Practical Projects for the Blacksmith

Ted Tucker

Reviewed by:

Sean Yates

You might find this one at the library or if you get lucky, a used book store or online. Very much aimed at the suburban blacksmith, it has an abundance of good illustrations and photographs, and the tone is friendly and practical. Tucker shows you how to get started with a coal fired barbecue forge with hair dryer blower, even though he has built a nineteenth century style blacksmith shop for himself. There is the usual discussion of basic tools and resources, but Tucker spends the majority of the book going through a number of practical projects aimed at teaching the basic skills, drawing out, upsetting, bending, and so forth, while giving you a finished product you can use, and with practice, sell. Again, Tucker's book is not the blacksmithing be-all and end-all, and possibly hard to come by, but if you are just getting started and are doing this in your spare time, this is an excellent resource. You could set out with the tools and this book and working every weekend, follow it through from cover to cover and have developed respectable skills by the time you finish.