DiTransitive Phrasal Verbs

1. This seems just about OK.

2. In full this should be "make John out to be a liar". I think your abbreviated version might pass in conversation, but I would not say that it is fully correct.

Edit: Though I sound a bit tentative above about your sentence (1), "Hand me down the tools, please" feels normal and natural to me.

pructus1. They handed John down the tools.

These are two possibilities:
1. His father handed down his tools to John. (John inherited the tools from his father.)
2. They handed the tools down to John. (John was on a lower level and needed some tools.)

I see.... I see....
Thanks so much, GPY!!

I see... I see...
Thanks so much, AlpheccaStars!!

I didn't know that 1 and 2 can mean that kind of different meanings....
Then, I assume that "hand something ~ down" can mean more physical than "hand down something ~".

Though it's some while after the posting and reply...
To make sure....

"to make John out a liar" means "to make people believe that John is a liar"?
Not "to find out that John is a liar"?

pructus"to make John out a liar" means "to make people believe that John is a liar"?Not "to find out that John is a liar"?

That is how I would understand it.

I see... I see...
Thanks for the confirmation, GPY!!

After some thought...

a. They made him a liar.
b. They made him out a liar.

******

Can we theorize like below?

a. means that they made him(who was not a liar) into a liar.

b. means that they made people believe that he was a liar.

Those would be the most usual interpretations, I think.

I see... I see...
Thanks a lot for the confirmation, GPY!!