Hi,
Is there good literature on how to repair stuff? Just general things, not specific appliances. How to repair wood, how to properly sand wood and metal, how to replace a tile, how to read and analyze circuits, identify faulty parts and correct replacements, etc. I just want to become better at repairing stuff.
There are lots of books like that. Time-Life, Popular Mechanics and the “For Dummies” series all have books that cover various handyman tasks. None of them cover everything, but they are a good way to learn the basics. There are books on decks, fences, woodworking, appliance repair and home wiring to name just a few.
Be warned: going down this path can lead to the expensive hobby of tool collecting. It is a disease that afflicts many of us and there is no known cure. In my teens I had a Crescent wrench, a couple of screwdrivers, and a hammer. Then I bought a drill… Three decades later, I now have multiple power tools of various shapes and sizes along with bits, blades, and disks to use with each of them. I also have large and small tool boxes to hold and carry them in.
I wish I could find a good intermediate reference that picked up at the level of detail the books you mentioned leave off.
For example, I’m framing a wall for the first time and although every book will tell you “put studs 16” on center," it’s hard to figure out that the spacing gets measured from the left edge of the first stud. They also don’t tell you things like where the seam should fall when the wall is long enough that you need more than one board for the top plate, or what to do if you want to locate an electrical box halfway between two studs, or (in a lot of the books) even something as basic as how to detail a corner connection.
There are a wealth of bicycle repair manuals. The ones from the 1960s that I have are remarkably well illustrated.
Home Depot used to sell “Home Owner’s Bible” manuals with general knowledge for testing and repairing things around the house.
For bicycle repair, sheldonbrown.com is my go-to, along with YouTube.
start by learning how to repair something you need to rn.
a general sense of ‘i could try this’ followed by success on new stuff comes naturally with experience
Hit your local library, look for DVDs from The Teaching Company, pretty sure I’ve seen ones on Home Repair and other skills.
