Every practical mechanic, whether amateur or professional, has been confronted at one time or another with unexpected situations calling for the exercise of considerable ingenuity. The resourceful man who has met an issue of this sort successfully seldom if ever is averse to making public his method of procedure. After all, he has little to gain by keeping the matter to himself and, appreciating the advice of other practical men in the same line of work, he is only too glad to contribute his own suggestions to the general fund of information.

About a year ago, it was decided to open a department in the Scientific American devoted to the interests of the handy man. There was an almost immediate response. Hundreds of valuable suggestions poured in from every part of this country and from abroad as well. Not only amateur mechanics, but professional men also were eager to recount their experiences in emergencies and offer useful bits of information, ingenious ideas, wrinkles or "kinks" as they are called. Aside from these, many valuable contributions came from men in other walks of life - resourceful men, who showed their aptness at doing things about the house, in the garden, on the farm. The electrician and the man in the physics and chemical laboratory furnished another tributary to the flood of ideas. Automobiles, motor cycles, motor boats and the like frequently call for a display of ingenuity among a class of men who otherwise would never touch a tool. These also contributed a large share of the suggestions that poured in upon us. It was apparent from the outset that the Handy Man's Workshop Department in the Scientific American would be utterly inadequate for so large a volume of material; but rather than reject any really useful ideas for lack of space, we have collected the worthier suggestions as far as we could judge of their merit, and present them in the following pages.

A. RUSSELL BOND

New York, October, 1909