ironsmith Posted June 6, 2005 Share Posted June 6, 2005 hey guys, can anyone recomend a good first book on blacksmithing , there's so many that i cant decide, i have a few project books but they dont contain much information on actual smithing, any suggestions would be great , thanks... :mrgreen: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archie Zietman Posted June 6, 2005 Share Posted June 6, 2005 The Complete Modern Blacksmith by Alexander Weygers (spelling?) lots o' good simple forges etc. also, if you want: http://www.countryside.gov.uk/search/jsp/verity/search.jsp there you can download several blacksmithing techniques manuals free :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironsmith Posted June 6, 2005 Author Share Posted June 6, 2005 thanks archie, i'll check out the link :0) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Barter Posted June 6, 2005 Share Posted June 6, 2005 Ironsmith, I highly recommend _The Blacksmith's Craft_ by the Countryside Agency. It's a great beginning book and it's FREE. I downloaded mine, printed it out, and brought it to Kinko's to be spiral-bound. It is great.http://www.countryside.gov.uk/NewEnterprise/Economies/craftpublications.asp Another book I recommend is _The Art of Blacksmithing_ by Alex Bealer. It has tons and tons of information and sketches.http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0785803955/102-8906464-9352931?v=glance I would also recommend _The Artist Blacksmith: Design and Techniques_ by Peter Parkinson. It is very well-written and inspiring with fantastic color photos.http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1861264283/infoline0f-21/026-6385121-4590838 I hope this helps. I'm a beginner too, but I bought a lot of books. These are the ones that are good and worth the money. There are more, of course, but if I could only buy a couple, these three would be my choices. rvb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Thomas Posted June 7, 2005 Share Posted June 7, 2005 Ironsmith & Rick Barter: I highly endorse the recommendation for the book by Peter Parkinson, but disagree with the Bealer book for a beginner. At one time, it was one of a very few books available so is on a lot of bookshelve. The problem with the Bealer book is that almost everything in it is incomplete and there are even errors. As interesting reading, fine. But it is nearly impossible to use it as a textbook, or a how-to manual. At $9.95 (or whatever it is now), it is very tempting to buy it instead of the pricey Parkinson book, which I do understand. But I think the Parkinson addresses your question MUCH, MUCH better. Other good choices, off the top of my head are "The New Edge of The Anvil", by Jack Andrews and "A Blacksmith Primer" By Randy McDaniel (in this order of preference for me). Somewhat cheaper is "Plain and Ornamental Forging" by Ernst Schwarzkopf. It is very good; written 100 years ago, so its writing is a bit stylized. He wrote it as a text for his students at a trade school. You could buy one or two for now, trusting that we won't steer you too far wrong, and then attend a good-sized blacksmith convention. The bigger the event, the more book vendors to choose from. That way you can leaf through the books and see what it is that you want. Also, check with the blacksmithing group nearest you. We have our own library in our guild, as does most every other club. Check the county library. I'm always pleasantly surprised to find what they have or can get for me. Both these options will save you from buying something you don't like. Bealer's book is in most libraries so you can see if I'm all wet for free. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironsmith Posted June 7, 2005 Author Share Posted June 7, 2005 wow, great idea , lol never would have thought to go to the library, I am attending my first blacksmith meeting this weekend, turns out theres an active smith 5 miles from my house LMAO and ive been lookin everywhere for help HA! just goes to show you dont know whats out there till you look. the books u guys suggested sound great , gonnna have a look and pick one or two... definately the free one hehe. thanks a bunch for the advice!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M. Stout Posted June 7, 2005 Share Posted June 7, 2005 Right now I'm reading The Blacksmith -Iron Worker and Farrier by Aldren A. Watson. It is a great book that is extremely well written and has beautiful illustrations. I'm impressed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strine Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 There's bound to be a heap of valuable information in the references mentioned thus far and I bet there are a lot of good pictures in the ones I haven't seen. As we all know 'a picture is worth a thousand words' but surely a bit of hands on experience would be worth a lot more. Good luck with your new mate down the road IS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Thomas Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 I just got a book from our library system that looks fairly decent for beginners: "The Practical Handbook of Blacksmithing & Metalworking" Copy and paste that in Google to get a source to buy it used if you want. It was published in 1980 by TAB books, written by Percy Blandford. Never heard of him, but TAB books have been around awhile. Normally, I don't care for their books, but this looks good. I didn't even ask for a blacksmithing book. Our library is a room in the old elementary school building. We don't have any school here now... the kids all bus out to the nearest town. But the old building serves as a community center. I mention this to point out the size -- one elementary classroom, and at least 1/2 of that is kid's books. Of the other half, much is donated pulp paperbacks and so on. But the key is that we can get anything the county has. The population of the county is about 100,000 strong now and the library in the county seat tries pretty hard. What I told our librarian was, when she went downtown next, to keep an eye out for drawing books. I told her I wanted volumes I could use to learn how to sketch better so I won't feel so clumsy when I try to draw what I'm going to forge, or to describe for a customer. The next time I saw her, she had a big stack of book on drawing, two on blacksmithing, and three on woodworking(??? -- not sure how those fit in my request ) So don't just search on your own, ask the librarian. You might be surprised what is in the system. And don't rule out the online used book sellers. I've done very well using them, too. For instance, almost all my machining books came from:www.abebooks.com They are a clearinghouse for vendors all over the world, and you can shop for the best price of all that is up for sale. Of course I checked what I could out of the library first to see which ones I liked most. :mrgreen: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bwilloughby Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 Hey Ed Thats the first book I got ("The Practical Handbook of Blacksmithing & Metalworking" ) good book. I also have "The new edge of the anvil" and "The complete and modern Blacksmith". Lots of good readin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Thomas Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 Bruce: I'd be very interested to hear your opinion on the books, especially as you use them and gain in skill. What helped the most; what confused you. What gaps did you discover that you had to fill somewhere else. The problem with any recommendation is that each person learns slightly differently than everyone else. Also, each of us finds some things trivial that someone else finds nearly insurmountable (and vice versa). That's why I think it is so important to get your hands on several different books before buying them. For instance, the other book that the librarian handed me was also a TAB publication and I even recognize the name of the author: Jim Converse. It is: "Beginning Blacksmithing with Projects". It looks like it might be good for some people, but I don't feel comfortable recommending it. Partly because he uses techniques I don't, and partly because the flow of the instruction seems like it might be awkward to me. Yet someone else might come on here and say it was the very book that inspired them to greatness while I'm rather lukewarn with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-Gold Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 Ed, that book is my absolute favorite. Good choice. I have two copies :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Thomas Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 T-Gold: Which book? :?: :?: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shane Stegmeier Posted June 10, 2005 Share Posted June 10, 2005 Ed I am right there with you on the critque of Bealer, but I would say the same thing of Weyger. Both men researched and reinvented blacksmithing with what they had available, they did not come from a blacksmithing tradition so some of their methods are unorthidox sometime:-)BUt at the time they were writing blacksmithing was just begining its reimergence. (There were still farriers and industrial blacksmiths, and some good old fashion blacksmith/machinist/welders like Jr but no one knew enough to ask them...) I have not seen some of the other books being mentioned, so I can't really recommend any good books for a beginner. My wife keeps telling me I should write a book:-) Who wants to see a book for the beginning blacksmith with historical footnotes tracing the development of tools and techniques???:-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted June 10, 2005 Share Posted June 10, 2005 You folks write it, I will post it on IForgeIron.com :wink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strine Posted June 10, 2005 Share Posted June 10, 2005 I would Fionnbharr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-Gold Posted June 12, 2005 Share Posted June 12, 2005 Ed, Weyger's book. It remains my favorite, at least vs Bealer and whoever wrote "The Complete Modern Blacksmith" (now that was a laugh...). Bealer's book is pretty decent, but I wouldn't advise a newbie to buy "The Complete Modern Blacksmith" unless he was mostly new to tools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Thomas Posted June 12, 2005 Share Posted June 12, 2005 T-Gold: I'm not sure what you are saying. "The Complete Modern Blacksmith" was written by Alexander Weygers. So do you mean that you like the book, but don't recommend it to beginniers? If that is the case, I concur. It is a fun book, but probably not a good step-by-step manual for a methodical introduction to blacksmithing skills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-Gold Posted June 13, 2005 Share Posted June 13, 2005 Ooooops! More coffee! What I meant to say was, nuts to Complete Modern Blacksmith, Bealer's book is OK, but Percy W Blandford's Practical Blacksmithing and Metalworking is the cat's pajamas. I like Bealer's book, but I would recommend Practical Blacksmithing and Metalworking to beginners over the other two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironsmith Posted June 16, 2005 Author Share Posted June 16, 2005 decided on getting the artist blacksmith , by parkinson. my mom works at a books at a book store so she gave me a discount. lookin forward to when it arrives, also if anyones interested there are a few books on Half.com on blacksmithing thanks for the suggestions evertually i would like to fill a library with all these books but for now just gotta start with one. :0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don A Posted June 17, 2005 Share Posted June 17, 2005 This is the first one I got my hands on: "Blacksmithing for Beginners" by D. James Morre Still very helpful. A lot of good projects, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce wilcock Posted June 17, 2005 Share Posted June 17, 2005 with the build up of blueprints and the info gathering on the forum ,this is growing into a living book, no books can you get into a dialog to clarify a point ,as time goes on this forum will become the standard refrence work on blacksmithing, so lets keep the info coming in and remember the things that we take as common place today becomb history in short time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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