Whilst working on renovating my house the other day, I suddenly recalled where my passion for DIY came from!
When I was a kid, my dad subscribed to a DIY magazine called "the knack". I used to read every copy and he kept them all in a binder for years afterwards - and I used read and re-read them often!
Anyone else here remember this magazine? And build any of their projects? ( I seem to remember a 3 piece lounge suite being a project!)
Mark.
You will no doubt be happy to know that The Knack - or some of it - is alive and well on Ebay!:
Got a full , 7 volume set of The Knack, sitting on my shelfs along beside How It Works another great part work.
Whatever happened to part works?
Adam
If you calculate how much they actually cost the punter ("in 75 weekly parts" plus a few over-expensive glossy binders) - perhaps the punter has finally cottoned on!
I suspect the advent of the internet as an information source may also have something to do with it.
David
I've got a full set, with binders, of Car Fix It. It cost me goodness knows how much in the early 80's but saw it in a car boot sale and on E Bay for a fiver!! I had told my wife that "we will be able to retire on these one day!
Cheers
John
Used to be one of the Boxing Day rituals the start of adverts for part works, build your own Golden Hind in 144 weekly parts, part 1 with free model oar handle ;-) Never mind in 50 years they`ll be worth scanning:
They are still around. Marshall Cavendish, Hatchette Partworks, De Prado etc. still selling them. They don't have the market profile that they used to have though
Thus spake Adam Aglionby ( snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com) unto the assembled multitudes:
I remember the magazine and I did start collecting it, but gave up. I later found large big DIY book in WH Smith that I realised was a condensed version of The Knack. I still have it.
I did also collect the entire 8 volumes of a motorcycling encyclopedia magazine series called On Two Wheels, up to the late 1970s. Kept it for many years but apart from the articles about historic marques it became very dated, and it was eventually sent to the tip. That was just before eBay took off... :-(
I think they distribute the first few issues via newsagents and then just sell to those who subscribe.
replying to mark.hannah, Birdee wrote: I have 98 issues in the hard Cover binders. All in pristine condition. Collected by my father in the early 80s.
Blimey... Homeowners Hub comes up trumps... I'd forgotten about my Dad's collection of "The Knack". Sure Mum still has the endless blue-folder bound copies at home somewhere.
8¬oIs knack short for Knackered? Brian
No - Ann Jellico wrote a play with that title. It means art or craft. In that case the "Knack" was how get a young lady into bed.
and I should have added the the most important prop in the play was an iron bedstead.
No - it's only homeownershub.com that's knackered.
but will update the link , 10 years on
My dad did the same, I have a full set of them.
Could one point out to those who post here from Home Owners club that unless you quote the message you are replying to, there is no way for anyone on the main Usenet system to have any idea what you are talking about. Also that site is well known to regurgitate posts from many years ago while making them look like they are new. This means the rest of the world has long since expired them. Thank you, and now back to your scheduled programmes. Brian
same as what? full set of what?
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