[TheForge] Woodworking Tools, forging of

[Phlip]

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

 Another source of how to in that area is the "Complete
> Modern Blacksmith" by Alexander Weygers.  He tells how to make lathe
> tools, carving gouges, both large and small, and countless other tools.
> As with any book, there are a few shortcomings;  in his description of
> making a pair of tin snips, for instance, Alex shows drilling a jillion
> holes, knocking out the slug and filing to make the handles, when you
> could forge the holes quicker than you can read the directions.

Actually, I've found that to be true of most books on smithing- Bealer's Art
of Blacksmithing goes long way around on a few things, too.

I remember several years ago, at the blacksmithing shop in a small
historical (read tourist trap) town, the smith had quit, and before he left,
he had taught one of the coopers how to make nails. He mentioned to me that
he was going to try to learn to make a horseshoe, and showed me his how-to
book. It was either one of the Foxfire books, or the Buckskinning book-
can't remember which, but if I'd tried to make a horseshoe that way, I'd
still be making the damned thing.

Anyway, I volunteered to show him how to REALLY make a horseshoe, and fully
intended to take a day off work to do so until he told me that "Women never
did blachsmithing in Colonial times" at which point I decided to let him
figure it out for himself.... Wonder if he ever did?

Phlip, former farrier

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....