hubby is mad for blacksmithing

May 10, 2011 4 Replies

My husband recently completed a blacksmithing course in Toowoomba and is really keen to keep going with it. Has anyone got any books that would help him to progress with this hobby? Thanks


I rather like _The_Edge_of_the_Anvil_ which may be out more recently with "New" tacked on the front (mine's 30-odd years old)

Weigers books are nice, or you can go to and get a tonne of out of print books free to download, just search for blacksmith.

Regards Charles

PDF's of the old COSIRA [1] Rural Crafts publications from the 40s and 50s are available here for download. You need a high-speed net connection or, if you're in the boonies on dial-up, much patience.

Try "The Blacksmith's Craft" and "Wrought Ironwork: A Manual of Instruction for Craftsmen". I ordered these (and "Decorative Ironwork") from England in hardcover 40 years ago and found them variously useful and, for a novice, inspirational.

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I see that some of these titles are offered on Amazon for reasonable prices if you prefer real books to PDFs as much as I do. :-)

[1] Council for Small Industries in Rural Areas, now, AIUI, defunct or borged some larger agency.

Hello, Judy. There are many useful books on blacksmithing available and I agree with a previous poster about The New Edge of the Anvil.

Otto Schmirler, an Austrian blacksmith, produced several books some years ago that are very interesting and useful. The texts are in both German and English and they are profusely illustrated . These books are not inexpensive, but I think they are well worth the price.

Pete Stanaitis

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