The projects in Handy Projects for Boys first appeared in a major collection arranged by the editors of Popular Mechanics Press in 1913. During this time period, the methods and techniques used to create these items were just as important to the boys and men building them as the final projects themselves. They took care with their materials; they were precise and they labored over the smallest details. To know something was handcrafted was to know it was a quality piece.

Because of the exactitude of the craftsmen's methods in the early 1900s, this historical and practical text features specific step-by-step instructions and includes many detailed illustrations for even the smallest or quickest jobs, including:

Eskimo snow houses
Box kites
Boomerangs
Chair sleighs
Homemade roller skates
Catapults
Canoes
And more

More important than building the projects inside, this book offers fathers and sons, grandfathers and grandsons, and even uncles and nephews an opportunity to spend some time together, learn a bit about history, and produce fully functional pieces.