Table Of ContentCUT IN HALF
The Hidden World Inside
Everyday Objects
MIKE WARREN
By
Photographs by JONOTHAN WOODWARD
Text © 2018 by Mike Warren. Photographs © 2018 by Chronicle
Books LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reproduced in any form without written permission from the
publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Warren, Mike, 1980– author. | Woodward, Jonothan
(Photographer),
illustrator.
Title: Cut in half : the hidden world inside everyday objects /
Mike Warren ;
photographs by Jonothan Woodward.
Description: San Francisco : Chronicle Books, [2018]
Identifiers: LCCN 2018006964 | ISBN 9781452168623
(hardcover : alk. paper), ISBN 9781452168746 (epub, mobi)
Subjects: LCSH: Household appliances—Design and
construction—Juvenile
literature. | Inventions—Design and construction—Juvenile
literature. |
Industrial design—Juvenile literature.
Classification: LCC TX298 .W37 2018 | DDC 683/.8—dc23 LC
record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018006964
photographs by Jonothan Woodward
photographs on pages 9–13, 140 by Mike Warren
design by Neil Egan
The names, symbols, logos, trademarks, and all other intellectual
property of the companies and brands appearing herein are the
exclusive property of their respective owners.
Chronicle Books LLC
680 Second Street
San Francisco, California 94107
www.chroniclebooks.com
For curious minds of all ages.
Contents
8 INTRODUCTION 46 Baseballs & Softballs
48 Golf Balls
15 HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES 50 Golf Club Drivers
16 Heating Fan 52 Fishing Reel
18 Hair Dryer 54 Isometric Exercise Equipment
20 Clothing Steamer 56 Sports Cleats
22 Clothing Iron 58 Boxing Gloves
24 Cordless Drill
26 Electric Kettle 61 ELECTRONICS
28 Electric Popcorn Popper 62 Digital Camera
30 Waffle Iron 64 DSLR Camera
32 Touch-Tone Telephone 66 LED Light Bulb
34 Telephone Handset 68 Electric Massager
36 Robotic Vacuum 70 Audio Cassette Recorder
38 Handheld Vacuum 72 Video Cassette Recorder
74 Two-Way Radios
41 SPORTS EQUIPMENT 76 PC Graphics Card
42 Bowling Ball 78 Video Streaming Device
44 Bowling Pin 80 Laptop Computer
82 Powered Speakers 116 Electric Pencil Sharpener
84 Wireless Headphones 118 Padlock
86 Studio Microphone 120 Giant Jawbreaker
88 Guitar Effects Pedal 122 Liquid Fuel Lighter
90 Boom Box 124 Spark Plug
126 Oil Filter
93 TOYS AND GAMES 128 Motorcycle Helmet
94 Video Game Console 130 Paper Shredder
96 Gaming Joystick 132 Binoculars
98 Furry Animatronic Toy 134 Tree Cones
100 Novelty Singing Fish 136 Geodes
102 Foam Dart Gun 138 Seashells
104 Guitar Game Controller
106 Handheld Electronic Game 140 ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND
PHOTOGRAPHER
108 Nesting Dolls
110 Fortune-Telling Eight Ball
140 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
113 OTHER STUFF
114 Electric Stapler
INTRODUC TION
I am a product designer and fabricator by trade, showcase the insides on my YouTube channel Cut in
and get to use some fun industrial tools as part of Half (youtube.com/c/cutinhalf). The format of the
my job. One of those tools is a waterjet cutter, a channel is deliberately straightforward: demonstrate
computer-controlled industrial machine that uses a the object, cut the object, reveal the insides. Simple,
high-pressure jet of water mixed with garnet to cut all clear, no narration, with a focus on the object and the
manner of sheet goods like steel, glass, tile, and high interior architecture. Making this book presented a
density plastic. While the jet of water is the medium, different opportunity. The still images in these pages
it’s the very fine grit of the garnet that does the cutting, offer something the videos do not—a chance to really
through abrasion. The water is pressurized to 60,000 pore over the intricate details of the cut objects up
psi (pounds per square inch) and can cut solid steel up close. We can explore and explain some of what’s going
to 4" (10cm) thick, and is great at cutting repeatable, on in there, what we see and how it works. To take full
highly precise geometric shapes in flat materials. It’s advantage of this, all the objects here have been cut and
quite impressive, for those into nerdy tools. photographed exclusively for this book.
One day, as I was cutting on the machine, I got to As a kid I used to take things apart all the time, just
thinking, what if I put something else under the cutting to see how they work. Like a lot of kids, I wanted to
nozzle? The results are what you see in this book. know the why of everything I picked up. Why does a
Since early 2016, I have been using the power of phone ring? Why do my electronics get hot? Why does
this machine to cut into everyday objects and then my mixtape sometimes get eaten by my boom box? All
8
questions I could answer, if I just knew what was going The cutting head at rest over the pool. The yellow cup is a rubber-
on inside. Years later some of those answers still elude ized shield, usually flipped down in operation but flipped up here to
me. (I may never know why my ABBA cassette was show the cutting nozzle. The flat material to be cut is secured on
the bed slats, and in normal operation, the water level is raised to
destroyed in my boom box.)
cover it, and the nozzle is set and moves just above the material. The
As an adult, my curiosity still hasn’t been satisfied—
water pool helps dissipate the energy of the jet as it cuts through.
it never really will be—but now I have access to this
The thick tube feeds garnet into the nozzle from the hopper above.
amazing device that allows me to slice into and peek
inside the stuff all around us. My aim is to reveal every-
day items and showcase the beauty of what we normally
don’t get to see. As a lifelong learner, I find it’s always
interesting to see how design problems are overcome.
Even when I think I know how something works, I usu-
ally learn something new with every item I cut open.
The kid in me can’t get enough of it.
9
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