Do It Yourself With These Books

There’s nothing like the feeling of accomplishment and one of the best ways to achieve it is to create something yourself from scratch or from the ground up. Building or making something with your own hands is so satisfying that DIY has become a culture all on its own. It’s a culture that attracts a variety of folks from preppers and survivalists to homesteaders and handymen. Since this DIY movement has continued to gain momentum, there are an unlimited number of books out there to give you instruction on a number of subjects and projects. Here are a few of my favorites.

Canning Essentials Guide

When you’re starting out with DIY projects, I think the best place to dip your toe in is with canning. That seems to be where a lot of folks start because it’s relatively simple. The Canning Essentials Guide is a complete, go-to beginners guide to food preservation. It takes you step-by-step through the processes of canning fruit and other produce, plus, making homemade jelly. The guide covers and simplifies the processes of pressure canning, water-bath canning and freezing so that, even if you’re really busy, you can find the time to do it. You’ll find helpful charts throughout to detail the methods with specific timings, temperatures and required equipment. Canning Essentials will teach you everything you need to know about preserving and canning fruits and vegetables.

Home Winemaking Book

Once you’ve mastered preserving and canning, you can move on to something really fun like making wine. The Home Winemaking Book takes a fun, practical, step-by-step approach to making your own wine. It’s written by an expert, Jack Keller, who had one of the first wine blogs on the internet. The book starts with the basic principles, equipment needed and exactly what to do, then, moves into a variety of tested and proven delicious recipes. It shows you that you can make wine out of everything from juices and concentrates to foraged ingredients like berries and roots. With 65 recipe options, you can expand your wine-making season indefinitely! Home Winemaking’s simple approach is perfect for beginners, but every skill level of winemaker will appreciate the recipes and expert advice.

Build Your Own Sheds Book

You may need a place to store your canning and winemaking equipment once you really get into it. So, what you need is the Build Your Own Sheds Book. The essential DIY books gives instruction on how to build outdoor structures, doing all or part of the work yourself. It features all of the techniques and tips you need to know, as well as the latest in shed construction and every step of the process in detail. You can select from a catalog of more than 100 expertly prepared plans for building a wide range of outdoor structures including utility sheds, greenhouses, home offices and cabanas. Each build is simply broken down with easy-to-follow construction blueprints and materials lists to ensure your success. From basic storage sheds to workshops, the Build Your Own Sheds Book has you covered.

Workshop Welding Book

After you build your DIY workshop, you can stick you whole foot into the do-it-yourself pool and learn how to work metal. Everything you need to know to weld, cut and shape metal is in the Workshop Welding Book, which is a practical, visual handbook for welding in home, auto, farm and blacksmith workshops. The book is divided into ten sections that describes all the major types of welds before progressing into more advanced methods. The comprehensive guide gives instruction on arc and gas welding, plasma cutting, soldering and welding plastics with visuals and photography, detailed explanations, expert suggestions and step-by-step directions. This go-to guide to welding covers common pitfalls and mistakes, and how to avoid or correct them, too. It will help the beginner to improve and the intermediate operator to broaden their technique. The expert advice also extends into the wider workshop with chapters on drills, cutting threads, and basic blacksmithing.

Home Blacksmiths Handbook

Expand your blacksmithing skills with the Home Blacksmiths Handbook to completely join the DIY revolution. Blacksmithing is among the time-honored trades that’s enjoying a resurgence for both practical and artistic uses. This comprehensive handbook answers the many questions that new blacksmiths have by explaining the physics of moving metal. It also gives information on the different styles of anvils and forges, and alternative fuel sources. In the handbook you’ll find 40 practical, easy-to-follow projects that include making tools like hammers and chisels, farm implements like gate latches and hoof picks and home items like draw pulls and candle holders. The Home Blacksmiths Handbook is suitable for beginners to advanced home metalworkers.