Homemade Contrivances and How to Make Them: 1001 Labor-Saving Devices for Farm, Garden, Dairy, and Workshop

I found it’s a very interesting read with simply items you can build with basic skills and tools. For me it sparks the creative to stop and think how I might combine or improve upon these based on my specific needs. Some just use as presented.

Lots of old time fixes, builds, and ideas to ease your farm and gardening practices. Some practice in engineering for the builds is a must. You also have to know a little carpentry too. Other than that it is a lot of info into the past.

This book is a very interesting glimpse into life a hundred years ago and anybody can find a couple interesting ways to make everyday tasks a little easier.

There are no specific plans for the projects in this book, but someone that already has some general knowledge of building could easily use the ideas in this book and craft their own. The book was written in the 1800s, so the writing style is fun. Very tongue-in-cheek.

If you have no knowledge at all of these country items you may find understanding in the descriptions but the illustrations are very vague and instructions to construct are poor. This is a historic publication from a century past and not very usable today.

This is a great book if you're interested in how folks did things when they couldn't run down to Home Depot and pick up whatever they need to take care of things around the house or garden. One note for people who enjoy this type of book: this book includes all the content of a similar but more specialized volume "Fences, Gates and Bridges and How to Make Them", by the same publisher. Of course, this book contains much more. So you might want to buy "Homemade Contrivances" and not "Fences, etc" EXCEPT that, at least in my copies, the illustrations in "Fences, etc" were MUCH better than the same illustrations in "Homemade Contrivances.There does not seem to be much if any overlap between "Homemade Contrivances" and another similar book by the same publisher, "Handy Farm Devices and How to Make Them", so to me it is worthwhile to own both. Of course, I buy used when I can get very good quality at a substantial discount.By the way, if you enjoy this type of thing, be sure to check out Eric Sloane's books, including "A Reverence for Wood" and "A Museum of Early American Tools", both of which I own and enjoyed.

I bought it for knowledge.

When something works well it doesn't matter when it was created. Many useful ideas in this text. Fence section is excellent.

Great book, super fast delivery.