Build a cold smoker so you can make delicious squaw candy

By Jane Duquette Issue #148 • July/August, 2014 For delicious squaw candy, start with the freshest fish. One fresh July evening at our summer cabin in Soldotna, Alaska, my husband, Tom, and I sat with friends around...

Build a stone wall

By Charles Sanders Issue #70 • July/August, 2001 The natural beauty of a stone wall has been romanticized in poem and picture for hundreds of years. There is a soothing permanence that can be seen in...

Ambidextrous chainsaw filing

By Thomas Brewer Issue #57 • May/June, 1999 I am not ambidextrous. My wife, Judith, uses chopsticks with either hand or even both hands at once. She is ambidextrous. I can barely write with my right...

The Forever Floor

By David Lee Issue #92 • March/April, 2005 It is pretty devious starting off an article with an exaggeration but now that I have your attention let me tell you about a floor surfacing method I...

Make a Quick and Easy Tipi

By Bob Van Putten Issue #174 • November/December, 2018 The native peoples of North America were a very practical lot. Over the centuries they developed some very efficient tools. Yet, perhaps because of their appreciation of...

Build your own portable forge

By Corcceigh Green Issue #51 • May/June, 1998 Looking for a handy summer project while building skills, supplies, and knowledge to put away for a rainy future? Here's one to consider: try making your own forge....

Building David’s Cabin, Part One

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson Issue #172 • July/August, 2018 Like most young folks today, our son David graduated high school, got a job, and went to college (accumulating student loans in the process). After that, he worked...

Build a homestead Copy Cart

By Charles Sanders Issue #45 • July/August, 1997 I don't know too many homesteaders, gardeners, or small farmers who haven't at one time or another wished for one of those fancy big-wheeled garden carts. It seems...

Build an Off-Grid Root Cellar, Garage, and Bunkhouse

By Robert Van Putten Issue #166 • July/August, 2017 My wife and I built our homestead by hand. I’m not a professional builder, so once in a while I make mistakes -- the garage we built...

Building Eric’s house

By Dorothy Ainsworth Issue #112 • July/August, 2009 This is the first in a series of several articles documenting the building of a stud-frame house from start to finish by an amateur owner/builder, using the pay-as-you-go...

Parge the ugly out of your concrete wall

By Bill Leonard Issue #57 • May/June, 1999 You can say a great deal in favor of cement block (or, if you prefer, concrete block) building. It's fairly fast, reasonably easy, particularly in small projects, and...

Stairs — The next level

By Skip Thomsen Website Exclusive • August, 2004 Any good carpenter can build a staircase. What we're talking about here is taking that staircase to the next level: beyond just a means to get from one...

Build a pallet fence

By Clay Sawyer Issue #69 • May/June, 2001 If you have access to various sizes of free pallets, consider this idea for your next fence. Now I know for a fact that I would rather dig...

Build a Concrete Root Cellar

By Dorothy Ainsworth Issue #168 • November/December, 2017 I should have been a mole — it feels so safe and cool and quiet to be underground. So when my house burned down 20 years ago and...

Livestock fencing for the small homesteader, part 2

By Don Lewis In the last issue of Backwoods Home Magazine, we covered Part 1 of livestock fencing for the small homesteader. The article included some of the history, requirements, and methods for siting and...

Vise Dremel Moto Tool mount

By Dana Martin Batory Issue #84 • November/December, 2003 Sometimes it seems two hands are not enough—three would be nice, four even better. This economical, easy to build jig solves that common workshop problem. Designed to...