The world of weird and wonderful crafting tools.
Every area of human activity seems to boast its own toolset. This is certainly the case in arts and crafts, where nearly every step in a process can have its own tool. Need to glue something? There are tools to prepare the surface, apply the glue, hold the pieces together, and clean up the components afterward. While this tool profusion can get gluttonous, some of the strangest and most frivolous-seeming tools can prove the most useful. Here’s a rundown of wacky-looking devices we think you’ll appreciate in your tool chest.
DIY
In electronics, a helping hand, or third hand, is a device for holding circuit boards or other parts for soldering. You can buy them at places like RadioShack, but building your own is really easy, and you can design yours with as many “hands” as you like (commercial models usually have only two).
All you need is a piece of scrap wood as your base, some heavy-gauge copper wire, and alligator clips attached to the ends of the wire. Staple as many of these two-handed “arms” as you want. You can use your homemade helping hands for holding project pieces to solder, glue, paint, sandblast, etc.
Gareth Branwyn is a regular contributor to MAKE ( makezine.com) and writes widely about do-it-yourself technologies. He also runs the personal tech website Street Tech ( streettech.com).
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