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It’s vintage fun! This follow-up to The Boy Mechanic—Popular Mechanics’ collection of can-do ingenuity from the early 1900s—features more than 200 unique toys and games that anyone with a basic tool kit will want to make, plus the unusual and attractive rounded, flexibound format. Charmingly designed to capture that old-fashioned flavor, every imaginative project remains as engaging today as ever, with its appeal fully intact. There’s amusement for little kids, including a toy donkey that nods and wags its tail; a child’s playhouse and a miniature windmill; magic tricks, such as an “X-Ray” pack of cards and mystery coin box; items for the great outdoors, which range from a homebuilt canoe to a diving tower; plus gizmos and gadgets, “scien-terrific” motors and engines, and entertaining objects for an older child to create and play with. ...
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For more than 100 years, the editors of Popular Mechanics have been providing car enthusiasts with the skills and confidence they need to keep their vehicles running right and looking great. This manual is crucial for anyone who wants to know the automobile’s basic components, from the engine to the electronic systems, and to understand how they work, what can go wrong, and how to make repairs. Find out how to maintain and replace windshield washers, fix steering wander and faulty cruise control, and purge bad smells from the interior. Get smart advice on how to pass emission inspection and find service data online. And because car owners want their ride to look as good as it works, there are even instructions for removing bumper stickers, tinting windows, and adding pinstripes. With more than 90 projects, The Complete Car Care Manual—one of Popular Mechanics most successful books—will guide owners step-by-step through what it takes to hush those squeaks, replace the u-joints, change their own oil and filter, and so much more. ...
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Remember those great summer camping trips from your childhood—the magical ones when you discovered the fish hiding in the shaded swimming spot and cooked a meal over an open fire? This collection of outdoor activities from long ago pays tribute to an age when every kid knew how to bait a hook. And there’s plenty in these vintage pages that children of all ages will still find worth learning...and lots of fun. We’ve included choice camping and fishing ideas; gadgets, projects, and appliances to construct (including an improved tent peg and an outdoor fireplace); advice for making the most of your time on the water; all the basics of creating a temporary or permanent camp structure; and fundamental skills such as archery. You’ll even discover lesser-known secrets for taking full advantage of a winter camp-out. Campers will be amused and amazed by some of the ways yesterday’s adventurers kept themselves busy. From the fascinating (making a bed of boughs and a paddle-wheel boat) to the fantastic (building a log cabin), everybody will find a panorama of entertaining possibilities represented here. ...
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Filled with more fishing lore than one angler could amass in a lifetime, here is a classic volume that could come only from the editors of Popular Mechanics. Originally published in 1950, How to Tempt a Fish draws its knowledge from expert fishermen of all stripes—fly, lake, surf, deep-sea, and even ice fishing enthusiasts. Unique in that it covers so many aspects of one of America’s favorite individual sports (there are at least 44 million people who fish in the United States alone), it offers insider advice that has stood the test of time. Among the topics covered in wonderful classic black-and-white line illustrations are: fly casting, bait casting, and salt-water fishing; gathering and using live bait; caring for your rods; tying knots and splices; and retrieving lost lures and lines. There’s also guidance on when and where to fish; how to fish through the ice; how to mount your own prize catches; how to stock a fish pond; how to cook in camp, and so much more. Plus, there are the many tips that beginner and expert alike will find ingenious: how to make an inflatable life preserver for your tackle box so it won’t get lost if it falls out of the boat, or fashion a tangle-proof case for fishing flies from an old piece of garden hose. All the information remains valid for today’s fishing hobbyists. Redesigned and repackaged using the terrific original illustrations, this is the perfect gift for every fishing fan. ...
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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. ...
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As its servicemen returned home at the end of World War II, the U.S. Army turned to Popular Mechanics to help them find new and lucrative occupations. A series of ten pamphlets was created, teaching skills that were “fun to do and profitable too.” Reprinted here for the first time in a single volume, and featuring all of the original artwork, these mini instructional courses will entertain men of all ages—even if their workbench is really the living room coffee table! From leather crafts and bookbinding to block printing and cartooning, there’s a hobby to be found here for anyone. More ambitious readers may consider learning coping saw techniques, or even axe crafts, which entail making rustic furniture and fixtures using a single hatchet. As charming today as it was industrious then, the book is packaged in a vintage style that authentically captures the “can-do” spirit of the era. ...
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