Adam Savage's One Day Builds - Annular Cutter Storage!

**The Art of Tool Storage: Creating a Custom Holder for Annular Cutters**

Hey there! It’s later than I usually shoot a video—it’s 5:30. I’m starting this video right now because I just got back from my summer vacation. Just to give you a quick update, I’m currently a bachelor since my wife is still enjoying her vacay. Anyway, here we go.

So, as per the title of this video, I have something special here—a piece of wood that’s going to be my storage solution for annular cutters. Now, what exactly are annular cutters? Well, I’m so glad you asked! I’ve covered them in recent videos on my channel, but before diving into annular cutters, let me first talk about drill bits because that sets the foundation.

Imagine you’re a maker, and you think to yourself, “Maker, I want to make a hole of a certain size.” That’s a funny thing to say to yourself, right? But let’s say you want to make a 1.5-inch diameter hole in some deep material. You have several options, especially if you’re a beginning maker with access to affordable tools.

Most beginners start with a hole saw—plumbers use them all the time. There are abrasive ones and toothed ones, and it’s a good idea to set yourself up with a complete system of hole saws. I’ve got an entire drawer full of them; they’re incredibly useful. For instance, you can cut sideways into steel pipe to make roll cages for your car. These things are like the bottom rung of a ladder because they’re affordable and everywhere—you’ll find them at every hardware store.

Now, about the pilot drill here—it’s not sticking out far enough, but that’s okay. Unlike a regular drill bit, which excavates material by rotating and cutting through it, a hole saw only cuts around the perimeter. Instead of dealing with the entire area (pi r squared), you’re working within the width of the saw, which is typically about 60 thou or half a millimeter.

But let me introduce you to another tool that’s a game-changer: the Forstner bit. These bits are like something out of science fiction—they’re not even in the main aisle at Sears, yet they’re amazing. A full set can be had for around $30, though you could spend up to $100 if you want premium ones. I prefer the cheaper sets because I’m hard on tools and cycle through them regularly.

The Forstner bit is designed to cut through solid stock and create clean, beautiful holes. It has chisels that balance against a central point, making it excellent for precision work. However, it’s still labor-intensive because it does a lot of material removal.

Now, let’s talk about annular cutters—courtesy of John Knoll from Lucasfilm and Mandalorian fame (though he’s been doing this for decades). These cutters operate much like hole saws but are far more refined. Each leading edge is precision-engineered, resulting in a superior surface finish—one that’s every bit as good as what you’d get from a Forstner bit.

I’ll admit it: I can be a bit excessive with my tool collection. When I got excited about annular cutters, I bought a set containing six or seven of them. They were incredibly useful, but then I kept running into situations where I needed different sizes. So, I looked it up—annular cutters are available in every size from 7/16 inches all the way up to 2 inches by the inch. That’s pretty amazing when you get to the larger sizes; they can cost around $50 each.

But here’s where things got interesting: I decided to buy them all. I figured, “Why not? I’ll always need these.” So, I invested in a set—though I’m not exactly sure of the exact number now, let’s say 29 of them—and I’m about to set this up in my mill to create a custom holder for all of them.

The idea is simple: gang them up like this and have them sit in pockets they’ve made themselves. This setup keeps their edges protected and prevents dust buildup. It’s a brilliant way to store them. I can already see that it’ll hold 26 of my bits perfectly, even if the three larger ones are a bit more challenging to fit in.

To be honest, I thought I was showing you the drilling process with the annular cutters earlier, but I ended up doing most of it off-camera. Apologies for the confusion! But what I can show you now is the result: solid holding and beautiful precision. It’s the kind of satisfaction that comes from a well-executed build.

As I sit here on my stool, putting my tools away, I realize this is exactly why I love machining—everything fits together perfectly, and there’s nothing quite as satisfying as seeing a tool slide into its custom-made pocket. This holder is like the most beautiful drill set hole saw ever, even if it does cost a fortune.

But hey, what can I say? It’s worth every penny to me. These annular cutters are truly remarkable tools, and I’m thrilled with how this storage solution turned out. Even though I have three extra ones that need their own little holder, the rest fit perfectly in this custom setup.

I could talk about this all day, but I think it’s time to wrap things up. It’s been too long since I’ve been on camera, and I’m just getting my bearings back. Thanks for joining me—next time, we’ll dive into another exciting project!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey there it's later than i usually shoot a video it's 5 30. i'm starting a video right now i just got back from my summer vacation i just got back from my summer vacation uh i'm a bachelor right now my wife is still um enjoying some vacating uh and so i'm staying a little later because you know anyway um what i have here is a piece of wood this piece of wood is going to be as per the title of this video my storage for annular cutters what is an annular cutter i'm so glad you asked i covered them recently on their channel but in order to talk about annular cutters i first want to talk about drill bits so give me a second okay so oh wait one more thing all right i've got my teaching aids there we go let us say you are a maker and you think to yourself maker which is a funny thing to say to yourself but you might say to yourself maker i would like to make a hole of a certain size and that size may be an inch and a half for instance now there are a lot of different ways to make an inch and a half hole in deep material like this this is not going to be what i'm making a hole in but it'll serve to tell the tale you want to make a two in an inch and a half diameter hole in this you have some options now as a beginning maker with access to affordable tools the first way beginning makers most often drill a hole of that size is using this uh a hole saw plumbers there's many different kinds of these there's abrasive ones there's toothed ones and it's good to set yourself up with a fairly complete system of hole saws i have a whole drawer of them um very very useful things you can cut sideways into steel pipe to make roll cages for your car yeah these things i know i described them as the like the bottom of the ladder because they're affordable and they're everywhere they're at every hardware store you want to go to well you've got a pilot drill here which is not sticking out far enough but anyway uh but then this is what does the cutting unlike a drill and i've got an inch and a half drill here just to show uh but this is this drill works exactly the same way as this drill so it makes it easier to see this drill you can see goes into a hole and each of these leading edges acts like a chisel pulling out material it's a laborious and energy packed way of of excavating a hole whereas with the hole saw you are only excavating you're only doing work in this little profile around the perimeter so instead of you know pi r squared that diameter you're dealing with uh the area inside the width of this like i don't know 60 thou millimeter and a half uh a wide tooth so this is a great way to make an inch and a half hole edge finish not amazing the first bit that is the kind of tool that someone has to tell you about and i know i've said this in other videos on this channel but it bears repeating is the forstner bit now this is a bit that is like it's just not going to be in the main aisle at sears even though it might be i swear these are things that like when you tell people about them and they haven't heard it feels like it's come from aliens because these things are amazing uh a full set of forstner bits is like 30 bucks and yeah you could spend 100 bucks but frankly i still don't even need ones that good i abuse them too much so i buy the cheap sets to cycle through forstner bits are incredible they make beautiful holes they're great for pegging furniture together and stuff like that um but a forstner bit as you can see has these chisels it's meant to go through solid stock it's not meant to widen the hole because it needs it needs to balance against that point there and so it also is doing a lot of work to excavate the whole it can do it and it's awesome um but it is still a lot of work enter the annular cutter john knoll uh of lucasfilm and mandalorian fame i mean special effects genius from decades back but those are recent things john knoll is a wonderful machinist and sent me a video recently that said you should send me a text a few months ago and said you should know about annular cutters now this is a cutter as you can see that operates much like the hole saw right it's only cutting around this perimeter but as you can see it is a much finer crafted piece of equipment um each of these leading edges has a an edge on it so the the the the surface finish of the hole from an annular cutter is it's like everything you ever wanted out of a forstner bit now i am um profligate in my tool collection sometimes when i'm excited about something and so i got excited about the annular cutters and i bought a set which is like six or seven of them and they were really useful and then i kept having occasions where i wanted to use them but i didn't have the right size so i looked it up and you can buy every size of annular cutter from 7 16 all the way to 2 inches by 16. yeah that's that's pretty amazing when you get to this size they're like 50 bucks a piece well reader i bought them all yeah i figured i'm always going to have these i'm going to be so happy to have these like i just did a gig i could afford this let's do it right so yeah i invest in a set of i can't even i don't even know what the number is 29 of them we're gonna do 26 in this holder because the three big ones are specialty there's always compromise um and i'm about to set this up into the mill and slowly make this into a holder for all of the annular cutters they will gang up like this and they will sit in pockets that they made themselves they will sit in pockets that they made themselves and that will also protect their edges it will keep them from getting too dusty it's a great way to store them sorry that yeah there we go so this will hold 26 of my 26 of my bits yeah let's do it okay i thought i was showing you the drilling of the holes with the antler cutters but i wasn't so i drilled the first set of uh five cutters uh off camera very sorry very very sorry very sorry so so it's holding them beautifully that's exactly what i want out of a holder solid holding ah so um so okay oh look at you spinning all catty wampus much much more like what i think you should be doing i want to just get a view on you that's good yep yeah you gotta do them both ah there we go better yes that's another build you know what it is the moment of truth hang on all right sit on my stool put my tools away foreign this is me i make everything slightly too taller too tight this is satisfying but it's not even oddly satisfying it's very explicitly understandable why it's satisfying yeah i like things oh i like this little swarf in there so yeah they're all retrievable do dude yeah i'm really happy i know these are outside that but that's okay these are these are rare sometimes foods come here there you go look at this beautiful pie that i baked it is using a lot of tool steel and grinding in some very precise ways but this is like the most beautiful drill set hole saw ever it costs a fortune it's completely worth it to me very happy about this oh look at that slides right in i made it exactly the size to fit in the door i'm pleased tail sticks thank you guys for joining me that was unnecessary that's just something that you do in the film industry tell sticks we'll get to this build later on in the summer i'm sorry you had to see it and get tempted by it right now but for right now it's all just annular gutters oh wow i can actually see through these um i don't know where i'll put these i just what i have three i have three uh so i'll just make an extra little holder for these three and i'll live there we're done i don't need to say anything more why am i still talking it's because i've been away for so long from the camera and i feel like i can i want to keep talking see you guys next timehey there it's later than i usually shoot a video it's 5 30. i'm starting a video right now i just got back from my summer vacation i just got back from my summer vacation uh i'm a bachelor right now my wife is still um enjoying some vacating uh and so i'm staying a little later because you know anyway um what i have here is a piece of wood this piece of wood is going to be as per the title of this video my storage for annular cutters what is an annular cutter i'm so glad you asked i covered them recently on their channel but in order to talk about annular cutters i first want to talk about drill bits so give me a second okay so oh wait one more thing all right i've got my teaching aids there we go let us say you are a maker and you think to yourself maker which is a funny thing to say to yourself but you might say to yourself maker i would like to make a hole of a certain size and that size may be an inch and a half for instance now there are a lot of different ways to make an inch and a half hole in deep material like this this is not going to be what i'm making a hole in but it'll serve to tell the tale you want to make a two in an inch and a half diameter hole in this you have some options now as a beginning maker with access to affordable tools the first way beginning makers most often drill a hole of that size is using this uh a hole saw plumbers there's many different kinds of these there's abrasive ones there's toothed ones and it's good to set yourself up with a fairly complete system of hole saws i have a whole drawer of them um very very useful things you can cut sideways into steel pipe to make roll cages for your car yeah these things i know i described them as the like the bottom of the ladder because they're affordable and they're everywhere they're at every hardware store you want to go to well you've got a pilot drill here which is not sticking out far enough but anyway uh but then this is what does the cutting unlike a drill and i've got an inch and a half drill here just to show uh but this is this drill works exactly the same way as this drill so it makes it easier to see this drill you can see goes into a hole and each of these leading edges acts like a chisel pulling out material it's a laborious and energy packed way of of excavating a hole whereas with the hole saw you are only excavating you're only doing work in this little profile around the perimeter so instead of you know pi r squared that diameter you're dealing with uh the area inside the width of this like i don't know 60 thou millimeter and a half uh a wide tooth so this is a great way to make an inch and a half hole edge finish not amazing the first bit that is the kind of tool that someone has to tell you about and i know i've said this in other videos on this channel but it bears repeating is the forstner bit now this is a bit that is like it's just not going to be in the main aisle at sears even though it might be i swear these are things that like when you tell people about them and they haven't heard it feels like it's come from aliens because these things are amazing uh a full set of forstner bits is like 30 bucks and yeah you could spend 100 bucks but frankly i still don't even need ones that good i abuse them too much so i buy the cheap sets to cycle through forstner bits are incredible they make beautiful holes they're great for pegging furniture together and stuff like that um but a forstner bit as you can see has these chisels it's meant to go through solid stock it's not meant to widen the hole because it needs it needs to balance against that point there and so it also is doing a lot of work to excavate the whole it can do it and it's awesome um but it is still a lot of work enter the annular cutter john knoll uh of lucasfilm and mandalorian fame i mean special effects genius from decades back but those are recent things john knoll is a wonderful machinist and sent me a video recently that said you should send me a text a few months ago and said you should know about annular cutters now this is a cutter as you can see that operates much like the hole saw right it's only cutting around this perimeter but as you can see it is a much finer crafted piece of equipment um each of these leading edges has a an edge on it so the the the the surface finish of the hole from an annular cutter is it's like everything you ever wanted out of a forstner bit now i am um profligate in my tool collection sometimes when i'm excited about something and so i got excited about the annular cutters and i bought a set which is like six or seven of them and they were really useful and then i kept having occasions where i wanted to use them but i didn't have the right size so i looked it up and you can buy every size of annular cutter from 7 16 all the way to 2 inches by 16. yeah that's that's pretty amazing when you get to this size they're like 50 bucks a piece well reader i bought them all yeah i figured i'm always going to have these i'm going to be so happy to have these like i just did a gig i could afford this let's do it right so yeah i invest in a set of i can't even i don't even know what the number is 29 of them we're gonna do 26 in this holder because the three big ones are specialty there's always compromise um and i'm about to set this up into the mill and slowly make this into a holder for all of the annular cutters they will gang up like this and they will sit in pockets that they made themselves they will sit in pockets that they made themselves and that will also protect their edges it will keep them from getting too dusty it's a great way to store them sorry that yeah there we go so this will hold 26 of my 26 of my bits yeah let's do it okay i thought i was showing you the drilling of the holes with the antler cutters but i wasn't so i drilled the first set of uh five cutters uh off camera very sorry very very sorry very sorry so so it's holding them beautifully that's exactly what i want out of a holder solid holding ah so um so okay oh look at you spinning all catty wampus much much more like what i think you should be doing i want to just get a view on you that's good yep yeah you gotta do them both ah there we go better yes that's another build you know what it is the moment of truth hang on all right sit on my stool put my tools away foreign this is me i make everything slightly too taller too tight this is satisfying but it's not even oddly satisfying it's very explicitly understandable why it's satisfying yeah i like things oh i like this little swarf in there so yeah they're all retrievable do dude yeah i'm really happy i know these are outside that but that's okay these are these are rare sometimes foods come here there you go look at this beautiful pie that i baked it is using a lot of tool steel and grinding in some very precise ways but this is like the most beautiful drill set hole saw ever it costs a fortune it's completely worth it to me very happy about this oh look at that slides right in i made it exactly the size to fit in the door i'm pleased tail sticks thank you guys for joining me that was unnecessary that's just something that you do in the film industry tell sticks we'll get to this build later on in the summer i'm sorry you had to see it and get tempted by it right now but for right now it's all just annular gutters oh wow i can actually see through these um i don't know where i'll put these i just what i have three i have three uh so i'll just make an extra little holder for these three and i'll live there we're done i don't need to say anything more why am i still talking it's because i've been away for so long from the camera and i feel like i can i want to keep talking see you guys next time\n"