don't tread on me Posted October 7, 2010 Share Posted October 7, 2010 Is the book The Pattern Welded Blade a good book for a lerner? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattBower Posted October 7, 2010 Share Posted October 7, 2010 Yes, if you're learning pattern welding. Dr. Hrisoulas knows his stuff. (Posts here sometimes, too.) If you're just starting out in bladesmithing, though, I'd suggest learning to forge basic blades before you try pattern welding. As an intro to bladesmithing I'd probably start with The Complete Bladesmith. Wayne Goddard's $50 Knife Shop is also a good, basic intro text that covers things like setting up a shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 7, 2010 Share Posted October 7, 2010 Actually as an introduction to bladesmithing I would suggest a good all around blacksmithing book *before* The Complete Bladesmith. Once you know the basics of the craft the advanced topics will make much more sense! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattBower Posted October 7, 2010 Share Posted October 7, 2010 Actually as an introduction to bladesmithing I would suggest a good all around blacksmithing book *before* The Complete Bladesmith. Once you know the basics of the craft the advanced topics will make much more sense! Good point, Thomas. What basic smithing book do you recommend? One of my favorite smithing books is The Complete Modern Blacksmith, by Alexander Weygers, but a lot of it isn't pure smithing instruction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
don't tread on me Posted October 8, 2010 Author Share Posted October 8, 2010 I don't need forging bacicks I have forged a few blades, what I want is to lern more about making damascas steel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 When I read that someone does not need to know smithing basics it makes me just stop and think a bit: Does he already have a couple of years at an anvil? does he knwo how metal moves under ahammer? does he know how to work safely? How about efficiently? BAsics include body mechanics, shop set up, learning to move correctly and just being able to predict an outcome before the steel gets hot in the forge. How about being able to forge weld everytime you try it? How about All the little things that youlearn that are not thought of as basic but just come to you as you spend time at the forge. Certainly forge a couple of knives does not lead me to believe that all of the above has been done or is for sure not even needed. Lets say you wanted to enter a marathon race and you have already run a few laps around a local short distance track..would that help you some where along that over 26 mile event?,,,,,If youare at the point that I rather bluntly suggested above you might try the vhs tapes on forgeing damascus by JPH,,, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
golgotha forge & anvil Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 You might want to try smartflix.com...they have numerous videos for rent (DVD) on blacksmithing, bladesmithing (including making damascus), gunsmithing, etc. Gene Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 Well then if you are up on alloys and how they work and what heats they should use and can work a deep reducing fire to keep it going half a day in the shop and can get strong forge welds as the usual rather than the rare case them you should do very well with the Pattern Welded Blade. I would suggest ILL'ing his first two books and reading through them first as they are a progression. As for starting books I like "The Modern Blacksmith", Weygers, which is now sold combined with his other books as "The Complete Modern Blacksmith". I am very down with Weygers scrounge and re-cycle memes and like the way that he details a process down the sides of the writing with multiple pictures rather than just a couple of photos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPH Posted October 9, 2010 Share Posted October 9, 2010 Hello: Knowing what I know about that particular book the flat out answer is NO...that book was not written for the "beginner" and if you do not already know the basics you will be totally lost. If you cannot make a decent knife before you start pattern welding you will be wasting your time.. I know this sounds harsh and nasty but that's the way it is. Why make a $50.00 knife out of a $500.00 piece of steel? Learn the basics of forging, heat treating, fitting and grinding...Plus the way things should "flow" and how they should be put together. Get decent at all of those and then start pattern welding cause that in itself presents a different set of problems...Forging "a few blades" simply isn't enough... a hundred or so..yeah..that's getting close. Now I am just one man and this is one man's opinion but forging a few blades I feel is no where near the level you should be at for that book...you need to learn to make solid welds 100% of the time before you start pattern welding. Simple as that. JPH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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