The Philips Norelco OneBlade is the shaver of choice for every guy on our staff, and Amazon’s offering an unprecedented 50% discount on it for Black Friday.
If you aren’t familiar with this thing yet, Shane shared his thoughts about it on Lifehacker Gear:
I’m pretty blown away by the Philips OneBlade. I was expecting a deconstructed electric razor or a souped up Gillette Power-style situation, but the OneBlade is more like the next evolution of beard trimmers.
The OneBlade can be used to get a close shave, edge, or trim down to your preferred length. It’s also washable and rechargeable, and the replaceable blades that last an estimated four months are already available on Subscribe and Save.
The OneBlade can be used in the shower or over the sink, with or without shaving cream or oil. To be clear, this is not going to give you a straight razor-close shave, but it’s going to get you 99.5% of the way there in no time and with no irritation.
The OneBlade usually sells for $35, and occasionally sees modest discounts to $25-$35, but $17 blows away every previous promotion. I paid full price for it back in March of this year (I’m still on my original blade, for the record), and have zero regrets.
We’ve talked before about what exactly an 80% lower is, and even talked about finishing an 80% lower. Today, we’re going to go over the best AR-15 80% or unfinished lowers out there, at least in my humble opinion.
We’re also going to look at some of the things to be on the lookout for when it comes to choosing an 80% lower so that you can be better prepared to evaluate these lowers when you come across them.
Note: an 80% lower requires some pretty advanced machining, so the quality, fit, and finish of the final product is going to depend entirely on you, or the person who’s working on it and their skill level. There are a number of machining jigs available to make your job easier.
Brief Overview of 80% Lowers
First, should really, really, really, really check out our other article on what exactly an 80% lower is. If you’re one of those people too lazy to click links in articles (don’t worry, we’ve all been there) you really just need to know that an 80% is an unfinished lower that is nominally sold as a “paperweight” or other novelty, and not a firearm.
If you’re buying a finished AR lower, you’re technically buying a firearm in the eyes of the ATF.
AR-15 80% Lower. Notice the solid area where the trigger would go, making it a paperweight, not a firearm. Technically.
Meanwhile, an 80% lower is technically not a firearm until you finish machining it, so you can get them delivered straight to your house without paying FFL fees. As long as you’re manufacturing the firearm for personal use, and are otherwise allowed to own said firearm in your state, you’re good to go.
Be sure to check out our Gun Laws pages to see if such things are legal where you are.
Note: California compliance requires a serial number and other changes to your lower, so be super duper sure to check the laws there and in other less-than-gun-friendly states.
To finish your upper, you’ll need an end mill, and a drill or drill press, and a jig or other guide to get you as you mill out the lower. Each lower is going to require a slightly different procedure so be sure to check with your manufacturer on what you’ll need.
Drill Press
Most of them will have a free pdf or video that’ll show you how to do things.
One thing to keep in mind, even if a company advertises a 90% or 95% finished lower…they still aren’t allowed to get the lower and closer to completion than any other company.
Measuring the completeness of a part like this is fairly subjective, so just makes sure you don’t pay extra for that ten or fifteen percent and think you’re lessening the amount of work you’ll have to do later.
This is just a marketing tactic, and isn’t worth paying more for. I choose not to buy from companies that advertise that way cause it’s kinda shady…in my opinion. You’re a responsible (probably) adult. You’ll have to make that decision for yourself.
What Makes a Good 80% Lower
There are a few things to consider when choosing your first AR-15 80% lower. First, tempting as it may be, don’t buy from Uncle Leroy’s Backwoods Firearms. Small manufacturers are extremely hit or miss, and often lack the precision of a larger, well-known manufacturer.
If at all possible, try to find someone that you know already makes good lowers, like Aero Precision.
If you’re on your sixth unfinished lower, or have the machining background to spot a lower machined to tight tolerances vs one that isn’t, maybe give the small-time outfit a try. Or maybe you know a competent machinist that can make you one. Then you’re probably okay, just make sure they have a letter of determination that says they can sell you the thing they’re selling you.
In firearms, as with most things, the “cover your ass” rule is firmly in place.
Second, for your first build make sure you’re getting one that has the appropriate jigs you can purchase, or at least one they recommend you use. The jig is going to be what lets you finish milling out the lower and making it usable without needing a full-bore CNC machine.
With the right tools, you can make all kinds of things though.
Finally, take a look at the materials used. Polymer lowers are easier to machine, but are more prone to scratching and gouging as well as full-on breakage if you aren’t careful. Aluminum comes in two flavors, forged and billet. Basically the only thing you need to know is that forged aluminum is generally considered to be stronger, but for most people it isn’t going to matter unless you’re going into combat, and even then it’s not that big of a difference, strength-wise.
Anodized vs Non-Anodized 80% Lowers
One final consideration is the choice between anodized and non-anodized 80% lowers, assuming you’re working with an aluminum lower. Personally, I would go with a non-anodized lower because you’re going to be milling out large portions of it and exposing non-anodized metal anyway.
Completed AR15 80% lower, anodized
Usually, that means you’re just going to have the thing re-anodized anyway so I’d just go with the cheaper option of the raw aluminum.
Of course, you don’t have to worry about that with polymer as you’re just exposing more of the same polymer as you’re doing your machining
Best 80% Lowers
So, here’s our favorite 80% lowers, in no particular order. These are companies that either we’ve tested, our that have a strong reputation online with other outlets that we also trust.
Tactical Machining
Tactical Machining is one of the big dogs when it comes to 80% lowers. They make awesome AR-15 80%ers, as well as 1911 80% lowers, plus 10/22 80% lowers and even some .308 lowers.
They also make regular finished lowers that require an FFL like a normal firearm purchase. These guys are on the shortlist for my first 80% build, and I’m excited to give them a try because I’ve heard good things about them from actual machinists who’ve made their own lowers.
Tactical machining 80% lower
Unlike a lot of places, they also seem to have an easier time actually keeping products in stock, and you will probably have an easier time getting a hold of what you want.
What’s more, they also have a number of 80% lower jigs that are perfect for putting together your build. Trying to drill these things freehand is going to result in scratched and damaged uppers, and probably a great deal of swearing.
I also suspect, but have been unable to confirm, that they make some of the AR parts kits that get branded and sold with other brand names. That said, you can also get parts kits from them.
But, we’re here to talk about their lowers.
Personally, I’m not a fan of polymer lowers. It’s a really stupid hangup I have that’s in no way founded off anything rational. I own Glocks and other polymer-framed guns…but no polymer framed ARs. Maybe one day I’ll change that.
If I do, it’ll almost definitely be a James Madison Tactical lower. I’ve heard nothing but good things from these guys, and I know several 3-Gun and Precision AR shooters that use these lowers. I’ve shot some of those guns, and even competed with one, and I have nothing but nice things to say about it.
Their manufacturing process is also really cool. They use their own polymer-fiber blend with special care taken at common stress points to build a really cool, lightweight lower that is corrosion resistant far beyond what you’ll get with a metal lower.
With a metal lower, you scratch your finish, you immediately have to start worrying about moisture on those parts because you’ll get rust if you’re not careful.
Not so with a polymer lower. You’ll also not have super visible scratch marks on your lower if you beat it up going through the woods or knocking it around at competition.
Anderson Manufacturing
Anderson Manufacturing is one of the big juggernauts of AR part manufacturers, and they bring that wealth of experience to their lowers. With these lowers, you’re buying from people who’ve been making AR parts of years, and who sell ridiculous numbers of the things.
Anderson Arms AR Lower
There’s a certain comfort in buying from an established, reliable company. You also get the advantage of availability that smaller shops just can’t give you. Anderson lowers are available all over the place, and chances are you can find them at a local gun shop, though “local” may be a relative term.
Personally, I’ve built two ARs off Anderson completed lowers, so I can attest to the quality. These things are rock solid, and in the case of my first competition gun, have been through hell and back with no issues.
If you get one of their 80%ers, and you do your part with the machining, I have no doubt that you’ll end up with a reliable, well-done product.
Anderson also has a variety of finishes and designs available so you can be sure you’re getting exactly what you want, which is again something you might not be able to find at a smaller outfit.
All in all, if you want a straightforward experience with a manufacturer that has a wealth of resources and a large market presence, Anderson might very well be the best option for you.
Polymer80
Polymer80 is the other contender for my first polymer lower, especially if I decide to go the 80% route. These guys and gals specialize in polymer 80% lowers…hence the name.
They also have a freakin’ ton of cool colors available which is perfect if you like to personalize your builds a bit more.
For me, I like building AR’s not just to shoot, but also for the mechanical challenge that comes with this type of thing. Its really fun to take a box of parts and turn it into a working rifle that you can hunt, compete, and even defend yourself with if need be.
The cool thing about Polymer80 lowers, beside the awesome colors, is the jig sets you can get with them.
Pretty colors!
For $80, you can get a lower, the bits you need, and the jig to guide you…basically everything but you need except for the drill.
That, plus a solid afternoon of work will give you a finished AR lower of your very own. I particularly like the idea of putting together a lower of my very own with this setup.
So much so, that I think I’m going to get one for myself. Now I just have to decide what color I want.
Parting Shots
There you have it folks. These are our favorite 80% lower manufacturers. If you are looking for a truly rewarding AR build experience without having to pay FFL fees, these are the ones to go with as far as I’m concerned.
Ohio State University made a record $3.2 million in royalties and other income in fiscal 2017 from licensing technology developed by its researchers and staff.
That represents a nearly 50 percent increase from five years ago and the largest one-year jump since then.
But unless something drastic changes at other Big Ten schools, Ohio State won’t move up very far in the ranks of the conference’s tech commercialization champs.
In the prior year that ended June 30, 2016, Ohio State’s $2.66 million…
The Atlanta Falcons came to Seattle Monday night and kind of ran over the Seahawks like a bus. But back east, the Falcons’ old stadium, the Georgia Dome, had to contend with a bus of its own.
In a video with comedic timing so perfect it might as well have been shot for “Saturday Night Live,” The Weather Channel suffered the worst possible fate during a live stream Monday afternoon intended to show the destruction of the 71,250-seat stadium.
Positioned a ways away and across a street, the Dome fills the frame of the video and people are lined along a guardrail getting ready to capture the explosions on their own cameras.
“6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 …” says a voice over a loud speaker before an initial explosion starts the sequence. And into the frame rolls a MARTA city bus, completely blocking The Weather Channel’s shot of the historic event in the 25-year-old building’s history.
“&*%^! Get out of the way, bus!” shouts a voice from behind the camera, with a couple more bleeps thrown in. “Argh! Man, lady!” the voice says as the driver engages the bus and pulls away, revealing a cloud of smoke where the Dome used to be.
Today on The Weather Channel, cloudy with a chance of F-bombs.
Meanwhile, back in Seattle, the Falcons were having fun scoring early and often against the Seahawks — and scoring points on Twitter at MARTA’s expense.
And it only makes sense to connect that city’s Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority back to Seattle (where the city blew up its Kingdome back in 2000).
As KING 5 reported a couple years ago, MARTA is the rapid transit system that Seattle should have gotten had its voters not rejected millions of dollars in federal funding nearly 50 years ago.
From the story:
King County voters rejected the regional bonds necessary to fund the rail plan — first in 1968 and then more decisively in 1970 — leaving $900 million in federal funds on the table, or more than $5 billion in 2015 dollars.
That money went to Atlanta, a city that was happy to take what Seattle turned down. With those federal dollars and local matching funds, Atlanta built MARTA— a subway system that carries nearly a quarter million riders every day.
In 2017 Seattle, forget missed field goals for a second. That lost transit dream is enough to make you want to implode.
When GE introduced its latest C-series smart light bulbs, the focus was on affordability — as they talked directly to your phone through Bluetooth, you didn’t need a bridge device. That kept them out of touch of voice assistants, however, which meant replacing the whole lot if you wanted hands-free control. Well, you won’t have to rethink your investment from now on: GE has introduced a hub, the C-Reach, that puts its bulbs on WiFi to enable support for Amazon’s Alexa and (by the end of 2017) Google Assistant. As with most smart lighting kits, you can steer lights individually or in groups just by talking to your phone or a smart speaker.
The C-Reach is available on Amazon right now, although whether or not it makes sense depends on what you buy and when. By itself, the hub costs $50 — your once-thrifty lighting setup could suddenly cost about as much as its peers. Things get better if you’re starting fresh. A kit with a hub and two basic C-Life bulbs (which only do white light) will sell for $65, or $50 if you buy on Cyber Monday. A bundle with color temperature-shifting C-Sleep bulbs sells for $85, or $65 on Cyber Monday. If you don’t need more advanced bulbs from a system like Philips’ Hue, this might represent a bargain.
The tasty Japanese seaweed nori is ubiquitous today, but that wasn’t always true. Nori was once called “lucky grass” because every year’s harvest was entirely dependent on luck. Then, during World War II, luck ran out. No nori would grow off the coast of Japan, and farmers were distraught. But a major scientific discovery on the other side of the planet revealed something unexpected about the humble plant and turned an unpredictable crop into a steady and plentiful food source.
Nori is most familiar to us when it’s wrapped around sushi. It looks less familiar when floating in the sea, but for centuries, farmers in Japan, China, and Korea knew it by sight. Every year, they would plant bamboo poles strung with nets in the coastal seabed and wait for nori to build up on them.
At first it would look like thin filaments. Then, with luck, it grew into healthy, harvestable plants with long, green leaves. The farmers never saw seeds or seedlings, so no one could cultivate it. The filaments simply appeared every year. That is, they appeared until after World War II, when pollution, industrialization along the coast, and a series of violent typhoons led to a disastrous drop in harvests. By 1951, nori production in Japan had been all but wiped out.
Mary Drew-Baker discovered the unusual life cycle of nori and saved the Japanese seaweed farming industry.
Smithsonian Institution
Nori’s secret identity
Fortunately, on an island at the other end of Eurasia, Kathleen Drew-Baker had recently gotten fired. She had been a lecturer in botany at the University of Manchester where she studied algae that reproduced using spores rather than flowers. But the university did not employ married women. So when she got married to fellow academic Henry Wright-Baker she was kicked off the faculty and relegated to a job as an unpaid research fellow.
Drew-Baker focused on a type of nori unfamiliar to nearly everyone: Porphyra umbilicalis. It’s a leafy seaweed that grows off the coast of Wales. Locals harvest it, grind it up, and use it to make bread or soup. Known colloquially as laver, it’s still eaten in Britain but has not attained the international standing of nori.
Drew-Baker and her husband made a seaside lab where she could study its lifecycle. During her research, she noticed that she kept running across what seemed to be an entirely different species, known as Conchocelis. Conchocelis is a group of single-celled organisms that look like pinkish sludge and grow on the inside of abandoned shells. Drew-Baker noticed the pink sludge was especially common during the summer months, while the seaweed showed up during the winter months.
Eventually, Drew-Baker realized she was dealing with the plant equivalent of a superhero who is never seen at the same time as his alter-ego. These seemingly different species were actually the same. They were both a type of algae. In the summer, the leafy green seaweed sent out spores that collected and grew as the pink sludge in shells. In the winter, the pink sludge sent out spores that collected on debris (and bamboo poles) and built up into the seaweed again. In 1949, Drew-Baker published a paper in Nature detailing her discovery, “Conchocelis-Phase in the Life-History of Porphyra umbilicalis.”
This might have been nothing more than a bit of trivia if it weren’t for a second expert. Back in Japan, Segawa Sokichi at the Shimoda Marine Biological Station read Drew-Baker’s paper and realized that what was true for Welsh seaweed was probably true for Japanese seaweed. The reason nobody had been able to find nori seeds was because they were looking for the wrong plant. And nori had stopped thriving of the coast because of disruptions to seabeds full of the shells where the pink sludge liked to grow.
Thanks to Drew-Baker’s work, Segawa was able to invent the industrial process that lead to the stable, predictable production of nori, for which everyone with a taste for sushi should be grateful.
A satellite photo shows seaweed farms off the coast of South Korea.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Seaweed goes high tech
Today, nori farmers leave nothing to luck. They still harvest the leafy stage of the seaweed from the sea. After that, technology takes over. Any spores grown by the leafy form of nori are chopped down to an ideal seeding length of 0.4mm. To encourage the spores to grow into their single-celled stage, farmers import shells from oyster fisheries, string them on fishing line, and hang them in huge vats of water that reproduce the ideal environment for the pink sludge to grow.
Inside the tanks, chlorine is added to the seawater to get rid of any harmful pathogens. It’s filtered with sand to remove pollution. Industrial workers regulate the oxygen levels in the tanks and add in precise amounts of magnesium, sodium, iron, and potassium. Even the light levels are controlled. Indeed, nori farms only use the bottom shell of oysters because they are smoother and allow for more control over the level of light the Conchocelis spores are exposed to.
While the spores grow, a bit of biological engineering goes on as well. Each new batch of spores brought in from the ocean is sampled, cultured, and stored. Its production rate and the conditions under which it thrives are noted. As a result, researchers have identified spores that produce seaweed in waters of varying levels of saltiness, as well as various temperatures. With rising global temperatures, knowing which spores can survive best in warmer water will probably come in handy sooner rather than later.
Nori tanks also use temperature to induce the Conchocelis to move into the next stage of its life cycle. The waters are kept at summer-warm levels until it’s time to harvest the spores that will produce seaweed. Then the facilities drop the temperature in the tanks to shock the Conchocelis into work.
An agitator encourages the release of the second set of spores and gets them swirling around the tanks. Most facilities have the agitation state timed to the minute. Then workers put nets into the tanks for “seeding.” The nets are rolled onto human-sized spools to be sent to farms or stored in freezers until they’re needed. At every stage they’re checked for the quality and concentration of the spores on them. People no longer need to put bamboo poles in the ocean and hope for luck.
Drew-Baker’s discovery was the first step toward the industrialization of a form of farming that seemingly couldn’t be industrialized. Segawa and countless later innovators in Japan turned an unpredictable crop into a sure harvest. The application of technology to farming, especially this kind of farming, has entirely changed the game. Even the people involved in nori production have changed. While most types of fishing and farming are losing workers, nori farming keeps attracting young, technologically minded people. Seventy years after the nori farming industry was seemingly destroyed, it is thriving more than it ever has before.
Thanks to her many discoveries, Drew-Baker’s career thrived, too. Despite being fired for getting married, she became the first elected president of the British Phycological Society in 1952. Today, Drew-Baker is known in Japan as “the mother of the sea,” and every year a festival is held in her honor in Uto City.
It’s been over 13 years, but Bob Parr and his super-powered family are coming back to the big screen. From the looks of the teaser, it’s Baby Jack-Jack’s time to shine. And unless one of his powers is slowing time, it takes place shortly after the original. Premieres 6/15/18.
From battle to hunting to home defense, there may be no more versatile and useful firearm ever made that the accurate, reliable bolt action rifle. Rugged, reliable and easy to maintain, a good bolt gun lets a shooter reach out and touch anything from a can on a fencepost at 25 yards to an enemy insurgent a mile away.
It took some careful consideration, but we managed to come up with our list of the top 10 bolt action rifles every produced. Did we miss anything?
Need to run downstairs to fetch the laundry? Or maybe there’s a phone call you just have to take? Life with a baby can make even the smallest chores feel like a herculean task if you don’t have a nanny. But it turns out, if you keep your floors clean using a robot, maybe you do have a nanny and just didn’t realize it.
The mileage on this new parent lifehack will vary depending on how comfortable your child is with being dragged around the house on an automaton. But this infant seems suitably entertained and comforted by a Roomba going about its cleaning routine. Any robovac large enough to plop a child onto can serve as a temporary nanny in a pinch, just be careful of loose clothing, and children protective services eventually banging on your door.
“The New Order project came from a doodle,” says designer William Kang. He started with the rhino, and, since he likes to work in threes, added two other pachyderms: an elephant and a hippo. While Kang has done work in fashion, furniture, housewares, consumer electronics, and more, Blank William was a project he wanted to develop that he could have complete ownership of. Plus, he wanted a way to celebrate the release of The Force Awakens.
Kang uses a fluid process, working from sketches to multiple CAD packages to quick renders and back again, which allows him to progress toward a finished piece while still being able to backpedal and tweak details.
To make the physical sculpture, Kang worked with his fabricator friend Vince Su. They make silicone molds from 3D-printed parts, then mold wax prototypes that they dip into a ceramic slurry, reinforced with refractory sand. They then use the lost wax method and pour liquid metal into the mold. The helmets are stainless steel painted with an automotive finish, and they’re supported with a metal stem fixed into a marble block. Each helmet takes a couple of months to make.
Kang says his interests jump from design and art to tech, fashion, pop culture, politics, science, and whatever else grabs his attention. He draws inspiration from everywhere, so he says the hardest part of his process is settling on an idea, as well as the communication and marketing.