Best metal work books according to redditors
We found 142 Reddit comments discussing the best metal work books. We ranked the 47 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 142 Reddit comments discussing the best metal work books. We ranked the 47 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
Easier than becoming a barber, harder than becoming a gardener. It depends on location. I can only speak to the U.S. and as a lock manufacturer not a locksmith.
First let's define scope: a locksmith is someone who does more than copy keys, but does less than manufacture locks. The bread and butter of course is making key copies, but they also charge premiums for lockouts and master keying facilities.
House keys can be copied by a Redbox like robot. More obscure keys (think 1991 Pontiac Firebird with GM VATS resistors) need a trip to a locksmith. You'll also call up a locksmith for lockouts - usually it's a bit different business that serves car lockouts vs home lockouts. Lastly if you are a landlord and need to master-key a building, you'll set up a relationship with a local locksmith to architect the system for you, and return to them when you need to rekey doors. Depending how oldschool this is, it can be a system on pen and paper, MS-DOS (not even joking), or a web dashboard.
In general locksmithing is a semi-protected profession. It is not anywhere near as rigorous as being a doctor or lawyer which is what one initially thinks. The closest thing is a certification process through a private organization similar to computer certs like CISSP or A+ but through an organization like ALOA or SAVTA (a subsidiary of ALOA) and a license through a government agency.
Locksmith certifications are issued by private companies. Locksmith licenses are issued by state governments. Certifications require a test of knowledge (picking, safes, automotive, how to hinge and hang a door). Licenses lean towards a one page proof of identity and application fee.
An ALOA certification doesn't just test knowledge of how to pick locks. It also requires knowledge of:
License requirements vary from state to state. There are 15 states that license locksmiths (AL,CA, IL, LA, NJ, NC, OK, TN and TX) and 35 that don't. If you don't need a locksmith license you likely need a 'contractor' license if you are doing more than $500 in work. California for instance needs both a locksmith license and a contractor license.
I'll give you two extremes. Virginia is wild. You could start locksmithing today with a drill. See this NPR story for more. Buy some deadbolts at Home Depot for $35 and a drill for $100. Sign up with a callcenter. Wait by the phone. Charge someone $200 to drill their lock.
Texas on the other hand is one of the most regulated environments. If you think taxi cab medallions where hard to come by, try locksmithing in Texas. It's run by a locksmith guild and there are only two paths:
In general people are for licensing but certification is a hotly debated topic in the locksmith community. ALOA Security Professionals Association, Inc. is a private for profit company in charge of most of the certifications in the U.S. The same arguments for or against are found in pretty much every other private credentialing organization.
Judge for yourself.
But the TLDR for most places is:
If on the other hand, you just want to learn to pick locks get a kit on Amazon for ~$20.
Bill Philips' books on locksmithing are pretty good. See both The Complete Book of Locks and Locksmithing and Locksmithing, 2nd Edition
If you move the decimal over. This is about 1,000 in books...
(If I had to pick a few for 100 bucks: encyclopedia of country living, survival medicine, wilderness medicine, ball preservation, art of fermentation, a few mushroom and foraging books.)
Medical:
Where there is no doctor
Where there is no dentist
Emergency War Surgery
The survival medicine handbook
Auerbach’s Wilderness Medicine
Special Operations Medical Handbook
Food Production
Mini Farming
encyclopedia of country living
square foot gardening
Seed Saving
Storey’s Raising Rabbits
Meat Rabbits
Aquaponics Gardening: Step By Step
Storey’s Chicken Book
Storey Dairy Goat
Storey Meat Goat
Storey Ducks
Storey’s Bees
Beekeepers Bible
bio-integrated farm
soil and water engineering
Organic Mushroom Farming and Mycoremediation
Food Preservation and Cooking
Steve Rinella’s Large Game Processing
Steve Rinella’s Small Game
Ball Home Preservation
Charcuterie
Root Cellaring
Art of Natural Cheesemaking
Mastering Artesian Cheese Making
American Farmstead Cheesemaking
Joe Beef: Surviving Apocalypse
Wild Fermentation
Art of Fermentation
Nose to Tail
Artisan Sourdough
Designing Great Beers
The Joy of Home Distilling
Foraging
Southeast Foraging
Boletes
Mushrooms of Carolinas
Mushrooms of Southeastern United States
Mushrooms of the Gulf Coast
Tech
farm and workshop Welding
ultimate guide: plumbing
ultimate guide: wiring
ultimate guide: home repair
off grid solar
Woodworking
Timberframe Construction
Basic Lathework
How to Run A Lathe
Backyard Foundry
Sand Casting
Practical Casting
The Complete Metalsmith
Gears and Cutting Gears
Hardening Tempering and Heat Treatment
Machinery’s Handbook
How to Diagnose and Fix Everything Electronic
Electronics For Inventors
Basic Science
Chemistry
Organic Chem
Understanding Basic Chemistry Through Problem Solving
Ham Radio
AARL Antenna Book
General Class Manual
Tech Class Manual
MISC
Ray Mears Essential Bushcraft
Contact!
Nuclear War Survival Skills
The Knowledge: How to rebuild civilization in the aftermath of a cataclysm
Greetings from /r/metalfoundry!
Using a break drum forge, probably not. Or at least, if you do reach sufficient temperatures, it will only be at the cost of massively inefficient waste of fuel.
A couple other things:
When you talk about "collecting iron with a strong magnet", I hope you are talking about random discarded scrap metal. If you are thinking about finding iron ore, then the vast majority of that is in the form non-magnetic iron oxide. Also, you may have better luck investing in even a lower end metal detector compared to just trying to use a high power magnet.
You can't just use a regular ceramic crucible. You need to use a crucible with a lid that you seal up air-tight with clay. If air gets to your hot iron, it will both burn out the carbon in your steel, and burn the iron into iron oxide and that won't do you any good. The lid needs to seal on very tightly because ideal gas law means the air that remains in the crucible is going to raise in pressure along with the temperature, and you don't want the lid to pop.
You need to use a combination of scrap iron, crushed glass (cullet) and a blend of other additives depending on what is in the scrap you're starting with to get your desired alloy. At a minimum, usually at least a little carbon (crushed hardwood charcoal) Other additives may depend on the material used to make your crucible. You need to gradually heat it up until well past the melting point of iron. You need to hold it at that temperature long enough for the carbon to distribute through the iron. You need to allow the crucible to cool at least down to forge-welding temperature. If you use a lower grade crucible (eg. modified terra cotta flowerpot, which I don't recommend), there's a decent chance you will shatter the thing when extracting your iron/steel. Also, don't expect your foundry to survive terribly long when you run it at the temperatures needed for crucible steel.
Getting back to how you would heat this crucible, The cheapest setup would be a Gingery style backyard charcoal foundry. It's something like a 7 gallon bucket lined with a few inches of refractory material (It can be made using about $40 worth of stuff from the hardware store), You make a raised mound for the crucible, a tangential hole at the bottom, and a lid with a hole in the center. You allow it to dry for a few days (more weather depending), then bake slowly using a wood fire to harden. You put your prepared crucible in place, pack the thing loosely with charcoal all the way to the top, light the charcoal. Once started, you hook up a leaf blower to the bottom hole and hit it. Now you get to constantly add more charcoal until the process is complete, and it does burn pretty fast.
Even if you do all this correctly, you can still have failures. Niels Provos has a playlist where he attempts to make crucible steel, and only has limited success.
Also see New Edge of The Anvil, also by Andrews. I believe it contains most of the same information with some slight revisions and updates.
Amazon (UK) Link:
New Edge of the Anvil: A Resource Book for the Blacksmith https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1879535092/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_GHFUCbR6D5GG9
This guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Weygers
Wrote a book called "The Complete Modern Blacksmith":https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Modern-Blacksmith-Alexander-Weygers/dp/0898158966
It has good information on making wood and stone-working hand tools.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1878087355/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491940788&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=David+J+Gingery&dpPl=1&dpID=51lFbYGCpkL&ref=plSrch
Put your face in a book schoolboy.
check out "Backyard Blacksmith" by Lorelei Sims. It covers the basics of what smithing is, basic tools needed, basic smithing techniques, different types of steel, how to make your tools, and how to heat treat your tools. The last section is a collection of about 20 projects, arranged from basic to advanced that you can start on day one. It even tells you what sizes of stock to use, and breaks the project down into steps. Probably the best basic book I've come across.
https://www.amazon.com/Backyard-Blacksmith-Lorelei-Sims/dp/0785825673/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474489905&sr=8-1&keywords=lorelei+sims+book+backyard+blacksmith
http://www.amazon.com/Charcoal-Foundry-Build-Metal-Working/dp/1878087002/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1369891234&sr=8-2&keywords=David+Gingery
Might be a good place to start.
There is a great book for beginners called "The Backyard Blacksmith" by Lorelei Sims that you could benefit tremendously from. It has a section in there about how to layout a forge area that I think works really well. If you search for it at amazon you can do the "look inside" thing and actually see that page before you buy it. But I recommend buying it, its a hardcover with great info and pictures along with a few beginner projects. its definitely worth the $12 us. Good luck with it. heres a link to it http://www.amazon.com/Backyard-Blacksmith-Lorelei-Sims/dp/0785825673/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1463055951&sr=1-1&keywords=the+backyard+blacksmith
Your question is legitimate, and you didn't insinuate anything. I just wanted to introduce terminology since you mentioned you were a beginner.
When forming metals, one does not need to always heat them up; this would be a type of planishing. And, more conversationally than precisely, forming is more about plate or sheet metals and sometimes casting or stamping. The terms forging and forming get stickier when discussing industrial methods versus individual metalsmithing. For this, I am sticking to individual metalsmith terminology.
Forging is heat applied to metal and where compression happens; it can increase the strength of the metal's properties versus casting or machining. In blacksmithing, hot forging is done which prevents work hardening. Work hardening (which can be desirable or not) is a product of hammering cold stock, not hot. You can draw out, or squish, or flatten, or upset when hot forging.
With forming, usually with sheet or plate, one can work hot or cold, (but cold can often be assumed) and one is deforming the metal in specific directions and/or processes.
There is a Venn Diagram of things that overlap forging and forming. Blacksmithing and metalsmithing often occupy the same space. I am a blacksmith that also works with copper, silver, gold, and bronze. I work with sheet and with bar stock. I sometimes cast metal as well. There really isn't a hard and fast rule for what defines a blacksmith (other than predominately working with ferrous), so don't get too hung up on these delineations. They're just a guide.
If you would like to make armor, I would go to the nearest hobby shop and pick up a few sheets of copper. Bang on it, heat it up, and then bang on it some more. Try to pick up a jeweler's saw and see how well the sheet saws before and after you anneal it. Make patterns (like in your link) and see how the metal behaves.
This will give you a relatively easy entry into forming metals, before tackling steel, which requires a lot more heat and a more detailed set up. I would also recommend to you a great book called "The Complete Metalsmith" by Tim McCreight
You can find the book cheaper elsewhere, but the website I linked is a good one for people wanting a metalsmithing resource. I also recommend "The New Edge of the Anvil" which our University uses in its degreed Blacksmith program.
Good luck, and feel free to ask me any questions!
EDIT: A more scientific definition of hot forging vs cold
Backyard Blacksmith like Raeladar recommended, by Lorelei Sims
http://www.amazon.com/The-Backyard-Blacksmith-Traditional-Techniques/dp/1592532519/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341272167&sr=8-1&keywords=backyard+blacksmith
The Complete Bladesmith by Jim Hrisoulas has a TON of detailed info like forgewelding (important throughout blacksmithing, not just bladesmithing)
http://www.amazon.com/The-Complete-Bladesmith-Forging-Perfection/dp/1581606338/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1341272167&sr=8-4&keywords=backyard+blacksmith
and The Complete Modern Blacksmith by Alexander Weygers has good info as well
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Modern-Blacksmith-Alexander-Weygers/dp/0898158966/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_c
my library is growing from these books as well as the forge I'm putting together.
I think you mean this book: Wayne Goddard's $50 Dollar Knife Shop
I would also recommend The Backyard Blacksmith by Lorelei Sims.
Don't get too caught up in buying a London pattern anvil. Remember, the ancients used rocks for anvils. Check out the book "The Complete Modern Blacksmith by Alexander Weygers. In it, he talks about other items that can be used for an anvil. Go to the nearest scrap metal yard--one that will allow you to walk the yard--and see if you can find a large chunk of steel off of old machinery. I currently have a piece of RR track that someone had cut shaped into an andiron. Its not the prettiest, but it works.
The point is to just start pounding hot metal, and add tools as you can.
Another one you may enjoy is the Build Your Own Metalworking Shop from Scrap series of books.
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.
This isn't exactly what you wanted. But is an amazing set of books on how to build your own fully functional machine shop from scrap. This guy does his own castings from scraps then builds that into a lathe, and other equipment. It's really amazing.
http://www.amazon.com/Build-Metal-Working-Complete-Series/dp/1878087355
Your best resource is the resident blacksmith. But here are the books I've taught myself with:
* The Backyard Blacksmith by Lorelei Sims
I am incredibly jealous of your opportunity, that living history stuff always seems like a blast.
I too was in your position just a few years back. Here is a list of my recommendations for the entry-level versions of the items you listed above as well as some other things I like to have handy.
Now for my personal suggestions;
I hope this list helps and I wish you well on your journey in beginning Bladesmithing!
The New Edge of The Anvil.
https://www.amazon.com/New-Edge-Anvil-Resource-Blacksmith/dp/1879535092
Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, which might be considered the genre defining work, would actually be a decent reference. It's not information packed, but it outlines a process that would be achievable by a 19th-century engineer, in a way that your modern McMaster-Carr dependent engineer couldn't.
But I am a little confused as to what exactly you're asking. Essentially, there are a couple steps of social, technical, and practical problems:
A. Use tools like crop rotation, the iron moldboard plow, and selective breeding etc. so a smaller fraction of the population needs to be farmers.
B. Use natural energy resources, interchangeable parts, and the assembly line to reform metalurgy, textile, and other industries so that each individual is more productive.
C. Distribute and collate information using, variously, the printing press, telegraph, and computer (I may have skipped a step in there) to speed the process by which the system improves itself.
Another resource you might be interested in, with slightly more realistic goals, would be Build Your Own Metal Working Shop From Scrap which takes you from raw scrap metal (or, if you felt compelled to do so, from a charcoal furnace, though after proving to yourself that you can make iron from ore, steel from iron, and bars or wire from ingots, it's more effective to just go down to the local scrapyard and buy it by the ton) to a modern machine shop, complete with lathe and mill. I don't have it, but as another reader of this genre, that book is definitely on my wish list!
2: Yes, mild steel is fine/good for tongs and fire maintenance tools. You actually don't want to use high carbon steel for tongs, since you'll be dunking them in water quite a bit
3: I'm still a newb, but this is advanced stuff. If you want higher carbon steel on a budget, get some old car spring material.
Just get some mild steel square and round stock, and The Backyard Blacksmith, and start working on the basic skills - it's a lot harder than it looks! :)
https://www.amazon.com/Backyard-Blacksmith-Lorelei-Sims/dp/0785825673/
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:
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.
Buy it wherever, but I like this book.
Okay. Mansplanation time. TLDR-It's probably worth the time. Sounds like you really want to be there. So you should be there. For maximum awesome points get a diving certificate. Anyway.
Go buy a welder. By the way, you would become a weldor. The welder is the tool. You would be the weldor. Anyway, a MIG (metal inert gas) welder would be the the thing to start with. They're pretty cheap to start with, and also the easiest. If you haven't already, go buy a Haynes Welding Manual. Do that first. Read the thing.
Blue collar jobs are a lot like programming. There's a heavy emphasis on the self taught. If you went to school, they look at you funny. Like somebody had to make you learn. How good can you be? I didn't say they were right. That's just how they tend to think.
You can go to school, and probably should, but you can also score a MIG of your own and just start practicing. And that's what they want to see. They want to see the proof that you just HAD to. $200 WILL buy you a brand new MIG welder. You can't do much with that, except learn to weld sheet metal like a boss, which will get you a job. Sheet is thin and it burns through easy.
See, if you just go get a 200 dollar MIG welder and some scrap, a book, and a place to practice, and get at it, you'll either confirm your talent, and then be ready for school, or find out that you suck at it, and actually hate it. Then you can put the MIG welder on Craigslist.
Fuckers talk shit, but don't let them fool you. It's a sausage party up in there. Not too many ladies. They'll want you around. It's just weird when you look around the shop and it's just dude city. Makes you feel fucked up. Like the thing you care about professionally is some anathema to women for a reason you don't understand.
It's just that dudes always talk shit. I'll skip the thesis on why.
If you go into it, you'll be a pioneer (in 2014, ain't that some bullshit) but it sounds like you really wanna be there anyway, so you should go. Really that's the bottom line. You're all about it, you have to go for it. If the whole thing is just a pile of suck, then you can drop it with no regrets.
So go get a cheap MIG. Weld stuff with it. Make some art pieces out of scrap for practice. That's how the average welder do. Just go do the work, since the basic tools are cheap enough. Go to any scrap yard and see if you can get a pile of miscellaneous steel for practice bits. Read your book. Get one of those successful chicks to watch over your first weld so you don't blow yourself up or something. Shit ain't toys, I'll tell you that. But the gas in a MIG is inert. No explodo. It's there to shield the weld from oxygen, but I digress.
But if you really wanna mess with it, do the thing on its own terms.
Take it from a born English major who went to tech school instead. You really, really wanna do it go buy the tools and try your hand at the work. It's not like they ask for qualifications. You can just go buy a welder and fuck around. IF AND WHEN you start to feel good enough about your skills to try for going pro, THEN go to school. By the time you get to that point, you'll have thought it through properly.
These blue collar types only respect skill though. So if you roll up to whatever shop looking for a job, and you've got no schooling at all, BUUUUT you do have two pieces of steel that you welded yourself with perfect "fish scale" welds AND you can do it again in front of them for proof, well, you're in. These guys will actually look side-eye at you if you've been to school. It's a conservative, school-is-fer-fags kinda mob, but you'll find lots of decent people within it. The whole point I want to make is that if you really wanna do it, then all you gotta do is do it.
TLDR- Go buy a Mig and a book
Me, I just really want one of those jobs where you sit on an office chair and type shit and then cry about it in the air conditioning like your life is hell. Getting real tired of burns and bleeding. You go do the work then, and I'll take your job. I just wanna wear slacks and a dress shirt because I don't have to worry about dirt or wear on my clothes.
Woah, far from a snappy title there... But I think I see what you're getting at. How to achieve industrial self-sufficiency?
I think people badly underestimate the current limitations of additive manufacturing (3D printing). It's a neat new invention that's brought down the price of some specific scenarios, but they're a very, very long way off self-replication when you consider motors, electronics, bearings and chains etc. Difficult to get structural strength from a 3D-printed part, they tend to be brittle and crack along the print lines. Not sure I'd want to trust one with a critical load-bearing part replacement, like Mark Watney's Mars airlock. SpaceX have possibly cracked this with their printed rocket components but that's an insanely expensive bit of kit - the raw materials are also way expensive and need a spec that'll have to come from Earth - this isn't going to be able to make parts that everyone in the colony has access to.
Personally, I always liked the adage about "with a milling machine and a lathe, you can build a milling machine and a lathe".
Given the mass of metal and its insane structural capabilities when machined and welded by easily-trained workers, I'd suggest mining, refining, and fabricating parts onsite is going to be essential. Here's a fascinating book about building a metal shop from scrap, starting with a foundry and moving on to more complex machinery. If I had to survive after the collapse of civilisation I'd want that book. I think the same applies on Mars.
So:
The Charcoal Foundry (Build Your... https://www.amazon.com/dp/1878087002?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
David gingery has a whole series starting with making a foundry and eventually making your own machine tools.
Pick up a copy of The New Edge of the Anvil. Or go to either Project Gutenberg or the Open Library, search for blacksmithing books, download, and go to town. :)
Was it this one?
Yep, but a solid iron anvil and a iron hammer with a bit of hardened steel forge-welded on to the face is much better than a big stone bolder and a stone hammer, as it was abandoned as soon as possible.
Think of a light anvil of maybe 50 pounds of iron. Now think how much work it took to make less than an ounce of iron.
I am by no means an experienced blacksmith, but I found this book to be fairly enlightening when I was first getting into it: The Complete Modern Blacksmith.
It covers stuff like the forge /u/ColinDavies outlined.. and gives a very good intro into the "bootstraping" nature of blacksmithing (IMO :D)!
I would first like to say that I agree with everyone else here who recommends buying a used one and restoring it (or just keeping looking for a good deal, they're out there).
​
That being said, there is a series of books available by David Gingery that has instructions on how to build basic metalworking machines from scrap. The first book in the series builds a foundry that enables you to cast aluminum, the second book builds a lathe, third a shaper, fourth a milling machine, etc. Seven books in total I think.
​
If you do look into going this route, I'd strongly recommend looking into some of the more modern forms of sand casting, specifically the "lost foam" method which seems to be a lot easier to get consistent results from.
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Additionally, there are quite a few youtube series that build lathes either directly from Gingery's designs, or inspired by them. I was introduced to Gingery via the Makercise series and he, if I remember correctly, mostly follows Gingery's designs (he also covers lost foam casting as well)
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Note: if this series seems interesting to you, it would be cheaper to buy the hardcover book containing the whole series (or all 7 individual softcover books as a set) than it would be to buy each individually. However, if all you care about is the lathe, then just the first two should be enough to get you started (and you can always pick up the others later if you find yourself still interested in proceeding)
Paul Sellers' book Working Wood 1 & 2 takes you from carving spoons to making your workbench and is written in his easily accessible and super-informative style. A little pricy ($35) but completely worth it:
https://www.amazon.com/Working-Wood-Artisan-Course-Sellers/dp/0956967302
I've had this for several years. It's a solid, easy to read book.
https://www.amazon.com/Haynes-Welding-Manual/dp/1563921103
get a piece of forklift tine, strike with hammer repeatedly, rinse repeat.
If you're doing backyard DIY stuff than any good high carbon steel will do, I've used pieces of grader blades before, I used a tree stump one time too but that was to win a bet.
There is a good step by step tutorial in The Complete Modern Blacksmith for cutting, shaping and hardening a piece of railroad rail into an anvil.
I'm a bit of a generalist. I always have lots of projects going on at once, each in a different state of completion. The books I have listed I do own, and read and pick through the most often.
The first two are generalist books. I say that because they both have such a breadth of information it's hard to describe them. The third is more specialist in that it covers only a single subject, but does so in such detail and in a recipe type format that it's easy to follow along. It starts with how to build a blacksmith shop, what tools you need, and how to use tools you make to build bigger tools to help build other, bigger tools.
https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Country-Living-40th-Anniversary/dp/1570618402
https://www.amazon.com/Self-Sufficient-Life-How-Live/dp/0756654505/ref=pd_sim_14_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=FR7BRBKJ9CA3XRWW1N8H
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Modern-Blacksmith-Alexander-Weygers/dp/0898158966/ref=sr_1_15?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1473081102&sr=1-15&keywords=blacksmithing
I'm planning to at some point definitely get around to buying this book series - Build Your Own Metal Working Shop From Scrap
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I'd also like to put together a pharmacopoeia based on the WHO list of essential medicines, including the plants you can extract the precursors from.
I suggest you read a decent welding manual.
Also, a project like this isn't really one to start with, you're going to either burn through or not penetrate in the first 500 welds you make. You'd likely end up with a trailer that might as well be held together with hot glue if you were to try to weld it together yourself with no experience.
If you were to start welding on the cheap, read a manual, acquire a welder, and acquire scrap from fabrication shops to start making welding sculptures. Do all sorts of welds, start with just beads on the face of the steel, once you get a feel for that, start welding all sorts of joints. As often as possible, try to break those joints to see how the weld breaks. If you see the welds popping off of the steel, you're getting no penetration and your weld is very weak. Over time you'll get a feel for welding, and only then would I try something like working on a trailer.
FYI, it took me probably 6 months to produce halfway decent welds while working in a shop occasionally welding. However, I wouldn't call myself a good welder, mainly because I can only weld steel with a MIG welder and I've only been doing it for about 2 years.
Black powder kits are fun and easy, but i think you would be bored with one. It sounds like you have some basic skills and knowledge already, and most blackpowder kits are designed for people with little to no experience. Projects I give our shop apprentice: Stock refinishing (easy to do, hard to do well. big money maker), polishing with draw files, sandpaper, and polishing wheels (another huge money maker. takes lots and lots of practice, but little skills more than patience), AR15 builds (not incredibly cheap, but damn near impossible to fuck up if you take your time and do your research) Sight installation (providing you have access to a mill or drill press, drilling & tapping holes in a straight line is a big deal in Gunsmithing. Shot out barrels, or even pieces of cold rolled 1018 steel are good scraps to practice).
This is also a great book. it has some advanced stuff in it, but lots of beginner wood & steel projects, as well as practice exercises for machining and using hand tools. http://www.amazon.com/Gunsmithing-Projects-Shotgun-News-Staff/dp/1934622540
These books combined with the eBooks / resources in the stickied post will keep you busy for the next 10 years or so.
I'm a fan of this one, lots of specific build info and techniques: Shotgun News Gunsmithing Projects Book https://www.amazon.com/dp/1934622540/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_OaHgzb5SPDV83
So much for my reading skills -- sorry.
I've made some of that type of chain, it's tedious, but very rewarding. If you are serious about it, this is the classic book. I have the spiral bound one (stays flat), it's very good.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Complete-Book-Locks-Locksmithing/dp/0071448292
a good start. Perhaps not as much history as you're looking for, however.
Metal Working Series: Gingerly
http://www.amazon.com/Build-Metal-Working-Scrap-Complete/dp/1878087355/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1392611899&sr=1-1&keywords=Build+Your+Own+Metal+Working+Shop+from+Scrap
You need a big piece of heavy metal to use as an anvil. A lot of people like to use a section of railroad track mounted to a stump. For more money you can find a real anvil on craigslist or at local farm auctions for a few hundred dollars, depending on your area. Then you need a forge to heat the steel. Here is a plan to make one out of an old brake drum and shop vac. Last thing you need is hammer, a 3lb engineers hammer is a good one to start with.
I would recommend getting a book like A Blacksmithing Primer. It with take you through all the basics. Also check out /r/Blacksmith/ and other online blacksmith communities like IforgeIron.com
Not in my field, but my best friend is a Blacksmith, and his bible is The Edge of The Anvil. As a non-blacksmith, I've often referred to it when I've wanted to build something out of steel. A great book and worth buying.
Start with this book. It's cheap, and perhaps the best smithing book available.
I've taught metal casting before and I think I have some relevant experience.
For melting:
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.
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.
Get, read and absorb the following:
The knowledge is more important than the tools. That said, don't scrimp on the anvil, the vise and the flatter hammer.
http://www.amazon.com/Working-Wood-Artisan-Course-Sellers/dp/0956967302
If you look at the buying options, there is someone selling a new copy for $34.99 USD.
Edge of the anvil is the only one I've ever read and it's quite good. Was recommended it by the blacksmith I did a couple classes with.
http://www.amazon.com/New-Edge-Anvil-Resource-Blacksmith/dp/1879535092
I read 3 books, one which was not very good and 2 that were phenomenal.
My favorite was probably The Backyard Blacksmith. It had great information and detail. I couldn't have been happier.
The Home Blacksmith was pretty good and has given me some projects for the future.
The one I did NOT like was The DIY Blacksmithing Book. It was garbage. It was little more than a pamphlet. looking around in google and youtube provided MUCH more useful information than this book. For a few dollars more the other books were MASSIVELY more helpful. The "DIY Blacksmithing Book" was a complete waste of money.
Aside from class, I learned the basics from How to Run a Lathe.
https://www.amazon.com/How-Run-Lathe-Operation-Cutting/dp/1614274746/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=southbend+lathe+book&qid=1571679487&sr=8-2
Here is a thing called an Afghan Lathe.
Then there is "Build Your Own Metal Workshop" Book(s).
I've not done either, but they are intriguing.
Thanks for the tips. :) I was looking at getting this book to start with. I have always been interested in it.
Anvilfire.com
Iforgeiron.com
hammertyme.com
reddit.com/r/blacksmith
/r/blacksmithing
/r/bladesmith
/r/metalworking
http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Blacksmithing-Alex-Bealer/dp/0785803955
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Modern-Blacksmith-Alexander-Weygers/dp/0898158966
http://www.anvilfire.com/bookrev/
Those are just a few to get you started.
ALSO. Start learning metallurgy as soon as possible.
There is a local heritage museum near me that teaches blacksmithing to the community (I haven't started yet, but have a space reserved for March to get started). I never would have thought to look at a museum for something like this, so I thought it would be worth mentioning in the off chance you have something similar near by.
In preparation for the class I bought this book as it seems to be highly recommended by many people on the smithing forums I have looked at. It is full of lots of great information and I think has given be a decent idea of what I might be getting myself in to while also explaining the types of tools and terminology that'll be necessary to learning the trade/art.
Aww, shucks. I don't remember where I saw it that made me find it somewhere, but if I am dead set on finding something, I usually find it at some point. It may be out of print but Amazon has it readily available.
Link to this book on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Backyard-Blacksmith-Lorelei-Sims/dp/0785825673/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397710685&sr=1-1&keywords=backyard+blacksmith
A book by Alexander Weygers, "The Complete Modern Blacksmith" is good. I've read it and use it as a guide to get started. For a cheap start, I'd buy some stock and coal locally, building my own easy forge with materials I have on hand or can get cheaply. Instructables has some good stuff too and there is some to-do-for gas forge gear sold on eBay. Personally when I have some money I'll go there. Getting used equipment on eBay is possible, but there will be competition, especially by people collecting "old" equipment as decorative or collecting items. I'd buy a few hammers online or in local stores depending on which was cheaper and more convenient, buy your first pair of tongs and make some of the rest. I don't have any pictures of my work but I'd be glad to share some of my metalsmithing results if you're interested. Don't buy an anvil online... shipping is killer. Also, as far as I know the anvils sold at say, harbor freight are pieces of crap that won't last very long. Try to find a farrier locally to buy an anvil from. Craigslist usually has an anvil or twenty for sale depending on your area.
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Modern-Blacksmith-Alexander-Weygers/dp/0898158966
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Weygers
you might get away with melting Aluminium, but to be honest if you plan on doing casting you'll want a forge and a foundry. the foundry is a better shape to handle a crucible, and inappropriate for most forging - but it can be done.
but for that you want to go with something like a kaowool and hot face - if you want portable.
have you looked at http://www.amazon.com/Charcoal-Foundry-Build-Metal-Working-ebook/dp/B005STTBBM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1463618766&sr=8-2&keywords=gingery
If you're interested and want to start from scratch check out this book series on making your own shop, from foundry up.
As for books I can wholly vouch for this one.
I'd love to see a video, but there's a book series that describes something along those lines:
https://www.amazon.com/Charcoal-Foundry-Build-Metal-Working-ebook/dp/B005STTBBM
You need to read this book. See if your library has it; there's also a pdf of it on the net.
Another great source of info: the Home Model Engine Machinist board.
Whatcha making?
I think it has been easiest for me to pick a project and get the tools I need to complete it. Rinse and repeat.
Working Wood 1 & 2 is a great primer for getting started with hand tools. Lots of projects that teach technique, tool advice, etc. Paul Sellers' website is also a great resource.
The Anarchist Tool Chest is also a great resource for sorting out hand tools.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1878087355
https://www.amazon.com/Spacetime-Donuts-Rudy-Rucker/dp/B00ACY0RH0
Read everything you can. Books are one of the best tools a smith can have IMHO. A good book to start with is backyard blacksmith by Lorelei Sims. It is filled with pictures and has good ideas and techniques.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Backyard-Blacksmith-Lorelei-Sims/dp/0785825673
Thanks! Just working my way through - Working Wood 1 & 2: the Artisan Course with Paul Sellers. Followed his design.
Here’s the link
There are many unexpected dangers in metalcasting and I didn't watch the whole video to see which ones they warn about. A good book is the first book of Dave Gingery's series.
If you aren't machining the material afterwards, cans are probably OK as a source material.
The Complete Book of Locks & Locksmithing is a good reference book & How to Pick Locks with Improvised Tools has a bunch of info on the theory of lockpicking so you can imporvise.
"I'm like Miles Davis with a 12-guage." - Gunther
Book on chainmail
Dr.Who mug
Christmas Dr.Who ornament
What if? Book
Give it a try! It's surprisingly cheap if you don't go overboard like I did. Outside of commercial refractory - I have maybe 50$ worth of scrap and welding consumables invested into mine. Hours of productive feeling work and fun involved.
Check out Gingery's books.
There's this book series by David J. Gingery called "Build Your Own Metal Working Shop From Scratch", which describes in seven books how to progressively build an industrial metal sheet brake starting from a charcoal foundry. Building the tools to build the tools to build etc. I haven't read it myself, but I hear many great engineers consider it a formative text.
If you're not afraid of DIY, maybe try Gingery?
The new edge of the anvil is a good book for traditional processes.
https://www.amazon.com/New-Edge-Anvil-Resource-Blacksmith/dp/1879535092
I haven't found a good blacksmithing book with information on heat treatment. You should attempt to look up the recommended schedule from whatever manufacturer made the steel you're working. Absent that, Alro has a good booklet that covers a bunch of steels.
http://www.alro.com/datacatalog/014-toolsteel.pdf
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.
Thanks sir! I've already purchased your book and will start it tonight.
First non-fiction book in a series around making chainmail Chainmail Made Easy
And a scifi/fantasy short story collection I published with a friend Tales of Fantasy, Fables, and Fiction
Get him Paul Sellers book
http://www.amazon.com/Working-Wood-Artisan-Course-Sellers/dp/0956967302
Tools, clamps, etc are great gifts but the gift of knowledge is the best of all
Thanks! I'll see if I can find it online.
Edit: Here it is!
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[amazon.ca](https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B06XWCL2ZJ/ref=pd_aw_sim_351_of_68?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=D8DMJW1SHCZ1B79MASC0 -via Flynx)
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>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?
I would also recommend Shotgun News Gunsmithing Projects Book available on Amazon. If nothing else it's a very fun read. Here is the Amazon Link https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1934622540/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1