Pieh Tool

Originally written, illustrated and self-published in 1998, "A Blacksmithing Primer" quickly became a much sought after instructional/resource book on forging metals. Both total novice and experienced smiths have gained valuable insight into forging from this book. Many schools are now using it as their forging textbook. In this new second edition, one change was the new color covers and moving the all color tempering chart to the inside back cover and another was the new autobind binding. A new binding technique that still allows the book to lay flat for easy access without damaging the book or binding.

You can order the almost 6 hour long DVD set from us under DVD's. Item #: DVD4 

Blandford

24 projects for novices and experts include door latches, garden tools, tables, fences, weather vanes, and more. A book of ideas and suggestions, rather than an instruction manual, this volume features 80 figures and includes lists of materials, step-by-step instructions, and suggestions for variations in design.
This is a reprint of 24 Blacksmithing Projects, Tab Books, Blue Ridge Summit, 1988.

Brack, H.G.

Joe DeLaRonde is a master blacksmith. He started his blacksmithing career 35 years ago as an apprentice under a master German blacksmith. His works are in use around the globe by military personnel and living history enthusiasts, as well as in private collections and museums in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Europe. Through detailed but easy-to-understand instructions, illustrations, and photographs, he teaches the basic skills of forging. Here is all the information you need to create artistic yet functional iron hardware and accoutrements for home or ranch, including: pokers, shovels, tongs, hooks, camp sets, forks, spoons/spatulas, skewers, nails, hinges, latches, drawer pulls, coat hooks, towel bars, candle holders, brooms, hoes, crowbars, awls, screwdrivers, chain links, chisels, hammers, adzes, axes and knives. DeLaRonde continues to work in his shop in  Colorado and Europe.

Ares

Blacksmithing explains all the basics of applying high heat to steel and then hammering or pressing the metal into interesting shapes. It covers classic skills - like punching and twisting - as well as contemporary techniques - such as plasma cutting, heating with a torch, and using electric tools. It contains an over view of materials (such as various forms of steel) as well as essential tools. You can learn to master such techniques as creating a right-angle bend, forming a point, and making scrolls. You'll also learn how to craft nails, fasteners, and brackets. Then choose from ten beginner friendly projects, including a simple trivit, a door knocker, a coat rack, and a handsome weathervane.

Discover the Practical Simplicity of Blacksmithing: Setting up your own forge and crafting everyday items is easier than you might think. Charles McRaven, a master blacksmith, guides you step-by-step through the process of building a simple forge from recycled materials, acquiring or crafting the basic tools, and learning the techniques to get you started in blacksmithing. McRaven, who began smithing out of a desire to make his own tools for building and restoring hewn-log homes, demonstrates his simple methods in easy-to-follow photos throughout this book. Working under his tutelage, you'll find yourself encouraged and confident that you, too, can create items of lasting beauty and durability from iron and steel.

Plummer
Photographed by Nick Vincent
Edited by Judy Boone

Daniel Boone the 7th has traced his blacksmithing heritage back 15 generations to 16th century England. This book is a tribute to his (and Judy's) success as a full time professional blacksmith; this after having a long career as a welder.

The book includes a brief bio, pictures of his shop and craft fair booth and a discussion on how he approaches the business of selling ironwork. This is followed by 6 chapters featuring the different types of ironwork he makes and sells. Along with the pictures there are brief sidebars which speak to various technical aspects involved in making the piece.

Small

Forty plates of meticulously rendered designs replicate authentic ironwork projects that span some 600 years of metalcrafting. Patterns selected from English churches, chapels, tombs, castles, and other architectural sites depict twelfth-century hinges, fifteenth-century grilles and railings, and seventeenth-century knockers, handles, latches, and other ornamental elements. Ideal for today's metal crafters looking to recreate the decorative architectural accessories from an earlier era, these royalty-free patterns will also be of value to artists, architects, and designers.

This is a classic and much sought-after German blacksmithing text which was translated into English in 2002 by Rudolf Baum. Please see Metzgers' two other books we offer: Basics of Style for Artist Blacksmiths, and Pattern Book for Artist Blacksmiths.

In the early 1900s-the first Renaissance rebirth-there was a rejection of the Victorian style on the part of many creative blacksmiths led by Julius Schramm, some blacksmiths looked back to the ironwork of the Renaissance and the baroque periods. Franz Kuhn in Germany, and Francis Whitaker, in the United States both apprenticed with Schramm, and were strong influences in the rediscovery of the Renaissance.  Samuel Yellin, in his large Philadelphia shop, also looked to earlier periods, and worked with the tools, techniques, and traditions of the Renaissance. Max Metzger saw the future of the blacksmith in this revival, and he supported the name "Artisat-Blacksmith" to describe those doing creative work. Metzger said, "serious practice in freehand drawing is of basic importance" and asked that blacksmiths use the older traditions in original work. You will find his teachings and ideas on these techniques in this book.

Schuler and Hull

Contains everything you need to know about choosing coal as an alternative heat source.  A practical guide that goes over the types of coal and availability, maintenance and more.  53 illustrations.

This handsome book replaces The Complete Metalsmith old edition. It covers twice the material, and goes into greater depth. A rigid fabric cover and elastic band make this a place to store sketches and notes; more than a book, it's a practical tool. This has become a standard text for classes and self-starters around the world.  The clear layout and concise format give the help you need in practical terms you can understand.  Some people call it the most useful tool on their bench.  This volume has a lot of information about various metalsmithing techniques -- polishing, hammering, chasing, engraving and more.  Well-illustrated, this book covers working with precious metals, jewelry making, casting and soldering.

Weygers was a superb sculptor, printmaker, philosopher, and raconteur - as well as a consummate teacher.  Whether you have been blacksmithing for years or are just starting out, this book is a must read. Weygers technique for passing on this skill and art through a printed text is one of the best.

This blacksmithing book is a three-in-one of "The Modern Blacksmith", "The Making of Tools", and "The Recycling, Use and Repair of Tools".  This volume details correct hammer and body motions, forging, creating tools and a variety of other helpful advice.  Over a thousand detailed line drawings.

Profusely illustrated guide, newly revised, offers detailed coverage of basic tools and techniques of welded sculpture.  Abstract shapes, modeling solid figures, arc welding, large-scale welding and more. The book provides proof of the usefulness of the welding process in sculpture. It addresses the problems of sculpture. Covers the oxyacetylene technique in the modeling of the small scale human figure. Hale pursues a deeper understanding of the abstract forms of energy in the universe as they relate to the people of this planet. Methods shown in this book were developed by Hale over a period of forty years and represent valuable and reliable technical tools to the methods of the craft. Recommended as a course supplement in the hands of a skilled instructor, not recommended for the novice seeking self-education.

Meilach

With the help of this unique book, all the fascinating properties of iron and other metals can be creatively explored.  52 color plates and 727 black and white photos and drawings present the ideas and examples visually.  After a short history of ironwork, the author discusses the iron working shop, forge and tools, including anvils, vises, hammers, tongs , punches, centrifugal blowers and machine tools.  She presents information on building, lighting and maintaining a fire.  Forging procedures are explicitely shown:  drawing out, flattening, bending, upsetting, twisting, splitting, punching and drafting, hot cutting on a hardy, and joining and finishing techniques.

Rudolf Baum

These two books will help both apprentice and expert in a most important part of their work. "The pencil is as important a tool for the blacksmith as his hammer." - Jack Andrews. "Serious practice in freehand drawing is of basic importance." - Max Metzger.  The drawings in these books appear to be three-dimensional; the objects look as though they could be picked up. The realistic effect is the result of simple shading techniques explained in detail in the text, and avoids the drawing of an engineer. The workbook assigns exercises that will require the blacksmith to do his homework: consider the historical style that is pertinent, be compatible with the surroundings, and meet the functional requirements. Answers to exercises are provided. Together the two books will be useful tools in the artist-blacksmith's shop.

Ciscato

You know Giuseppe Ciscato from the best selling books he has edited: Italian Masters of Wrought Iron, Italian Wrought Iron Beds and Bedroom Accessories, and The Magic of Italian Wrought Iron. You may also know that a good number of the pieces in those books were designed by Ciscato and forged by other blacksmiths.

This is a book of two decades worth of Giuseppe Ciscato's original and innovative designs which smiths are free to use and interpret as they wish. There is only one page of text (in Italian) in this 160 page book. Most designs are in color.

Harcourt

Originally put together by the author as a "how to" manual for students interested in learning the art of the blacksmith, it serves equally well at the task today.  A series of excellent line drawings illustrate the techniques and methods of the  metalworker as well as the uses of specialized tools for each task.  One aspect of this book, that recommends it for the home blacksmith, is that Harcourt has focused on the making of tools as a course of study in the use of the forge.  A modern would-be smith can follow Harcourt's course of study and end up with many of the tools he will need to expand upon what was learned.

Drew

This is a complete guide originally published at the turn of the century.  Drew begins with the basics, how to set up shop, various tools, and selecting  materials with which to work.  There are step-by-step instructions on how to forge a wide variety of useful and attractive items.

Parkinson

A handsomely illustrated guide to forged architectural ironwork and the craft of the artist blacksmith. At one time, almost every town and village had a blacksmith. There are fewer smiths today, but despite the public perception that blacksmithing belongs to a bygone era, the craft is thriving. Architectural ironwork demands a wide spectrum of skills, from making a finely detailed drawing to forging heavy, red-hot metal bars. A good gate, grille, or balustrade looks so self-evidently right in its setting that its origin seems almost beyond question, but a blacksmith had to measure, design, forge, assemble, finish, and fit it in place. Written by a leading artist blacksmith, and illustrated with nearly 250 photos and drawings, Forged Architectural Metalwork looks at design, construction, finishing, and installation, as well as the skills required of smithworkers in the architectural field today.

Googerty shows you the basics of blacksmithing but then takes you into decorative ironwork. Twelve chapters cover introduction, equipment, working at the forge, various forms of welding, twisting, scrollwork, box forging, embossing, drawer-pulls and hinges, door plates, iron lamps and more.

This is not about straightening the axle on an early automobile. It's about creating art, attractive items that almost anyone would want, both then and now. You'll learn the basics, but you'll get more ideas than the author has time to jump into like how twisted flat bars can be riveted into an impressive "scroll and twist grill". You'll learn to make braided handles, spirals, raised forms, rosettes, lamps and much more.