Van Neistat fixes YOUR stuff now.
Published November 17, 2025 · 7:03 · 38,217 views
About This Video
Van Neistat shifts The Spirited Man from fixing his own world to fixing yours, starting with a Patreon call: send me your broken things. Seven minutes and 38,000 views on why repairing a stranger's possession might be better therapy than any session on a couch.
The first viewer repair is Casey's. The commission: mount a pair of antlers from Romania on a wall to hold a retirement saber. Van's approach is to let the antlers lie in their natural curve and build a small lateral rest for the sword rather than forcing them vertical. Drilling into antler, he reports, is like drilling into steel. It stinks, literally. He uses a Post-It note stuck to the antler surface as a drill guide, calling it a poor man's drill press. The mounting hardware is handmade: foam and plywood washers, counter-sunk so the bracket sits flush against the wall. Behind the finished mount, a foam washer sits where nobody will see it except Van and Casey. Tung oil on the end grain. A Phillips screwdriver and plumber's epoxy complete the toolkit. That invisible washer is the whole philosophy in miniature. You do the work right even where it will never be seen.
The video is sponsored by BetterHelp, and the pairing is not accidental. Van's thesis, stated plainly: fixing someone else's broken thing is itself a form of therapy. The Patreon boundaries are specific. Items must be fixable in a day or two of work, within 20 miles of Woodland Hills. Not the transmission of your Camaro. The scope is the A Fix segment distilled: problems sized to human hands, solved with tools already on the bench, completed before the satisfaction goes cold.
The shift from self-directed repairs to viewer-directed ones changes the channel's relationship to its audience. Van built The Spirited Man by fixing his own world on camera. Now the camera follows him into someone else's problem. The difference is that the viewer's gratitude closes a loop. Connection over isolation. That is the argument underneath the antler mount.
What Van Uses: Phillips screwdriver, plumber's epoxy, Post-It notes (as a drill guide), foam and plywood washers, tung oil, and a Killspencer CW Morgan Bag (the item being repaired in supplementary footage). More from Van's essential toolkit.
Related: An Unauthorized Repair, Another Unauthorized Repair, Van Neistat Can Fix Anything, and the full A Fix segment.
FAQ
Why did Van Neistat start fixing viewers' things?
He posted an appeal on Patreon asking fans to send broken items. The shift moves the channel from Van fixing his own world to fixing other people's. His framing: the act of repairing someone else's possession is therapeutic in a way that self-directed projects are not.
What was the first viewer fix on The Spirited Man?
Casey's antler-and-sword wall mount. Romanian antlers needed to hold a retirement saber. Van drilled into the antlers (which he says is like drilling steel), built foam and plywood washers, used tung oil on the end grain, and finished with hidden details no one would notice but him.
Is Van Neistat sponsored by BetterHelp?
Yes. The BetterHelp sponsorship in this video is deliberate: Van places the mental health sponsor alongside his argument that fixing things for other people is its own kind of therapy. The sponsorship is disclosed in the video.
Transcript
This episode is about connecting with people as I have a tendency to isolate in the shop or behind computers which
makes me cranky or worse. Sometimes I convince myself that I'm happier alone, but it ain't true. And it's been through
therapy that I've developed helpful habits that get me out there amongst y'all. When I'm feeling weird, call
someone, go out on date nights regularly, lunch with a friend at least once a week. And I find that when I
interact with people, especially if I can help them, it bolsters my spirit and basically my well-being. So, I'm sort of
changing the focus of the channel from fixing my world to fixing yours, albeit
in tiny little bits of yours. BetterHelp has been a great supporter of this channel and is the sponsor of this
episode. BetterHelp can easily connect you to a licensed therapist who is trained to listen and give you helpful, unbiased advice. Fill out a
questionnaire and BetterHelp matches you with a therapist in as little as a couple of days. And you can easily switch therapists anytime at no extra
costs if the fit's not right. BetterHelp accepts both HSA and FSA cards, making it even easier to prioritize your mental
health. In 2024 alone, over 137,000 people use their HSA or FSA benefits for
therapy through BetterHelp. So, be sure to use yours before they expire. Click the link in the description or go to betterhelp.com/vanistat
and get 10% off your first month of therapy. Thank you, BetterHelp.
I want to spend my time doing something small and significant. This part of LA is called Chhatzsworth. Worst day of the
year weatherwise, thunderstorm warnings. That puddle in October. I made an appeal on my Patreon. So, what I want to do is I want to go to you and I want to fix something that is broken that you have.
All right. So my question is, can I drill through the antlers? Not like the roof of your house. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Oh, okay. Yeah, that's kind of how Not like the transmission of your Camaro.
I don't want to put any like constraints, but that's more or less what I was envisioning. Like the antlers is the shelf. Okay, good. I was hoping that. Yeah.
But something analogous to the things that I fix around here that can be fixed in like a day or two. like the things that people bring to the repair station.
We'll start with like around here, like within 20 m of Woodland Hills.
And Casey responded, "My my only concern is that I don't want it to look like a traditional army
plaque. Army plaques are all the exact same regardless of what they're about.
And they're like a laser etched piece of wood that's very generic. And so I'd prefer something that looks like you'd
find it in like some antique shop or like somebody's house.
So my strategy for the way they lie is that it should lie naturally as if it's on a shelf and then the sword should lie
naturally in the antlers. So I'm going to need to make a little rest. And this is about as thick as my thumb.
And so you get the idea. Just holds the sword laterally the way we want it to. So this is what I call an indulgence.
I'm going to do an indulgence. You see how you can see the white through there?
It sort of needs a washer. No one's gonna see this but me and Casey when he hangs his sword. But there's light
coming through there. I'm gonna make a washer out of this foam. Out of this foam rubber.
I use this stuff and uh kind of just made this look nice. It brings out the end grain. This is the part I'm most nervous about. Drilling into these
heirloom antlers. These are actual antlers. Oh my gosh. It's like drilling into steel.
Oh, it kind of stinks. Oh no, it's crooked. I drilled it in. Nice. Okay.
Using a Phillips so I don't can feel whether or not I'm doing damage.
Oh yeah. I love it. I love it. Now I'm just going to trim this. No gap. It's just sort of invisible.
There we go. But you see there's the gap between here and the wall.
I think I'm going to make I'm going to make some washers out of quarterinch plywood.
You know, it's like a spacer. The idea is that they're subtly visible or invisible, but there they are. And it's
so that there's no you don't see the screws that will hold it in. And then I've put these little postit so that my
drill can slide. And I sort of have like a poor man's drill press like this. It's not exactly centered, but I think it'll
be adequate. And I and it'll be square, which is important. This is so the drill bit can have some purchase.
Going to counter sync by hand. So, it'll be like this.
That like this. Just the entire thing was so well thought of. Appreciate it. So cool. Yeah, that looks awesome. You You nailed it.
The antlers Casey found in the woods of Romania. I think when he was on patrol and the saber was a gift from the army when he
retired. I was so excited I forgot to focus the camera. So, here's what it looks like photographed properly.
It's perfect. I need more repairs to keep this thing going. So, join the Patreon by clicking here on the Patreon.
Direct message me a link to a video or pictures of your repair and hopefully I'll pick you. Including Casey's. I've done four so far and they're on the Patreon now.
Products & Tools Mentioned
- BetterHelp mentions — sponsor
- Killspencer CW Morgan Bag uses — bag being repaired
- Phillips screwdriver uses — repair tool
- plumber's epoxy uses — repair material
People Referenced
Casey