Tour of Adam Savage’s Cave!
Somewhere in San Francisco is a hidden workshop of wonder. A place where iconic characters, creatures, and props from cult favorite movies are pulled from the screen into reality. Adam Savage’s Cave is the Mythbusters host’s personal sanctum, the place he goes not only to build his painstaking creations but where he displays a lifetime’s collection of oddities, eclectic memorabilia, and film props. We’re pleased to give you an exclusive tour of the shop, and announce that it’s not on Google Street View! (The entrance is hidden under a manhole cover somewhere in San Francisco, so you’ll have to find it!)
61 thoughts on “Tour of Adam Savage’s Cave!”
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Adam, your cave is incredible.
Do you drink dos equis because I truly think you are the most interesting man in the world?
OMG! I haven’t even watched this yet but I’m thanking you guys in advance because I know it will be awesome!
Happy Nikola Tesla Day!!!
Adam is there a brand of Forstner Drill Bits you prefert?
Follow up to my previous comment because I didn’t thank you enough in it 🙂
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Is that a MIRV warhead from “The Abyss” sitting on top of the air compressor cabinet?
Yeah, those Billy bookshelves populate my house for various displaying activities, just the barebones versions.
Street View of the shop:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Savage+Cave/,-122.4206699,60m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x808f7e3f7382078d:0x2dd348cca0b1f370
Adam, once you learn how to TIG it will change your life. Honest.
Totally forgot Adam had that horizontal metal bandsaw or else I would have suggested that you use that for your desk cuts! I’d still be building a roll cage if it weren’t for the horizontal bandsaw we have at the shop. Nice square cuts every time!
How does it feel to have something you’ve 3D printed on the same shelf as Chewbacca’s actual hair?!
This was a lovely tour! Thanks for putting it together, guys. I was happy to get to see Adam’s shop in person and always had a hard time explaining some of his storage methods. Can’t wait until someone finds the street view tour.
Adam I was very happy to see that you had the Prawn hand of Wikus Van De Merwe. That is my favorite movie. I am actually planning on making a few gun replicas from the movie. I can’t wait to share my progress and work with you and everyone else at Tested.
Ah man, I was like one block away and working my way up the streets when you posted this link. :p
Very nice to finally see the tour 🙂 I’m amazed at how much stuff Adam has accrued over the years, but looking around I seem to be amassing stuff at an alarming rate myself. I wonder how my “cave” will look 25 years down the road.
Thank you for finding and posting the link – it is phenomenal inside!
Thanks for the tour! There’s only one problem… I’m going to waste all my time poking around in Adam’s cave now!
This is a man cave most men can only dream about. Very nice.
How on earth did you get that laser cutter into that office? Through the window?
I don’t think the A7 Corsair is a Royal Air Force plane though…
If you go inside the cave and move over to the beaver inside the box, and turn around to face the pool table, you can see Adam hiding behind the pool table. 🙂
Portimo!
Also I’ve heard Adam say that you can build a lathe with a lathe. I challenge you to prove it!
If you stand at the end of the pool table facing the shop, he’s hiding on the right, peeking out. :p
It would seem that this was on purpose and they should have made a game out of this with the potential for Tested Swag..
So many hints to future vids and “easter-eggs” for Mythbusters viewers in here. And whatever the Lion box is that was mentioned in the Microscope-case video is, it is standing on the floor by C3PO. :p
You DID put it into Google Maps!! Oh my Lord, I’m so happy!
Adam has such a cool workshop. I would just love to go look at all the cool props he has.
I’ve watched this 3 times now.
Wow so many Idea for my shop! I am still looking for a swords in progress rack of some kind. I am going sortimo shopping now 🙂
If you check out David Gingery’s Metalworking Shop from Scrap series of seven books, you will see that this truly is the case. Book 1 details how to make your own charcoal foundry for casting aluminum. Book 2 focuses on building a lathe, using castings made using the charcoal foundry from Book 1. Dave wrote these books in the early 80’s and they are fantastic. Other builds in the series include a metal shaper, horizontal milling machine, drill press and various lathe accessories.
Here is a link to Book 2 (the Metal Lathe):
http://www.amazon.com/Metal-Lathe-Build-Working-Scrap/dp/1878087010/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1405009009&sr=8-3&keywords=david+gingery
I have cave envy.
Is that Loo-Kee hiding behind the pool table, viewing from the shop?
Wow.
This has to be the best place in the world to rack up and play some 8-ball.
I love all the beat up boxes and cases. They all look like they hold something awesome nobody’s seen yet.
And the bathroom is worth the price of admission alone. So many cool photographs. Thanks so much Adam!
You did this one, right? Lemme go ahead anyway and say: Congratulations! It must’ve been quite a thrill!
This is like Christmas in July!! 🙌
We finally get to see up in the loft!! We’ve been teased with getting getting to peak up there for the longest time, and it’s finally here. Talk about ‘Shock and Awe’.. 😱
Thank you for that awesome tour of your shop, Adam! 😎 I plan on watching this video at least a dozen more times.
Thank you Tested Crew (Will, Norm, and Joey) for making this happen.
Thanks for posting that link!! 👍
You can even get to look around Adam’s bathroom. Which, of course, is also filled with cool stuff..
He can even take a shower at this shop. That must be nice for those times when you don’t want to go home smelling like grease and cooling fluid..
nope 🙁
It looks like somebody direct from Google reached out to Adam to make this happen. I would have given at least 3 toes to be able to do this shoot.
Oh… I thought it was you, judging by the reflection in the convex mirror in his shop. Dang.
Totally agree about the TIG- it’s like having a magic ray gun compared to any other form of welding (except for laser but I can’t fit bike frames in my laser welder chamber!)
The one thing about using a TIG and a power hammer or English wheel is that the weld will often crack if you run a weld through- it’s much better to gas weld in this instance since the weld is much more ductile.
Thanks Adam for the awesome shop tour! I definitely agree about the lathe- I’ve owned two lathes in the past and sold them and was without one for several years and now that I have another lathe I’ll never let it go. The only reason to ever sell a lathe is to buy a better one.
Love that old picture frame in the loft. You go to great museums and all the pictures are in frames like that. I also spied an Anzio Annie kit. The real K5 railgun was at the Aberdeen proving ground for a long time after it was sent there for ballistics testing. Unfortunately I got one picture and it was with a disposable camera. The gun is now being moved to the new ordnance museum at Ft Lee in VA.
you have NO IDEA how excited it made me, while looking through the google maps version of the cave, i ran across the skull island map i made and sold adam 5 or 6 years ago… im like a kid, giddy with excitement.
Incredible! I live on another side of the planet but I will give anything to see it in person. Attention to every detail. And passion for the perfection. Awesome!
Невероятно! Спасибо!
This is absolutely fantastic! I’m not a maker, but one day I hope to have a workshop/shrine like this for my own passions ^_^
Hey Adam, will, norm and joey!! I have watched pretty much all the videos on tested and this is the one i’ve been wanting to see ever since i first caught glimpse of adams man cave! Theres soo much happening in your workshop, its really interesting to look around the shop even in the background of otherr videos! Great wk! More like tki please 🙂
Woah. Adam, thank you for your generous spirit and allowing us to see the inside of the Savage lair.
It’s like being inside a Kozyndan illustration.
I couldn’t find the one essential tool in a shop. A shop vac. To me that is the one thing you absolutely need.
I’m sure that Adam has one tucked away somewhere in there..
I also checked out that reflection 🙂 Glad I’m not the only one.
i might be wrong, but i had the impression that the set he has on display are “wave cutter” (model name) by fisch (manufacturer).
This is honesty one of the best things I’ve ever seen. I was in Weta Workshop just the other day, and Adam, your shop is as impressive as that was. By the way, they had the real Samaritan mounted on a wall there (sorry, no pictures were allowed.) I’ll be going back there soon and I can’t wait!
In the video at 10:09 and 13:36 and you can see a craftsman shop vac on the floor to the right of the disc sander.
Also, judging by the hoses on the wall by the disc sander and table saw, it looks like he has a pretty decent dust collector setup as well.
CorbanT, that little vac is really inadequate if you are dealing with the kind of material removal that the mill and lathe in the shop can handle. And even with a good dust collection system you want a really heavy duty vac to get in there and sweep things out.
Now I’m wondering if anyone has ever actually made a lathe utilizing nothing but a lathe and tonnes of metal.
Fantastic tour! Inspiration for my own dream home.
I absolutely love these videos and I’ve got a secret desire to make my own cave one day..
However, if I’d ever be forced to move all that stuff to another location.. I would just go sit in a corner and cry 🙂
There was a website devoted to this very thing. A guy building a lathe from an old series of manuals about how to build a machine shop with nothing but a lathe and a foundry.
They were written by this man: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_J._Gingery and you can find them ebay, or around.
I see that I have been beaten to the punch on Mr. Gingery by !
I think we ALL would! lol
Thanks for the tool tips. I did not see one of my favorite tools in the shop, so I will assume you do not have one. This is the best tool ever for breaking down plywood. Its precision and finish are legendary. It has nearly obsoleted my table saw, which has been relegated to dados.
http://www.festoolusa.com/power-tools/track-saws/ts-55-req-plunge-cut-track-saw-561556
My only regret is not acquiring it years ago. Well that exhausts my tips 🙂
Thanks!! I will have a look at it.
Is it wrong for a 39 year old man to say his heart skipped a beat when we knew we were going up into the loft…
For a moment I thought Adam was giving an actual invitation to find his cave. I know where it is but i’d feel bad ever trying to visit unless expressly invited.
Love your cave Adam, your a man after my own heart. my first love is wood (timber) as I am a carpenter, so i used to buy 2 of a lot of tools, especially the heavy ones, so i can leave my workshop tooled. I have been teaching myself welding as well. I do this because when i want something, i prefer to make it myself if possible or modify something already available to what i actually want. but your cave is like my heaven. I hope when i die i can haunt it. haha
Adam, I’m endlessly fascinated that you’ve shared the location of your shop. It’s such a terrific vote of confidence in the Tested community that you actually seem to want us to find you. Thanks for that. I can’t help but think of it as a bit of a quest now — as a great excuse to fly to San Francisco over some long weekend, stick a jewel pendant on the top of a staff and see where the sun points.
double post
Boy, I’d be terrified to have that much stuff.
I worry that when the big one comes.( you know what I mean…Earthquake!!!)Adam will be buried under all that…… Stuff.
Adam! OMG You have a Weebo prop from Flubber with Robin Williams. Did you buy that? Or did you make it?
I assume you made it. Do you have a build thread of Weebo, or a WIP? I would love to tackle a Weebo build.
I love your shop. Great stuff!
So this was recorded around the time Adam flew in the U2? I can tell by his amazing facial hair.