I have those books!! At least the first 4 or 5, I don’t remember which. My oldest son “borrowed” them from me last fall, probably the last I’ll see of them! :) They are fascinating. I could now make a rifle, barrel, stock and all, pound laundry on a stump with a paddle, tan deer hides, card and spin wool, then weave it into fabric, I could go on and on. I re-read some of them before he took them, and I was thinking as I read them that all the people who were interviewed for the books I have are most likely gone now, and all that knowledge gone with them!
I love those books as well.
Thankfully someone thought to document this stuff.
I found somethings in those books that I knew about but didnt understand the origins. (mustard pickles) I could murder some of those!
“I could now make a rifle, barrel, stock and all”
One of my Dad’s black powder buddies in Tennessee made his own barrels (and rifled them), locks, stocks, etc. He turned me on to forging knives.