Reddit reviews The Wonder of Knifemaking

I would suggest picking up a book or two in that case. I highly recommend "The Complete Bladesmith" by Jim Hrisoulas and 'The Wonder of Knifemaking" by Wayne Goddard. I have both and they are very good at laying down the steps for making a knife. Also, make sure you learn about knife steel. You won't find it in a local store, but will need to be purchased online (most of the time). Pick a simple steel like 1080/1084 and start using that. Get good at heat treating it, and the move to something else. 5160 is also good to start. Both are forgiving.

Awesome! Glad to see another person interested, smithing is fun! Getting started is actually pretty easy as long as long as you aren't planning on crafting gorgeous blades right off the get-go. You really only need a few things:

• A forge (these can be built surprisingly cheap if you are inclined)
  
• Coal or charcoal to fire the forge (not bricket charcoal)
  
• A smithing hammer
  
• An anvil (can be as simple as a piece of railroad)
  
• Steel (I recommend starting with 1095, railroad spikes, or rebar).
  
• A bucket of oil or water (depending on the steel) to quench the blade in.
  
• A magnet. Those ones on the long extending stick are the best. (This is for checking the heat of the steel when tempering it)
  
  An anvil can be pricey, even used, if you get a real one but a piece of railroad can be obtained pretty cheaply though not always easily. Don't pay more than $2-4 a pound for an anvil if you buy a used one. The heavier, the better but starting out it should at least weigh 60+ lbs, preferably 150+. Don't try to use a jeweler's anvil or a cast iron anvil. There's some good videos covering types of anvils and where to find them. Everything else will be easy and cheap to obtain.
  
  You can find all the info you need to get started by searching YouTube for knife making or knife smithing. Walter Sorrells in particular has a good channel with some high quality videos. He focuses more on making knives from steel blanks than on forging, but he does have a couple of good forge videos and happens to have spent some time studying under Japanese smiths so he has some decent info on forging Japanese swords and knives if you are interested. Honestly, for a normal knife/sword the forging isn't that hard, it's the finishing part that takes all the time, effort, and skill. (Not to downplay the skills of most medieval smiths, they had to be much more precise in their smithing than we do today because we have power sanders and grinders to quickly fix mistakes). Most YouTube channels will focus on smithing knives instead of swords and I recommend you start with the same even though swords are awesome. It's the same techniques and process, but knives are cheaper to practice on and swords are more difficult to get right.
  
  If you want or prefer a book, there are a few good ones for sale on Amazon. The Backyard Blacksmith, The Complete Modern Blacksmith, The $50 Knife Shop, How to Make Knives, and The Wonder of Knife Making are all great beginner books (only the last two deal with actually making knives). When you get some practice under your belt, Jim Hrisoulas has a couple of books on bladesmithing that are designed for experienced smiths who want to build better blades and deals with swords specifically.

Thanks man. I've been watching videos online and reading a lot on the USN forums, hadn't even thought of the library - it's only a hundred yards from my house and the wife gets us all our fiction reading material from there anyways.

I just put a hold on the following at the local library:

http://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Knives-Richard-Barney/dp/087341389X/

http://www.amazon.com/Wonder-Knifemaking-Wayne-Goddard/dp/1440216843

Other recommendations?