[.ca] Funky Junk: Cool Stuff to Make with Hardware (ISBN 155337388X)

expensive stuff:
I was very excited when I first looked through the book. I decided to make the robot pencil sharpener. The items are a bit expensive and many can't be bought separately. We are still looking for the squeeze connector that couldn't be found at the hardware store or Home Depot. I was going to do it as a craft project for 12 students but found it would cost in excess of $50.00. Also the metal pencil sharpeners were very difficult to find. I realize that the book was intended for a single person craft but that would still be expensive as many items must be purchased in bulk. Also, my husband had to do the shopping and he needed to take the book because he hadn't heard of some of these peices. I have a feeling that the projects won't be easy to make either, but I may never get to that point. We may never find the squeeze connector or be able to afford the project.

Difficult to find parts:
I thought this book would have some fun ideas for our 8 yr old boy to do. We decided to do a project from this book for his birthday party. We gave up on the pencil sharpener robot after we were unable to find a suitable pencil sharpener. Talked son into the alien keychain. Spent about an hour in Home Depot finding parts. Found an okay spring to use, but later decided to try to find the one in the book, 7 stops later, still didn't find the right spring. Unless they start selling this book with supply kits, I wouldn't waste my money on it. MIGHT be okay for group project ideas, but to spend all of this time looking for supplies for one child's project is definitely not worth it.