Blacksmithing Book Recommendations from the Northshield Blacksmith list (October 2008)

Now that I have my books for school paid for ...

I'm surfing a bit and thinking of what to add to my smithing shelf ...

Two that Danr has recommended come to mind: /Edge of the Anvil/ and /The
$50 Knife Shop/.

First question: did I get those titles right?

Second Question: Any other suggestions for smithing books? (General smithing, blades and tools, related ...)

What would you recommend? What are your favorites? What would you like from Santa besides a stocking full of coal?

Timothy
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I just got Practical Blacksmithing by M. T. Richardson. It's the 1978 reprint of all four of the books he published at the turn of the last century. Facinating reading.

Finnr
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Haven't gotten the _Edge_ yet, but I do have a copy of $50 and I've been looking through it a bit, again, recently.

$50 is written kind of folksy and conversational, as though the author was talking to you. I find that a little distracting, and sometimes frustrating, when you're looking for a particular bit of information and you've got to weed through all the folksy stuff to find it.
http://www.amazon.com/Wayne-Goddards-Knife-Shop-Revised/dp/0896892956/
($13.60 new, free shipping with $25 order)

I've got the older edition:
http://www.amazon.com/Wayne-Goddards-50-Knife-Shop/dp/0873419936/
(starting at $4.50 used, plus $4.50 shipping.)

Goddard spends a lot of time emphasizing how cheaply he did things, scrounged this, scrounged that, built tools from scrap, etc, and spends a chunk of the book on how to make shop tools on the cheap.

Remember, its as much about the knife *shop* as it is about making knives.

I'm glad he has access to a scrap yard with railroad and train parts, but I don't, so that got a little frustrating. (Weld here, cut here, etc, all very nice, but without a cutting torch and welder, you're not going to be able to make some of that stuff...)

IIRC, the book is a combination of several articles he's written for magazines. I don't have it handy to check, but I can look tonight.

I like David Boyle's book:
http://www.amazon.com/Step-Step-Knifemaking-You-Can/dp/0615116590/

I liked Boyle's writing style a lot better than Goddard's. I thought it was a much more clearly written book, and well worth the extra dollar. Boyle doesn't go into making shop tools on the cheap, he concentrates on making knives.

Grimmund
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hmm....if you dont have a copy already, i would try getting hold of 'Anvils in America'. that has been on my wish list for some time, but is a bit out of my price range. even used copies tend to go for
aroud 60.00-75.00...or more.

'drason'
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Something else you may not have realized. Google has some material available online at books.google.com. More recent books will only have a few pages. However, older books may be available for free download. For example, Practical Blacksmithing by Richardson is available for download.

This is an example link of an entire book online. Warning, it may take a while on slower connections. http://books.google.com/books?id=zT5DAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=blacksmith&lr=&as_brr=1

Thomas
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For knives, I normally recommend Goddard's $50 Knife Shop and Tim McCreight's Custom Knifemaking above most others when beginning. Goddards Wonder of Knifemaking is also a good reference, and is a collection of articles that he's written.

Karl Shroen has a book called The Hand Forged Knife. I'll let you look through it sometime, but don't bother buying it. Same thing with the book by David Boye.

I'm not fond of any of the books by Hrisoulas. Too many errors through the books for my tastes.

Jamie
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The website you all want to go to is:
http://www.countryside.gov.uk/LAR/archive/publications/craftpublications.asp

They have the 1930's blacksmithing manual, a 1957 manual, a manual on wheel making, and saddle making, and some assorted pattern books.

Michael

Tim,
Though I recommend the New Edge of the Anvil to most, I do not believe that it can teach you much that you do not already know. The backyard blacksmith by Lorilei Simms has more information that you can use, The "hints" that it provides are excellent. However, for you, I recommend "The $50 Knife shop" by Wayne Goddard, would teach many new things.

For inspiration I recommend "Decorative and Sculptural Ironwork: Tools, Techniques, Inspiration" (Schiffer Book for Collectors) by Dona Z. Meilach

I usaully bring them all to WW if you want to wait and look at them before you buy them.

Danr
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Thank you to all who made suggestions.

I got "Backyard Blacksmith" and it's good but more basic than I thought  it would be. Still it's the book I've been thinking about writing so it can't be all bad. ;)

Waiting on $50 Knife Shop.

Good suggestions all.

Tim