The Complete Modern Blacksmith

The Complete Modern Blacksmith

By: Alexander Weygers  

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Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5

Publisher: Ten Speed Press

Release Date: 1997-02-01

Customer Review: 2 out of 5
Title not so appropriate - This book has 3 sections in it; only 1 is about blacksmithing, well kind of. Also i didn't see anything 'modern' in it. The authors suggestion for eye protection is to 'squint' while grinding or performing other jobs where sharp bits of metal may impale your eyeballs. This book is for the person either living in a 3rd world country or for someone surviving any end-of-the-world scenerio you can imagine. End-of-the-world projects include how to make a nice end mill from a hex-head bolt using only a file and making other misc stuff from discarded automobile parts. And those scisors and pliers on the cover of the book, well the author suggests you can make those using about 100 hours of squinting grinder time.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Excellent starter - Great book. Good read for beginning blacksmiths. Full of excellent ideas for tools and workspace prep. Good safety tips as well as other information.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Great book - Maybe I am Biased because ""the modern blacksmith" was the first book I read on blacksmithing almost 20 years ago. But I really liked it and I think there are things in this book that you can't learn anywhere else. I have or have read ALL of the popular books on blacksmithing and this is still one of my favorites, certainly my favorite beginner-intermediate one. It really stands out from the crowd of generic beginner books.

To set the record straight, this takes "the modern blacksmith" and adds a couple few small books to it, content about making scissors (not as easy as you would think), woodworking tools, amateur machining, and little giant power hammers. This book is profusely illustrated, great for the visual learner. I found the illustrations to be clear to follow and aesthetically pleasing. Especially when you consider that the author/illustrator was practically blind, it is kind of amazing.

If your into salvaging things from the scrap yard, this is for you, I think the world could use a little more Red Greening up anyways.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
excellent book - I bought this book for less than half what I could find it for in Oz. The book is written well, and assumes some knowledge in the reader's part and focuses on technique and function, rather than basic skills... however that being said there is enough to get someone started who has rudimentary skills or aptitude. There is some repetition since the book is the combination of three seperate books, but that is not a problem when reading the material.
There is excellent material on recycling, and reuse of raw and salvaged materials, and the notes concerning the manufacture of tools, with small notes concerning how their use influences their manufacture is knowledge worth having. In all, a worthwhile read/ purchase for anyone interested in the art/skill of working with steel.

Customer Review: 3 out of 5
Only a so-so book - The book does a decent job of telling someone about the basics of blacksmithing tools, set up of the shop, etc., but most of this can be obtained off the internet these days, with better illustrations to boot.

The projects are the major disappointment with this book. They seem as though they were chosen for the "Red Green Show" rather than for hobbyists. Most of us are engaged in blacksmithing to produce art these days, not because we are forced by extreme poverty into a Mother Earth News subsistance lifestyle. In this regard the title of this book is a misnomer, as a large portion of the book would have been more useful for the person of 150 years ago (in the USA), not for the modern-day suburban or semi-rural person in America. Having said this, on the other hand this book would still be useful for someone who's residing in a third-world country where everyday items such as scissors, pliers, etc are either unaffordable or unavailable. (But then in this case, you probably couldn't afford the book, anyway).

It is also lacking in "modern" conventions such as photographs, instead using drawings that are executed OK, but nothing like seeing the real thing in a photo. If you are interested in expressing yourself artistically and want to learn the basics of blacksmithing, I recommend you buy "The Backyard Blacksmith" by Sims, instead.

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