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The Boy Mechanic: 200 Classic Things to Build (Boy Mechanics Series)
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| Price: | $9.95 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details |
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Product Description
It’s vintage boyhood and a miscellany of marvelous ideas: from kites and toboggans to workbenches and birdhouses, this collection of projects from Popular Mechanics’ issues of long ago captures all the appeal of American ingenuity at the start of the last century.
With the rawest of materials, a minimum of technology, and a maximum of ingenuity, men and boys in the early 1900s dedicated themselves to crafting wonderful items, both practical and fanciful. It was a highly valued skill that revealed the measure of a man, and Popular Mechanics honored it and led the way in instructing these handy creators. Take a look back at those simpler, good old days—and at what we may have lost in our high-tech era—through these engaging projects, all published in the magazine during the first two decades of the 20th century. The range is simply amazing, and bound to appeal to woodworkers who love classic ideas. They include tools, like T-squares and sawhorses; an animal-proof gate latch and a birdhouse made from an old straw hat; household gadgets and handcrafted furniture; camping gear (including a screen door for a tent); and toys and games. And many of these appealing trellises, decoys, puzzles, and tents are quite doable today. Inveterate do-it-yourselfers will be astonished at the resourcefulness required to build a stove for a canoe and even a houseboat.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #34820 in Books
- Published on: 2006-03-28
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Turtleback
- 272 pages
Features
- ISBN13: 9781588165091
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
- Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices
Customer Reviews
Kids used to do this stuff?!
This is a wonderful look back into the pages of Popular Mechanics Magazine as it was in the early 1900s. It consists of reprints of how-to articles for boys. (Back then, girls just didn't read Popular Mechanics or get their hands dirty building furniture.)
The striking thing is the difference between what was considered appropriate and realistic entertainment for kids then and what is now. For example, today a kid who wants to build a model train layout has an enormous range of often enormously expensive equipment from which to choose. Then, a kid would literally build the train layout; that is, he would wind the motor, machine the track, etc.
I have have mixed feelings about whether that was a better day for kids, but it sure was a different day, and this book is a look back to it.
Good building ideas book
I almost didn't get this book because of the negative reviews but then I saw it at the library and found it is a very good book for kids who like to build things. Sure it doesn't always give detailed plans (buy 5 #3 screws...) but they assume a kid who gets this book likes to tinker and try things and work some stuff out for himself.
There are two kinds of pride in building things - one kind you get by following instructions to the letter and getting an exact replica of what the instructor has, the other is from using your ingenuity a bit and adding your own personal touch - figuring out how somebody else did something and making one of your own. That second is what users of this book will have if they do the projects in this book. It tells enough to get you started - an idea for a cool gadget like a hidden lock, so you can play around with that new idea and use it when you have a need.
Personally I think the ideas in this book are wonderful and creative - from homemade boats to all the different types of camping shelters to the writing desks and secret hiding places. Lots of kids (and adults) would love this book!
Gift for Dad
Bought as a holiday gift for my dad, interesting and informative. I read it when I visit.
