Ask HN: Recommendations for videos/documentaries about building things

Similar name, seemingly a lot less talent (intentionally so, IIUC), but awe-inspiring grit: _How To Make Everything_ on YouTube [0] has really hit the nail on the head with having an average man trying to recreate items from scratch.

He’s not that good with his hands, sweats easily, lack coordination and has the natural instinct for measures, roundedness, and flat surfaces of a goat. That makes so many of his attempts that much more credible. He insists (with some exception) on exclusively using tools that he made himself—something he called “The Great Reset”. This means a raggedly thread and an Flintstone-like pen for dimensions. Expectedly, that doesn’t help much.

It’s genuinely so much more valuable for that lack of professional training — although him and his growing team are learning, and getting genuinely good as things go.

He often has the help of a professional using modern tools and the difference with his own attempts is generally very intructive, more than the principle themselves. Can you make a nail from scratch? A professional blacksmith can make somethign really nice; an amateur can try… it will keep two planks together, but not inspire confidence.

Great entertainement value and very worthy reality check: could you make clay pot? You saw an attractive instructor seemlessly whip out something wonderful on TikTok once? Good for you. HTME will give you a more realistic expectation of what you can do on your first five tries: one of them holds most of the water.

Say what you want: after years of grit, they have raggedy but reasonnably useful workshop tools make from absolute scratch.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfIqCzQJXvYj9ssCoHq327g

Guy is making a rain gutter generator: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRgXwFLxal8J5oSN2hKqeNi5G...

Hard to find good docs on teams, but here are two of my favorite solo creators:

Paul Elkins: Designs and builds low cost novelty mobile homes and vehicles.

https://youtube.com/@paulwelkinsdiy

Mitxela: Hardware and software hacker/inventor. Mixes circuit design, microcontroller programming, and machining to make unique pieces. Featured on HN recently.

https://youtube.com/@mitxela

The Beatles: Get Back Documentary

Clickspring: makes an authentic replica of The Antikythera Mechanism from raw metal stock. Also period-correct tools and craftsmanship. https://www.youtube.com/@Clickspring