Good Morning All

I would like recommendations for Blacksmith / Metal Working History Books and books containing sections on Blacksmithing. I am especially interested in the later part of the 19th Century in the Agriculture and Mining Industries. Anything that comes to mind: History Books, Text Books, Dairies, Biographies, Historical Fiction

IForgeIron.com > Lessons in Metalworking > Blacksmithing > LB0008 Reference material
IForgeIron.com > Lessons in Metalworking > Blacksmithing > LB0008.0001 Reference Material

Foxfire 5 is a must have.

Not too exhaustive, but a good overview of what was going on in the Appalachian region in the 19th / early 20th centuries.

The Art of Blacksmithing by Alex Beeler is good too.

Don

Practical Blacksmithing, Richardson; a collection of articles from a blacksmithing trade journal published in 1889, 1890 and 1891. A lot of it reads like a modern internet forum with folks telling others what has worked for them when faced with a posed question.

Try to find the version that has all 4 volumes bound as 1 rather than having to find them seperately.

i like donald streeters book called professional blacksmithing for a how to. for early lighting colonial and early american lighting.will list others soon

The Richardson book with all four in one volume has been turning up quite often on ebay. I just got a copy for 10 bucks. Bid carefuly and you can save lots of money. Also look in the books section rather than under blacksmith. It tends to run to less money there.
Finnr

There are several sites you can get a free download of all four volumes of the Richardson book in PDF format.
Top & New Downloads, "How To" Books from the Past - wkFineTools.com is one.

Thanks BT.

My printed copy was stolen years ago and this will go a ways towards replacing it.

Frosty

Have you tried looking on the net through ABE books?
This is a site where book shops all over the world are listed - just type in the book you are after via author, title, isbn etc and if any book shop has it it will come up with location, shipping and price.
I use this a lot - especially if a nice book comes up on e-bay as you can often get it cheaper through abe than bidding for it, I have bought books in the States and had them shipped to England cheaper than I can buy them over here.
Here it is AbeBooks but there is an abebooks.com
One warning - this site can get addictive.....

Late 19th century Mining and Ag smithing gets a lot more like industrial smithing than colonial american repro's. Lindsay's Technical Books generally has a lot of turn of the previous century books in re-print including ones that were "night classes" for bright lads wanting to move up the ladder in the factory/shop.

Thank everyone for your suggestions; these will keep me occupied for a while. I got my hands on a copy of Richardson and found a copy of the Sears, Roebuck & Co 1902 catalogue. The catalogue is not much on life story but shows the extent of consumer goods at the time. Were the metal components on the wagons and carriages hand forged and how do you build a leaf spring? Thanks again -grant

Hey Grant. My wife just got a book for me that you might also be interested in. It's called "Early American Ironware" Cast and Wrought. It is by Henry J Kauffman. It shows a lot of examples of old iron work and tells the story behind a lot of it. It's an interesting read.