{"id":25884,"date":"2016-02-24T15:10:19","date_gmt":"2016-02-24T22:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=25884"},"modified":"2016-07-05T09:12:49","modified_gmt":"2016-07-05T16:12:49","slug":"sean-michael-ragan-maker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/sean-michael-ragan-maker\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean Michael Ragan, Maker"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sean Michael Ragan is a long-time contributor to MAKE magazine and makezine.com. His work has also appeared in ReadyMade, Popular Science, and The Wall Street Journal. He is the co-founder of <a href=\"Foundry.net\" target=\"_blank\">Foundry.net<\/a>, a company that helps hardware entrepreneurs design, build, and sell products by connecting them to the tools and services they need to mass-produce goods and grow companies.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/cool-tools-show-and-tell\/id605920446?mt=2\">Subscribe to the Cool Tools Show on iTunes<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/feedpress.me\/cooltoolsshow\">RSS<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1lymeyOnUNwCmH8ZZzDcoF9ejQsDLFrGizdzNlrut4AY\/edit?usp=sharing\" target=\"_blank\">Transcript<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/tracking.feedpress.it\/link\/7810\/2681507\/248739666-cool-tools-46-sean-michael-ragan.mp3\">Download MP3<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/tag\/cool-tools-show\/\">See all the Cool Tools Show posts on a single page<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Show Notes:<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-25885 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2016\/02\/gluebrush-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"gluebrush\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2016\/02\/gluebrush-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2016\/02\/gluebrush-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2016\/02\/gluebrush.jpg 720w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/makezine.com\/2012\/02\/21\/tool-review-rockler-silicone-glue-brush-2\/\" target=\"_blank\">Rockler Silicone Glue Brush<\/a>, $5<br \/>\n&#8220;The cool thing about it is you can use it for glue or use it for paint or use it for pretty much anything water-based and some oil-based things. Then when you&#8217;re done, you don&#8217;t have to clean it and you don&#8217;t have to throw it away. You can simply peel the dried blob of whatever out of the bristles and throw that away because it&#8217;s a miracle silicone polymer, almost nothing sticks to it. It&#8217;s priced like a disposable brush, but you can use it over and over and over again.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/B000XTMG8W\/cooltools-20\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-25887 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2016\/02\/nozzle-e1456273751865-300x99.jpg\" alt=\"nozzle\" width=\"300\" height=\"99\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2016\/02\/nozzle-e1456273751865-300x99.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2016\/02\/nozzle-e1456273751865.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/makezine.com\/2011\/07\/12\/tool-review-gilmour-528t-solid-brass-twist-hose-nozzle\/\" target=\"_blank\">Gilmour 528T Solid Brass Twist Nozzle<\/a>, $11<br \/>\n&#8220;This is one of those things you appreciate because it just works. It just works. It can become an heirloom, you spend nine bucks on it today, and your grandchildren might be using it in a hundred years &#8230; This one I love because it&#8217;s simple, it&#8217;s made of tools that will stand up forever. They will never corrode. They will never degrade under ultraviolet light.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-25889\" src=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2016\/02\/easydriver-montage-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"easydriver-montage\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2016\/02\/easydriver-montage-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2016\/02\/easydriver-montage.jpg 598w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/makezine.com\/2012\/09\/11\/tool-review-the-easydriver\/\" target=\"_blank\">Easydriver<\/a><br \/>\n&#8220;The thing is called Easydriver and ultimately, it&#8217;s just a ratcheting screwdriver and especially nowadays, there are lots of ratcheting screwdrivers in the world. I don&#8217;t even know if the Easydriver was the first but I&#8217;ve always loved it because I noticed that in my dad&#8217;s toolbox when I was seven or eight &#8230; It has such a great visual appeal. It works so well. It&#8217;s worked for so long. The one that I have, that&#8217;s an heirloom from my dad that I feel like my attachment to this tool is a little different for me. I&#8217;m sure it&#8217;s inexpensive and it works, but as a design object, I think it&#8217;s really just a triumph of modernism and product design.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-25891\" src=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2016\/02\/cutoff-lever-operation-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"cutoff-lever-operation\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2016\/02\/cutoff-lever-operation-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2016\/02\/cutoff-lever-operation.jpg 614w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/makezine.com\/2012\/01\/10\/tool-review-dymo-metal-embossing-tapewriter\/\" target=\"_blank\">Dymo Metal Embossing Tapewriter<\/a><br \/>\n&#8220;You can still go to the school supply aisle at your local grocery store and get a cheap plastic descendant of this tool by Dymo which takes the role of plastic embossing tape that has adhesive on the back. This is the industrial grandfather of that tool. None of the parts of this tool are made of plastic. They&#8217;re all cast aluminum or steel and it doesn&#8217;t print on adhesive back plastic. It prints on a strip of aluminum that will last forever pretty much regardless of conditions as long as it&#8217;s not submerged in very strong acid. It&#8217;s never going to go away.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/B000NPT74C\/cooltools-20\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-25893\" src=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2016\/02\/Tekton-300x215.jpg\" alt=\"Tekton\" width=\"300\" height=\"215\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2016\/02\/Tekton-300x215.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2016\/02\/Tekton-1024x733.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2016\/02\/Tekton.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/B000NPT74C\/cooltools-20\" target=\"_blank\">Pop Rivet Gun<\/a>, $13<br \/>\n&#8220;A pop riveter is also called the blind riveter. It takes a very inexpensive aluminum rivet that includes a post with a ball on the end and instead of smashing the rivet against an anvil on the backside, what the tool does is it pulls that ball through the rivet so that [the buck end of the rivet] is compressed against the backside of the work. The point of all that is you don&#8217;t have to have access to the backside of whatever you&#8217;re riveting in order to use a pop riveter, hence blind rivet is the other name for them.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Additional Note from Editor:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.smragan.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-25894\" src=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2016\/02\/Screen-Shot-2016-02-23-at-4.11.52-PM-300x133.jpg\" alt=\"Screen Shot 2016-02-23 at 4.11.52 PM\" width=\"300\" height=\"133\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2016\/02\/Screen-Shot-2016-02-23-at-4.11.52-PM-300x133.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2016\/02\/Screen-Shot-2016-02-23-at-4.11.52-PM.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n&#8220;I really recommend that everyone check out Sean&#8217;s site at <a href=\"http:\/\/smragan.com\" target=\"_blank\">smragan.com<\/a>, so many good things. [He has]\u00a0really good aesthetic sensibility, a combination of art and DIY, all those kinds of projects and stuff.&#8221; \u2013 Mark<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cool Tools Show 46: Sean Michael Ragan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[1559],"tags":[1555],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25884"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25884"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25884\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26920,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25884\/revisions\/26920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}