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Wrought Iron Book?

First off, unless you have a secret source, you can't get wrought iron anymore. You'll have to settle for forging mild steel. Wrought iron is just too expensive to make.

It's really hard to learn blacksmithing from a book. There are some good books out there. I like "The Art Of Blacksmithing" by Alex Bealer. I also often check out the books by Cosira from my local library. They go into detail on making gates, anyway. I assume you mean plant pot *stands* - I saw a bunch of forged pot stands in Europe recently. There isn't much to making those, once you get good at drawing tapers and doing scrolls and collaring you can make anything like that you want to.

Furniture is wide open, and advanced (difficult) work. I doubt you'll find much out of a book. But try your library!

Most blacksmithing books are bought cheapest at Centaur Forge.

Grant Erw> Hi,

Reply to
Grant Erwin
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Hi, Can anyone recommend a good book for making furniture, gates, plant pots etc. from wrought iron? Seen several on Amazon but they don't have descriptions about what's actually in them.

Thanks Homer.

Reply to
Homer

I find that _The New Edge of the Anvil_ by Jack Andrews is a very good book on blacksmithing, _The Complete Modern Blacksmith_ by Alexander G. Weygers is also good. A couple of good websites are Artist Blacksmith Association of North America

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and Anvil Fire
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From there you should be able to find out just about anything you need to know (or they can tell you where to look). Ken

Reply to
Ken Vale

Minor disagreement: buy your books from Norm Larson ( snipped-for-privacy@impulse.net). Norm is a fine guy to do business with and has most every smithing book in print, and some that aren't.

Non-disclaimer: I know Norm, he is a good friend. I highly recommend him.

Steve Smith

Grant Erw> First off, unless you have a secret source, you can't get wrought iron

Reply to
Steve Smith

You'll like this URL, Grant.

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Your next assignment is to figure out how to economically import their products.

I have also seen some wrought iron from Germany. It's unusual in that it doesn't have the typical grain you see in the old stuff. I'm told it's made in a vibratory furnace and if therefore more homogenous.

One of my favorite books is "Plain and Ornamental Forging" by Ernst Schwarzkopf ISBN 1-879335-95-6.

My absolute favorite for decorative work is "Die Kunstschlosserei" by Max Metzger. It's hard to find, last printed in 1986 from a 1927 copy. The first edition is from 1908. IMHO the Germans had the best pre-art nouveau ironwork with the exception of Jean Tijou's work in England.

It's in German of course but has enough pictures to make it worthwhile. A German-English dictionary is handy but German grammar is beyond me.

I have heard that a couple of sections have been translated and are currently sold as a volume by themselves.

Cheers,

Kelley

Reply to
Kelley Mascher

The best I know is Peter Parkinson's "The Artist Blacksmith"

A review is at:

I was so impressed by this book that a friend and I booked a smithing course with the author. I'd thoroughly recommend that too - a few pictures are at:

Bealer's book is hard to avoid. It's thick and it's cheap. He was an observer of smiths though, not a smith,

Weyger's book is rubbish. If you're reading this ng. you probably already know far more than this book will ever teach you. One thing it's certainly not going to teach is smithing. A fuller review is at:

-- Die Gotterspammerung - Junkmail of the Gods

Reply to
Andy Dingley

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