Blacksmithing and metalworking can be easier than you would imagine. This book shows you how - with some patience and working knowledge of metals, tools, and techniques - blacksmithing can be a rewarding, inexpensive hobby. Using simple instructions and first-rate, detailed illustrations, Blandford makes it easy for the novice to learn this craft, while offering project variations complex enough to challenge even the experienced blacksmith or metalworker. You'll learn how to:

* use forges and anvils, bellows, swage blocks and mandrels, tongs, and many other tools * work with sheet alloys, iron and steel, zinc, brass, tin, bronze, lead, aluminum, copper, and precious metals.               * cut, shape, form, bend, solder, braze, weld, rivet, harden, anneal, flatten, punch, draw out, twist, split, loop scroll,       saw, shear, file, drill, hollow-out, planish, mold, and cast all types of metals. * make chains and hardware such as nails, catches, bolts, handles, hinges, hooks, and latches.                                     * create tools like punches, spikes, chisels, crowbars, tongs, hammers, sets, fullers, swages, and stakes.                      * make built-up assemblies. * apply geometry to the construction of trays, funnels, boxes, cylinders, and more!

Percy W. Blandford is an internationally recognized master craftsman. He is a full-time freelance journalist and Fellow to the Institute of Journalists, and the author of more than eighty books.