If you don’t know what the Antikythera Mechanism is, Google it first and then go to the YouTube channel linked to the left. If you already know, and it fascinates you as much as it does me, prepare to be fascinated some more. Aside from some early-stage collaboration with others about the theoretical concepts involved, this man single-handedly built a fully functional replica of that device, in a workshop no bigger than what many people (Americans, at least) would call a coat closet. Impressive skills, meticulous workmanship, and amazing attention to detail, all combined with the aim of bringing thought-provoking history back to life

Just before dumb machinery rendered the majority of the smart people in the woodworking trades obsolete, many of the tools those smart (and highly skilled) people used to earn their living with reached their highest peak of perfection. They were ergonomically sound, extremely efficient, and in many cases posessed the same sort of sublime beauty that other utilitarian objects like wooden boats and guitars often do. Surprisingly enough (or perhaps not…) such tools are still available in the 21st Century. That is only because there are still people like Stavros Gakos to make them

The link to the left goes to a single YouTube Video. There are others to be found on the associated channel that are similarly astonishing. The level of workmanship and sheer mind-bending skill displayed here is off the scale, and the uses to which those remarkable skills are put is something that will gladden the heart of anyone who cares about musical instruments. He doesn’t speak in these videos. He doesn’t have to. Just watch his hands and the work they perform and you’ll understand perfectly

Out of all the links listed in this Top Ten, only two of them have much of anything to do with guitars at all. This is one of those two, for reasons that go way beyond the primary focus on instrument repair technique. Over the course of a fairly long lifetime, I have crossed paths with many highly skilled mechanics and other folks who work in trades requiring both manual dexterity and deep knowledge, and have noted that remarkably few of them can effectively explain what they are doing and why. There were even a few who could barely write a legible and/or coherent sentence, and yet they all used their hands in a way that was both skillful and expressive. A way that taught completely without words. Ted Woodford is one of the very few who can do all of those things, and he’s obviously willing to share his considerable knowledge freely. There’s a lot more to be found here than the answer to “how do I fix this?” Much Much More

Webmaster’s Top Ten

Like the Antikythera Machanism, the Galilean Sector is a device that manages to subtly but clearly display a profound understanding of the Universe - not too surprising, since Galileo invented it - and put some of that knowledge within reach of lesser mortals. It is also a deceptively simple device. A single moving part, paired with another tool of equal simplicity and ruggedness, very easy to use for the kind of calculations that most skilled tradesmen would use it for, and capable of accuracy high enough to satisfy all but the most finicky scientist (especially in The Year Of Our Lord 1606). In essence, it is a remarkably sophisticated analog computer that needs no power source, internal or external. Best of all they are still available for sale more than 400 years after they were invented. Red Rose are are among the very few firms who make that possible

For those who are already into machining and metalworking, Keith Rucker needs no introduction. For those who aren’t, I’ll try to summarize. It won’t be easy…. First off, Keith is one of the driving forces behind vintagemachinery.org, a website that serves in many ways as the model for this one, albeit on a vastly larger scale. To explain why, let me just quote them directly: “ VintageMachinery.org (formerly OWWM.com) was founded as a public service to amateurs and professionals who enjoy using and/or restoring vintage machinery. Our main mission is to provide information about vintage machinery that is generally difficult to locate. This is accomplished primarily through contributions of the users of this site.” Keith’s personal YouTube channel linked is another expression of the same philosophy, and is well worth a visit

Speaking of machining and machinists, if you’ve recently developed an interest in the subject and want good solid guidance on where to begin, and how to progess with as few mis-steps as possible, this is hands-down the best channel I have ever found for finding exactly that. Like Messrs Woodford and Rucker, Quinn Dunki posesses the rare gift of being able to explain complicated things in the simplest possible terms, and she does it in a way that combines a wry sense of humor with a wealth of valuable knowledge and insight

The creator of these videos combines formidable computer skills with a strong interest in the mechanical world that preceded our Digital Age. The result is masterpieces of animation that he freely shares with the entire planet. The Enigma Machine video alone is the perfect blend of “tell me” and “show me” that takes the viewer to a new and higher level of understanding about a very cool, but fiendishly complicated, analog device. A video that could only have been created on a digital device skillfully guided by a curious, perceptive, and flexible mind. One look around the page linked to the left will reveal dozens of videos just like it

Nowadays, work like this is usually referred to by professional academics as “applied art”. Nice, but not that nice. In it’s heyday, it was considered the work of a “common tradesman”. David Smith is indeed a tradesman, as this video makes clear. A tradesman with a variety of finely honed and long-practiced skills, who somehow manages to reconcile the competing pressures of pure aesthetics and the unavoidable influence of filthy lucre. IMHO he is also indisputably an artist in the “purest” sense, as the same video confirms. If this person isn’t an artist, then neither was Jochaim Tielke, the ébénistes who served the Kings of France, or Benvenuto Cellini

Turning a lump of raw steel into a utilitarian object, much less a work of art, has always been a skill that relatively few posess. It requires a skillset and knowledge base almost completely shrouded in mystery since the start of the very appropriately named Iron Age. This collective has not only produced numerous examples of the pinnacle of bladesmith’s work, but they also freely offer the world a superbly produced collection of videos that explain a substantial portion of exactly how they do it. Much like the Guild Of American Luthiers, the guiding principle of their YouTube channel is spreading around wealth of knowledge that was historically treated as a precious secret to be kept from the vast majority of humanity. That Works obviously looks at the entire subject in a very different way, and we are all the richer for it

Before there was an Internet, there were movie theaters. Many, many movie theaters, and between roughly 1920 and 1990 the entire world embraced the startling new technology of moving pictures in a way that changed that world in countless ways, large and small. What began as trivial entertainment soon turned into something far more important: an entirely new technology that could (and did) accurately record an amazing variety of occurrences, events, and historical milestones. In the 1930’s the documentary came into its own, as did the art and science of advertising. Celluloid film recorded both the grand sweep of history and the telling little details which, small as they are, illustrate just how different the world was in the previous Century. An astounding quantity of that movie footage has been carefully collected, lovingly restored, and for all practical purposes made available to the public free of charge by Periscope Films. This is the Video Department /Historical Section of the Planetary Library, folks. Go see for yourself

Those of you who are mathematically inclined will have undoubtedly noticed by now that this one goes up to Eleven. But wait! There’s even more!

Allen Millyard likes motorcycles. He also likes to dream up motorcycles that could have been made by a particular manufacturer but never were. He then proceeds to single-handedly makes one for himself, in a proper English shed in the back garden, using only two precision machine tools: a lathe and a medium-sized vertical mill. Everything else is done by hand. Engine crankcases and cylinder heads are cut and rewelded to yield such mechanical marvels as a four cylinder Kawasaki two-stroke, a Velocette V-Twin, and the ultimate example of wretched excess in the service of a higher purpose: the Flying Millyard

A motorcycle powered by a V-Twin engine made from two aircraft radial engine cylinders @ 2500 cc Each !