Book Reviews

It seems I have been a good boy this year!! I just received my copy of " Introduction to Knifemaking" by Steve Sells. I wasn't expecting it until January, this is a nice surprise indeed. Thanks again for all the hard work you put into this book Steve, it is greatly appreciated. John

Please post the following at the beginning of your review: Book name in full Authors name ISBN number Number of pages We encourage you to give your opinion and review of any book related to blacksmithing or metal working.

Hi, Are there any books with a deep dive on "hammer and chisel" work with great details? Its usually a couple of paragraphs on different types of chisels and how to use them and thats it, but I want something deeper. Looking for cold chiseling, hot chiseling and how to master it. Thanks

It’s December 19, 2025, and this thread dates back more than twelve years. Richard Postman, author of Anvils in America, passed away three years ago. Our publishing house, Artisan Ideas—specialized in books for metalsmiths—has obtained the rights from Richard’s family to republish this encyclopedic work. We are about ten days away from receiving stock from the printer. We have kept the retail price at $95, the same price Richard charged when he was selling the book himself three years ago. Someone earlier in this thread remarked that the book should be updated. That observation was correct—but the updates will come from the community, not from the publisher…

Claire Yellin (Samuel's granddaughter) just posted the following on social media: Here are the photos of the two volume set and their covers: Time to start saving my pennies....

Somewhere on here, there was an address to download a couple of the English "Rural Development Commission" books. I was looking for The 'Catalogue of Drawings for Wrought Ironwork", and the "Catalogue of Drawings - Wrought Ironwork Gates". If anyone knows the site address or where the books might be available, please let me know. Thanks Wayne (Coalforge)

Got this little gem about 2 weeks ago now. Great book if i do say so my self. Instructions are clear and easy to understand. Not frills, reads like a book you would get from school. A pic for each process and step as you go along. It is titled "wrought iron" but even in the book it says that most are now using mild steel, it is the technique that matters not the material. This is not a beginners book. It goes with the expectation that you have already mastered the basics such as welding. It is mostly focused on gates but all the elements taught can be transferred to just about any decrotive project. There are 2 other books in the series "The Blacksmith's Craf…

Samuel Yellin In Context by Richard J. Wattenmaker. Flint Institute of Arts, 1985. ISBN 0-939896-06-3. 35 pages “Almost singlehandedly, Samuel Yellin achieved, during three decades of intensive work, a rebirth of ornamental ironwork parallel to, but independent of, contemporary developments in Europe.” This little volume contains an essay written on the occasion of the Philadelphia College of Art (now University of the Arts) exhibition Samuel Yellin: Metalworker. While not a catalog, it does contain twelve pages of photographs of Yellin’s work, much of which was included in that exhibit. While the photographs themselves are excellent, the real value of thi…

My smithing library has expanded beyond the point where I can remember all of the titles on my shelves. This is occasionally a problem if I’m browsing online or looking in a used book store, and a couple of times, I’ve ended up buying duplicates. In looking for a solution, I discovered a rather good cataloging app called Book Buddy, which comes in a free version and a paid version. These have the same features; the only difference is that the free version has room for a mere 50 volumes, while the paid version (a one-time fee, not a subscription) allows an unlimited number. The features I’ve used most so far are the categorization function, which lets you decid…

I recently picked up a copy of Metals in the Service of Man (Alexander and Street, 1958). There are more recent versions, but I didn't have $111 to spend on it, so I read the 1958 version. It's dated and the plot is a bit slow, but it's a surprisingly good read for a version of a book that's almost seventy years old. I wouldn't recommend it as the final word on metallurgy - for example it hadn't quite figured out titanium and talked about the open hearth process of producing steel as one of the contemporary leading methods. But for all that, it had a nice beat and you could dance to it. The general descriptions of metallurgy worked, if they weren't quite complete, an…

Back around 1987 I checked a book out from the local library. It was a really good book on blacksmithing, though I did not really know enough to understand it at the time. It described a forge, hood and chimney built from old water heater shells, with a really good description of fire management, evaluating scrap, and making blacksmith tools with a whole chapter on punching and drifting. I do not recall the author or title, and it was a rebound book so it was just a shiny grey binding. The author was from the southwest somewhere, and talked about learning from mexican smiths. He had a Spanish sounding name that I do not recall. It is not much to go on, but I would love to…

Not a review as much as an offer to scan and share if there's interest (and it's not available elsewhere... haven't found it with a search yet). This was gifted to me. It looks like a great curriculum Blacksmithing James M Drew Webb Book Publishing, Saint Paul Minnesota, 1935 Reprint 1975, 300 copies ISBN #0-8466-6037-7

A Blacksmithing Primer Author; Randy McDaniel ISBN 9781737604495 174 pages. I really appreciate the truth in advertising with this book, it really is a primer and a good one at that. It won’t overwhelm with difficult concepts, but will help with so many details of the craft that a beginner would need for success. With hundreds of clear drawings to illustrate the text there is no room for confusion over what is being taught. It starts with covering the basic tools setting up a shop and then adds instructions for the different hammer blows and solid fuel fire advice. Then straight into projects including both fun items and ones every beginner needs, lik…

The New Spruce Forge Manual of Locksmithing: A Blacksmith’s Guide to Simple Lock Mechanisms Authors; Denis Frechette and Bill Morrison ISBN 9781733325004 304 pages. As Blacksmiths many of us take pride in having a wide grasp of the methods and procedures required to make items and make them function well. The New Spruce Forge Manual of Locksmithing offers many new skills for your own projects while you work your way through examples of classic locks. From a dead simple pipe lock to nifty trunk and gate locks. I was very excited to get my hands on this book. It opens with a few short sections of basics to help a complete neophyte be s…

The owner of the website KnifeSteelNerds has a PhD in metallurgy and he uses the site to create and publish articles and data on all aspects of metallurgy, especially the metallurgy of knife steel (as per the name of the site ). There are around 100 articles to read and they are all really comprehensive but very detailed. They will really bring out your inner-nerd. Anyways, Dr. Larrin Thomas (the owner of the site) just published a book all to do with the engineering of blades. Personally, I am going to order my copy tonight, but I have heard some great things about it. Have any of y'all read it? If so, what do you think? Perhaps a mini-review is in order? Mark

This seems to be the best book to get started, according to most people in here. Local library system doesn't have it - but I checked Amazon and it's a measly 17 bucks in paperback, and with the Prime membership you can have it in two days with no shipping fee (U.S.). Just passin' it on.

I want to make a lock, a pad lock to be exact out of brass sheet but I haven't been able to find an article or book on the subject. Does anyone have such a title that I can try to locate or purchase? Thanks in advance.

Looking through an old book store in tonapah today and found this. It's from 1907 and reprinted 1913. Full of old timey writing and a lot of products I've never heard of. One thing I found interesting was about quenching files in molten lead.

Ironwork and Metalwork by Charles Rennie Mackintosh at Glasgow School of Art Softback, black and white photos and scaled drawings of details of 32 examples of the famed Architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh Born in 1868, his work around the turn of the 19th to 20th century is very different from the gothic forms often seen in smithwork. (It's also mentioned that some of his designs caused the smith employed to argue that they were impossible...) Found this 1968 exhibit catalog type of book at a reasonable price at a used bookstore in southern NM and felt it was a good addition as my books on decorative ironwork tend toward the medieval an…

In Peter Parkinson's book: 'The Artist Blacksmith' there is a great image (p.67) where this Master Smith takes a piece of plate and forges a stem, two leaves and three flowers from it. Internet searches only bring up this photo and two others. It would be great to find more photos or information on his past works. He did a demo in the U.S. back in 2000, but I can't find anything more about what he made.

I found a bunch of blacksmithing related ebooks on Google Books and I thought I would share the links. Although I have them downloaded as PDF files I dont' think I can post the actual files themselves but I see no reason I can't share the links. If you follow the link you will see a "PDF" or "Download" link in the top right corner of the Google Books window. Just click the link to download the book to your computer for reading at your leisure. All of these are from 1888 to 1921 with most being right after the turn of the century. A few have sections where the book didn't scan cleanly but those are few and far between. Practical Blacksmithing by Milton T. Richardson Volu…

I plan on buying a book on blacksmithing. I am new and have never forged anything. What book would u guys say is the most informative for a “newbie “ like me?

"In the Northlands, beleaguered by the ever-encroaching Ice and the marauding Ekwesh, a young cowherd, Alv, saved from the raiders by the mysterious Mastersmith, discovers in himself and uncanny power to shape metal - but it is a power that may easily be turned to evil ends, and on a dreadful night Alv flees the Mastersmith, and embarks on the quest to find both his own destiny, and a weapon that will let him stand against the Power of the Ice." Found these two in a charity shop today, haven't read them so can't give a review right now but i'm sure my partner will only take a few days to blast through new books in the house so i will edit an update soon.

Hi all, Can anyone recommend any books, websites, articles etc about saxon or "viking" blacksmithing? Id like to learn more about exactly what tools and techniques were used in these periods.

Fritz Kühn (1910-1967) was born in Berlin into a metalworking family and earned his certificate as a Kunstschmied (master artist blacksmith) in 1937, just before the outbreak of World War Two. After the war and the partition of Germany, Kühn continued to work as a smith, a sculptor, and photographer. Although (like Samuel Yellin) he died in his fifties, his career was a decade later than Yellin's and thus overlapped the transition from prewar traditionalism to postwar modernism. While Yellin's aesthetic was retrospective and looked back to medieval and classical models, Kühn more readily adapted to the modernist aesthetic while successfully integrating traditional techniq…