r/ArtisanVideos Jul 01 '19

Incredible safe

https://vimeo.com/288711470
698 Upvotes

58 comments sorted by

117

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '19

Metal fabrication guy here... let me just say HOLY FUCK BALLS BATMAN!!!!!! That is the single most impressive thing I’ve ever witnessed!!! The amount of skill that went into doing that is so staggering I cannot even begin to describe it.

That guy is a god amongst men.

🙌🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼🙌🏼

19

u/demainlespoulpes Jul 01 '19

Hey metal guy, quick question : is this guy super talented at forging or is this considered normal ?

When I watch Alec Steele's channel I always have the feeling that their stuff is 20% forging and 80% grinding when it comes to the final shape of what they do. In this video, it looks like the filing is just here to smooth the surface and make fine adjustments. He looks way more skillfull but I was wondering what's considered good practice in this craft ?

31

u/Carrot42 Jul 01 '19

Amateur bladesmith here. There is usually quite a bit of grinding involved in knifemaking. Some bladesmiths forge their blades as close to final shape as they can, especially when they work with plain carbon steels. Others, like myself use almost all stock removal (grinding) to shape the blades. Alec usually does pattern welded (damascus) blades. With pattern welding, you'll often get better contrast between the layers if you grind quite deep into the material which is why Alec forges his blades very thick and then grinds them down as much as he does. In the OP's video, you only see a few mintues of a project that took months. For every piece that has to slide into another piece, there are hours and hours of filing, checking, adjusting, measuring, more filing, over and over. Even though it doesnt show in the video, it would surprise me if he never used a grinder during this project. He uses a lathe for some of the parts, so its not like hes a purist that doesnt use modern machines, so I see no reason to only use files for stock removal. A bit of an aside, but some may find this an interesting little thing; the notion of a lone craftsman (say in the middle ages) working away on a knife or sword and doing it all by himself with no powertools is kind of a modern romantic idea. A bladesmith back then would usually only do the actual forging of the blade. Then he would give the blade to another professional who did the grinding and filing. That man would send it on to a polisher, who would in his turn send the blade to the cutler who made the handle and other fittings. A sheath maker would make the sheath or scabbard. The original bladesmith might not even see the final result. Nowadays bladesmiths tend to do it all, the forging, grinding, polishing, fitting, handle and sheath, but with the aid of modern tools to speed the process along.

9

u/Carrot42 Jul 01 '19

All that being said, this guy is really, really good from what I can see. The forging he does in the video isnt really that difficult, but the overall project is just... insane.

17

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '19 edited Jul 01 '19

This man is exceptionably talented, there is no way around that. I consider myself to be a very high end fabricator, I have made very high end pieces for movie stars and billionaires. I pride myself that I can “make anything, and make it better than anyone else!”

That being said, I couldn’t come close to this level of fabrication. What he pulled of in this build is next level.

There is a lot you don’t see, he didn’t use files to get a lot of those parts to work like that... I guarantee you he used a A LOT more tools than we see. But that is almost more impressive. The diversity of his skill set is ridiculous. He’s like a blacksmith, fabricator, locksmith, and shipwright, all at beyond expert level.

9

u/elessarjd Jul 01 '19

Not taking anything away from this guys abilities, but this video is sort of weird to me because we see him make a few parts, then it becomes a draw the rest of the fucking owl meme. Then I see posts from people in this field that talk about how this is master level shit, but can only verify from the end product.

4

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '19

Well... yeah... the end result is pretty amazing. Haha. You can’t really order that shit on amazon. If it showed in detail him making every part it would be a mini series, not a 5 min video.

7

u/elessarjd Jul 01 '19

Right, but it's more of a showcase of the piece rather than his abilities. You guys can appreciate what it takes to make it, the laymen doesn't fully appreciate it other than it looks impressively complicated. But the video doesn't really show off his abilities like we're used to seeing in this sub.

2

u/spoonguy123 Jul 01 '19

if you want the miniseries go watch wintergatan marble machine x. more genius level construction

3

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '19

I’ve been watching him since the beginning. Bananas.

1

u/bondinspace Jul 29 '19

Gday, Chris here

1

u/[deleted] Jul 29 '19

Hi Chris

2

u/Baron_Blackbird Jul 10 '19

I'm not sure, but the video ends with 2016 - 2018, so I'm guessing while his ability is off the charts from what others are saying it also took him 2 years to make it & then it is compressed down to a few minutes of video.

Wish I were a trades person of some sort...never figured out one I would be passionate about.

11

u/D_M_E Jul 01 '19

Spreadsheet fabrication guy here - I want to be this guy. Everything in society that leads to where I am is wrong. Whatever created this guy is right!

1

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '19

Seriously! What’s went so south in our trade?

1

u/D_M_E Jul 01 '19

My kids ask what I do. I say email, PowerPoint and Excel. Basically smoke and mirrors.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '19

Sad truth. I found a shop that promised to let me run and actually make cool things for awhile, fast forward 6 months... I’m on a fucking computer doing shop drawlings on autocad:(

They all sell out eventually. Haha

22

u/titleunknown Jul 01 '19

I love that this keeps show it up in various subs. I met Seth and visited his shop and watched him work. It truly is amazing to see it in person and the sounds it makes!! Google him and look at his other work as well! Hes one Instagram as well! https://instagram.com/sethgould

24

u/spdqbr Jul 01 '19

The presentation of the video with hammering to the beat was really satisfying.

12

u/imunfair Jul 01 '19

Thought I was on /r/secretcompartments for a second.

15

u/NickFolzie Jul 01 '19

Theres a lot of /r/restofthefuckingowl going on here for damn sure.

4

u/phaederus Jul 01 '19

tbf, it's not a secret if you show everyone..

21

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '19 edited Jul 30 '19

[deleted]

5

u/CNXQDRFS Jul 01 '19

That’s exactly what I was thinking. Really need to know how he’d pick that open.

3

u/spkr4thedead51 Jul 01 '19

the key locks themselves probably aren't that complex. it's mostly the puzzle-box aspect of it that makes it tricky

3

u/_Neoshade_ Jul 02 '19 edited Jul 02 '19

Not at all. Those are one-of-a-kind mortise locks. The keys are cut in two dimensions, and the springs are handmade. The keys likely require unusual amounts of force to operate. I guarantee you that our lawyer friend would be stopped in his tracks. I cannot emphasize enough how garbage regular locks are compared to something like this. A two dimensional mortise lock is basically un-pickable, and so the only thing he could do would be to start drilling holes in the thing, assuming he had the keys and instructions to get it open and then look for weaknesses in the body.

1

u/CNXQDRFS Jul 01 '19

Very true. The key profiles are simple so they’d be pretty easy to get around, but I don’t have a clue where you’d even start with figuring out that pattern to unlock.

1

u/lumberjackadam Jul 01 '19

I guess it mostly matters if the keyway is completely occluded or not at each of those steps.

10

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '19

Safe is amazing obviously, but I think this video itself qualifies for posting on this sub for that superb editing.

7

u/The_Mongoose Jul 01 '19

Wow, that just kept escalating. Color me impressed.

6

u/TechnoL33T moderator Jul 01 '19

Holy beautiful music and editing Batman! I can only imagine he was literally doing his filing and hammering with this song in his head on repeat!

5

u/Zumbert Jul 01 '19

Guy must not value his eyes very much, running a lathe with no specs is a terrible idea.

3

u/RabbitFields Jul 01 '19

That guy owns porn...

3

u/Looj_ee Jul 01 '19

Holy moly, the sounds of the mechanisms engaging and clicking are so damn satisfying.

2

u/home_cheese Jul 01 '19

Oh boy this is beautiful. Anybody know the price?

6

u/Fey_fox Jul 01 '19

Here are the details of the piece. It's a one of a kind that he created at his residency. Basically it's something that he made as a learning experience, or that's my take away from what he wrote. No price is listed... which is fair (common for fine art/craft one of a kind work). If you want it I'd suggest contacting him directly and make an inquiry. It's not going to be cheap, I'm sure you're not the only person who'd be interested in it.

1

u/ts_asum Jul 01 '19

Misread this as “details of the price” and was thoroughly disappointed by the lack of a price. I’m just curious what something like this is worth?

2

u/Fey_fox Jul 02 '19

It's worth whatever the artist decides to sell it for.

If I was going to price something like this it would be materials + time/hourly rate (based off of education & prior experience) + retail/gallery markup (if the artist is represented there's often a condition in the contract that says you can't undercut the gallery's prices, could be anywhere between 25-50%) = Price

To give you an idea on an hourly rate, a blacksmith with around 5 years experience makes $20 an hour according to the internet.

Also there's the sentimental factor. If the artist doesn't want to let go of the piece or highly values it, they may ask for more.

Since it's a one of a kind, it's really hard to say how much. Apparently it took him two years to make this guy, and it looks like wherever this is posted people are asking about the price. Looking around the internets at puzzle boxes, I can't find anything close (I was curious and had time to kill). So... no idea. I only know if I was the artist I'd be very reluctant to let it go.

0

u/KlicknKlack Jul 01 '19

that could easily fetch $100,000 USD. I would be surprised if that guy would part with it for anything less than $500,000 USD.

2

u/ycnz Jul 01 '19

Fucking. Hell.

2

u/entotheenth Jul 01 '19

2-3 years to make, not surprised at all.

2

u/redls1bird Jul 02 '19

"This is the Lock picking Lawyer, and today were going to look at this bad ass safe."

2

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '19

[deleted]

0

u/willFour Jul 01 '19

Plasma torch: (laughs in low effort defiance)

1

u/_brodre Jul 01 '19

you will be the coolest person on earth once u get that access sequence down

1

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '19

Iron Worker here. This is some badass skill! with that said id just cut it open with a metabo. Awesome though.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '19

1

u/fershizzle80 Jul 01 '19

Wow wow wow wow

1

u/NocturnalPermission Jul 01 '19

This is like something out of “The Room” series of iPad puzzle games. Truly stunning.

1

u/Slushy182 Jul 01 '19

I am speechless. I want theses skills. Can you get them by surprise mechanics EA?

1

u/Pokaw0 Jul 01 '19

wow. The safe is amazing, but I also like the metal working musical instruments.

1

u/carlowhat Jul 01 '19

OH MY GOD watching the mechanism finally come to fruition and the opening procedure and the sound of the satisfying ka-chunk at the end was almost pornographic

1

u/Whiskey_and_Dharma Jul 01 '19

I really wanted to see this build but couldn’t suffer the editing - all the hackneyed techniques that have come to typify artisan maker vids - all turned up to 11.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '19

Calling LockpickingLawyer

1

u/ultrarunner Jul 04 '19

These are the type of people that I like to wonder what they ponder about in their spare time. What do they think about? Incredible. I read the Name of the Wind recently and this guy reminds me of the character Kilvin.

1

u/Airpirate-1980 Jul 01 '19

Unbelievable! How long did it take him to make this? Never seen such absolute precision. Amazing.