Thomas Thwaites is our latest D.I.Y. hero. The guy built a toaster from scratch by digging up iron ore and smelting it in his microwave.

Unlike other students at London's Royal College of Art, Thomas decided to build a humble household toaster as part of his Master's degree.

To do this he embarked on 'The Toaster Project' - a nine month task that saw him source specific toaster materials (copper for the electric plug, iron for the grilling apparatus, nickel for the heating element and plastic for the plug and insulation) and attempt to fuse them together as a working machine.

His subsequent experiments are documented online via his website and videos, and in a recently published book: The Toaster Project.

The finished product doesn't look like his 3.99 pound Argos prototype, but – then again – the prototype looks kind of different now too.