Bladesmithing From Scrap Metal: How to Make Knives With Leaf Springs, Saw Blades, Railroad Spikes, and Files

This is a good book for the beginner and intermediate blacksmith. It answers the questions, that you might have. All you need is a drawing to start you off.

Perfect for beginners

Read the other reviews carefully - truly more of a pamphlet than a book, as others have stated.Bladesmithing is complicated. This book tells you that to make a knife from a leaf spring to - flatten it when hot rather than cold - draw the shape of a knife on it - cut it out with a hacksawDoesn't bladesmithing involve shaping hot metal on an anvil?The section on forging a knife from a spike says "forge it into the shape of a knife that you would like to attain". There are no instructions on hammer techniques, pictures or illustrations here, or anything else that one might find remotely useful towards accomplishing this feat.The one useful part is the last page where it specifies 'References'. There are 4 such references, and 3 of them are books written by J. Hrisoulas - *** these are actual real books!!! ***. Do yourself a favor and explore those.I never tried to return a purchased book before, but I'm convinced this is not actually a book here, and it's going back - refund please and thank you!!!omg....

Not enough good information

While this book does not go terribly in-depth,it does a fine job of giving the reader a great overview of the process of creating a simple knife as well as slightly more info into choosing your steel.

Great book….

Love the fact that he includes the chart for the steel.

The book is small. Flipping through I noticed there very little in the way of example pictures for you to refer to when working on your project. If you’re a beginner this could be a little frustrating since there’s nothing to compare your work to so that you can see if you’re on the right track. For the price, it’s a little thin.

The book is great if you already know a bit about bladesmithing or, at least, smithing in general. Few pictures for those who are visual, more of a step by step guide to conditioning the various metals and tempering them afterward.Excellent service I've heard before on using castor oil in a pinch and some other recommendations.In all, if you know something about smithing first it'll be a good guide to avoid learning wastefully but if not definitely pick up the author's other book on beginner, intermediate, and advanced bladesmithing first (it's one book, more in depth).

Bom

Hn

Provides all of instructions youneed to recycle old springs

If you’ve done any metal work before, or welding, you may find this very basic. There are some good charts for reference, and tables on metals, but if you’ve read anything about forging before, or watched any amount of YouTube videos, it might be a disappointment. I read it, while watching TV, in under two hours. I can’t say I recommend it, but I’ll probably not return it.