mike-reid Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 good morning one and all im mike and live in barnsley, south yorkshire in the uk. im looking to possibly change direction in my career and try my hand at smithing. i am a mechanical engineer and have knowledge of metals and their characteristics, i can weld and i like to think i have an artistic eye for details. what i would like is a recomendation for a book that will give me all the information i will need to set up a small smithy, with projects for making my tools, basic through to more advanced techniques and how to run a forge efficiently on a small intimate set up. after looking through amazon and ebay i am now muddled with recomendations. simply put, what is THE book you would have your loved one get you for a birthday? all the very best mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 good morning one and all im mike and live in barnsley, south yorkshire in the uk. im looking to possibly change direction in my career and try my hand at smithing. i am a mechanical engineer and have knowledge of metals and their characteristics, i can weld and i like to think i have an artistic eye for details. what i would like is a recomendation for a book that will give me all the information i will need to set up a small smithy, with projects for making my tools, basic through to more advanced techniques and how to run a forge efficiently on a small intimate set up. after looking through amazon and ebay i am now muddled with recomendations. simply put, what is THE book you would have your loved one get you for a birthday? all the very best mike Hi Mike, welcome to the site. The books I would recommend to look for are the ones from Cosira/RDC, they can be be downloaded free from http://www.hct.ac.uk/Downloads/craftpublications.html An introduction, setting up and starting forging with basic exercises, The Blacksmiths Craft. Then more advanced techniques in Wrought Ironwork These two books cover the majority of things you will need to know and master if you are to become competent at the craft. There are also other catalogues of drawings and designs in the books downloadable. If you go to the groups section, and browse through what we have on the Blacksmiths Guild UK you can see what some of us get up to. If you think we may be able to help you, please feel free to contact or join in our events, next one being August 20th and 21st when we are having a forge in and barbecue at Westpoint, or see our website www.blacksmithsguild.com Good luck in your new adventure, there are many others on this site who will help you along your journey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Trez Cole Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 welcome http://www.metalwebnews.com/ has a lot of good Free books as well. There are members on this sight from the UK sure they will be glad to help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenbeast Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 A man after my own heart! I'm attempting a similar shift after tiring of IT. The Backyard Blacksmith (Lorelei Sims) is a great book, she explains things well and shows how to make a few tools at the back of the book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alec.S Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Hello, Mike... Welcome to IFI! This is not really an answer to your question .. but... on the 5,6 and 7th of august, at croft on tees in NORTH Yorkshire is the BABA ( British artist blacksmithing association ) 's AGM... Where there is a Forge-In... This would be a great thing for you to attend and it would give you a great head start in forging! I would also suggest you joining BABA as a member. also, look up Brian Brazeal on this forum ( user name = brianbrazealblacksmith ) http://www.iforgeiron.com/user/4954-brianbrazealblacksmith/ and look through his posts and topics. You can either serch in the search bar or look through these ( they are not all of them though, they get erased after a while ) http://www.iforgeiron.com/index.php?app=core&module=search&do=user_activity&mid=4954 ... Brian Brazeal is an amazing smith and is willing to share so much of his knowledge! The techniques he employs into forging make it so much more simple! If you ever have the time, try and look through as many of Lyle Wynn's photos of his time with Brian ( https://picasaweb.google.com/LDWynn ) ... i and others have learnt so much just by looking at photos and videos of those two people! also, if i havnt over loaded you too much = https://picasaweb.google.com/brianbrazealblacksmith ( more pictures of his techniques ) sorry for over loading you with info about just two people, but what ever you learn from looking through those photos, videos, topics and posts... WILL be worth it, i am sure! good books are, http://www.amazon.co.uk/Backyard-Blacksmith-Traditional-Techniques-Modern/dp/1592532519/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1311257784&sr=8-8 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Modern-Blacksmith-Alexander-Weygers/dp/0898158966/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1311257784&sr=8-11 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Artist-Blacksmith-Design-Techniques/dp/1861264283/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1311257784&sr=8-1 and, http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blacksmiths-Craft-Primer-Tools-Methods/dp/1580175937/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1311257784&sr=8-3 alec post scriptum, sorry for overloading you a bit! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike-reid Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 what a fantastic, thank you i have downloaded all of those and tomorrow will be the day i print them of into files for instant referance. i have also gone for the moderns smith artist book which will arrive in a few days. in the mean time i am going to be building my lean to in my yard and if i can remove the valve from the gas bottle, i will begin building little forge for the soon to be 'shop/yard. is there anyone in yorkshire that wouldn't mind too much if i could come along and.... well lets not blag it.... pick your brain none stop and try to imitate your skills and shop set up.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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