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Originally published by Popular Mechanics in 1941, this classic manual is a testament to the ingenuity and dedication of American craftsmen. The collected projects, written by various craftsmen, demonstrate how to build a 10-inch thickness planer, a “swing saw” (or cut-off saw), and a hand-built hydraulic press, in addition to drill presses, jigsaws, sanders, bending brakes, band saws, a wood lathe, and many other useful machines. All of these machines are built with simple and highly available materials, and every project is accompanied by the original instructions, illustrations, and measured drawings. In addition, this vintage reprint offers its readers a unique look into a period in American history—when materials and labor were stretched thin, and American craftsmen were forced to “bootstrap” solutions out of the bare essentials available to them.

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Heartfelt + handmade = the perfect gift. In Simple Gifts, Jennifer Worick offers step-by-step instructions for creating easy and inspired handmade gifts that won’t break the bank. Learn how to stitch a wine bag for your favorite foodie, sew pajama pants for a tried-and-true friend, roast coffee beans for an office pal, or felt a ring for your sweetheart. Also included is Jennifer’s helpful, witty advice on choosing the right gift for anyone–man, woman or child–and how to wrap up your present with style.

From a sweet knitted apron to a hand-embroidered handkerchief, personalized note cards to soothing natural lip balm, a quilted baby blanket to a manly wooden toolbox, these heartfelt, handmade gifts are certain to wow and touch your loved ones.

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One of the signature projects whittlers enjoy working on is the whistle, and this book addresses each and every detail of successful whistle making. With a pocket knife and some readily available materials, most of which can be gathered from nature, beginning carvers will produce fun and attractive whistles that they can show off to their friends.

Designed to be understandable to both younger readers and adult beginners, the book features numerous full-color instructional photos for each project and provides a strong emphasis on safety and tool care. Featured projects include the classic slip bark whistle, tube whistles, a kazoo, a vuvuzuela, and reed whistles.

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This is the ultimate resource for those who are as creative as they are willing to conserve. Ruby Star Wrapping inspires you to think resourceful, think reusable, think unusual when it comes to gift packaging. Raid the pantry for boxes, use old linens for pouches, and make beautiful accessories out of fabric and paper scraps-the projects here illustrate how to create beautiful, reusable packaging from the common materials in your home. With its 30 easy-to-make giftwrap patterns, this book reminds us of the wonderful creative potential inherent in the act of giving a gift. When wrapped with thought, beauty and a little ingenuity, the packaging can be a gift in itself.

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Stephanie Tourles offers 150 original recipes for herbal balms, oils, salves, liniments and other topical ointments you can make yourself to treat a wide range of conditions, from headaches and backaches to arthritis, tendonitis, fungal infections, anxiety, cuts and scrapes, insomnia, splinters, and cracked skin. These preparations are all-natural, effective, safe and fun to prepare. Take control of your well-being and stock your family’s medicine cabinet with your own custom-made healing remedies.

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The tools for a sustainable future continue to grow! In this book, Max and Eva Edleson offer a comprehensive guide for planning and building a practical, efficient and affordable wood-fired oven. The barrel oven offers surprising convenience: It's hot and ready to bake in within 15-20 minutes, and maintaining it at a constant temperature is easy.

The barrel oven can be the seed for a small-scale baking enterprise or the heart of a community's wood-fired cuisine. All kinds of food can be baked in it, including bread, roasts, pizza, cookies, cakes, pies, casseroles and stews. Follow this step-by-step guide to transform local, low-cost materials and the sun's energy into good food.

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Build a honey extractor. Use top-bar hives. Bake with honey. Find your favorite honeybee. Read about all this and more with GRIT's Guide to Backyard Bees and Honey, 3rd Edition. This treasure-trove of bee knowledge has more than 75 ways to get more from your bees. Cover-to-cover, this 100-page guide includes great advice, tips, techniques, instructions, recipes and more to help you get started with beekeeping … or, if you are a seasoned beekeeper, to help you learn new tricks of the trade.

Save money while building your own beehive or honey extractor with simple materials available at your local hardware store. Read how to use a top-bar hive, a less expensive method to raising bees that will pollinate your crops and provide tasty honey fresh from the comb. Honey adds something natural, healthy and sweet to any recipe, whether it's appetizers or main dishes.

More articles include:

• Top Tips for Happy Bees: Expert advice for novice urban beekeepers.
• Bee Byproducts: Honey is but one of the items created by ever-industrious honeybees.
• Go Native with Wild Bees: The humble little orchard mason bee is the best-kept (pollinator) secret.
• The Case of the Disappearing Honeybees: What is colony collapse disorder, and what can be done?
• Winterizing Your Bees … Naturally: There may be snow on the ground and ice on the trees, but your bees are a balmy 96 degrees Fahrenheit inside their hive.
• And more!

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As folks like Michael Pollan and Joel Salatin have been preaching for years, commercial meat production isn't good for the animals, our bodies or the planet. Yet the organic, sustainably raised pork, beef and lamb one finds at supermarkets and specialty stores are often pricey, and the marketing labels can be beyond confusing. What if you just want to eat meat as healthfully and enjoyably as possible, all while sticking to a budget?

Uncle Dave's Cow: And Other Whole Animals My Freezer Has Known shows you how to find and evaluate local farmers, form a buying group, plan out cuts and quantities, store and preserve your purchases, and dish up an entire animal one part at a time. Author Leslie Miller, a busy Seattle mother who hails from a long lineage of Central Washington farmers, shows readers how to go whole hog (or cow, or goat, or lamb, for that matter) as she takes the reader along on her own educational journey – from the moment she locates and buys her first pig, all the way to her last forkful of tender pulled pork. Miller explores local farmers markets and 4-H fairs, talks to dedicated farmers and butchers, and explains how even her children connect to the cow in the freezer. By sharing her whole-food experiences, she allows readers to connect to the source of their food, while her 45 original recipes show how to cook mouthwatering meals from the abundance of whole animals.

Written with urban charm and a knife-sharp sense of humor, Uncle Dave's Cow is a friendly and accessible guide to sourcing and eating local meat for parents, foodies, and everyone who wants to learn how to be a well-prepared consumer and cook through to the bone.

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If you wish your yarn store had a 24-hour hotline, help is here! From needle sizes and yarn weights to dropped stitches, tight ribbing, chart reading and curling edges, veteran knitter Margaret Radcliffe is here to help you solve any knitting mystery you may encounter. Hundreds of detailed illustrations make this the one reference you'll want to keep tucked inside your knitting bag. Twenty-four hours a day, 7 days a week, this book is at your service.

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Discover the pleasures of knitting in the round! Margaret Radcliffe teaches you everything you need to know to master the art of circular knitting, presenting Fair Isle, twined, helix, tubular, double knitting and other classic techniques in detailed step-by-step photographic sequences. She includes 35 demonstration projects so you can practice each technique on a mini-version of a sock, hat, bag, mitten, sweater or vest before applying it to a larger project. She also shows you how to convert any straight-needle pattern for use with circular needles. This is a complete course in one book, suitable even for beginners.