Power Tols At Home

If you’ve ever looked at a perfectly innocent plank of wood and thought, “I could make this worse with electricity,” then congratulations: you are the exact target audience for Power Tools at Home (1975) by Harold King.

This is a glorious slice of mid-70s domestic optimism, from the TV Times Family Books universe where every man (it’s very much that era) is assumed to own a shed, a dream, and at least one tool capable of removing a finger faster than you can say “where’s the plaster?” Harold King steps in as your calm, sensible guide — the voice of reassurance while the circular saw whines like a small angry jet engine.

Inside you’ll find that classic promise: you, too, can become a home workshop wizard. Not by being born handy, but by buying the correct machines and learning to respect them. Drills, sanders, saws, planers — the whole pantheon of “mains-powered confidence.” Expect practical advice, period diagrams, and the sort of straight-faced safety guidance that reads like a polite warning from the past: please do not attempt this while wearing flares.

What makes it especially fun now is the time-travel factor. This is DIY before YouTube, before online tool reviews, before anyone casually muttered “PPE” and meant it. Back then, your sources were: (1) someone’s uncle, (2) a man in a shop who looked trustworthy, and (3) a book like this — telling you that a steady hand and the right attachment will solve most things, including apparently the entire concept of “having a professional.”

It’s also a reminder that power tools have always been sold as liberation. Why call a tradesperson when you can purchase a device that turns a weekend into a minor saga? Why buy furniture when you can create a slightly uneven version yourself, with character, and an origin story involving a fuse box?

Condition: Good — solid, usable, and ready to be consulted in the sacred pre-project ritual: staring at a page, nodding solemnly, and then doing something slightly different anyway. ISBN: 0900727268.

Perfect for vintage DIY collectors, tool nerds, anyone renovating a shed with moral support from the 1970s, or simply readers who enjoy the comforting delusion that all home improvements are one well-chosen power tool away from perfection.

Sold by Crappy Old Books, where every book is safe… even if the projects it inspires absolutely are not.

Keep browsing: See more Non-Fiction books Other books by Harold King