Today we return to our monthly series called Toolmanship. The goal of this series is to pass on the basics of tool use to a generation of men who never got around to learning how to be handy.

In this edition, we take a look at how to properly use a handsaw. We’ll give a rundown on the different types of handsaws out there and tips to get you sawing like a carpenter.

Crosscut Saw or Rip Saw

Before you put saw to wood, you need to determine what sort of saw you’ll need for your job. In the pantheon of saws, two basic designs exist: the crosscut saw and the rip saw. Which one you use depends on whether you plan on cutting with or against the wood grain. Let’s take a closer look at the differences between the two saws and when you would use them.

Crosscut saw. If you’re cutting across the grain of the wood, you’ll want to use a crosscut saw. The teeth on a crosscut saw angle back and have a beveled edge. The teeth are also much smaller than those on a ripsaw. This design allows the saw to act like a knife-edge that cleanly slices through the wood’s grain. The crosscut saw’s design also allows the saw to cut on both the push and pull stroke.

Rip saw. When you’re making a cut parallel to the direction of the grain of the wood, use a ripsaw. Unlike a crosscut saw, the teeth on a ripsaw don’t angle backwards nor are they beveled.  Instead, the teeth bend left and right in an alternating pattern. This design allows each tooth to act like a chisel that chips away small pieces of wood on each push stroke. The chisel design ensures a clean cut as you saw along the grain. Also, unlike the crosscut saw, the rip saw only cuts on the push stroke, not on the pull stroke.

Different Handsaws for Different Jobs

While the crosscut saw and rip saw will cover most cutting jobs, sometimes you need an even more specialized handsaw. Here are a few handsaws you might consider adding to your toolbox arsenal.

Keyhole saw. The keyhole saw is good for cutting holes for pipes, electrical outlets, or fixtures in floors, walls, and ceilings. Its narrow, tapered blade goes where other saws can’t, and its teeth can chew through tough material like drywall.

Coping saw. If you’re wanting to cut curves and other intricate shapes, you need to bust out the coping saw. The coping saw consists of a thin metal blade set between a C-shaped metal frame. Because of its thin blade, you can easily change directions and still maintain a clean cut with a coping saw. If you want to make cuts inside a piece of wood, you can do that with a coping saw, too. Just drill a starter hole, remove the coping saw blade, insert the blade through the hole, and reattach the blade to the handle.

Backsaw. Backsaws have a stiffening metal rib on the edge opposite the cutting edge. This allows for better control and more precise cutting than with other types of saws. Use a backsaw in woodworking when you need precise cuts. Different kinds of backsaws exist for different kinds of jobs. Miter saws are used with miter boxes to cut angles in wood. Dovetail saws cut, well, dovetails for joining pieces of wood together.

8 Things to Check When Shopping for a Handsaw

When you’re at the hardware store looking for a new saw, make sure to run each saw through this 8 point test to ensure you get a quality tool:

1. Sharp teeth. Run your thumb lightly over the teeth. If they’re properly sharp, they’ll catch your skin with little snagging tugs.

2. Straight blade. Sight along the blade to see if it’s true. Even a slight bend or bow will cause binding. Check the handle, too. A crooked one throws your arm off center, making sawing inaccurate and tiring.

3. Evenly set teeth. Squint toward the teeth from the back of the saw. If any teeth project farther than others, they’ll drag and leave a rough cut. If all teeth on one side are set out farther than those on the other side, the blade will twist.

4. Blade taper. Good saws taper so they’re thinner at the top than at the teeth. This provides blade clearance, reduces binding, and makes a cleaner cut because less tooth is needed. Taper may not be apparent, so be sure it’s specified. Watch out for saws that are just chamfered to give the appearance of a taper grind.

5. Proper flexing. Your saw should flex easily when you bend it, but quickly straighten when you let you go.

6. Built-in tension. Bend the saw with a straight edge across the blade and you’ll see a slight bow. The bow will keep trying to spring the blade back straight. This is the result of tension built into the saw by rolling and hammering the center portion. If the saw’s tension is correct, the bow should appear in a uniform curve and not look lopsided.

7. Blade crown. Hold the saw at arm’s length and sight along the teeth. You should see a slight outward curve at the blade’s center. This crown increases the cutting pressure by putting only a few teeth in contact with the wood at a time. The higher the crown, the better.

8. Balance. There are no absolute rules for good balance, but a saw should feel comfortable in your hand– not nose heavy or cumbersome. Make a series of sawing motions in the air to see how the saw feels in your hand.

How to Saw Like a Carpenter

Mark the cutline. Remember the timeless rule of carpentry: measure twice, cut once. Measure where you want a cut (twice of course) and draw a line marking where you want the cut to be. The line will act as a guide to help you get a straight cut.

Make the starting cut.When you make the first cut, use your thumb or the knuckle of your thumb on the hand holding the wood as a guide to ensure you cut along the cutline.

Use your thumb as a guide to start cutting

If you’re using a crosscut saw, start your cut with the teeth nearest the handle. This will give you the best control. Make a few back cuts until you get a nice kerf (opening in the wood).

If you’re using a ripsaw, start your cut with the finer teeth furthest from the handle (near the point of the blade).  Make a few short draw strokes to get a kerf going.

Don’t start the cut right on the line you marked earlier with pencil. Instead, cut right next to the line on the waste side. The waste side is the part of the wood you’re not going to use in the finished product. It’s always better to have a piece of wood that’s a bit long, than a bit short. You can always sand the wood down to the pencil line.

Angle the saw correctly. After you get your kerf going, you need to angle your saw correctly to get the best cut. For crosscut saws, the proper angle is 45 degrees between the saw and wood. With ripsaws, it’s 60 degrees.

Hold your elbows close to your body. To counteract the natural tendency to angle the blade away from perpendicular, hold your elbows close to your body when sawing. This will also help prevent you from twisting and tilting the blade, thus ensuring a nice, clean cut.

Hold the saw firmly, with forefinger extended along the side of the handle.

How to hold the saw. Just grip the handle so that your forefinger extends along the side of the handle. This helps you “point” the saw along the line and ensures more accurate cuts. Hold on to the handle firmly, but not too tightly.

The stroke. After you’ve started the groove, a few short forward strokes will deepen the cut so you can move your left hand away from the blade. Push the saw with an easy, free-running motion.  Use long strokes so that each tooth does a fair share of the work. Short strokes dull the saw faster because only a few of the teeth do the work.

Resist the temptation to bear down on the saw. It won’t do anything except tire you out. Let the saw do the work. If you feel like the saw isn’t cutting properly, something might be wrong with the saw itself.

For straight cuts, use a 2×4 as a guide. For many men, simply using the pencil line as your guide to cutting just doesn’t work. If you want to ensure that you get a true and square cut, place a 2×4 (or 2×2) along your pencil line and clamp it to the board you’re cutting. The board will now act as your guide to keep the saw on the line.

Correcting veering. Even the best carpenters veer from the cut line. If this happens to you avoid the natural tendency to twist and bend the saw blade so it gets back on track. This will only result in an uneven and rough cut. Instead, stop sawing and bring your blade back to the point where you veered off. Start sawing again on the line.

Prevent binding with a nail. One problem you may encounter, especially when you’re cutting along the grain with a rip saw, is binding. Binding occurs when the kerf closes in on the saw. To prevent this, simply place a nail in your kerf. This will keep it open. Move the nail towards you as you saw.

Storing Your Saw Properly

If you want to ensure your saw gives you years of cutting service, you need to take good care of it. By placing a simple sheath on your saw blade before you throw it back in the toolbox you can prevent your saw teeth from becoming dull and rounded, thus maintaining the sharp edge necessary for all your woodworking projects.

Most new saws come with a sheath, but if yours didn’t or you lost the sheath, here’s how you can make a makeshift sheath with just a bit of garden hose.

1. Hold the saw up against a straightened section of an old rubber garden hose. Use a utility knife to cut a section of hose that’s roughly as long as the saw blade.

2. Cut a slit down the length of the section of hose. Make sure that the slit goes all the way through the rubber.

3. Slide the cut edge of the hose over the exposed blade of the saw. The stiffness of the hose should hold it in place over the blade, protecting it from nicks and bending.

Got any other handsaw tips? Share them with us in the comments!

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Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Andre Naser at Club-Offers.com. To learn how to win a 3 month membership into their beer and cigar clubs, see the details below.

There was once a time when a man with a cigar in his mouth was held in high regard; a time when a young man toasted farewell to adolescence by igniting the end of a cigar that “just happened” to slip out of his father’s humidor. A time where the arrival of a man’s progeny was celebrated with cigars in the hospital’s waiting room.  A time when one could find a guillotine right alongside a man’s trusty pocketknife.

A 21-year-old Winston Churchill, on a quest to prove his manliness, ventured to the island of Cuba. It was in Cuba where Churchill began his love affair with the cigar. He described cigars as part of his “rule of life prescribed as an absolutely sacred rite; smoke cigars and drinking of alcohol before, after and if need be during all meals and in the intervals between them.” Churchill was so renowned for his cigar habit that a cigar of especially large magnitude still carries his name today: The Churchill cigar.

There can certainly be some intimidation when you first walk into a well-stocked cigar humidor. How can you possibly tell the difference between a Montecristo and an Ashton? Does it matter if this “Romeo y Julieta” came from the Dominican Republic and not Cuba? (why yes, it does). Fear not. After reading these quick tips on choosing a quality cigar, you’ll have an idea on how to pick a quality cigar. You’ll also be left wondering why you ever thought picking up a pack of Swisher Sweets from the gas station was a good idea.

Anatomy of a Cigar

The head: This is the end you put in your mouth. It’s sealed off and will require cutting; a guillotine is preferred to reduce the chance of smashing the cigar; however, a sharp knife will do. But for the love of God, do not use your teeth!

The foot: This is the side that you light.

The filler: A nice, consistent blend of dried and fermented tobacco.

The wrapper: The outside of the cigar. It varies in color from light to dark. A lot of the cigar’s flavor comes from this outer layer.

Choosing a Cigar

Now that you know your head from your foot, we can move onto choosing a cigar.  Check out a local cigar club.  They’ll likely have a well-stocked humidor and a knowledgeable tobacconist who will guide you through the selection.  When you arrive at the cigar club, you’ll walk into a humidor full of cigars. Humidors help maintain an optimal level of moisture inside the tobacco.  If it’s too humid, the tobacco will rot. If it’s not humid enough, the cigars will dry out and lose their flavor and aroma.

If this is your first time smoking a cigar, stay away from the higher-priced ones since, at this point, you won’t be able to truly savor the distinguishing elements of an expensive cigar. Besides, price isn’t the most most important factor in choosing a cigar. There are plenty of cheaper cigars out there that hold top ratings from major cigar publications.

While price isn’t that important when selecting a cigar, cigar construction and tobacco quality are. The cigar’s construction determines how smooth and even the draw is when you smoke it.  You can test the construction of a cigar by rolling it between the thumb and index finger of your hand. As you do this, make sure the cigar’s outside doesn’t have any lumps. Also check that the body is not too soft or void of filling. You want the cigar to have a nice even consistency and fill. A rough texture or any other mark of bad construction means a less smooth draw when you inhale.  With a well constructed cigar, the ash will maintain the shape of the cigar as it is smoked.

The second important factor when buying a cigar is the tobacco’s quality.  You typically can’t determine tobacco quality simply by looking at the outside of the cigar.  So how do you know which brands use good quality tobacco? It’s mainly based on reputation. Ask the tobacconist or your friends for recommendations on cigars that use quality tobacco. It’s usually a safe bet to go with larger brands. The big cigar brands tend to use higher quality tobacco in their cigars because they usually have first dibs on the quality stuff. In your quest to find cigars that use quality tobacco, just remember to purchase one cigar at a time instead of buying boxes. You don’t want to be left with a box of crummy cigars you’ll never smoke.

Now before you go running off to your local cigar club, let me first answer a question that typically comes up from those who want to learn more about cigars.

The Cuban Debate:  Are Cuban Cigars Really Better?

I must first preface my answer by saying this: if you live in the U.S., don’t even bother trying to buy a Cuban cigar locally.  Because of a 1962 embargo against Cuba, Cuban cigars are not allowed in the U.S. (legally, at least). But because Cuban cigars are so desirable, a large counterfeit industry has popped up in the United States.  If someone says they have some Cuban cigars for sale, steer clear. It’s probably a fake and will leave your mouth tasting like charcoal when you smoke it.

You’ll also find clever Cuban immigrants rolling cigars claiming that since they themselves are Cuban, the cigars can be sold as “Cuban cigars.”  A clever scam, but a scam nonetheless. If you really want to smoke a Cuban cigar, you’ll either have to head north to Canada or south to Mexico.

Now to answer the original question: Yes, Cuban cigars are indeed better. Cuban cigars are highly regulated by the Cuban government and are held to a very high standard.  They’re also constructed by some of the most skilled cigar rollers in the world.  The “torcedores,” as they are referred to in Spanish, have been rolling cigars their entire lives, often learning the skill from family members who passed the knowledge on from generation to generation. The skill these workers employ ensures a consistent fill for the cigar every time.  The flavor of a Cuban cigar tends to be extremely overpowering to someone not acquainted with cigars.  They are much more full and smoky compared to their Dominican counterparts that tend have a more peppery and spiced flavor.

It All Comes Down to Personal Preference

The cigar-smoking experience is very personal. Everyone has different tastes, so make sure to try a few different varieties in order to discover your cigar of choice. It’s similar to finding your favorite beer. You probably didn’t know it was your favorite until you experimented with some different variations: more hops, less wheat, maybe some orange zest. But when you finally found your favorite beer, you knew it was the one. Cigars are going to be the exact same way.

And what if you could have a variety of cigars mailed straight to your door every month? Well, with the Cigar Of the Month Club you can try new and different cigars without leaving your house. It’s like the Fruit of the Month Club, but manlier.

The Beer and Cigar of the Month Giveaway

A 3-month membership to a cigar of the month and beer of the month club is up for grabs in this giveaway. One lucky winner will be getting a monthly shipment of 12, 12-ounce microbrews from two lightly distributed domestic microbreweries with a total of 4 different varieties to try. They’ll also get five professionally chosen, hand-rolled cigars from around the world. The focus each month is on quality cigars ranging from a variety of types. More information on the exact package can be found here.

How to Enter: To enter, simply leave a comment on this post sharing your favorite cigar brand, tip, or experience.

Deadline to Enter: The deadline to enter the contest is Monday, November 9 at 11PM EST. The winner will be announced on Saturday, November 14 in the weekly roundup.

Legal:

• Only open to residents of the United States (sorry, laws don’t let us ship alcohol and tobacco internationally)
• Must be 21 to win.
• Due to local laws beer can not be shipped to the following states: AK, HI, ME, and UT.
• Adult Signature Requirements (Beer & Wine) – All beer or wine shipments are sent via Federal Express, UPS, or other local ground service carriers with an adult signature sticker required on the box. It’s best to have your shipments sent to a location where someone (21 & up) will be there to sign for it. Each carrier will make one or more delivery attempts and if unsuccessful they will leave door tags and/or phone messages indicating the attempted deliveries. Please respond to any communication from the carrier right away. After the final delivery attempt, the box is routed back to the local consolidation center closest to your shipping address and you may be given a short period to pick it up before it is sent back to our fulfillment center. We’ve intentionally packaged our shipments in a very non-descript, brown corrugated box such that most of our customers are comfortable having their shipments sent to their daytime location.
• The memberships will be “gift memberships” which will automatically stop after the 3 months. They will be able to go online and easily continue membership on their own if they want, or let it expire without doing anything.

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Ever since I’ve owned a car, I’ve always taken it to a quick lube to get the oil changed. Every 3,000 miles I would find myself sitting in a lounge munching on complimentary donuts while some other man changed my oil.

But it never felt right.

I would stare out the window into the garage and watch the mechanics work deftly on my car. I would think, “That looks easy. Why am I paying another man $25 for a job that I could do myself?”

In addition to the resentment I felt for paying another man to change my oil, I was also jealous. I admired the knowledge and skills those men who worked on my car had, and I wanted to be able to do it too.

Of course, I never did anything about it, mainly out of laziness.

Well, after 10 years of taking my car to a quick lube to change my oil, I finally got around to learning how to change the oil in my car last month. And boy did it feel good.

Below, I provide a short guide on how to change the oil in your car. Let’s get started.

The Benefits of Changing Your Oil Yourself

Save money. Getting your oil changed at Jiffy Lube or similar shops usually runs between $25 and $30. Half the cost goes to labor.  They have deals every now and then, but they’re few and far between. Changing your oil yourself will only set you back about $15 for a new filter and some new oil. In this tough economy, every little bit helps. The manly man is self-reliant and frugal.

You won’t get stuff stolen from your car. After one visit to the quick lube, my cell phone was missing. Of course, when I called the workers on it, they played dumb. I also had a few CD’s taken from another oil change place. (If you’re reading this Fast Lube guy, I want my Weezer Blue Album back.)

You’ll feel manly. Nothing will boost your manly confidence like learning a manual skill and doing a job yourself. The satisfaction you get after changing your oil is way more fulfilling than the satisfaction you’ll get getting a perfect score on Guitar Hero. You’ll get your hands greasy, and you’ll have the manly smell of sweat and oil emanate from you.

How Often Should You Change Your Motor Oil?

The common number that car dealers and mechanics put out there for oil changes is to do it every 3,000 miles or every three months. Because it has been repeated so often, many people have come to believe that it’s an unalterable law of the universe.

The 3,000 mile rule is actually good advice… if you own a quick lube and want to make loads of money. Modern engines and motor oils can actually last much longer than 3,000 miles in between oil changes. Most cars can go 5,000 miles in between oil changes. I’ve also seen some cars that can go for 12,000 miles before they need a change. There really isn’t hard and fast number. Bottom line, it’s longer than 3,000 miles.

Dealers and mechanics propagate the 3,000 mile rule because it means drivers come in more often to get their oil changed, which means more money for car dealers and garages.

So forget the 3,000 mile rule. Check your owner’s manual to find out how many miles your car can go in between oil changes.

How to Change Your Motor Oil

Gather your tools and materials. You don’t need much to change your oil. Below we list the essentials:

• New oil filter. Different cars require different sized oil filters. Check your car’s owner’s manual to find out what size you need. You can also check the auto parts book that all auto stores carry to find out which oil filter you car takes. You just need to know your car’s year, model, and make.
• Oil. You need enough oil to refill your engine after you drain it. Most cars require 4 or 5 quarts of oil. Also, make sure you get the correct oil grade for your car. Check your owner’s manual for the grade and number of quarts you need.
• Oil filter wrench. Sometimes you can get the filter off just by unscrewing it by hand. If it’s too tight, bust out an oil filter wrench. It’s an attachment that you put on the end of a socket wrench. Make sure you get the right size filter wrench attachment for the size of your oil filter. The attachment will set you back about $3.
• Socket wrench set. You’ll need a socket wrench to unscrew the drain plug and maybe to unscrew the oil filter.
• Something to catch the old oil. Anything will work. You can get a fancy oil drip pan or you can use an old refrigerator drawer or an old bucket.
• A funnel.
• Some old rags. In case you drop the oil plug into the oil pan and you need to wipe it off. They’re also good for wiping off your hands.
• Car ramp. While not a necessary item, it can make your job easier. You can buy plastic ramps that will elevate your car’s front off the ground. This will give you more room to work underneath your car. You can find car ramps at most auto stores for about $30.

Warm up your car. To ensure that you drain all the old oil out of your engine block, warm it up by taking your car for a spin. You don’t want the oil to be too hot, just warm enough so it thins out a bit. To tell if your car is warmed up enough, just turn on your heater. When your feet get nice and toasty, you’re ready to drain the oil.

Park the car on a flat surface. Park your car on a flat surface and engage the parking break. If you have those ramps, place them in front of your front wheels and drive up them. It’s always good to have someone out front guiding you so you don’t end up driving off the other end of the ramps. For added safety, put blocks behind both rear tires.

Pop the hood and remove the oil filler cap. Removing the oil filler cap can help the oil drain faster. It allows air to flow into the engine as the oil drains out.

Remove the oil plug. Locate the oil plug underneath your car. It’s pretty easy to find. It’s a fairly large bolt on the oil pan’s bottom. Take an appropriate sized socket or wrench and start unscrewing the nut.

If the nut is too tight, try this little trick: get a piece of pipe that’s a bit longer than your socket wrench and place it over your socket wrench’s handle. This will give you some added leverage.

Don’t remove the oil plug completely with your wrench or you risk getting oil all over the place. Loosen it enough so that you can start unscrewing it with your fingers. Before you remove the plug, place your drip pan underneath the hole. When everything looks lined up, remove the plug. Make sure to hold onto the oil plug tightly or else you’ll have to fish for it in your drip pan.

Let the oil drain. After you remove the oil plug, let the oil drain out completely. It takes about 2 minutes for most engines to drain.

Here’s what an oil filter looks like

Remove the oil filter. Probably the hardest part in removing an oil filter is finding it on your engine. The first time I changed the oil, I spent a couple of minutes underneath my car scratching my head looking for the damn thing. The problem is there isn’t a standard position for where oil filters go, so it could be on your engine’s side, back, bottom, or top. Just look at your new oil filter and start looking underneath your car for something that looks similar. That’s your oil filter.

Now if the car manufacturer decides to put your filter in a weird place, it can be hard to remove. You might have to contort your arm in weird ways to unscrew it, but be assured you can remove it.

Oftentimes you can simply unscrew the filter by hand. However, if it’s too tight, bust out your filter wrench. Give it a few turns until it loosens up. Once it does, remove the filter wrench and finish unscrewing the filter by hand.

Before you remove the filter, make sure to have your drip pan underneath it. When you remove the filter a good stream of oil will come out.

When you remove the oil filter, make sure the rubber gasket ring comes off with it. If it stays on the car, the new filter won’t get an adequate seal on the engine.

Install the new oil filter. Dip your finger in some new oil and smear it on the gasket ring of your new filter. This will help the filter seat better against the engine. Thread the new filter onto the hole where the oil filter goes. It doesn’t take much to tighten your oil filter. Tighten it with your fingers until it stops turning. Then give it one more strong half turn. That should do the trick. Some oil filters come with instructions on how many turns you need to give a filter to tighten it. When in doubt, follow the instructions.

Replace the oil plug. Some mechanics suggest replacing the sealing washer on your oil plug before you start tightening it. If it’s a metal one in good condition, you can get away without replacing it. Put the washer in place and thread the drain plug back into its hole. Start tightening. When it’s nice and tight get out from under your car and remove the drip pan.

Refill the engine with oil. Place your funnel in the oil filler hole on the top of your engine and start filling your car up with new oil. Again, depending on the car, 4 to 5 quarts should do the trick. Once the oil is all in, screw on the oil cap and close the hood.

Let the car run. When you’re all done, start the car and let it run for about 5 minutes. This does two things. First, it allows your engine to regain proper oil pressure. Second, it gives you a chance to see if you have any leaks near your oil plug and oil filter. If you see any leaks, stop the car and tighten the plug and filter as needed.

Dispose of your old oil. Unless you want to go to prison or pay a hefty fine, don’t dump your motor oil in a sewer or the trash. Instead, take it to a proper disposal location. Most states have laws that require quick lubes and gas stations to accept used motor oil from consumers for free or at a nominal cost.  Just place your used oil in the drip pan in a couple of old milk jugs. You’ll need to use your funnel and a helping hand to make the transfer. Screw on the lids, put the jugs in the back of your car, and drop them off at your local quick lube. You can also give them your old oil filter.

You’re done! Grab a Miller High Life or a hand crafted soda and revel in a job well done.

Any other tips on changing your car’s oil? Share them with us in the comments.

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You’re at a party. Maybe someone made you go, cornered you at work or school and you couldn’t think of an excuse fast enough to dodge the invitation. Or perhaps you showed up to a social event that held the promise of being a fun shindig, but after listening for 20 minutes to a lady explain the pros and cons of buying an Accord over a Camry and being forced into a conga line against your will, all you want to do is make like a baby and head out. A lot of men find themselves trapped in these kinds of situations, wanting to stick a pencil in their eye but afraid to make an escape attempt.

We’ve discussed how to command a room like a man, but how do you leave a room like a man?

While you’ve surely heard about the importance of making a dynamite first impression, leaving a classy last impression is just as important. Studies have shown that people most clearly remember the end of an experience, not the beginning. Thus, you want to be able to exit a social event on your own terms, but you also want to leave the host and fellow guests saying, “Dang, I like that guy!”

So how do you leave a social event without being awkward and offending your host? And how do you make sure people remember you fondly?

Below, we set out some guidelines so you can leave a social event with confidence and class.

1. Know when to leave. No matter how smoothly you do it, it’s impossible to leave a social event politely if you exit at the wrong time. Even if you know the party is a disaster from the minute you walk in, you have to put in minimum cameo time. For a come and go kind of function, this minimum is about an hour. At a dinner party, this comes after the after-dinner coffee has been served. If you need to leave before these times for an important reason, tell the host or hostess as soon as you arrive. But generally, if you can’t make it for the minimum cameo time, it’s better not to come at all. It’s awkward to leave in the middle of dinner or to circle the room once before exiting back out the door. Your first and last impression will be one in the same, and not a very good one at that.

Once the minimum time has been met, either wait to make your exit as the party starts winding down or, if you’re having a terrible time, simply make the executive decision to get the heck out of dodge.

2. Stand up. When they feel it’s time to leave, most folks start to squirm in their seat and say things like, “Weeelll…. it’s getting late.” Then they just keep on sitting on their duffs looking awkwardly at their watch. Don’t dilly dally. If you’re ready to leave, then show that you are. Standing up shows you’re committed to leaving.

Now, don’t be abrupt about it. That’s just as awkward as squirming in your seat and looking side-to-side for a means to escape. Stand-up smoothly and confidently. While you’re standing, simply say, “Well I must be leaving.” Never give an excuse for why you have to leave. An excuse can make your hostess feel unimportant and force you to sheepishly explain yourself all the way to the door.

If you want to be particularly suave about your transition from sitting to standing, try this trick. When you’re ready to leave, wait for a pause in the conversation and start a short story. Make it an engrossing, entertaining story. You want to leave them laughing. As you tell the story, start standing up. You can even start putting on your coat and hat as you spin your yarn. Walk next to your host when you reach the story’s climax. Give a quick wink to the group, and…

3. Hold out your hand. Alright, you’re standing up. What do you do now? This is a crucial moment. If you don’t continue on your path towards the door, your host and the other guests will likely start wrapping their tentacles around you to hold you hostage for another round of Parcheesi.

As soon as you’re on your feet, offer your hand to your host. Give a good firm handshake. If appropriate, offer a man hug or kiss on the cheek if it’s a lady or a European dude. Most people who are socially adept will see that you’re serious about leaving and will usher you to the door and see you out. However, some people will still try to get you to stay.

4. Say “Thanks!” and “Goodbye.”As you’re shaking hands, thank your host or whoever you’re with for the hospitality and the conversation. Look them in the eyes, give them a big smile, and compliment the host on something specific you enjoyed about the evening. “Thank you for dinner! Your pumpkin pie is the best I’ve ever had!” Give a pleasant “goodbye” or “see you later.” Also, direct your goodbyes to the other people in the group.

5. Gather your things. You don’t want to leave anything that will cause you to come back after you’ve left. This only opens up the chance of getting sucked back into social purgatory. And it bursts the warm memory the host and remaining guests started forming about you as soon as you left. Grab your coat and hat and your wife’s coat and clutch. Make sure you have your cell phones. If you do happen to leave something, wait until tomorrow to come pick it up.

6. Walk to the door with confidence. Inertia can get the best of a man at this point. If you don’t start walking towards the door, you might find yourself sitting back down. Once you make your move to the door, do so with confidence and determination. Don’t stop to admire Grandma’s china cabinet or you risk getting a 10-minute lecture on the cabinet’s history from the Civil War to the present day.

7. Open the door.You’ve reached the door. You’re almost there, but you’re still at risk of having your departure needlessly delayed with awkward chatter. A well-mannered host will open the door for you and see you out. However, some people have either not been taught this bit of courtesy or if they have, they’ve forgotten it. The individuals in the latter group also seem to be the type that will strike up conversations in the doorway for another 15 minutes. If you don’t take matters in your own hands by opening the door, you’re doomed to listen to your wife’s co-worker talk about how she has a busy day making name tags for a convention tomorrow and the eating habits of her cats. If your host doesn’t open the door for you, do it yourself as soon as you reach the door. Once you open the door, step out. Keep your feet planted outside; even if the host continues to talk to you, the inside/outside dichotomy will soon compel them to close the door and send you on your way.

8. Walk away. Say your final goodbyes and pleasantries and walk to your car. Tip your hat (you are wearing a hat, aren’t you?) for the final charming touch. Mission accomplished! A few minutes more and you’ll be back in your man chair, sitting by the fire, and reading The Art of Manliness.

Have any other tips on leaving a scene? Share them with us in the comments.

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Image from Fractal Artist

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from AoM reader Jason Mills.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that smoking or using tobacco products comes with health risks like cancer and emphysema. Thus, like most things in life, from driving to eating refined carbs, there are both risks and benefits to pipe smoking. Smokers would argue that studies done specifically on the risks of pipe smoking are quite sparse, and that some actually found that occasional pipe smokers live longer than non-smokers. On the other hand, the National Cancer Institute argues that “Pipe smoking confers a risk of tobacco-associated disease similar to cigar smoking,” and puts the user at risk for a variety of cancers.

Now we’ve that we’ve gotten the pros and cons out of the way, please remember that it is a requirement of our comment policy that comments remain on topic. The topic of this post is the basics of pipe smoking for grown men who understand the risks involved, not whether or not pipe smoking is good for you. Please stay on topic.

I can remember visiting my best friend when I was younger.  It was fun to get together and have adventures like boys do, but one thing I really, really liked was his dad.  His dad was an old farm man and looked like it from the weather-beaten lines on his face to his calloused hands. He was quiet spoken and loved smoking his pipe.  Since my dad was a non-smoker, this fact really intrigued me as a young boy.  I’d see him lighting up and smoking his pipe in complete happiness.  He always smelled like pipe tobacco (Sir Walter Raleigh) and now, whenever I smell that brand, I always think of him.

Maybe you had a grandpa who was like my friend’s dad.  Maybe you saw him smoking his pipe in quiet contentment and enjoyed that manly smell as I did. Maybe you’ve never known a man who smoked a pipe, so you don’t know what I’m talking about. Either way it doesn’t change the fact that pipe smoking is a manly art.

Why?  Well, pipe smoking is as much ritual as it is relaxation. There’s a certain satisfaction you get when you pack the tobacco into the bowl just right.  Then, the whoosh of the match followed by that wonderful, aromatic smell.  Smoke a pipe with one of your favorite cocktails (maybe an Old Fashioned or a Martini) in the comfort of your favorite armchair, and you’ve got the makings of a perfect evening.

Pipe? Check. Man chair? Check. Grab the sports section and you’ve got the perfect evening ahead of you.

Even in cinema from the 1930s and 1940s, oftentimes you’ll see men with a pipe in their mouths.  Movies like The Quiet Man, Goodbye Mr. Chips, and even It’s a Wonderful Life find men of all stripes smoking their pipes. Today, men who smoke a pipe are taking part in a manly ritual that stretches back to the dawn of time and has continued unbroken to the present.  Convinced?  Then let’s get started.

Basic Supplies

Since this article is for newbies, I don’t want you to go broke trying something you may not like. So, I’ve provided a list of the minimum items you need to start.  When I first started smoking a pipe, I paid $12 for all of my stuff, but prices may vary in your area.  Here’s what you’ll need:

• A pipe. I recommend starting with a corn cob pipe. Yeah I know it sounds corny (no pun intended) but they’re cheap (mine was $4) and if you find you don’t like  smoking a pipe, just toss it with little out of your pocket.
• Pipe tamper/tool. Although not absolutely necessary, this is very helpful in packing the tobacco. Mine was $3 and was a combo tamper/cleaner.
• Pipe cleaners. Obviously for cleaning your pipe when you’re finished.  Most tobaccoists will gladly provide you with a handful at no charge
• Wooden Matches or a pipe lighter.
• Tobacco. This is where a knowledgeable tobacconist is HIGHLY needed. Tobacco comes in a variety of flavors and strengths.  I recommend starting out with a blended flavor.  The one I started with is called Almost Heaven and is a vanilla flavored tobacco.  My tobaccoist sold me a 3 oz sample pouch for about $5.

Once you have all this, you can get started.

How to Smoke a Pipe

“I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs.” -Albert Einstein

To start with, smoking a pipe is a leisurely activity.  I’d recommend setting aside at least 20 minutes. That’s one of the reasons pipe smoking is so enjoyable. It lets you take some time to slow down. Again, make yourself one of the 5 Classic Cocktails Every Man Should Know, grab your pipe and tobacco, and take a seat on the porch to enjoy the evening.  Now you’re really ready to begin.

1. Fill the bowl of your pipe. This step is the most difficult to master, but it affects the rest of your smoke.  Fill the bowl loosely with tobacco and press it lightly down with the tamper. The bowl should now be filled halfway from the bottom. Fill the bowl again to the top and compress a bit more, packing more firmly. Now your bowl is about 3/4 full.  Now top off the bowl with more tobacco and press down.  There should be a slight space between the top of the bowl and the tobacco.

2.  Put the pipe to your mouth and take a test draw. If air doesn’t flow freely through the tobacco, it’s too tight.  If that’s the case, remove and try again. If your test draw is fine, you’re ready to light.

3.  When lighting your pipe, use a wooden match or pipe lighter. I recommend wooden matches because they’re cheaper.  Pipe lighters are made specifically for tobacco pipes and don’t alter the taste of the tobacco.  If using a match, strike it and let it burn for a few seconds to get the sulphur off.  Then, as you take gentle draws on the pipe, move the match in a circular movement over the surface of the tobacco. Do this until the tobacco is evenly lit.  Once it’s lit, you’re still not quite there.  This is simply the “false light.” Let it go out, then relight the same way. Once it’s evenly lit, this is the “true light” and you’re ready to smoke.  Note: It is suggested that you NOT inhale the smoke into your lungs.  Pipe smoking is different than cigarette smoking.  This type of tobacco is a bit stronger and is more for the flavor.

4.  Take it easy when smoking your pipe. Slow and steady, this is a marathon, not a 50 yard dash.  If you puff too quickly, you’ll get what’s known as “tongue bite”– a burning sensation on your tongue.  Definitely not what you want.  Your pipe may go out 2 or 3 times during your smoke, but that’s OK.  Remember, relax and enjoy.  If you have a friend over, your pipe may go out more often as you talk!  Enjoy the flavor of the tobacco.

That’s all there is to it.  If you enjoy your first and subsequent smokes, you can buy the more expensive pipes and tobaccos.  Who knows, there may be another article on the types of pipes and tobaccos in the future.

Some Other Tips

• If you find that the pipe starts “gurgling,” there’s too much moisture in the pipe stem.  Simply take the pipe out of your mouth and put a pipe cleaner in the end for a second or two to remove the moisture.  Try to keep your mouth as dry as possible to prevent this from happening.
• If the pipe gets too hot on your hand, let it go out and then relight.  If it’s burning too hot, it can alter the taste of the tobacco.
• When finished with your smoke, always allow the pipe to cool before cleaning.

Editor’s note: If you’re intrigued by the idea of pipe smoking but for a variety of reasons want to avoid tobacco, you may wish to look into trying an e-pipe. E-pipes are electronic pipes that produce a vapor-like smoke but don’t contain tobacco. You can control the level of nicotine in the vapor from high to none at all. It’s a far cry from real pipe smoking, but an interesting alternative.

What are your manly pipe smoking tips? Share them with us in the comments!

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A lot of men today are clueless when it comes to tools. The increased affluence of the past 50 years led many men to outsource handyman work instead of doing repairs and home improvement themselves. And let’s face it. Men today can be pretty darn lazy. They’d rather play their Xboxes than work on building something with their own bare hands.

But knowing how to handle tools is an essential skill every man should, well, have a handle on. You’ll become more self-reliant, you’ll save money, and you’ll enjoy the supremely manly satisfaction of working with your hands. To help the generation of men who never got around to learning how to use tools, we’ll be doing a series of posts on basic toolmanship.

To kick off our series on tool use, we start with the lowly hammer. To the unskilled, hammering just means pounding the hell out of something until you get the job done. Sure, you could do that, but you’ll end up with crummy results and a tired arm to boot. A wise handyman knows how to use a hammer safely, effectively, and efficiently.

Types of Hammers

Proper hammering begins with selecting the right hammer for the job. Using a hammer for tasks that it’s not suited for can result in injury and shoddy work. Below, we give you the skinny on the different types of hammers a man has to choose from.

16 ounce claw hammer. If you’ve only used one kind of hammer in your life, it’s probably this one. Its curved back makes it ideal for pulling out nails. This is a must for any man’s toolbox.

16 ounce ripping hammer. When you have a small demolition job, this is your go-to hammer. Unlike the claw hammer, the back of a ripping hammer is straight. It’s used for heavy carpentry work, framing houses, and of course, ripping crap up.

Rubber mallet. Use a rubber mallet when you hammer a finished-metal surface.

Wooden mallet. Carpenters use wooden mallets to strike wood chisels during carpentry work.  Don’t try drywalling with a wooden mallet. You’ll just end up with a bunch of splinters in your face after the head smashes into a million pieces.

Soft-face hammer. When assembling furniture or working on some other decorative wood project, you need a hammer that will drive a nail without marring the surface of the wood. Go with the soft-face hammer for this job. The faces of soft-face hammers are usually made of plastic or rubber.

Ball peen hammer. Ball peen hammers are used in metalworking tasks like center punching and shaping soft metal.

Mason’s hammer. Use a mason’s hammer to cut and set bricks when laying that new walkway.

Upholster’s or tack hammer. The smaller face is designed for driving tacks in upholstery work.

Drywall hammer. The serrated face of this appropriately named hammer gives you a better grip on the nail when installing drywall. You can use its hatchet-shaped back for cutting drywall.

Huge ass sledge hammer.For big demolition jobs, bring out the big guns. Concrete, walls, and porecelin bathtubs are no match for a 10 pound sledge hammer. It also comes in handy at state fairs when attempting to win your girl a giant teddy bear.

Parts of a Hammer

Hammer Safety

Use the right hammer for the job. Don’t upholster a couch with a sledge hammer or drive drywall nails with a tack hammer. You won’t get the job done right, and you might end up injuring yourself.

Don’t strike a hardened steel surface with a steel claw hammer. Flying metal chips can injure you or a bystander.

Never use a hammer with a loose or broken handle. The hammer head could come flying off while in use. If you don’t want to explain to your wife why grandma’s china cabinet is in a million pieces, replace the handle if it’s loose or cracked.

Never use a hammer with a chipped or cracked head. It’s an accident waiting to happen.

How to Handle a Hammer

Where to hold the hammer. Hold the hammer like you’re shaking hands with somebody. When you need more control over the hammer, like when you’re starting a nail, grip the hammer closer to the hammer head. When you need power, grip the hammer near the handle’s end.

Starting the nail. Place the nail where you want to drive it and hold it between the thumb and forefinger of your non-dominant hand.  Place your fingers near the top of the nail when holding it. If you hold the nail near the bottom, a missed hammer swing will crush your fingers between the wood and the hammer. Not a pleasant feeling.

Grip the hammer near the middle of the handle. Tap the nail lightly until the nail has sunk into the wood enough that it can stand on its own.

If you’re driving in nails that are too small to hold between your thumb and forefinger, use this handyman tip: Grab a piece of thin cardboard or thick paper and push the nail through it. Instead of holding onto the nail, you hold onto the cardboard. Remove the cardboard before you finish driving the nail.

For some hardwoods, it’s a good idea to drill a pilot hole before you hammer in a nail. It makes the job easier and prevents the wood from splitting. Which brings us to our next point-

Preventing wood splitting. In addition to creating a pilot hole, lubricating the nail with beeswax and blunting the nail will also keep the wood from splitting. To blunt a nail, simply tap the nail point with your hammer. Also, avoid hammering a nail into the grain of the wood.

Swing from the elbow for power; swing from the wrist for control. For maximum power and efficiency, swing from the elbow. When you need more control and finesse, swing from the wrist. Many hammer newbies try to hammer with just wrist action.

Focus on the nail, not the hammer. When hammering, you want to avoid sideways and glancing blows. To score a direct hit every time, focus on the nail head, not the hammer.

Let the weight of the hammer do the majority of the work. You don’t need to use every ounce of strength in your body when hammering. That will only lead to wild swings and bent nails. The weight of the hammer head plus your smooth swing provides enough force to get the job done.

Advanced Hammering Techniques

Clinching nails. Let’s say you drive a nail through a 2×4. The nail is longer than the board is thick, so when you drive in the nail, the nail’s point sticks through the board. You don’t want to leave those points hanging out to snag people’s clothing or scrape their skin. So you’ll want to clinch the nail. Simply strike the tip of the nail at an angle and force it down flat into the board with light taps. Sink the tip below the surface of the board with a sharp rap. When you clinch a nail, always clinch with the grain. In addition to preventing ripped shirts, clinching also lends a nail greater strength and stability.

Example of toenailing

Toenailing. When you need to nail one board perpendicular to another, like in a framing job, bust out the toenail technique. Toenailing involves driving a nail at an angle through the end of the board to anchor it to another board. To toenail, place one end of the board perpendicular to the board you want to nail it to. Drive the nail in at a 60 degree angle.  It can be tricky starting an nail at an angle, so begin by making a pilot hole by tapping the nail point straight into the board. Once you have a hole, tip the nail point to the correct angle to finish driving it in. Brace your foot behind the board as you hammer, so the board doesn’t move from its spot. Toenail a second nail on the same side and two more nails on the opposite side.

Removing Nails

Claw hammers are designed to remove nails. Simply slide the claw underneath the nail head. Pull the hammer’s handle towards you to extract the nail. Here’s an old trick from grandpa to help you pull nails: Stop the first pull back before the hammer’s poll touches the surface of the wood. Place a wood block under the hammer head to provide some leverage. Using the block puts less strain on the hammer’s handle and allows you to lift the nail straight up without bending it.

Place a block under the hammer after the first pull back

Some nail heads are too small for the tongs of the hammer to grasp. To deal with such nails,  hammers are sometimes made with a small v-shaped notch in one of the prongs. If yours lacks this feature, you can simply file a v-shaped notch into one of the claws with a metal file.

Have any more hammering tips? Share them with us in the comments.

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Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Joseph P. Lenze. A few weeks ago Mr. Lenze shared his tips for international backpacking. Now, by popular demand, he gives us his advice on traveling by freighter ship, a manly adventure I’m willing to bet every man has dreamed about at one time or another. This article was originally published on the Community blog.

At the Port of Long Beach, California, I boarded a freighter named the Punjab Senator. Twenty-two days later I got off the ship in Singapore after a winter crossing of the Pacific. This trip wasn’t for everyone, but it was definitely an adventure I’ll remember for the rest of my life.

If you’re tired of ho-hum traveling by plane and want to experience a trip aboard a freighter ship, here’s what you need to know to get started.

First Things First: Common Misconceptions About Freighter Travel

1. Freighter travel is a cheap alternative to flying on a plane. The popular old-school romantic notion of showing up penniless at a dock with a rucksack and then “earning” your passage by swabbing the decks will have to remain in Robert Louis Stevenson novels. Traveling on a freighter requires advanced booking and it is generally more expensive than flying. A fifteen day cruise from Oakland to Shanghai will cost about $2000 (US). When traveling on a freighter ship you are essentially paying for many days and nights of food and accommodation in addition to the transportation.

2. Freighter travel is similar to being on a cruise. The purpose of a cruise ship is to provide a relaxing and enjoyable time for everyone on board. The purpose of a freighter is to get cargo from point A to point B as quickly as possible. Cruise ships troll around tranquil seas, with stabilizers so that you barely know you are moving. Freighters haul at a breakneck pace across the open ocean, often through storms. A cruise will be populated with thousands of people, whereas a freighter is often a larger vessel with only 20 or so people on it. While a cruise ship has restaurants, spas, gymnasiums, and tons of activities, a freighter will have a TV with a DVD player, a radio, and if you’re lucky, an old Nautilus machine for working out.

3. You can ride a freighter from anywhere to anywhere. Most freighter ships follow well defined shipping routes and make stops at the large port cities (Long Beach, Oakland, Singapore, Hong Kong, Kaohsiung, etc.) But if your dream is to catch a freighter from the Jersey shore to Isla Mujeres, Mexico….it’s not going to happen.

Now that we’ve gone over the negatives, here’s how you can get started. There are several companies that book freighter cruises – just google freighter travel. I used www.freighterworld.com and I was extremely happy with them. If you browse the site you can get a good idea of the duration, cost, and ports that you can travel to and from. Their FAQ section contains a wealth of information. As a further affront to your Kerouac dreams of spontaneous adventure, you will have to book your passage at least a month in advance and proof of insurance is also necessary.

If you decide to go for it, here are some tips:

1. Bring Seabands. I had spent a significant amount of time on fishing boats, cruise ships, and sailboats without ever getting seasick. However, when the Punjab Senator cruised out of the Port of Oakland into the open Pacific, I felt my stomach turn. I used sea bands which are little wrist bands that exert pressure on your wrist to alleviate the effects of nausea. I am unsure if the seasickness was psychosomatic or real – the idea of trudging straight into the Pacific during winter was slightly unsettling – but the seabands definitely made me feel better when I was wearing them. During a storm, our ship hit a roll of 20 degrees, which is a tremendous amount of motion. The good news is that by the end of the trip I was able to sleep through motion that left my belongings scattered about my room.

2. Bring books. I am not a fast reader, but during this trip I completed some monster works by Dostoyevsky, Ayn Rand, Solzhenitsyn, and John Steinbeck. The ship had a good library, but many of the works were in German since the crew was mostly German. On a typical day I worked out twice, watched a DVD or two, wrote extensively, took two naps, ate three meals, and still had enough down time to finish four novels.

3. Understand that you must entertain yourself. On my ship the officers consisted of 7 Germans and 4 Russians, and the remainder of the crew consisted of 10 Kiribati. English is the language of the sea, but no one else on the boat was a native English speaker. Additionally, in spite of the friends I made on the ship, the seamen are there to work, and there were many times when everyone was too busy to hang out. At the majority of the ports we stopped at, I went to the shore alone because the entire crew was busy supervising the loading and unloading of cargo.

4. Special diets are not accommodated. The hardest part about freighter traveling (for me) was the food. As a passenger you eat with the officers-on my boat they were German and Russian. They ate a meat intensive, diet and I am a vegetarian. On land, it is never a problem for me to find acceptable cuisine anywhere, but in the galley you can’t simply choose somewhere else to eat. For me, that meant many weeks of eating cheese sandwiches. Thank goodness I brought a tub of peanut butter.

5. Know where your ship is. Some of the ports are HUGE, as in miles across…a seemingly endless maze of containers stacked four stories high. If you go onshore alone, it is much easier to get out of the port than it is to come back to the port to re-board. There are often several exits for a port and not knowing where to go can be extremely frustrating. I was lost in the port of Singapore for a significant amount of time trying to find my way back to my ship.

6. Freighter room etiquette. In general, the setting is informal and the rules are similar to college dorm room etiquette. If someone’s door is open, you are welcome to go in. If someone’s door is shut, they are either not there or they would like privacy.

In this article, I tended to focus on some of the negative aspects of freighter travel. To be best prepared, you should know about the difficulties. You don’t need instructions on how to drink gin and tonics while celebrating an International Date Line crossing. Overall, I really enjoyed the unique experience of freighter travel. I have an understanding and appreciation of the ocean I would not have otherwise. The informal atmosphere that allowed you to sit in the bridge while the first mate navigated was matchless. Finally, freighter travel gives some adventure street-cred that is tough to get. When you’re drinking a beer in Phnom Pehn, Cambodia and some backpacker asks you where you flew into, it feels pretty manly to look up and say, “I didn’t.”

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You can tell a lot about a camper’s experience by the type of fires they build. Inexperienced campers usually build the same, heaped together bonfire for all their campfire needs. Sure, building huge ass fires is fun, but it’s extremely inefficient. The typical bonfire campfire burns a lot of wood, wastes heat, and isn’t very good for cooking food.

Experienced campers, on the other hand, build different campfires depending on their needs. These campers understand that when you build the right fire for the right time, you get the most efficiency out of it, the most comfort, and the most pleasure.

Below we’ve outlined how to build three different campfires for three different purposes. First, we’ll show you how to build the small snack fire. Next, we’ll discuss how to create the perfect fire lay for cooking. And finally, we’ll take a look at how to build a campfire for warmth and comfort after a long day spent hiking.

Snack Fire

Sometimes you just need a fire big enough to warm a pot of coffee or fry the afternoon’s catch. Or perhaps you’re not setting up permanent camp at a stop. You don’t want a fire that’s so big that cleaning it up when you leave consumes too much time. Enter the snack fire. The snack fire is just a basic tepee fire lay. It’s small, but very efficient.

To build it, simply start by placing small twigs up against each other until you form a mini tepee. Leave an open space in the center where you can place the tinder. Newspaper balls, dry leaves, and dry pine needles work best. With practice, you can start a small fire in seconds. To keep the fire going, keep adding small twigs to the lay.

To use it to boil some water for your coffee or broil some bacon, wait until the tepee falls and then put your frying pan or kettle right in the center. Keep adding little twigs around the pot to increase the heat.

That’s it! While this fire won’t keep you very warm and it isn’t large enough to cook much, it’s a good fire to use when you need one quickly or just want a little warm comfort on your travels.

Cooking Fire

You should implement the cooking fire when you plan on staying in a location for more than a day and you want to do some serious campfire cooking. Campers often try to cook by placing their pots and pans directly into the fire. But this typically achieves less than satisfactory results, burning both pans and food. This leads some to tote along a camping stove. But you can make an effective campfire cooking range out of all natural materials.

Start off by building a tepee fire. Make it a bit larger than you would for a snack fire. When you get a good fire going, lay two green logs side-by-side about 7 inches apart at one end, and 4 inches at the other. The two logs serve as a stove range where you can place pots and pans. You can put your smaller vessels like a coffee pot on the narrower end, and your larger pots on the wider end. This enables you to cook several dishes at the same time. Spread or pile the coals to create hotter or cooler cooking areas.

If you want to make it a bit more elaborate, you can rig up a pole over the fire as seen in the picture. Then you can then hang your pots a couple of inches above the fire for care-free simmering.

Comfort Fire

What if you could bring the comfort and warmth of a fireplace with you on your camping trip? Well, with the reflecting fire you can. On a cold night you need more than just a simple tepee to keep you warm. You need something that will focus the heat directly at you. The problem with most campfires is that it throws heat off in all directions. A reflector fire lay solves this problem by replicating how a fireplace works. Fireplaces have a backdrop that reflects heat back towards the house. The reflector fire does the exact same thing.

You can use any fire lay to make a reflector fire- tepee, log cabin, star fire, whatever. We’re just going to place the fire in front of a backdrop to reflect heat.

Try to find a natural reflector to build your fire in front of. A cliff, larger boulder, or earthen bank will work. If you can’t find a natural reflector, build your own by driving two hearty stakes into the ground at an angle in front of your fire. Against these slanted poles, stack up a row of logs from largest to smallest to form a backstop that will serve as the reflector. Use only green wood so it won’t burn.

Now you can sit on your tree stump, eat s’mores, and enjoy the warmth and comfort of a fireplace out in Mother Nature.

Source:Woodcraft by George W. Sears

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Source: Life

Am I the only boy who secretly dreamed of  becoming a hobo? Riding the rails, traveling across the country, and carrying everything you own on your back has a romance that appeals to every man’s desire to wander.

In a 1937 issue of Esquiremagazine, an anonymous writer penned an article called “The Bum Handbook.” Unlike most bums, he had chosen his vagabond lifestyle. And he was tired of seeing the sub-par job most other bums were doing. This was during the Great Depression, and many men found themselves homeless, lost, and ignorant of the art of bumliness. The author had being a hobo down to a science and claimed to enjoy 3 meals a day and a comfortable place to sleep each night. While he didn’t desire to return to regular society, he knew that most fellow hobos did, and so he offered these tips in hopes they could maintain confidence and a respectable look and thus find their way back to steady work.

Although much has changed since the 1930’s, if you by chance find yourself a hobo during this Great Recession or desire to become a bum by choice, perhaps you can learn some tips from hobos of old. Enjoy these excerpts from the article and this fun peek into the past.

Keep yourself clean. Filthy men can’t charm the housewife into giving food, the passerby into relinquishing money, the man of business into giving jobs: the housewife is scared and repelled, the passerby is annoyed and anxious to be away, the business man responds curtly. And there is no need to be unwashed. Every gasoline station and railroad depot has a washroom replete with running water, soap and paper towels; anyone may use these facilities, the bum should wash and shave there. In the handbook for bums the first motto is: A bum should be clean.

Stay away from the cities. City people have submerged their humanity. I think the reason for this is their security from the elements, for the family that is sure of food and shelter becomes easily forgetful of other human beings’ needs and thinks vaguely of organized charities…The farm family, on the other hand, knows that deficit of sun or rain may touch more than its comfort, that the house it has built must be a citadel against cold and storms; therefore, their humanity comes more quickly to their mouths and hands. I do not say that city dwellers cannot be “hit” with success, but it is more difficult and only among the poor ones have you a fair chance of receiving hospitality.

Avoid intermediaries. Direct appeal is the best: individual should appeal directly to individual. Once I remember speaking to some soldiers in a town that had only two restaurants. When it was time to eat they insisted on going into one of the restaurants with me and pleading my case with the proprietor. There was much whispering and finally after some minutes the proprietor said, “All right, I’ll give him reduced rates.” Reduced rates and I didn’t have a cent in my pockets! I thanked my well-meaning friends, went into the other restaurant alone, and received a bounteous meal. I am sure that had I spoken to that first man myself, I would have had no trouble obtaining food. Another time, because of the solicitude of some CCC boys, I found myself without a bed at three o’clock in the morning: they had insisted that I sleep at their camp five miles away, and when I had arrived, their superior objected strongly.

Travel by highway and not be rail.Automobiles provide slower travel but the rails have more serious disadvantages, not only the filthy and bumpy riding of the freight cars but also in danger. You may be arrested and locked up for vagrancy, you may be beaten up, you may even encounter that certain railroad detective who stands by the tracks with a rifle and picks off the bums as the cars roll into the freight yard…Another reason for working the highway is that through hitches one learns of jobs to be had. Friendly drivers have informed me that one can earn $1.50 a day and board in a lumber camp, $3.00 a day picking apples, $.06 a barrel picking potatoes (the average worker fills about a hundred barrels a day) et cetera. The field of seasonal labor is tremendous and extends all over the United States. By traveling from state to state one can be employed practically every month of the year, and there is always more demand than supply, the wages are high. Also, people in automobiles sometimes become really interested in you and offer you employment. This does not happen too infrequently. I should say that I average about one offer every three days. I have been a gardener, a waiter, a gravedigger, a fisherman, a lumberman, a farm hand, a clerk, a newspaper reporter, a ghost-writer, a chauffeur, a toy salesman, and garbageman. I never keep these jobs long because I am over-fond of the road, and after a week in one place I long to be on an open truck again, watching houses slip by and the land change.

Speak forthrightly. Do not slink, speak too humbly, or cast your eyes down when you make a request. Address most men as “sir” and speak to them in such a way that they will call you “old man.” Women should be talked to lightly, gallantly. There are of course many exceptions to these rules but one learns to recognize them by their faces.

Do not use hyperbole. To say “I haven’t eaten in two days” just doesn’t convince the average person, or else it scares him. That a man hasn’t eaten in two days is a strange thing to most people and they react unfortunately to the information. Merely to say that you haven’t eaten breakfast that day is enough to provoke the sympathy of the housewife.

How about other necessaries: tobacco, clothing, beer?Well, people never refuse you when you ask for a cigarette; very often they give you three or five. As far as beer is concerned, any number of people you talk to on the street invite you to a bar, particularly if your tales are interesting. Also, bartenders at closing time are apt to be friendly. Clothes are more difficult to obtain. It is best to enter a small haberdashery and explain that you’ve just arrived in town and that you’re looking for a job-obviously you can’t get work when your shirt is so torn, et cetera.

Don’t sleep in dubious jails and flophouses.Try to find a farm house before dusk so that you can ask the farmer to let you sleep in his barn. Hay makes a very warm and satisfactory bed, it molds exactly to the body…But if the farmer refuses to let you use his barn for a bedroom, ask him to give you some newspapers. Then go into a pasture, build a fire, wait for it to die out, spread the ashes, cover them lightly with dirt, and you have prepared a bed that will stay warm all night. For covering, use the newspapers and a poncho (you should always carry a poncho with you, they make excellent raincoats, tents, and blankets). Or you can go to a garage, garagemen will often let you sleep in cars; furnacemen will let you sleep next to the furnace, et cetera.

I did not leave home because of an impossible wife or because I could not get employment-I had no wife and I had a well paying job with a millinery house, a job into which I had been recruited because I had never become excited about a future and planned it. But I was not happy in the city and more than others I looked forward to vacations; at those times I would travel constantly trying to absorb as much as possible. I found it increasingly difficult to return after each vacation. Finally, the inevitable happened. I just didn’t return, I just kept on going. It really made no difference. I had no dependents and milliners could show bad taste without my aid. Now I am completely happy. All the infinite phases of nature I can observe at leisure, all the different types of country I can live with in their optimums. The spring I spend in the West, the summer in the far North, the fall in New England, the winter in the South. In a few years I shall probably want to go to Europe, and I shall go. And since I have been on the road I have in many ways improved myself: my sensitivities have been sharpened (I even write poetry now, and it’s not too bad), my education extended, and my health become superb. I don’t know whether I shall ever settle down again, and I don’t much care.

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It’s every man’s worst fear. You’re at someone’s house, you  finish doing your business and flush the toilet, but instead of going down, the water comes up along with whatever you just deposited in the bowl. Would you be paralyzed with panic in that moment? Or do you know what to do?

For some reason, the lot has fallen to men to deal with clogged toilets. I guess in a time when we’re no longer needed to ride out in defense of the tribe,  our toughness is marshaled to do battle in the bathroom. But many men charge in brandishing their plunger but lacking a game plan on how to attack the clog. To help us learn how to effectively unclog a toilet, I called up Rod from Roto-Rooter and got the scoop.  Here’s his advice.

Stop the toilet bowl from filling up. If it looks like the water might overflow out of the toilet, Rod suggests taking the lid off the tank as quickly as possible and closing the toilet flapper. The flapper releases water from the tank and into the bowl. It looks like, well, a flapper. If you’re worried that your flush has a good chance of turning into a flood, take off the top before you pull the trigger. Then you can keep one hand close to the flapper while the other hands pushes the flusher. The minute it appears the water is rising, you’re ready to stop the deluge.

Toilet flapper (Image source: The Jay)

Get the right plunger. Once disaster has been averted, it’s time to unsheathe your plunger. To effectively use a plunger, you need a good seal between it and the toilet bowl. Funnel-cup plungers are the best plungers for this. They’re the plungers with a flange, or added piece, extending off the bottom of the rubber cup.

Funnel-cup plunger

Warm up your plunger. Stiff, hard plungers don’t work as well as soft and pliant ones. Run your plunger under some hot water before you use it. This will soften up the rubber, which will help you get a better seal on the toilet bowl.

Plunge correctly. Stick the plunger in the bowl and use it to form a solid seal over the exit hole. Rod said that most people only focus on the downward push when plunging. But the pullback is just as important. Give a few good up and down strokes with the plunger and flush the toilet. If the water clears from the toilet, then you’ve successfully unclogged it. If the toilet starts overflowing again, just close the flapper to stop water from entering the bowl. Repeat the plunge and flush sequence until your clog is gone.

Secret Plumber Trick: Add Hot Water and dishwasher detergent. Add a few cups of hot water to the toilet bowl before you start plunging. After you pour the hot water in, let it sit for a few minutes. To put it mildly, the heat helps break the, um, stuff up. This will make unclogging the toilet with the plunger much, much easier. The heat from the hot water can sometimes break up the clog without plunging, so this could be a good tactic to use if you a clog a toilet at a friends house and you don’t want to face the embarrassment of asking for a plunger.

Also, try adding some dishwasher detergent to the mix. The soap can help break the clog up, as well.

(Hat tip Ryan and Jim in the comments).

For harder clogs, use an auger. If the plunger doesn’t work, Rod says it’s time to bust out the auger. An auger is a cable like device that you snake through the toilet hole to help loosen up a clog. You can find augers at most hardware stores.

Toilet auger

To use an auger, you simply snake the cable down the hole. Start turning the crank on the end you’re holding until it stops. This means you’ve reached your clog. The auger will either break up the clog or hook on to it. If it feels like you’ve hooked the clog, pull it out. Discard any waste on the end of the auger. Give the toilet a few good plunges to clear up any left over blockage. Flush. Shazam! Cleared toilet.

When to call the plumber. There are times when your own efforts just aren’t enough. How do you know when it’s time to call in the professionals to battle your clog? Rod says that if you see water backing up in the sinks or showers whenever you flush, it’s time to bring in a plumber. Water backing up in odd locations when you flush means you have a clogged main line. A plunger and auger won’t get the job done.

Avoiding clogged toilets. Rod’s parting advice was to avoid clogs in the first place. First, teach children that the toilet is not a Jacuzzi or water ride for their GI Joes. Rod says that the majority of his work with clogged toilets involves toys and other items that kids have flushed down the toilet.

Rod also says it’s important to ensure the jets around the toilet bowl’s edge are nice and clean. Stopped up jets will prevent the toilet from flushing at full power which in turn prevents you from clearing out the toilet and its contents. Weekly toilet cleaning with a brush will prevent build-up. If you haven’t cleaned the toilet in a while, you’ll probably have mega buildup. Rod suggests using an Allen wrench or screwdriver to clear out the junk.

Finally, take it easy on the paper. You don’t need an entire roll to wipe your bum.

Any more tips on how to unclog a toilet? Share them with us in the comments!

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Editor’s Note: On Tuesdays, we occasionally feature an excellent article that was originally posted in the Art of Manliness Community by a community member. Today we’ve selected a post from Joseph P. Lenze.

I have circumnavigated the earth on a shoestring budget without the use of an airplane by traveling through 43 countries via land and sea. By traveling on a freighter ship across the north Pacific, camel-trekking through the Sahara, and riding a horse at full gallop across the wide open Mongolian countryside, I not only learned about the 43 countries I traveled through, but I picked up a few great international backpacking tips. In this post I share 7 of the most useful.

1. Take advantage of ATMs

Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) are available in almost every country, at least in the larger or capital cities. Many people are unaware that their bank card will generally work in these, and they can withdraw money in the local currency. The advantages are huge – you don’t have to carry around massive amounts of cash, mess around with travelers checks, or go through the process of changing money. The ATM fees that your bank charges are comparable to the money you’ll lose with local money changers.

2. Wash your clothes in the shower

Oftentimes you’ll find yourself without access to a proper washing machine. You can solve this by wearing your dirty clothes into a shower and washing your clothes on your body with soap. Just like a regular shower, pay attention to your armpits and areas that get particularly dirty. It works.

3. Stash an emergency $100 or 100 Euro bill

Many backpackers use a daypack for their daily excursions, while keeping their main pack at a hostel, ger, guesthouse, hotel, or in storage. Keep an emergency $100 or 100 Euro bill stashed in the main pack in case you lose your money in your day pack. In a small Polish border town I lost my ATM card. Fortunately, I had enough with my “stash” money to buy a ticket to Warsaw (civilization). Once in Warsaw I was able to get phone and internet access and start solving problems. Make sure to choose a well-known, well accepted currency.

4. Know visa requirements for each country

This seems like a no-brainer, but in northern China I saw a lot of suckers paying good money for a Mongolian visa when you didn’t need one to travel there as a U.S. citizen. On the other hand, in 2005, I tried to sneak through Ukraine without a transit visa and customs deported me back to the middle-of-nowhere Russia which ended up costing me a couple of days.

5. Preemptively avoid a mugging

If you’ve done your AoM homework, then you’ve been on a good weight training program and you know how to look people in the eye and speak with confidence. This will help preempt any potential muggers.  When you’re in a situation that just doesn’t feel right – maybe with a shady acting cab driver in Mexico City or a tuk-tuk driver in Bangkok who seems to be taking you the wrong way – you want to subtly give the impression that you’re not an easy target. Many times, I simply mentioned that I’m “visiting xxxx to continue my (MMA, muay thai, boxing, knife fighting, bear wrestling) training.” Make it believable and be confident – if you’re a foreigner running around a shady section of Bangkok at night, your story doesn’t sound too far-fetched.

6. Use a sleep-sheet

A sleep-sheet is an unlined sleeping bag without a zipper, generally made of canvas, cotton, or silk. Now you can stay in some dingy hostel, guesthouse, or other gnarly accommodation and your body only touches the inside of your sleep-sheet. It takes off the stress of wondering “Where has this blanket been?” and “Who or what slept here last night?” Thanks to my sleep-sheet, I slept like a baby when my Cambodian guesthouse wall said “Beware of Bedbugs.”

7. Baby powder is your friend

I learned this trick from a female soldier friend who spent long nights in a foxhole during training. If you can’t wash your hair, throw some baby powder in it and it will leave you feeling fresh. After a long-day hiking, walking, or stuck in a train, sprinkle some into your boots or shoes. Staying dry is a paramount concern when backpacking. Additionally, it’s a simple way to “freshen up” up after a long day of adventures.

I hope these tips serve you well. The picture below is in the port of Osaka, Japan after a winter crossing of the North Pacific on a freighter…for credibility’s sake. Cheers!

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When it comes to father/son bonding experiences, few can match the satisfaction of working on a pinewood derby car together. Most Cub Scout packs have an annual pinewood derby race. Little Scouts turn blocks of wood into super fast racing machines. In the process, they get a basic lesson in physics, tool handling, and competition. If you never had the pleasure of taking part in this glorious boyhood rite of passage, here’s how you can guide your son in building a pinewood derby car that will race to the head of the pack.

1. Remember, he’s supposed to do most of the work. Don’t be one of those uber-competitive dads who wrenches the project from his son’s little hands and takes complete control of the construction of the car in order to secure the blue ribbon. You can always tell which cars were built entirely by a dad, and everyone resents him. His kid ends up at the receiving end of that animosity, and worse still, feels like his dad doesn’t trust him. Your role in the car making process should be as minimal as possible. Once you fully understand these steps, your job is to simply offer guidance and encouragement and perhaps do any cutting that requires heavy machinery.

2. Check the rules. While there are general pinewood derby rules, some scout packs have local rules. You don’t want your son to spend hours working on his car only for it to be disqualified for not complying with the guidelines.

3. Trace the template on the block of wood. Included with the official pinewood derby set your scout pack will give you are a variety of car designs to choose from. You can get as creative as you want. Keep in mind that intricate designs often sacrifice speed for looks. Growing up, my dad and I always had success with very basic designs that looked like a wedge of cheddar on wheels.

The easiest way to get your chosen template on the block is to use carbon paper. With a sheet of carbon paper underneath it, place the template design on the side of the block of wood. Trace the design. Repeat on the other side. Make sure the front of the car is facing the same direction on both sides of the block.

4. Cut the block. Using a coping saw, cut just outside the template designs. You can sand down to the actual lines after you cut it.

5. Prepare the axle slots. Cars with longer wheel bases tend to be faster. So you might consider moving the two pre-made axle slots further towards the end of the block. If you decide to do this, make sure the new axle slots are exactly square with the side of the block or else the car alignment will be off.

6. Drill holes for the weight. Pinewood derby cars work on basic Newtonian physics. The cars race down a sloped track, propelled only by gravity. Thus, the heavier your car is, the more potential energy it has, and the faster it will go. When adding weight to your car, you have two options on where to place it: externally or internally. Externally is the easiest option. You just glue the weight on the top or the bottom of the car. However, this increases wind resistance. That’s why the best place to apply the weight is internally, inside holes drilled in the car. It’s best to place the weights near the rear of the car, so drill your holes there. You’ll probably have to drill 2 or 3 holes to get all the weight in. Pick a drill bit width that will allow space to insert the weight (see Step 13).

7. Sand. Start with heavy grit paper and work your way to a finer grit. Finish it off by going over the car with some steel wool. The car should be nice and smooth for the paint.

8. Paint and finish. Prime the wood surface of the car by applying a wood sanding sealer. Now you won’t have to put on several coats of paint. Spray paint is fast and gets the job done. But if you’re going for more elaborate designs, you’ll have to paint it by hand. After you paint it, sand it one more time with a fine grit paper. Apply decals to the car as desired (studies have shown that flames on the side will make the car go faster). Finally, go over everything with a clear-coat finish to give the car that glass-like look.

9. Check the wheels. Make sure there aren’t any burrs or extra plastic on the tread of the wheel. Blemishes like these will only slow the car down. If you see any, gently sand them down.

10. Polish the axles. The axles in pinewood derby cars are small zinc nails. If you want your car to be a speed demon, you need to reduce the friction between the wheel and the axle. The first thing you can do is polish the axles by gently sandpapering them. This will remove any burrs or blemishes that the spinning wheel can get snagged on.

11. Mount the wheels. This is a key step in building your speed machine. The wheels should be aligned to minimize the amount of friction on the wheel. Thread the nail/axle through the plastic wheel. Place the pointed end of the nail into the car’s axle slot. When you do, angle it so the head of the nail is pointing slightly toward the back of the car. This will reduce friction by causing your wheel to ride near the end of the axle instead of near the body of the car. Test roll the car to see if rolls straight. If it veers off in any direction, adjust the axles accordingly to straighten out the car. Adjustments should be made slowly with repeated trials.

12. Lubricate the axles. Dry lubricants are usually the only lubrication permitted. Powdered graphite is the most common dry lubricant. Just place some in the axle hole of the wheel and spin the wheel around a few times to ensure that the entire inside of the hole is covered with the graphite.

13. Add the weight and seal the holes. You have several options for weight. I always used lead buckshot. It’s definitely manly. Another option is zinc. Many Boy Scout and hobby stores sell zinc weights for pinewood derby cars. Cars cannot weigh more than 5 ounces, and it’s better to be slightly underweight than overweight because it’s easier to add weight than to remove it. Seal the weight in with some wood putty and sand smooth. Leave an extra hole empty in case you have to add more weight. Make sure to bring some extra weight along with some fast drying putty to the derby in case you have to add more weight to get up to that 5 ounce weight limit.

Do you have any more tips on building a fast pinewood derby car? Share them with us in the comments!

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Back in the days of cowboys and cattle drives, the ranch cook and cattle team cook played an important role and wielded enormous power. Because the cook determined whether a cowboy received a decent meal after a hard day of wrangling cattle, cowboys were always on their best behavior with the cook. Not even the lawmen of the day could get such good behavior from cowboys.

In honor of the old Western ranch cook, we present four authentic cowboy recipes that you can fix next time you want to harness your inner John Wayne. Enjoy.

Cowboy Beans

2 pounds of pinto beans

2 pounds of ham hock

2 onions chopped

4 tablespoons sugar

2 green chilies

1 can of tomato paste

Wash the beans and soak them overnight. After you drain them, place the beans in a Dutch oven and cover with water. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer until the beans are nice and tender.

Sourdough Biscuits

1 cup of sourdough starter (see below)

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of sugar

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 tablespoon of shortening

3-4 cups of flour

Place flour in a bowl and add the sourdough starter. Stir in the salt, soda, sugar, and shortening. Dough should begin to form. Add flour until the dough is firm. Pinch off some dough, form a ball, and roll it in melted shortening. Place the biscuits in a Dutch oven. Allow the biscuits to rise for about 20 minutes. Then bake until they’re done, about 30 minutes.

Sourdough Starter

In order to make sourdough, you’ll need some sourdough starter. Here’s how to make it.

2 cups of warm potato water

2 cups of flour

1 tablespoon sugar

First you need to make your potato water by cutting up a couple of medium sized potatoes into cubes and boiling them in 3 cups of water until the potatoes are tender. Measure two cups of the potato water, and mix it with flour and sugar into a paste. Set the mixture in a warm place to rise. It should double its original size after it’s done rising.

Sonofabitch Stew

This was a favorite beef stew dish among cowboys of the America West. It was also known as rascal stew or by the name of some unpopular figure of the time. For example, some cowboys called it Cleveland Stew in (dis)honor of President Grover Cleveland displacing cowboys from the Cherokee Strip. If you’re not into eating animal organs, pass this one up. However, if you want to put some hair on your chest, belly up to the table and pound this meal down.

2 pounds of lean beef

Half a calf heart

1 ½ pounds of calf liver

1 set sweetbreads (that’s the thymus gland for you city slickers)

1 set of brains

1 set of marrow gut

Salt, pepper to taste

Louisiana hot sauce

Cut the beef, liver, and heart into one inch cubes. Slice the marrow gut into rings. Place these ingredients into the Dutch oven and cover with water. Let it simmer for 2 to 3 hours. Add salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Chop sweetbreads and brains into small pieces and add to stew. Simmer another hour.

Cowboy Coffee

Out on the trail, coffee was a staple among cowboys. Piping hot coffee helped a cowboy shake off the stiffness from sleeping on the hard desert ground, and it was also a good beverage to wash down the morning sour dough biscuits.  But cowboys didn’t have the luxury of fancy coffee brewers or french presses. They had to pack light, so all they usually had was a metal coffee pot, sans filter, to brew their coffee in. No matter. A cowboy could still make a decent cup of coffee. Here’s how.

1. Bring water to a near boil over your campfire.
2. Throw your coffee grounds right into the water. That’s right. Filters are for city slickers.
3. Stir the coffee over the fire for a minute or two.
4. Remove the pot from the fire and let the coffee sit for a minute or two to allow the grounds to settle at the bottom of the pot. Add a bit of cold water to help speed along the settling process.
5. Carefully pour the coffee into your tin cup so that the grounds stay in the pot.
6. Stand around the fire with your left thumb in your belt loop and your coffee cup in your right hand. Take slow sips and meditate on the trek ahead.

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Every man should know how to brew a decent cup of coffee.  It’s an everyday skill that should be passed down from father to son, like shaving or mowing the lawn. It’s a manly ritual providing both utility and comfort.  Unfortunately, if you asked most men today for a cup of coffee they would either cast a worried, “help me!” glance to their wife or crank up the jet engine on their latest $300 instant coffee contraption, capable of grinding, purifying, and outputting unnatural amounts of brown acidic liquid, tasting something akin to lava, but definitely not coffee.

There was a time when I fell into the categories of men listed above, but two things happened that forever changed my relationship with coffee: 1) I joined the military and 2) I moved to the Seattle-Tacoma area.

For those unfamiliar with the military, from the darkest corner of a tent in Afghanistan to the desks of generals sitting at the Pentagon, coffee has always been a staple of military culture.  It could be the long hours or un-ending stress, but anywhere you hear a drill instructor’s piercing scream or an order for an air strike to rain down hell, you can be assured that a decent cup of coffee is nearby. I was inducted into this military/coffee tradition almost as soon as I landed in basic training.

And then there’s Seattle, the coffee mecca. Birthplace of Starbucks, Seattle’s Best (technically started a few miles away in Coupeville, but close enough) and home of Tully’s. Seattle is pretty much unrivaled when it comes to their love of quality coffee.  I once started to count the number of drive-thru espresso shops within a 10-mile radius of my house and quit counting after reaching over 20.  The people of the Northwest love their coffee, but what’s even better is they’re thrilled to show you how to make good coffee yourself.

Now, I don’t profess to be an expert barista, but I give you the following guide to making great coffee, as one man helping another.  It’s not perfect. Anyone who loves coffee knows there’s always more to learn. But through much trial and error, this process has produced consistently great coffee and brought me the enjoyment of creating something with my hands each morning.  Here we go:

The Prerequisites

1) Buy Decent Beans – It really doesn’t matter how you brew your coffee if the coffee itself sucks.  Let’s be clear right off the bat. If the best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup…well…let me encourage you to expand your horizons. There’s better coffee out there.  Now, I realize that taste is a very personal thing, so if you absolutely love the huge bins of dry, cheap coffee that keep you supplied for a year, please don’t let me steer you away, but…ok, please let me steer you away.

Asking one to name the best coffee beans is very similar to asking one to name the best wines.  It is a highly subjective endeavor at best.  However, there is one key component that separates the wheat and the chaff in terms of beans — freshness.  Buying freshly roasted beans, as opposed to those packaged and stored for months at a time, is a sure way to make your coffee experience more favorable.  Find a coffee shop nearby that either roasts their own beans or has them delivered daily or weekly from a roaster nearby and begin sampling.

Try lots of different roasts and ask lots of questions.  Most coffee shop employees are eager to let you in on their favorite beans and brewing methods.  Soon you’ll find beans that suit your tastes whether its dark, light, complex or simple.  Just make sure to buy FRESH!

2) Grind the Beans Yourself – After you’ve bought some high-quality, freshly-roasted beans, the next step is to keep them fresh.  One of the best ways to do this is to buy whole beans, store them in an airtight container, and grind them just before brewing.  By doing so, you’ll help keep the flavors of the beans locked in until you’re ready to taste them.  As Myron Joshua of ineedcoffee.com explains,

“Every time you buy fresh coffee beans and ask the checkout person at the coffee shop to grind your beans you are opening up the “flavor cells” and causing your beans to begin losing their flavor rapidly. The purpose of grinding the beans is to create a larger surface area that will release the flavor and oils to the surrounding hot water. If coffee is prematurely exposed to air, it “breathes,” leaving less and less flavor for the brew, when the water finally hits the bean.”

Finding a decent grinder is fairly easy, most major retail stores and coffee shops sell them.  If you are more of an online shopper, here are a few to consider: here, here and here.

3) The French Press – Also known as a press pot, this simple coffee making device is said to have originated in France during the 1850’s.  The press is normally a glass cylinder with a “plunger” like device that fits tightly into the circumference of the cylinder.  The plunger features a handle with some sort of wire or nylon mesh that pushes the coffee grounds to the bottom, trapping them there after a few minutes of brewing.  If you’re serious about coffee, ditch your fancy automatic coffee maker and try the french press.

Why you ask, would you want to take a step backwards in history and technology when your current coffee maker can brew 53 cups of coffee in 3 minutes?  Quite simply, coffee brewed in a French press tastes better for 2 reasons:

• the coffee grounds are fully steeped and saturated at the beginning of brewing.
• this method retains the natural oils of the coffee that are normally absorbed by the paper filter.

But, don’t take my word for it. Listen to the words of fellow Art of Manliness readers who were discussing brewing methods in the forum:

“I love to drink a strong cup of coffee. I find that the French press works best for me.” – Ryan Scott

“I’ve been around the block with a bunch of brewing methods and always have come back to French press. I like to say that for four minutes all the coffee touches all the water so you get all the flavor.” – Keith Rains

“When I’m not too lazy, I love using a French press… which is especially awesome when you’re out camping and can make that steaming brew from freshly ground beans and a pot of water boiled from off an open fire. Divine!” – Brian Heasty

The French press not only helps make a great pot of coffee, there is something very meditative in the whole brewing process.  The “set it and forget it” ease of most drip coffee makers definitely has its advantages: speed, less work for the user, the ability to brew larger amounts of coffee. But while you gain efficiency, you lose a connection to the coffee.

How to Brew Coffee with a French Press

1. Grind your beans, leaving them a bit more large and coarse than you may be used to seeing.  You will want approximately 1 tablespoon of grounds per cup.  Dump them into the bottom of the French press.

2. Use a kettle to boil your water.  You want to let it sit for a couple of minutes after boiling before adding it to the press.  Don’t fret too much about temperature, but most coffee geeks recommend 180-20o degrees Fahrenheit.

3. Pour the hot water into the French press, slowly covering all of the coffee grounds as you fill it up.  Immediately stir the grounds to give the mixture a nice uniformity.

4. Add the filter on top and let the coffee steep for 4 minutes.  After the time has passed, press the plunger down and you’re ready.  A perfect cup of coffee awaits you like a loyal friend.

For more details on using a french press, I recommend the following:

• http://coffeegeek.com/guides/presspot

**Bonus Brewing Method (For those coffee enthusiasts who have read this far) – The coffee siphon is an old method of coffee brewing that is now making a resurgence among diehard coffee fans.  The method virtually eliminates the usual acidity found in most coffee brews and leaves an almost sweet taste that’s full of flavor.  Google it, ask your local coffee expert about it, but definitely try it out.

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Source Life

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Jon at Armslist.com.  Armslist.com is an online firearms marketplace that helps users find buyers and sellers in their local market and effect transactions in the simplest way possible.

Disclaimer: This article is aimed at helping those who are not sure where to start their research process.  It is not a definitive guide to firearms purchases.  Some of the information is generalized and all readers should conduct further research before making any decision.

Nearly every American man has heard the story of the shootout at the OK Corral.  Wyatt Earp and his cohorts confronted a group of outlaw cowboys and emerged victorious.  While much myth and mystery surrounds the circumstances of this encounter, a few things are very clear.  Wyatt Earp was proficient with his Colt Peacemaker and Doc Holiday with the shotgun. While much has changed since the days of the Wild West, both the handgun and the shotgun remain top choices for clearing out ruffians who are encroaching on your territory. 

A man has always been the king of his castle and protector of his domain. When things go bump in the night, it’s your job to check on things. What should you grab when you head downstairs? Today we’ll the discuss the best guns for home defense as well as some of the pros and cons of each.

Training

Gun safety training is essential for every man.

Before you even think about purchasing a gun, it is imperative that you are trained on how to properly use it. Remember: guns are a weapon. With the right to bear arms comes the heavy responsibility of handling them with the precaution and respect they deserve.

Moreover, a gun in the hands of man who doesn’t know what he’s doing with it is a liability to him and to his family. Regardless of what you purchase, you should frequent the firing range, take a firearms course, and attend or even partake in shooting events. All of these tasks will help you to learn to properly handle firearms.

Here are some resources to check out to get started:

Appleseed Project, a grassroots marksmanship program: http://www.appleseedinfo.org/

IDPA, Defensive Pistol shooting: http://www.idpa.com/

The Best Guns for Home Defense

Pump Action Shotgun

Mossberg 500 – 12 Gauge Pump Shotgun

The general consensus in the firearms community is that the pump action shotgun is the top choice for home defense. They’re relatively easy to use and nearly impossible to break. More importantly, the sound of chambering a hot round into a pump action 12 gauge is sure to soil the britches of even the most hardened criminal.

The Mossberg 500 and the Remington 870 are extremely popular choices in this category.  Both are proven to be extremely reliable for a reasonable price, beginning at around $200.

Ease of Use and Reliability

The pump action shotgun is a relatively simple weapon to use.  Shotgun shells are loaded into the gun, and the pump action chambers a round. Pulling the trigger fires the chambered round.  The next pump ejects the spent shell and loads another round into the chamber.  These attributes contribute to the pump action shotgun’s reliability.

Effectiveness

Shotguns are most commonly used to fire a number of projectiles, anywhere from roughly nine pellets used in 00 buckshot up to hundreds of bb sized pellets in bird shot.  At close range and with proper ammunition, shotguns can be extremely effective in defending you and your loved ones.

For more information on different types of shot and their ballistic qualities, refer to this article.

Verdict (out of 5)

Cost: 5

Ease of Use: 4

Reliability: 5

Effectiveness: 5

Bonus: (Sound of chambering a round)

Overall: 4.75

Revolver

Smith & Wesson 686 .357 Mag 4″, 6 round

The next best weapon for home defense is the revolver.  Revolvers are the simplest and most reliable of hand guns.  One of the major advantages of the revolver is its small size which allows for easy storage and access.  Also, another benefit of the revolver is its price. You can find quality revolvers for as little as a few hundred dollars.

Ease of Use & Reliability

Revolvers are produced in double action and single action varieties.  Single action revolvers require the user to pull back the hammer manually before firing the gun.  Most modern revolvers offer double action operation which alleviates the need to pull back the hammer before firing the weapon. While there are advantages to using a single-action revolver, the double-action revolver is the superior choice for home defense because of its ease of use. When an intruder has entered your home, you don’t want to have to think about cocking a gun.

Because of it’s simple design, the revolver is an extremely reliable weapon. Unlike semi-automatic weapons, it is nearly impossible for a revolver to jam. If there is a round in the cylinder of a double-action revolver, pulling the trigger will fire the gun.  Simple as that. This simplicity is an important factor for use in already stressful situations.

One drawback on revolvers, or any handgun for that matter, is the skill required to properly and effectively operate them. Don’t be fooled by your hours of playing Duck Hunt. Hitting a target, even if it’s just a few feet away, is deceptively difficult.

Effectiveness

Handguns are produced in a number of different calibers and the stopping power is dependent upon which round is used. Common choices are .38 Special (also available in a slightly stronger “+P” variety), .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum, and .45 Long Colt.  One advantage to buying a .357 revolver is that the owner can use .38 special, .38 special +P, or .357 magnum rounds as the gun accepts and safely fires all of them.  (Conversely, a .38 revolver cannot fire .357 magnum.)

It’s important to consider that larger caliber revolvers may be more difficult to fire accurately in quick succession.  Unfortunately, smaller caliber revolvers may lack the stopping power necessary to quickly incapacitate an attacker.

• Further reading about stopping power.

• Further reading about wound ballistics studies.

• Further reading about .357 Magnum and .38 Special +P

Visual comparison of common handgun cartridges. Left to right:

1) 3 inch 12 ga magnum shotgun shell
2) AA battery (for size comparison)
3) .454 Casull
4) .45 Winchester Magnum
5) .44 Remington Magnum
6) .357 Magnum
7) .38 Special
.45 ACP
9) .38 Super
10) 9 mm Luger
11) .32 ACP
12) .22 LR

Verdict

Cost:4

Ease of Use: 3

Reliability: 5

Effectiveness: 3

Overall: 3.75

Semi-Automatic pistols

Les Baer Premier II 1911

Every AoM reader has seen these in movies and TV shows. They’re also the guns that most police officers carry. While semi-automatic pistols might be good for cops, they’re not a good choice for one’s first firearm purchase, at least not when home defense is the primary use. We’ll go into why that is further below.

Two iconic semi-automatic pistols are the 1911 variants and polymer pistols such as Glocks. The 1911 has seen action through two world wars and is still in use by US Special Operations and FBI HRT. Glocks have been heralded for their ease of use and reliability and have seen much use in law enforcement. Quality semi-automatic pistols can cost as little as a few hundred or as much as a few thousand.

Ease of Use and Reliability

The operation of a semi-automatic handgun is more complicated than a revolver.  An operator must become familiar with operating slide-stops and safeties, loading magazines, chambering rounds and clearing jams.  The additional actions involved make it less than ideal for those unfamiliar with hand guns.  This, combined with the skill required to accurately shoot a handgun, means that semi-automatic handguns are the least user friendly of the choices mentioned.

Because rounds are automatically loaded and the design is more complex, semi-automatic weapons are also more prone to jamming failures than revolvers.

Because of the semi-automatic handgun’s lower reliability and more complicated operation, first time purchasers should probably consider a shotgun or a revolver.

Effectiveness

As with revolvers, effectiveness varies drastically with caliber.  There are many different calibers for semi-automatic handguns. The most common are .380 ACP, 9mm, .357 Sig, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP.  The 9mm is perhaps the most popular caliber, in use by military and law enforcement around the world. The .40 S&W was created by the FBI to allow for additional stopping power over the 9mm.  The 45 ACP came about during the development of the 1911.

• Further reading about stopping power.

• Further reading about wound ballistics studies.

Verdict

Cost: 3

Ease of Use: 2

Reliability: 3

Effectiveness: 3

Overall: 2.75

Conclusion

This article is aimed at providing a starting place for those that lack prior knowledge of and experience with firearms.  Again, proper education, training, and practice are essential when deciding to purchase a gun.

For another take on what weapons are the best for home defense, see Primer Magazine’s article: Hero Training: Best Weapons for Home Defense.

What are your thoughts on the best guns for home defense? Do you prefer a baseball bat over a gun? Let us know in the comments.

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