Popular Mechanics - USA (2019-04)

A prototype

from Breville’s

five years of

testing and a

blueprint for

the final model.

6 April 2019 _ PopularMechanics.com

WEARING A SHIRT

8 S TRAIGHT DAY S

—FOR JOURNALISM

A whiff of The Most Useful Podcast Ever.

Jacqueline Detwiler,

host and senior writer:

I’ve been calling this

segment “Peter’s Stank

Shirt.” But it’s not—that’s

the whole point.

Peter Martin, execu-

tive editor: This company

called Unbound Merino

makes clothes out of

merino wool, and they

say you can wear them

14 days in a row without

washing.

JD:But if I had to guess

what would make the

stinkiest shirt, I would

guess wool. Wouldn’t

you?

PM: Right, because wool

holds so much mois-

ture, and bacteria needs

moisture to thrive. The

bacteria is what

you smell. But

the difference

between merino

wool and regu-

lar wool is that

the fibers are

much smaller,

and it also

has lanolin

in it, which is

a moisture repellent.

Kevin Dupzyk,senior

associate editor: Did you

just look all this up? How

do you know that?

PM:I learned—I

researched—I reported

this before.

JD: Listen, Kevin, I don’t

know what you’re doing

at your desk

.

.

.

PM: So, I haven’t washed

this shirt, I’ve worn it to

the gym eight times, and

now we have to smell it.

I’m going to try to find an

armpit area.

JD: Oh god!

KD: Do I have to do that?

Did he? For the rest of

this episode, “All-Testing

Tables!” and more,

you can find MUPE on

Stitcher, Spotify, and the

Apple Podcasts app.

THE PODCAST EXCERPT

What we’re up to beyond these pages

Men’s wool V-neck

T-shirt: $65;

unboundmerino.com.

Jacqueline

Detwiler

Peter

Martin

Kevin

Dupzyk

What Makes a

Craftsman?

In his compelling

new book, motor-

cycle builder Eric

Gorges says it

takes a willingness

to slow down and

make mistakes.

GOOD READ

Finally: Great Pizza

on Your Countertop

BREVILLE’S SMART OVEN PIZZAIOLO asks a lot of its
designers: replicate a wood-fired oven’s intense heat,
but don’t let the electronics fry or the outside turn incan-
descent. Oh, and make it small enough to keep on a
countertop. Here’s how lead designer Michael Thoro-
good and his team made it work.
Conductive heat rises through the ceramic deck into
the base of the pizza to create a classic charred crust. In
the oven’s upper section, a large-diameter steel-tube
heater loops around a vertical deflector, which concen-
trates the heater’s radiant energy while simultaneously
protecting the pie’s center. “If you’re using a nice soft
buffalo mozzarella, it doesn’t want to be subjected to the
same intense heat as your crust does,” Thorogood says. A
second, smaller, circular heater sits inside the first one,
which is key to customization: You can choose a gentler
or more even bake, depending on your preferred style
of pizza. Since the rectangular double-glaze glass door
doesn’t trap heat as effectively as the curved, reflective
bar hugging the back of the crust, energized wire fila-
ments are wound tight in the front and looser in the rear
to even out the temperature.
Unlike in Breville’s other Smart Oven models, the
Pizzaiolo houses the control circuit board inside the
door—that makes the oven more compact, but also
requires a complex combination of fans and insulation to
protect it from the heat. A fan constantly pulls cool air in
from the back of the oven and runs it over the power cir-
cuit board; the exhaust is then ducted over the steel shell,
so you don’t burn yourself while checking on that perfect
leopard-spotted crust. $800; breville.com