow banks melt.

I’m sure part of why I was getting so many flats is due to the fact I usually ride an EZ-1 Recumbent. With a ‘bent, the front wheel is very lightly loaded and the back wheel is heavily loaded. I sit right on top of it (I’m 6’2″ and 240 lbs), so it probably carries 90% of my weight. I think this makes the tire more susceptible to punctures because I’m guaranteeing that anything sharp that doesn’t bend or move goes right in. I’ve ridden on a few other kinds of tires: Continental slicks (nice), cheapo knobbies (garbage), some satisfactory tires that came stock, and Primo Comets (dartboards).

I am riding under the same conditions, circumstances and in the same areas as when I used to get the flats, and haven’t had any trouble. Just last week I rode through quite a lot of glass with no problems. — Adam Norman

---

Twice the stability for bikes

Pletscher Two-Legged Kickstand

While the need for a two-legged kickstand on a large tandem is fairly obvious, it’s not as clear why you’d need one for smaller bikes — until you start riding with children aboard. Whether you’re using a front-mounted Kangaroo WeeRide or a traditional rear-mounted child seat, preventing the bike from falling over when a child is strapped into the seat is a serious safety concern.

I first saw this Pletscher kickstand about seven years ago, when it came on our Bike Friday Family Triple. It’s an aluminum kickstand with two legs; the second pivots via a cam mechanism, so that it stows alongside the first leg. Made in Switzerland, it’s a cool piece of hardware for the folding design alone. Stowed, it looks like a standard Greenfield kickstand, with an extra leg.

The double-legged stand makes a big or heavily loaded bike far more stable when you dismount, and it can also double as a makeshift workstand for back-end fixes, as it lifts the rear wheel off the ground. We now have two bikes outfitted with this kickstand, and with our youngest still 17 months old, we’re considering a third. — Yitah Wu

Once a week we’ll send out a page from Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities. The tools might be outdated or obsolete, and the links to them may or may not work. We present these vintage recommendations as is because the possibilities they inspire are new. Sign up here to get Tools for Possibilities a week early in your inbox.

03/24/25

Many-Worlds Vision/Life in Weeks/Overview effect

Recomendo - issue #454

Dreams illustrated

Other people’s dreams are usually not interesting, but Claudia Dawson—our “CD” in this newsletter—records and visualizes her dreams daily in a way I find enjoyable to read. She summarizes her dream in a few brief sentences, and illustrates them with an AI-generated image. She made a book of her most potent and profound dreams of the last few years, and I’ve been sending friends a copy because it is an unusual and distinctive art. The collection is called Many-Worlds Vision, and she also sends out a newsletter by the same name. – KK

Life in Weeks

This free website app lets you design a map to visualize your life in weeks. It’s pretty self-explanatory and easy to use, you just need to create a free account to save it. I’m still working on mine, adding moves, jobs, and relationships, but as I build it and preview it, I feel a mix of emotions that is both sobering and inspirational for the second half of my life. — CD

Cosmic perspective changer

Astronauts seeing Earth from space experience a mix of awe and interconnectedness that reduces anxiety and increases well-being. Astronaut Edgar Mitchell called it an “explosion of awareness.” This Forbes article explains how to get this “overview effect” without leaving Earth. The key is seeking experiences that make you feel small against something vast: stand on high viewpoints, stargaze away from city lights, step back to find meaning, and find a way to “trust the process.” — MF

Genre-bending movie

I recommend you watch the Oscar-winning film Emilia Perez without knowing too much about it. Don’t read up. The less you know ahead of time, the better. I can say that it’s in Spanish with subtitles, a crime melodrama with feel-good vibes, plus it is a French musical (!), and you won’t guess what happens next. Not in a weird, spooky, absurd way, but in a plausibly surprising way. It is now streaming on Netflix. — KK

Best coffee bean storage container

I use an OXO POP Container (1.7 Qt) to store coffee beans. It has a push-button mechanism to create an airtight seal. It’s dishwasher safe, including the lid. Just don’t drop it — the BPA-free plastic can crack. — MF

Developmental Affirmations

These affirmations support growth at every stage of life, starting with the prenatal, and are designed to be used across your entire lifespan. Many of these messages were not expressed to me as a child, but I am using them now as a way to “reparent” myself. You can speak them to yourself, write them down and carry them with you, or express them through the way you speak, touch, and interact with the people you love, especially when they need support. The one I’m working on right now is: “You can say your hellos and goodbyes to people, roles, dreams, and decisions.” — CD

Sign up here to get Recomendo a week early in your inbox.

03/23/25

What’s in my NOW? — Mary Lucia Darst