The Complete Bladesmith: Forging Your Way to Perfection Paperback – January 1, 1987

An excellent book on the art of creating blades. It's not the best thing for a true beginner (although most would say that a true beginner shouldn't even try their hand at blades until after building up their skills on every other kind of craft), but it includes plenty of information that you'd need to scour the ends of the internet to find otherwise, including things that require a materials science degree to fully comprehend. It's probably about as good as a book can be for what it is; it doesn't have all the information you could ever need, and it won't turn you into a master bladesmith (only practice can do that), but it's a great source for anyone who's starting out on the craft of bladesmithing and doesn't have a master to apprentice under, and is probably a good thing to have for anyone who does.

Adequate for burgeoning blacksmiths. Imparts a good sense of shop efficiency and setup. If you're just starting out and can't find enough sources online, this book will help you make a foundation of skills to build on. Lacking in advanced instruction, but that's why there's another volume.

You too can be a neurosurgeon! All you need are a table, and some tools...as a complete novice blacksmith, I found that you need some basic skills, and probably lots of them, before you are able to make a decent sword. This book is not going to make the sword for you, of course, but it also lacks such basic information as supply sources and costs. When the author tells you that a new anvil can be expensive, does he mean $100, or $1200? (hint: it's the latter!) Various steps in the process are left out, and though they are no doubt clear to the author, you will probably want to see if a swordmaker will let you watch before you get into an extremely difficult and time-consuming project. All that said, this is probably an important reference book that you should own---perhaps after you buy "The Complete Modern Blacksmith" by Weygers or "The New Anvil's Edge" by Andrews, both of which are quite a bit less expensive and much more user friendly, from my extreme beginner point of view. I'm having a good time learning what to hit and when, and you'll probably get a lot out of blacksmithing should you choose to try it, too.

I'm a beginner blade smith enthusiast and was instructed by my mentors to buy this book at the blacksmith school. This book IS to the point, enough said !. But I wish to carry on hhh, no seriously the illustrations are big and self explanatory. It's what I like to call a well rounded book. It covers what I need about heat treatment, type of blade metals, types of forge fire and more. I know the cover is not attractive but rest assured that this 1987 title is valid till today and clears lots of ambiguity. Since I'm a beginner at the craft, I noticed I need to learn more about metals, so I suggest further readings to into metallurgy, yep.

If you are reading this, then you already know that this is THE text on the subject. For a beginner, like myself, it's almost intimidating to know what is ahead. However, without this info I would have been lost and watching youtube vid after youtube vid about the craft. Which isn't a bad thing, but, you will be much better off with this info than attempting to track it down on your own. There are a LOT of wonderful craftsmen out there who are glad to share this info. But, this will put it in to practical context in a way that will have you way ahead of the game from your first hammer blow.If you are in the least bit interested in this craft, you really owe it to yourself to purchase this. I love it and I wish you the best of luck in this endeavor. Don't think about this one, just do it.

I bought this for my husband, as a surprise. He has been interested in bladesmithing for quite some time, but didn't really know where to start.I read a lot of online reviews of books in the same subject, but this one seemed like the best pick.When it arrived, my husband knew I had purchased him a book but had no idea the subject (I'm the reader in the family) as soon as he saw it his eyes lit up. After reading some and flipping through it a little while he told me that he was quite impressed and that he thought that this book was exactly what he needed.I'm so glad picked this book. Because it really is a complete guide to what you need and how to set it up.

The book tells u of the different grades of knife steels and how to work them properly. It even explains how to use the hammer properly to shape. Id recommend to anyone who wants to start bladesmithing.

I bought this book and read it while waiting on my forge and tools to arrive. Within 2 days I had a functional (not too pretty) knife hammered out, hardened and polished. 2 weeks and 5 knives later and I was producing knives I am willing to show people. 2 months later and I am working on knives to give as gifts. The information in the book is old but I don't think fire, hammers, anvils or steel is much different from 75 years ago.

Acho que algumas figuras poderiam ser coloridas!

Exelente libro muy detallado, he interesante de principio a fin

Podia ser um pouco mais moderno e ter fotos coloridas....mas mesmonassim muito bom. Sempre uso como referencia quando faço meus projetos

I purchased this book for my husband, he is in training to become a blade maker and he loves this book it’s very knowledgeable and easy to understand so he recommends this book.

Well written and illustrated. The information can be used across the Blade making community. I enjoy studying it and the information is useful.