With the wide proliferation of DIY in all avenues of media one would think do-it-yourself is the hot ongoing national trend born out of recent times (although I recently spied, over the pond in the United Kingdom, Elle Decor UK has announced the death knell of DIY home decor). The truth is America and Americans have always been about doing it themselves, whether starting our own nation or putting together our very own xylophone, we've always had a "can do" attitude.

My better half recently sent me a link to Hepcatwilly.com's trip down DIY memory lane to the 1950's, when Popular Mechanics guided basement workshop craftsmen in making an assortment of home items such as a boomerang table, bamboo candle holders and even hi-fi speaker enclosures (Dad sure had a lot of time on his hands!).

Hepcatwilly.com promises to regularly post several PDF downloads of scanned pages from dear old dad's library, perhaps inspiring you to fire up the ole circular saw, put on that tool belt and start making those hammock dreams come true soon!