Often after selecting a project, the home worker finds it difficult to obtain exactly the materials specified by the original designer. Perhaps more ingenuity has to be used in obtaining hard-to-get materials than in any other part of the work of an amateur mechanic.

When the desired supplies are not to be purchased at a reasonable price or can not be had in small enough quantities, use your ingenuity to find acceptable substitutes. Perhaps a visit to the junk yard will give you just what you want; possibly you can buy a manufactured article in a five-and-ten-cent store or in a secondhand shop and take it apart to obtain whatever is necessary. A study of the catalogues of large general mail order houses will often reveal materials which can not be obtained locally unless you happen to live in a large city.

When all is said and done, however, you will occasionally find it impossible to complete a project for the lack of the proper materials. In such cases if, as a last resort, you will write to the Information Department of Popular Science Monthly, inclosing a stamped and self-addressed envelope, a list of dealers or manufacturers of the particular item desired will be sent you provided any promising sources of supply can be found through the extensive research facilities of that magazine.