Manly Skills

How to Throw a Tomahawk Like a Mountain Man

by Brett & Kate McKay

It was the ambition of the boys to be able to throw a tomahawk with the skill and accuracy of our pioneer forebears, and the ability soon acquired by the boys in throwing hatchets at targets was really remarkable. They would come up to within thirty feet of an old board fence with a whoop and a yell, [...]

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Four Essential Power Tools

by A Manly Guest Contributor

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Marc Lyman of HomeFixated.com. Tools. They are what separate most of us from the animal kingdom. For a species that started off chipping rocks into spearheads, we’ve come a long way. Even post-Neanderthal era, building just about anything revolved around hand (not power) tools. As your manly [...]

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Working Iron: A Primer on Blacksmithing

by Darren Bush

This post is part of a series brought to you by RAM. For more information about RAM Series trucks visit us at: http://www.ramtrucks.com/en/guts_and_glory/. What’s this?
We discuss the very basics of getting started in blacksmithing. You probably won’t be able to start blacksmithing right after reading this, but hopefully it will pique your interest enough to look more into this manly skill and trade. First, we’ll take a look at the basic tools you need to get started with blacksmithing. We’ll end by showing you the three fundamental ways of hitting hot metal in order to shape it.

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Arming Yourself for the Zombie Apocalypse: How to Build the Ultimate Survival Shotgun

by A Manly Guest Contributor

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Creek Stewart of Willow Haven Outdoor. As a Survival and Preparedness instructor, I take my line of work very seriously–sometimes too seriously. Occasionally, though, I like to take on survival projects that are just downright fun. This article highlights one of those projects. I’m fortunate in that [...]

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How to Stock a Home Bar

by A Manly Guest Contributor

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from AoM reader Jeff Trexler. For the gentleman who enjoys entertaining, a properly stocked bar is a must. A well-mixed drink can help schmooze a boss, romance a date, and impress a friend. Mixing drinks at home for friends and family makes me feel like some swanky 1960s gentleman [...]

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How to Write Your Congressman

by A Manly Guest Contributor

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Harry R. Burger. Mr. Burger wrote his first letter to his congressman over ten years ago, and once had his state assemblyman recognize him by name from the back of a crowd. Politics is a time honored manly pursuit. If a man doesn’t stand up for his [...]

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How to Cook in the Great Outdoors: A Primer on Dutch and Reflector Ovens

by Darren Bush

This post is part of a series brought to you by RAM. For more information about RAM Series trucks visit us at: http://www.ramtrucks.com/en/guts_and_glory/. What’s this?
There are essentially two ways to bake in the great outdoors: reflecting heat from a campfire into a reflector, creating an oven, and trapping heat in a cast-iron dutch oven by applying heat in the form of coals directly to the surface of the oven. Both have advantages and disadvantages and today we’ll give you a primer on each method.

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Fun with a Pocket Knife: How to Play Mumbley Peg

by Brett & Kate McKay

Every man should carry a pocketknife. It’s handy for cutting open packages, severing twine, and, of course, eating an apple like a bad ass. But it can also be a source of instant, anywhere entertainment. Because it’s all you need to play the game of mumbley peg. Never heard of the game? Don’t worry. Today we’ll [...]

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Learning to Ride Your First Motorcycle

by A Manly Guest Contributor

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Michael Reid. So you’ve already read up on how to buy your first motorcycle. What about learning to ride it? If you’re like most men, you may be thinking, “How hard can it be? I’ve had that two-wheeled thing down since, what, age 6?” But a motorcycle [...]

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Wilderness Survival: Know Your Distress Signals

by Chris

Let’s say your plane crashes on a desert island and you’re stranded with only a rugby ball as your friend (a volleyball isn’t a manly enough companion for you). Each day you scan the skies, waiting, hoping, aching, to spot a rescue plane coming your direction. If a plane does buzz your island, will you [...]

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How to Shoot a Rifle

by Brett

From some men, learning how to properly and safely fire a rifle is a skill they picked up when they were just knee high to a grasshopper. These guys probably got a .22 for their 12th birthday and spent summers in the woods plinking tin cans and squirrels and autumns hunting deer with their dads and grandpas. Me? [...]

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How to Make Your Own Manly Bar of Soap

by Bryan Schatz

“A paste of lye and water can burn through an aluminum pan. A solution of lye and water will dissolve a wooden spoon. Combined with water, lye heats to over two hundred degrees, and as it heats it burns into the back of my hand…on the lap of my bloodstained pants…” -Passage from Fight Club, [...]

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How to Jump From Rooftop to Rooftop

by Brett & Kate McKay

So you’re being pursued by spies/and or ninjas who want you dead. They’ve chased you through a building and onto the rooftop. You sprint towards the edge of the building and look down at the tiny cars passing below. There’s nowhere to go…except the roof of the adjacent building. You’re going to have to [...]

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How to Bowl a Strike

by Brett

Bowling has a long and thoroughly manly history. But if you’re like me, then your contribution to this legacy of manliness hasn’t been anything to write home about. Which is to say, for much of my life I was a pretty sorry bowler. I liked going bowling with my friends and reveling in some manly camaraderie, [...]

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How to Hail a Taxi Cab…Like a Man!

by Brett

Last weekend I was in New York City for some business. I’ll be honest. Getting around New York was a little intimidating for this Oklahoma yokel. Growing up in the expanses of suburbia where everyone drives their own car left me with little preparation for navigating the mean streets of the Big Apple using public [...]

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How to Perform the Fireman’s Carry

by Brett & Kate McKay

So you’ve built the strength to carry someone to safety…but do you know how to do it? Every man should know how to perform what is called the “fireman’s carry.” It’s an effective way to distribute someone’s weight, allowing you to haul them over long distances with minimal strain. Here’s how it’s done: 1. Raise [...]

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How to Make a Bug Out Bag: Your 72-Hour Emergency Evacuation Survival Kit

by A Manly Guest Contributor

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Creek Stewart of Willow Haven Outdoor. The term ‘Bugging Out’ refers to the decision to abandon your home due to an unexpected emergency situation–whether a natural disaster or one caused by man. A ‘Bug Out Bag’ is a pre-prepared survival kit designed to sustain you through the [...]

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How to Fell a Tree

by Brett & Kate McKay

A few years ago, AoM reader Will shared his tips on how to split firewood. Great advice, but where do you get those small logs to split in the first place? You can buy logs, but a man heads into the forest to get them at their source. It’s a manly job that requires you [...]

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Weekend DIY Project: How to Make a Leather Wallet

by Bryan Schatz

“What ordinary people once made, they buy; and what they once fixed for themselves, they replace entirely or hire an expert to repair, whose expert fix often involves installing a pre-made replacement part…so perhaps the time is ripe for reconsideration of an ideal that has fallen out of favor: manual competence.” -Mathew B. Crawford, author [...]

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