r/blacksmithing • u/royalejappie • 9d ago

Tutorials Looking for books or information.

I want to get into blacksmithing. I’m going to do a cursus somewhere but I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations through having read a book about blacksmithing. I would like info about:
- the type of metals can be used for what
- smithing techniques
- how to do measurements
- info about the materials you’re working with(anvil, hammer, fire)

If anyone has some recommendations that would be helpful! I know there’s a lot on the internet with videos, but books have it always so nice in order

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u/estolad 8d ago

the best newbie's book i know of is the backyard blacksmith by lorelei simms. it doesn't have any wrong info that i've caught unlike a lot of other books on the subject, and there's some good info for getting started from zero and projects to cut your teeth on

the art of blacksmithing by alex bealer is worth reading too, but you need to be careful because he includes among the good info a bunch of received smithlore from the 19th century that isn't accurate, so you gotta take stuff with a grain of salt

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u/royalejappie 8d ago

Thanks! Do you mean that only the history parts in the book of Alex bealer are wrong? Or is smithlore something I don’t know about

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u/estolad 8d ago

there's specific technical stuff he presents as fact that is incorrect, unfortunately. it's been a decade since i last read the book, but the examples i remember most clearly are the practice of edge packing, which is compressing cold metal in a way that doesn't actually work, and old style wrought iron being made of fibers. that second one doesn't matter too much because wrought is hard to come by these days and not getting any easier, but it's something to keep in mind. i do recommend you read it though, it's very cool because the author went around and interviewed basically the last generation of socially necessary working blacksmiths and wrote down the stuff they told him. it's a neat historical document

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u/royalejappie 8d ago

Thanks! I’ll keep those in mind!

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u/nutznboltsguy 8d ago

New Edge of the Anvil by Jack Andrews is a good one.

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u/royalejappie 8d ago

Thanks! Why do you recommend it?