Hey everybody, it’s that time of year again – it’s the Anarchist’s Gift Guide. We’ve been doing this for more than a decade now, people seem to like it, so I guess we’ll keep it up. Why? Unlike some other gift guides, ours isn’t sponsored. (In fact, if somebody asked us to write about their tool for the gift guide, our standard retort would be: “Why don’t you poop up your own butt?”) This is stuff we use and love. We have 11 offerings this year, and will publish one a day until we’re done. – Chris & Fitz
Drug-dealer Scale
As we have gotten deep into making glues, finishes and paint, we’ve developed the need to measure small quantities of stuff.
Enter the scale preferred by your friendly neighborhood drug dealer. These pocket-sized digital scales are ideal for parceling out Fentanyl in an alleyway or measuring 10 grams of Ercolano red for your next batch of fresh milk paint.
These scales are stupid cheap – we pay about $10 to $15 per. Buy a few and keep them in the shop, in the kitchen (for baking) and in your sunken conversation pit with wall-to-wall shag carpeting.
The scale switches easily between metric and American customary units, has a tare function and probably shouldn’t be kept in your car in case of a traffic stop. – CS
I 100% agree with this as a top-tier stocking stuffer (plus a nice little synthetic paint brush). Almost mandatory for making fresh milk paint; 1 gram of pigment in a blend can shift from cool green to olive and you’re going to want to remember your mixes. From my side brand does not matter. Just look for sub-gram precision (baking scales not always this precise).
One thing to watch for is if the scale has a calibrate function. This is a good thing if you need accuracy but you also need the requisite weight to calibrate it or you’re just going on faith that the values on the screen are accurate. So it is a bit of extra hassle, but it does mean that your measurements are repeatable and reproducible between scales (as long as your calibration weight is accurate anyway). E.g., if you send your favorite blend of pigments to someone for some milk paint or if your scale meets with an unfortunate accident and you replace it.
Um is it permitted to know the brand name and model?
Found one for US$12.99 at my local Harbor Freight yesterday. My google-fu thinks there are a lot of choices out there.
Thank you!
This looks like a “Weigh Gram” TOP-200 scale. Looks identical to scales from “American Weigh Scales” and “Hornady”, possibly others.
Thank you!