Reddit reviews Complete Metalsmith: Professional Edition

I'd suggest you check out Chasing & Repoussé which specifically talks about what you want to learn. I'd also strongly suggest Creative Metal Forming and The Complete Metalsmith.

Buy it wherever, but I like this book.

I've taught metal casting before and I think I have some relevant experience.

For melting:

• Oxy-propane torch ~300$
  
• Electromelt ~1000$
  
• Crucibles ~20$
  
  Plus other assorted items like regulators, flux, safety gear, ect...
  
  OK! now you can melt aluminum, pewter, nickle silver, brass, bronze, copper, silver, and gold. Next up is figuring out how to cast it into interesting shapes, this is done by using one of the many different types of molds.
  
  

1. Permanent molds, 0-100$. These range from things like muffin tins to graphite molds like these.
   
2. Sand molds, 0-200$. Either dig up your own sand for free or go with the much better option of a Delft clay kit.
   
3. Investment molds, ~$2-10k and facility dependent. Making this leap in budget will open the world of casting up to far more detailed/intricate parts. However, it requires a vacuum system and a kiln. Both can be had for about 1000$ but you get the added benefit of a kiln which is invaluable in jewelry manufacture. But all of this requires yet more space and I don't know what your exact facilities are like.
   
   All items I linked are just me quickly looking things up. Cheaper prices most certainly can be found with more than 5 minutes of googling. This list of equipment is also not exhaustive. I ain't gunna write the whole budget for you so your going to have to look into some more of the details.
   
   There are loads of metal smiths out there on places like Youtube that is worth looking into. There are also books like The Complete Metal Smith and loads of others.

>The Complete Metalsmith, Tim McCreight, and DO make sure you get the Pro Edition.

The only reason I've been holding off on getting that book is the high-quality 2-star reviews on Amazon. Are they blowing things out of proportion?

>It's not the only metalworking book on my shelf but it's by far the most useful.

...if you had to name one more, what would it be?

Alright metalsmiths of reddit: that book on metalwork, is it just for jewelry, or is it really all kinds of metal work?

The comments all seem to be relating to jewelry stuff.