Adam Savage's One Day Builds: Custom Workshop Apron!

Hey guys, Adam Savage here in my cave with a new one-day build and this one is a tool that you might not think of as a tool: it's an apron. I've talked recently on the on the site about how much i've been enjoying wearing an apron having some of my key tools and materials at my disposal when i need them and that is that's been really like a sea change for me moving around the shop however despite the fact that i really like wearing an apron and i like what it does for me this apron is missing some key features that i would love it to have so out of some leather and some waxed canvas that i have and some other findings i'm gonna make myself my own apron i've actually brought in the mannequin of me to use for sizing and measuring and patterning and yeah today we're gonna make an apron having worn the apron for the past few weeks i have some information that it has given me including what i like to carry um i like to carry a scribe i like to carry a white out pen i like to carry at least a couple of sharpies and at least a couple of pencils i like carrying a sanding stick a pair of tweezers um this is a matte knife but i've also been carrying where's the other one some ah there we go this this mat knife let's see what else have i got in here uh a square yes a little machinist square um let's see here another machine is squared clearly i thought i'd run out of machinist squares um oh the second pencil oh oh right i really like the hammer belt loop but i don't need both of them okay so uh let's take a look at my everyday carry here this is a baseline of what i like to carry in my apron got that the hammer the scribe white up pen couple sharpies few pencils tweezers matte knives square and sanding stick um there's also some other things that i've noticed i i don't like look this this apron is sold as a uh one size fits all so it's adjustable it knots in the back with a bow that i don't like that uh it's um it's fitment on me is adjustable depending on where i tie this knot that's also something i don't like i want to just solidify that um these straps are a little too lightweight i don't like how flimsy they are i'd like them to be a little more substantial i feel like this could go a little bit higher that's one thing and i think i could cut down here on the sides i think i would like perhaps some individual holders for things i this pocket being open it's just a place for stuff to get lost i want to have a specific location for each pencil and each thing i also down here hey stay put there we go down here i like these pockets these are great and i like these pockets this this dual arrangement is quite nice however i think i could use a couple more separators down here and this leather pocket i don't know what the hell that does it doesn't really help me um the hammer loop on the right is the one i like the last detail of the apron that i want to alter here is i want to do a split-legged apron uh back when i worked at industrial light magic in the late 90s my friend dave fogler introduced me to the wonder of the ben davis work apron which is a terrific apron uh it and it's a split-legged apron so it's got um it splits here and has clasps that go around your upper thighs and i just found that more useful in moving around the shop um and also frankly using the bathroom um that's that's important to me to be able to use the bathroom and with this thing and when when it's full of tools it can be a real pain in the butt um so i think that's the basic gist of what i'm gonna do here i'm going to do a more form fitting part up here more rigid straps a different pocket arrangement here slightly different pocket arrangement here split leg and then my findings are all going to be set in place it's not going to be adjustable anymore so that back here when i connect it it'll just be a boop like that just a one and done um yeah i think those are the pieces of information i currently have i may glean more as i go but i think that's enough to start patterning all right we are moving along a pace i have here the basic outline and as you can see i think i'm actually going to do a a drop neck here slightly drop neck uh on the fabric and then i'm going to have a front pocket here i'm going to do that in leather i've got some fine thin leather for that uh this will come around right like this and i'll have some grommets here i may actually make this just a little bit wider and then i've got the pockets laid out here and i've changed all their shapes a little bit uh and adjusted some of their persuasions because i'm going to have this split here i'm going to have some grommets and some cross braces on the back side and the material the main material for this i'm actually kind of excited about this is some green there we go this is some waxed canvas this this is great stuff um super durable waterproof uh it weathers really well it's ideal for a a shop apron uh and between this and the brown leather i i think this is gonna be a really lovely lovely piece um and you know there are aspects to a commercial apron that must be adjustable because human bodies are all so different but mine does not have to be adjustable i can literally choose its persuasions and put them together and try it and it ought to just work right like i'm just going to take the measurements off the tied up apron on my on my mannequin and apply them to this so that when i put this on it's just ready for me right like i don't need that adjustability built in i can i can manufacture the size to me yeah that's pretty cool uh so the next step is i think to start cutting out the main pieces of i can't tell you how good this smells oh it's like stepping into a filson's store uh yeah so um i am going to start cutting out some of the main pieces of fabric according to the pattern and then uh oh oh oh oh yeah the strapping i have this beautiful twill uh herringbone shoulder strapping this is really nice stuff and i've got some clips for it and everything yeah this is uh i'm not not nice it's a good color yeah okay so i have my pattern i have my fabric i've got most of the leather stuff already cut out uh so it's time to god i love the smell of this stuff it's time to cut out my fabric okay so uh it's time to get sewing i've cut out all the wax canvas i've cut out as much as the leather as i need right now and i'm very close to yeah everything's on it's time to start assembling and you know i've talked a lot in the past about uh order of operations in machining it's super important to know your order of operations and in sewing it is two so i've got a base piece of fabric that makes up the main body of the apron and i've got a top pocket i've got two side pockets and i've got two thigh pockets and the order in which all this stuff goes together including the hammer rings and the straps is important so the very first pocket that i'm sewing is actually i'm sewing this belly pocket these side pockets specifically because i've got to sew this line here before i sew this pocket onto the main body and it's like tons and tons of those little decisions that i have to keep on making in order to get this thing um ready to go yeah so uh i think i'm gonna sew this all the way around uh away from the seam so that when i sew it it's close to the seam and then i have a nice double stitch around this pocket it'll look really nice i'm using a high strength thread and i definitely don't want that setting i don't want a straight stitch yeah okay so let's um why don't we get started from hither this is the basic shape and i have sewn the seam all the way around the edge i'm really liking the way this i'm really liking the way it feels i'm liking the way it grabs me i'm liking the way it breaks at the at the pants um here i'm liking the way it breaks here at the split leg that's really nice yeah um this is going really well also by the way the waxed canvas does these kind of seams really nicely it's got a real body to it and it kind of stays where you put it i mean weathers really nicely but it also has a lot of like plasticity it's almost like a clay as a fabric it's great all right so uh the next thing is i think to do the the pockets right the side pockets back here yep okay so that's the next thing what we're doing here we're gonna do like that and uh i'm gonna do this bottom part and i'm gonna go on the outside edge so i'm really tight to the outside it oh my god you can't see a damn thing so here's where this uh central pocket right here goes i'm leaving this unsewn but i'm going to soak and then i'm going to do and then i'm going to do and i'm going to bring that right yep yep right there right up the jet seat yeah okay so these will be the hammer loops later on so here we go ladies and gentlemen it's time for assembly okay i fold this up here so i can spin it on the line this is looking like i know what i'm doing which is totally not the case okay here we go oh i really like working with this wax canvas man it is great stuff all right let's get those holders away let's uh now i don't need to cut away ladies and germs all right i'm definitely going to strengthen some of these pocket edges with rivets that's for darn oh wow did i just snap my needle i did damn it all right yeah that looks great yeah oh right i gotta do the center i gotta do the center bit ha ha okay i'm gonna get one more line across the bottom here because i want it to be really solid so now it's time for the leg pockets they go here and here and they sew uh oh right okay yeah they're gonna sew like that so i'll have one like that one like that right because i like seeing that thing and that doesn't interrupt too much of these pockets no it doesn't i gotta i gotta think about this just a sec it's almost like i kind of rather it be down there on the leg and maybe even instead of on the inside of the leg on the outside of the leg yeah i mean that actually feels a little more comfortable and more like where i go for the thing right yeah okay so that's what we're gonna do we're gonna do a right yeah we're gonna do that uh i'm gonna round the corners here and and i'm going to add in a secondary pocket yeah because i want to store more things right first order retrievability man gotta get it all going here we go so uh i have completed the main body of my apron and i'm really pleased it's looking great i got this multi-pocket holder here i got these leg pockets i'm really pleased with it's it's coming along and i can't wait to put it on me and that's the next step is fitting this to my body so i've got to put some straps on the shoulders i have to have those wrap around the back and go through probably a center back brace then i have to attach them to the sides and then i have to make the little clip that holds it onto my waist and then i actually am going to have some attachments for the legs to keep them on my legs there's a um yeah so now it's all about attachment to fit me and perfect as i am that is uh the current stage we're at we have the straps on the shoulders they come around yes really nice yeah okay so now they're gonna come around and cross my back and then come out through these guys so these are leather supported uh effectively grommets i know that stitching is not beautiful but it doesn't have to be um and what i'm going to do is i'm going to cut a slot in there to fit my my webbing after the fact that i'm going to use a slot cutting hole punch yeah i'd have you might not have even known that these existed but they do and i'm going to use them right now to cut a slot here so here we go that's it and we're gonna do um do one like this that's great that's one half of the slot we're gonna do the other half now if you have punches like this it's really important that you have a surface you can punch into this is a piece of delrin it's really nice let's just make sure this is long enough it's um yeah that's ideal oh look how pretty look at that again it looks like i knew what i was doing so let's do the other one as i'm doing it i'm kind of rocking this this way and that to make sure that i'm getting all the way through um and these punches they they're they're not super expensive and when you have a few different sets you have all these options look at that isn't that great okay yeah that goes there and then this one comes here right and so then i just need a little delta clip that sits on this that's uh that's this guy right here and that's just gonna go here so i'm gonna make one side loose and long and uh that'll allow some adjustability in this guy and okay right there's the center back okay so first off i'm gonna want to um let's see what is the active and what is the dead side i'm going to want to activate right this should be the live side and this should be the dead side as it is which means right i've got to um i've got to cut this open hang on right so i'm just going to have this one come right to my center back here right right to there yep and so this one comes in and clips in like that that way you know is that the outside yep and that way it pops in there yep and this one goes in oh this already feels so good i can't even tell you it feels like really nice why do i need to dance there's no reason i'm just feeling good about my apron this is freaking awesome this might i might have to move the loops we'll see we'll see i'm going to sew in the loops but i might have to add a loop because the hammer hangs over this pocket and that's weirdly problematic but as far as how high this sits as far as how it uh matches on me i'm really liking it so i think this is what i'm gonna choose for the um yeah okay ah right i have to make a piece of leather that these go through back here and i'm gonna do that on the speaker here is the the cross of the uh two straps and i'm gonna take this piece of uh nice heavy veg tan leather and i'm gonna make a nice keeper for it that is uh stable so this punch is for the ends of belt loops uh and so is this and i'm going to use them both on this little keeper here me so all right i'm going to uh dye this uh make it a make it a color yeah and i got to take care of some of that stuff and get some leather dye here shoot uh all right now it's time for me to sew that in and um we are barreling down on the finish of this guy i'm really kind of psyched about it but let me do a test fit first oh right gotta separate those two yeah that uh that kind of does it doesn't it uh-huh hey um wow man we're getting there we're getting there okay ladies and gentlemen um we're barreling down on this the next step is for me to add the connectors that make these go around my legs and that makes them much more usable and instead of sewing i'm actually going to do all this with leather rivets so you're gonna get to watch my process with some leather rivets this is great uh i am also going to add some leather rivets right here uh because that's a weak point right there um i think that's about it but yeah uh i'm gonna use leather rivets instead of sewing to attach those so let's take this off i'm just prepping the leather straps that will be the pieces that yep oh i'm gonna do it on the inside yeah it'll be nice and neat okay now i need some other rivets some leather rivets and that's what um that's what these guys are and the leather rivet has two parts to it it has a stock and the receiver and what happens is you use a hole punch like this to punch a hole through then you attach these from both sides you pop them through and then you whack it with a hammer and it's a really nice secure connection so uh just to demonstrate i'm gonna do this on top of here i'm gonna do it with two leather rivets because i want a little bit of traction here there we go great and pop these through like that put this through like this and put the rivet caps on the back side then put it back here like this yep and i know there are rivet setters for stuff like this but for this non super not that important mechanical connection that's fine that's fine you said the dogs after me that's fine uh okay so now we go to the other side and do the same thing i'm uh popping the holes in on the with the leather on top just so i can see its orientation okay great the actual uh connector for around my legs will be these little um dog collar catches and they'll be attached to some d-rings like this so the next thing i'm going to do is attach the d-ring to the inside here and that's just going to be a single rivet i've cut some small piece of lace for this i've been rounding all my corners just uh just cleaning up the visible edges just to make things look a little prettier a little neater every little bit helps i'm doing this one on top because i don't want it to yeah it's a long story but i'm doing this one on top and i'm actually going to attach it on top so here we go oh whoops almost did it upside down great i love these little tiny d-rings these are just i picked them up on craigslist a few months ago half okay so now it's time to add the last rivets and they will be the ones that attach uh these dog collar catches to the leather strap here but i have to figure out the actual length of those so i'm gonna put it back on and do another test fit when you're making something you're gonna wear you can't test fit it too much you really really can't okay so let's see here i'm gonna be coming around awesome so yeah i think i do want to cinch up just a little bit not too much yeah there all right oh i was like why can't i hit it because i was using the wrong end all right so here we go connect that up that and the thing is is now it feels like it's really attached to me it feels like a feels great feels like it's a you know it moves with me and i like that and i like that more right that feels really really good okay am i done i'm not quite done the apron's going really really well uh it fits me nicely it's uh it's adjusted for me for the size of my body uh oh right i've got to get these loops right okay so i'm going to do this loop like this and then i'm going to add in another loop right over here the loop it's in the loop is in yeah it's the moment of truthiness the moment of truth here we go so yeah ladies and gentlemen here we go one on the top oh yep connect up the belt yep put the legs on oh i have not taken this thing off for weeks i'm just saying that right away that is that feels good we put the hammer in yep okay time to yep got the mat knife that goes there here this right there this also here that's where actually maybe it goes here maybe that's where i look for it my scribe must live right there excellent yeah yeah that's sharpie and another pencil yeah oh this is fantastic what lives there maybe that's where the sharpie goes yeah that's great hammer with whacking yes whacking hammer i guess i don't need that now i want to put all sorts of stuff in here right now i want to like you know this brush i carried this around and the thing that felt really good um yeah that is one apron and um faster than i thought it was going to happen to be honest the whole project took about three and a half hours i am uh i am really pleased this feels great i've been thinking about this for weeks wait a minute wait a minute there might be one last thing to do i feel good enough about this that i want to put a maker's mark on it oh right yes i want to put a maker's mark on it and i'm going to do that right here on this lovely piece of vegetan leather um okay so the maker's mark i'm making will be my name savage uh and i'm going to etch it into a piece of brass using some ferric chloride uh i like ferric chloride because it's uh it allows me to be quite discreet about the etching by discrete i mean i don't need a ton of etching i can do this entire job with about a tablespoon here is my ferric chloride this is a uh 40 ready to use solution 42 degrees i don't know what that means um this is for etching uh etching circuit boards um i've got a cricut cut savage and i'm going to apply it to some brass here and then i'm going to etch it i am then going to cut it out and attach it to my my uh apron so it's been made as an applique so i'm gonna put it on here actually let's do it like that there we go that's good all right so there is my name and the sticker provides the resist uh so when i put the etchant on there it will etch out the name but leave the rest now what i have here is a little dam around the resist and i'm going to apply about a tablespoon of the ferric chloride onto that all right i've got a little cup here i'm going to pour a little bit in when i'm finished with this i need to kill the acid reaction and i'm going to do that with the base of some baking soda so after i get it etched to where i like it then i'm going to uh kill the reaction with baking soda rinse this whole thing off and pull it off and you'll get to see my name and brass here we go so uh yeah i'm just going to start applying this actually let me bring you in a little bit closer to the situation again i am not using any more than i have to now if i let that be we'll start to see some bubbles form there now what happens is that top layer oxidizes and you kind of want to keep on what i've been told what i've been led to understand is you want to keep on sort of working the oxidation bubbles away because they'll inhibit the the edge but um i'm kind of flying in the dark here so we'll see how we do so i've done the etch i have no idea how deep it went uh that was probably about 25 minutes uh brass seems to etch much slower than uh aluminum but it does look like i got an etch in there ladies and gentlemen it's not as deep as i was hoping but it is an edge look at that all right i'm going to try and polish this and see if i can't get it to stand out even a little bit more brass clearly etches way slower than aluminum because check that out there you go now you're looking at the yeah so it's a very very shallow shallow etch i can't even really get paint in there but i dig it oh time to cut this out and mount it because it's a savage okay i have uh finished my hand hewn savage label here yeah and i'm about to rivet this right here all right and there it is i know it's not perfect but that's kind of why i like it yeah there is it's always good it's always good to sign your work all right i am so psyched about this apron and how easy it is to put on honestly and take off it is so fabulous let's do this here we go uh i again i've been thinking about this for weeks and almost the entire lockdown and that uh i finally got it going makes me super happy i was happy to bring in my doppelganger uh this doppelganger which was cnc'd out of uh a expanded polystyrene film by my friends at fbfx in london the guys that did the alien covenant and prometheus and also martian spacesuits they made this for me last time i showed up there just to show off their amazing scanner and their printer it's the ultimate costuming mannequin for me thank you guys for joining me for this one day build i feel like working thank you so much for watching that entire video your viewing helps us keep the lights on well it's one of the ways one of the other ways is through selling our merch and you guys have been so fabulous about suggesting great merch ideas when i say something strange or funny and you suggest in the comments that we put it on a sticker or we put it on a t-shirt well we are following your advice and if you follow the links below you can buy some of our merch so that we can make some more videos thank you guys for watching

Channel: Adam Savage’s Tested

Views: 742,792

Keywords: tested, tested one day builds, tested adam one day build, adam savage one day build, adam savage apron, apron tutorial, apron diy, workshop apron woodworking, workshop apron adam savage, diy workshop apron, making a workshop apron, Apron tutorial youtube, adam savage tested, leather apron tutorial, leather apron diy, leather apron woodworking, adam savage favorite tools, adam savage everyday carry, how to make a work apron, one day builds, one day build, how to, adam savage

Id: lp85yyPSP10

Length: 43min 28sec (2608 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 26 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/yeast510]

The slightly slanted chest pocket is going to give me anxiety

[u/vozeldr]

If you put a small weight in each of the 4 corners of the leg bottoms it would get rid of the need to have them strapped around your legs. Should give you more mobility (and make it quicker to don and doff) without sacrificing having the leg sections hang at unpredictable orientations.

[u/whoopdawhoop12345]

I love this apron !

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Great job Adam !