Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2016 i Popular Mechanics

BOURBON MUST BE MADE FROM AT LEAST 51 PERCENT CORN. We worked with regional farmers on a non-GMO white corn, similar to what was used as far back as the 1800s. From there, rather than a high concentration of rye, which delivers a real spiciness, we use Ohio’s soft red winter wheat as our secondary mash grain. Traditionally used in baking, it gives the bourbon a soft sweetness that enhances the other barrel-infused flavors. THE DISTILLATE MUST BE AGED IN NEW CHARRED-OAK BARRELS. Many craft distillers use small barrels to accelerate the aging process, but we use larger 30- and 53-gallon barrels, and then combine the individual distillates to make the final product. The bigger barrels, at char No. 4, promote tobacco and licorice with oak, toast, and heavy sweetness.…

Situated closer to Toronto than to New Orleans, Louisville is a delightful combination of northern enterprise and southern hospitality, a blend that has led to the city’s long reign as a hub of sports and entertainment. High rollers have handicapped horses at Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, since 1875. During Prohibition, bootlegger kingpin Al Capone played poker at the Seelbach Hotel. And the city still grows the kind of people who are willing to carry a little risk on their way to reward. Here, two makers who bet big on their ideas share the best of their city. THE MAKERS BEN AROH COMPANY: Aroh Co. PROJECT: American-cherrywood magnetized key holders in the shape of 49 states, and a PopularMechanics bottle opener made from old bourbon-barrel staves (Know-How, June)…

LOCKS ARE DESIGNED to keep honest people out. (Dishonest people can always break a window.) But that doesn’t mean that honest people can’t enjoy picking them. I’ve been an amateur lock picker for four decades. I’ve used a small sheet of plastic or a credit card to open the doors in offices, hotels, and schools. I taught my kids to pick locks, and my young daughter once astounded a locksmith when she opened a tumbler in less than 30 seconds. And I’ve also helped more than a few desperate neighbors get back into their homes. The more you understand locks, the easier it is to choose the right one for your situation. We used a Balteau BALTOSPOT portable X-ray generator to capture this image of a Kwikset doorknob. PIN TUMBLER…

A / 3M NOISE-REDUCTION RATING: 29 The firmness was a bit uncomfortable, but they formed a noise-tight seal. $0.54 per pair B / AirSoft NOISE-REDUCTION RATING: 27 Four-flange design twists in for a comfortable, noisesealing fit. Twists out for easy removal. $2.64 per pair C / SilentEar NOISE-REDUCTION RATING: 32 The most comfortable pair we tested, thanks to a shape similar to a badminton birdie bulb. $6.97 per pair D / Hearos NOISE-REDUCTION RATING: 33 Pillow-soft and comfortable. $0.55 per pair E / Moldex NOISE-REDUCTION RATING: 24 Excellent noise damping. A flip-to-listen tab on each stem permits sound penetration when needed. $5.21 per pair HOW TO PROTECT YOUR HEARING Finding the best earplug is an individual matter that requires some experimentation. What works well for me may not work for…

It’s Not the Same as Running Around the Block You may find yourself climbing hills or descending along rivers, all while dancing around obstacles. Lean in a little when going uphill so you use the largest muscles in your body—your glutes. Going downhill, don’t lean back and ride your heels. That’s a good way to overload your thighs and end up sore or injured. When you run through your neighborhood, you probably don’t look too far past your feet. On a trail, your inclination may be to stare directly down, but your feet know what to do. Dodging those obstacles is pretty instinctive. You actually want to look about 20 feet ahead, so you can see approaching challenges with time to react to them. Running injuries don’t usually come from…

Q My hammer has a big chip in its head. That shouldn’t happen, right? CURT T., KALISPELL, MONTANA A I haven’t seen a hammerhead chip in more than 30 years. Given some of the abuse dished out on construction sites and on volunteer workdays, all I can say is that today’s hammers are so abuse-tolerant, it takes a lot to chip one. Here are a few rules for keeping your hammers whole. See if one of these situations sounds familiar: ➼ Claw hammers are designed to hit nails, sets for sinking finish nails, and specially made bars that are used to dig out nails or pry wood away from a surface. Don’t use them to strike hardened steel or to break up cast iron or concrete. Those jobs require a…

OPTIONS FOR PAINT REPAIR range from simple tinted waxes and As-Seen-On-TV miracle pens to multistage treatments matched to your car’s exact color. As someone who’s capable with a wrench, I went with the latter and tested Automotive Touchup’s kit on my pockmarked 1993 Ford Bronco. It costs about $50 depending on which supplies you need, compared to $5,000 for a professional all-over repainting. This collection of aerosol cans and sandpaper is as close as you can get to an appointment at the paint booth. Here’s how it works, and whether it’s worth it. SUPPLIES As with any serious touch-up kit, there are a lot of materials. The box for my black Bronco (color code M1724A) includes prep solvent, rubbing compound, sandpaper of various grits, rubber gloves, a tack rag to…

The guys behind Tidal Roots spend most days in their workshop in Rollinsford, New Hampshire, down the street from the Maine state line. Kent Scovill, Kyle Schaefer, and Nate Mattern are constantly keeping up with orders for their white-cedar stand-up paddleboards. But they got into this business, which they started in 2013, for love of the water. So, calling it a test run for their handcrafted SUPs, they’ll shoot two hours north to a remote part of the Maine Island Trail where there’s not much around save for a few cabins and local lobster boats pulling up traps. Paddling out across the brackish water to Hungry Island, the wooden boards feel more stable than any inflatable or foam SUP— enough so that the guys will haul their camping equipment with…

1. On flat ground, lay one block with the holes facing out. 2. Stand another block vertically against the end of that first block. 3. Form an H-shape with the brick and pavers on top of the first block. The brick standing on end should be the same height as the pavers standing on their sides. (Approximately eight inches for standard bricks.) 4. Stack the final block on top of the H-shape. 5. Build your fire in the top hole nearest the vertical block.…

INGREDIENTS • 1 licorice root (⅛-inch)* • 1 tsp sassafras extract† • ½ cup sarsaparilla root* • 3 cups demerara sugar • 1 vanilla bean • ⅛ cup chopped golden raisins • 1/16 tsp nutmeg • ¼ cup juniper berries • ½ cup cherry bark* • ½ cup dried wintergreen leaves • ¼ tsp salt • 1 ⅓ cup honey • ⅔ cup grade-A darkamber maple syrup • ¼ cup molasses • ¼ tsp yeast • 5 flip-top 500-ml bottles INSTRUCTIONS 1. In a ten-quart stockpot, bring 30 cups water to a boil. 2. Add dry ingredients and reduce temperature to a slow simmer. 3. Add honey, syrup, and molasses and stir. Simmer for 30 minutes. 4. Turn off the stove and allow the liquid to cool for 1 ½…

YOUR DAD SOUNDS LIKE OUR KIND OF GUY For the past 40 years, Father’s Day was just another day for me. Your Fatherhood issue (June), though, brought back memories of my dad and everything he taught me in the short time we had together. When I was 15, my father asked my younger brother and me if we’d be interested in building an extension to our house. He knew nothing about building houses, but he bought a book on carpentry and construction, did the plans, and obtained the permit. We dug a basement and completed the exterior, but my father fell ill to leukemia and passed within a year. He was in his mid-40s. I finished the interior by myself. He taught me skills like carpentry and plumbing, and that…

I’ve been told that my inch-and-a-half cut is too short to require a hair dryer, but I use one anyway. Not to get my hair so it’ll fall just so, but to expedite the morning routine. I think it was my old man who told me never to show up with a wet mop. It makes you look like you were in a rush. When I tried the Dyson Supersonic hair dryer ($400; out this month) it didn’t make my hair $375 more lustrous than the communal Conair in my gym’s locker room. It didn’t even dry my hair faster. But those metrics don’t apply to Dyson products. You pay hundreds of dollars for a Dyson vacuum or humidifier because it’s so ergonomic and pretty that it makes routines pleasant,…

MODEL: CUISINART CMW-100 PRODUCED: GUANGDONG, CHINA TIME TO DISASSEMBLE: 2 HOURS, 14 MINUTES NUMBER OF PARTS: 216 NOTES: The story of the microwave’s invention is deservedly legendary: While working on a microwave radar system, a Raytheon engineer discovered a melted candy bar in his lab-coat pocket. Eureka! In hindsight, he was lucky he wasn’t carrying a sandwich wrapped in aluminum foil or a grape, which, when properly prepared, creates a ball of plasma. Used incorrectly, microwave ovens can be incredibly dangerous, but 97 percent of our kitchens have them because the design pioneered by Raytheon’s Radarange has proved capable of quickly and easily heating TV dinners and leftover Chinese food, which have no business in a toaster. YOUR FOOD IS COLD You open the door (9) and put a plate…

A Briggs & Stratton P2200 WEIGHT 61.5 lb RUN TIME*: 6.5 hours LIKES: Flawless power at a great price. We particularly liked the multiple handles (allowing for a two-person carry), the large gas overflow, and the inclusion of a convenient 12-volt (5-amp) DC power outlet and USB port. DISLIKES: The weight. Plus, it feels top heavy compared to the others. Be sure to strap it down for transport. $650 B Honda EB2000i WEIGHT 52.5 lb RUN TIME*: 9.6 hours LIKES: An outstanding industrial-duty product with a 20-amp GFCI-protected outlet. That’s an important safety feature for something that might spend most of its time at a soggy construction site. We were also impressed by the machine’s thrifty use of gas. DISLIKES: Small overflow reservoir $1,280 C Generac iQ2000 WEIGHT 51 lb…

A Workshop Air Filter WITH SUMMER TURNING to fall, the amount of shop time spent with the garage door down is going to increase. That means more sawdust and other particulates in the air and your lungs. Reader Larry Brannock of Cana, Virginia, has a solution: a box fan rigged with a furnace filter. Brannock simply duct-tapes the filter to the back of the fan—a common size for both is 20 inches square. Placed as close as possible to the source of dust, his device traps the bad stuff and outputs clean air. One thing to keep in mind: the higher the rating of the filter, the harder the fan will have to work to pull air through. A TIP FOR SPRAY-PAINTING FASTENERS If you find yourself spray-painting a batch…

SHOES Trail-running shoes balance the light weight and breathability of road-running shoes with the durability and traction of hiking boots. ➼ A rock-protection plate made of hardened rubber or plastic under the sole guards against the multitude of sharp objects you’ll encounter on the trail. ➼ Lugs, the sections of tread on the bottom of your shoes, bite into softer surfaces like dirt, mud, and snow for better grip. The trade-off: As lugs get bigger and chunkier, the contact area of the shoe decreases, making them less effective on harder surfaces, like rock faces. Lugs wear quickly on pavement, too, so use them only on the trail. ➼ Some shoes feature a waterproof bootie that wraps the foot, typically made of Gore-Tex. If you plan on running mostly in dry…

Wheaty beer + bittersweet aperitif TRY Allagash White and Aperol. Tart flavor with a full-bodied richness from the beer. Salty and sour gose beer + grassy, peppery tequila TRY Anderson Valley and Espolón Blanco. Salty and citrusy. Drink with oysters. Piney, hoppy IPA + juniper-heavy gin TRY Stillwater Stereo and Bluecoat. The resinous similarities build on each other. Perfect for summer.…

1. Choose an image for your puzzle. Keep in mind that images without major variations in color or texture are harder to solve. Print the image on an 8 x 10 sheet of photo paper using your home printer. (For printing larger or high-resolution puzzles, you're better off going to an office-supply store.) 2. Using a light layer of spray adhesive, paste the image to a samesize piece of ⅛-inch chipboard—a dense, recycle-friendly cardboard. Let the adhesive dry, then seal the image to the chipboard with protective photo-safe coating such as Krylon’s Preserve It spray. 3. Let the lacquer set for a few hours. In the meantime, create the puzzle template. On another piece of 8 x 10 paper draw a grid of 1 x 1-inch squares. (This equals about…

NO. 2 PENCIL Used on: Paper, wood, concrete Hold the pencil at a 45-degree angle from the surface you need to mark. Keeping the pencil perpendicular to your straightedge, with your hand resting on the surface, slide your hand toward you. LASER Used on: Floors and walls Lasers are useful for marking longer spans or, if the laser rotates quickly enough on its tripod, projecting a line around an entire room. This is helpful for setting a chair rail or suspended ceiling, even if the floor is not perfectly level. MARKING KNIFE Used on: Wood Its lines can’t be smudged, and the groove of the line gives you a place to rest a chisel or seat a saw. Place the tip of the marking knife against a square. The flat…

1. Use a level to mark a plumb line on the existing wall at the point at which the new wall will meet it. Have a helper hold a tape measure where the line hits the floor and, using a framing square to ensure a 90-degree corner, extend the tape measure to the point on the floor where the new wall will end. Mark that end point and a few spots along the tape measure on the floor. 2. Use a stud sensor to locate the direction of the ceiling joists relative to the new wall. If the wall runs parallel to them, you’ll deal with that later. If it runs directly under a joist, mark the sides of the joist in a few places along the length of your…

1. Set a sheet of acrylic on your workstation. This will be your casting surface. 2. Cut a piece of foam core to the dimensions of the art you wish to frame. Subtract ¼ inch from the length and width of that piece, and cut two more pieces of foam core to those new dimensions. 3. Use double-sided tape to stack the two smaller pieces. Seal the edges with packing tape, then fasten the resulting block to the casting surface with more double-sided tape. Seal the edges of the larger piece of foam core and affix it squarely over the block on the casting surface with double-sided tape. 4. The dimensions of your frame will be determined by where you set the edges of your mold. To create the edges,…

LEONARD HOROWITZ Theorizes AIDS is a genocidal weapon created by the government. Sells crystal pyramids for pain relief. Has a degree in public health from Harvard. DANNION BRINKLEY Doesn’t believe in death. His book about getting struck by lightning and meeting angels in the afterlife was a New York Times best seller. LAURA EISENHOWER UFO fanatics think her great-grandfather Dwight held meetings with aliens in the White House. She claims many current politicians are aliens. SEAN DAVID MORTON Callead “America’s Prophet.” Psychically predicts the stock market. Recently arrested on charges to defraud the IRS. Has amazing taste in neckties.…

Just as barbecue and the blues arrived in the Midwest after the Civil War when newly emancipated workers came up the Mississippi, bourbon made its way up the Ohio River to the pre-Prohibition distilleries of Columbus and Cincinnati. “Our 200-mile proximity to Louisville creates a geographical spillover,” says Ryan Lang, a former engineer and the cofounder of Middle West Spirits in Columbus, Ohio. “It’s a unique prairie southern region. We share many resources, including grain varieties, distinctive limestone-filtered water, and weather patterns that affect the aging process.” But even with those similarities, Middle West Spirits’ bourbon is truly a product of Ohio. “With the exception of specialty malted barley, which no one in Ohio has the facilities to process,” Lang says, “our grains are sourced from a 40-mile radius of…

Despite the NFL’s efforts to mitigate the brain-health crisis through fines and suspensions, the hits keep coming. Last season concussions reached a four-year high at 271. The good news: The medical industry may have discovered a smarter way to diagnose the problem. In May, Dr. Linda Papa of Orlando Health found that blood tests for a protein associated with brain injury can detect concussions with 94 to 97 percent accuracy up to a week after impact. Meanwhile, Quanterix and Banyan Biomarkers, two companies that have received NFL funding, believe they can develop sideline-friendly blood tests as early as next season.…

Q There are only two states where it’s illegal to pump your own gas—New Jersey and Oregon. What’s up with that? A LIKE MANY SILLY laws, bans on self-service gas exist under the guise of safety. You, who are not a highly trained professional gasoline transfer specialist, could catch fire should you attempt this demanding, technical procedure on your own. The ceaseless pall of smoke that rises over the 48 states that callously disregard their citizens’ well-being is acrid testimony to the legions of tragically DIY-minded motorists who leave this earth each day, losers in the deadly game of “gas-pump roulette.” So, it’s safe to say it’s not really safety— at least not in New Jersey. Back in the day, according to Sal Risalvato, executive director of the New Jersey…

JONATHAN HAMMEL AND his crew go into their workshop with a bunch of raw materials and an idea—something strange and neverbefore-constructed from their clients. And they emerge with spectacular creations. “Whatever our clients dream up, we do,” says the Nashville-based owner of MadeFirst, a custom design and fabrication shop. The company’s portfolio includes stage designs for Miranda Lambert, a 15-foot music note that drops every year for Nashville’s New Year’s Eve bash, and the flashy props in a lot of those increasingly slick and elaborate brand lounges for companies like Samsung that you may have been lured into at SXSW. Hammel, who started out building Mardi Gras floats in New Orleans, launched MadeFirst the way wise old business mentors say you should: small, and, in his case, working out of…

TYPES OF TRAIL Rail Trail Wide, graded trail that uses rail right-ofway to get out into the wild without getting steeper than a train can handle. Double Track Wide enough for a vehicle to use—these may be fire or access roads—but often rutted and remote. Single Track Narrow, technical, secluded—what you picture in your mind when you hear “trail.” The experienced trail runner’s dream. What to Look For in a Trail By Stephanie Howe, The North Face trail runner and 2014 winner of the Western States 100, the most prestigious trail race in the country. THE BEST TRAILS are the ones that take your breath away: narrow single track that twists and winds up and down mountains and valleys. There are a lot of trails like that that are accessible—…

OWNER: Bradley Price LOCATION: Brooklyn, New York YEA RS OW NED: Three When you see “Ferrari” on the valve cover, you think, This is the stuff dreams are made of. THERE’S THIS LORE around Italian cars, that they’re terrible to own, that you’re going to be in the poorhouse maintaining them. In my time as an Italian-car owner, every mechanical issue has been a matter of regular upkeep or something that was not original to the car—some maintenance that wasn’t properly done. Old cars are old cars. Keep on top of them, and they run. What sold me on this particular GT4 was that the rebuilt engine had less than 10,000 miles on it. Like most vintage cars, you eventually have to rebuild the motor, which is the most expensive…

1 THE LENSES Buy two lenses—one convex with a focal length of 20 cm, and one concave with a focal length of 5 cm. (Available at amazon.com.) The concave lens should have a smaller diameter. 2 THE TUBE Buy a telescoping mailing tube—the kind with an inner tube that slides out for larger documents. (Available at most office-supply stores.) Cut the inner and outer tubes to six inches each. This will put your lenses near the correct position to focus.* 3 THE LENS FRAMES Cut a circle of manila paper to the diameter of each tube. Cut out the center of the circles so that the lenses fit in them. Using rubber cement, glue the paper onto the lenses. 4 THE EYEPIECE Glue the smaller lens to the end of…

1. Crosscut supports for the seat back and seat. Bore holes for bolts and screws as shown. Spread glue at connection points between the supports, then bolt together to form the frame. Apply stain. 2. Crosscut seat slats, arms, arm supports, front rail, and bottom support. Apply stain on all surfaces. 3. Fasten seat slats, arm supports, arms, and bottom support as shown. 4. Mount the ceiling supports on rafters or floor joists above your swing. Depending on the amount of weight you want your swing to support, you can use lag screws and swing swivels screwed vertically into the joists. But for optimal safety, we recommend through-bolting to 2 x 6 blocking. Over time, a lag screw can loosen. A through-bolted connection never will. 5. Install swing hangers and…

Water flowing out now matched water flowing in—an important point, or the center basin would end up dry and the pump dead. AS LONGER DAYS AND rising temperatures warmed the lake behind our house this spring, and the lake’s fish, frogs, and reptiles gathered in the nearest cove, three of my boys began scouring the shallows for prey, using dip nets and minnow traps to capture all manner of life. Soon they had an assortment of creatures in aquariums in one of their bedrooms and a proposal for their parents to consider: Can we build large outdoor tanks to keep bait alive and ready for fishing season? The lake’s largemouth bass and pickerel, they said, would be more likely to strike fish from their own habitat—bait that also happens to…

John Monteleone’s instruments are like hen’s teeth out in the wild. This will be the first carved-top lap steel guitar that I know of. The difference between a flat-topped and a carved-topped guitar is the effort that goes into making the carved top. A good guitar top should be in the vicinity of an eighth of an inch thick. With a flat top, you plane the wood flat. A carved top starts with the same block of wood, but the contour is meticulously shaped with chisels and sandpaper. The top should be made of cedar or spruce. Spruce is a magical wood. It’s a soft, sponge-like wood. It breathes. Maple and rosewood are more rigid, so they’re better for the body. They make a great resonance chamber, but for the…

A SPACECRAFT Once fuel runs out, NASA sends the vessel straight into the planet it’s orbiting to avoid creating dangerous floating space junk or damaging a planet or moon that could potentially support life. “Some hardy microbes could survive and potentially contaminate an otherwise pristine environment,” Cassini project manager Earl Maize says. One benefit of this method: The craft sometimes relays images and data moments before impact. BODILY WASTE ON THE SPACE STATION A humidity system collects sweat and exhalations and makes it into potable water. Urine is also converted to drinking water. Excrement and other trash from the station is launched toward Earth where it burns up in the atmosphere. GUNS Guns confiscated or collected in buy-back programs are typically sent to a metal-smelting plant. Technicians remove any batteries…

JUNE 1907 “The Truth About Burning Ashes” According to a popular rumor, you could mix a compound with ashes to make a fuel with more energy than anthracite coal. Uh, no. JUNE 1961 “Facts and Myths About When to Change Oil” Stop trusting your dipstick. MAY 2001 “When UFOs Land” Most scientists tell you there’s no evidence of UFOs. Turns out that’s not true. JANUARY 2005 “Who’s Spying on You?” An exploration of the fragile state of personal privacy with the rise of GPS, sensors, and data aggregation. MARCH 2005 “9/11: Debunking the Myths” We consulted more than 70 professionals in aviation, engineering, and the military to disprove 16 common 9/11 conspiracy theories. We still get crazy emails.…

PROJECT NOTES OUR FIRST RUN AT this project was a little too complex. We tried to tap into the home’s existing doorbell wiring—a cumbersome job that involved fishing wires up from the basement. It wasn’t fun. But this version is perfect. A metal Altoids container houses a 9-volt battery and wiring. This base serves as the platform for a push-button switch that we wired to a nearby low-voltage buzzer. The results are surprising. And loud. When you tire of the noise, and you will, you can reduce the buzzer’s harshness by covering it with a piece of Scotch tape. Instructions 1. Use a drill and ½-inch twist drill bit to make a hole in the lid of the Altoids container. Position the hole as shown in the diagram. 2. Secure…

STUPID AMAZING Amid the deeply polarized din, plated innocently on the table, are the GMOs themselves. Seventy to 80 percent of the food we eat today contains them. IF YOU WANT to completely upend your next dinner party, bring up genetically modified organisms. On one side you’ll have the die-hard skeptics holding court about how Monsanto and big government are conspiring to poison our bodies with frankenfoods. On the other side will be the pro-science crowd ready to accuse the opposition of willful ignorance and flat-earth looney-ism. In the meantime, amid the deeply polarized din, plated innocently on the table, are the genetically modified organisms themselves. Seventy to 80 percent of the food we eat today contains them. A quick primer: GMOs are organisms that have been tinkered with on…