Hundreds of people have sharpened their skills at Crooked Path Forge; all are welcome, students range from teenagers to retirees. Their classes start out with very simple projects like small knives.

If you were building a recreation of the James Watt micrometer, where would you start? If you’re [rasp], the answer would be: “Spend a year trying to find the best way to make etched brass discs.” ...

It’s the little touches that make a project, and a nice nameplate can really tie a retro build together. Such badges are easy enough to make with a CNC machine, but if you don’t have access to machine ...