hello everybody adam savage here in my cave in san francisco with a tool tip today for you uh and
this one feels like it has its origins and some of the older tools in my collection um i do have
a collection of tools i mean not only do i collect tools to use but um when i'm traveling around one
of my favorite places to go at least pre-lockdown was uh not thrift stores but antique malls yeah
these are the places where a big building uh rents out space to individual antiques dealers and
they sell on consignment um these are some very fruitful uh picking opportunities for me and when
i was touring around the country by bus antiques malls were one of my regular daily visits and
one of the lovely things about collecting tools antique tools is that not many people are doing it
you can buy beautiful antique tools for very very reasonable amounts of money one of my favorites
are folding rulers and i have a few of these in my collection um here is an old craftsman folding
ruler as you can see from the sticker on there i paid five bucks for this thing it is brass and it
is wood and it folds out to be a 24 inch ruler it is a lovely piece uh and again i pick these
up when they are good deals but these aren't what i wanted to show you today i wanted to show you a
very specific one this i picked up at an antiques mall in i think kentucky about five years ago
and this is a folding ruler but it has a couple more secrets to it it's got a level in there
yeah there you go uh and it also has an angle finder so when you open it up you pull out this
this fin here and it has markings along the side that when you click it into the other half
you can specify some specific angles that that is lovely but the thing i also love about it is it
makes it clear that pocket tools with all sorts of features are not a latter 20th century invention
in fact our forebears were walking around with these in their pockets 100 130 years ago that
to me is really cool and that you can pick up a piece of this history inexpensively delights me
um so we've established that i love beautiful tools and a few months ago i covered some tools
by a company named maker's cabinet and i had purchased a circular drawing template from them
called the iris that i really loved and they just sent me a new tool and i'm gonna introduce you to
it they say we hope you've been well we're back with another design behold strya a folding ruler
fit for a creator like yourself um this is this is awesome i'm not even sure they knew how much
i love folding rulers and just just look at this these are it's almost like they started with this
as a design factor right because they're pretty much identical shapes they didn't consult me but
dude this is crazy uh they make this in brass and in steel i must say i prefer even though brass is
like their classic look at maker's cabinet i really prefer the steel i feel like it is the
the lines are super clear they're laser etched i believe they have a fidelity to them that is uh
satisfying um but it is not simply a folding ruler because they have also added some
angle finding functionality to it when you open it and you bring it out
wait wait wait there you go okay i'm gonna bring it over here so you can hear it
there you go uh yeah that's what a microphone is
there you go when you hear that click
you are at 45 degrees when you hear the second click
you are at 90 degrees and it folds all the way flat to give you a 30 centimeter or 12 inch
ruler this is a beautiful addition to my tool kit this is the kind of thing
that every maker loves a tool that both looks good feels good and has a functionality uh that
makes you use it what what could be better really literally almost nothing um let's see
brass is our signature finish always brought to a lovely mirror polish so you can enjoy your
reflection um steel is new for us but we believe it is at the heart of what gives measuring tools
their precision and long-lasting accuracy uh i agree i think the brass is beautiful but the
steel feels more like something that i would use on a daily basis and beat the hell out of
and watch it come back for more uh maker's cabinet oh i'm not ready to say goodbye but i'm just here
to say maker's cabinet is making some beautiful tools now remember i said a few months ago i
covered their iris and when i did cover the iris i i noted that i had a little bit of difficulty uh
uh activating the inner ring and the outer ring so that the iris actually closed and
i i think i commented on that in the video i just was a little bit less uh
less of a positive relationship between my touch and the operation of this and it got
better as it wore in to be clear um but maker's cabinet has updated their iris and they sent me
another one of those too um and they have done a beautiful job with this update because they
fixed my one problem with it they've added this lovely pattern that lends a a bit more gription
and now when you hold on to this and you go to move your thumbs and fingers it takes much less
force there's also a much more they've gone on they're going deeper on the markings so they feel
better and they also look better they look more positive uh i think this is a stunning upgrade to
one of the more beautiful drafting tools i have ever witnessed in my life so far makers cabinet
guys gals i thank you so much for sending these tools my way um i am now going to need a sorting
cabinet for all of the beautiful drafting tools i now have and i i have a fair number of them
uh but i also appreciate that a modern company is making tools like this with an eye towards them
lasting for a lifetime and with an eye towards how they will patina how they will wear in for
you in the ways in which they can serve you the little spring pin that makes that sound
actually has an adjustable screw on the back here and the rulers come with this tiny little hex
uh this knurled hex wrench which allows you to very finely adjust that click until it reaches uh
meets your satisfaction maker's cabinet you folks are doing wonderful work thank
you for including me in your mailing list i'm delighted to promote a company dedicated to
making lifetime tools thank you so much thank you guys for joining me for this tool tip and
let me know what kind of weird old tools you might collect that i don't know about see you next time