[TheForge] To Nathan the new guy

[Rob Fertner]

One correction: Edge of the Anvil is by Jack Andrews, he did a revised
version called New Edge of the Anvil.

-----Original Message-----
From: TheForge [mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Peter
Fels & Phoebe Palmer
Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2014 10:49 PM
To: Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA
Subject: Re: [TheForge] To Nathan the new guy

Nathan: it would help if we had an idea of your personal style in this
regard.
For example Jerry and I like the old Alexander Weiger book,( recently
republished, making 3 little books into one) We like it because Weiger was
an artist who needed stone carving tools out in the middle of nowhere, and
tells how he set up a smithy using found junk on no budget.  We feel
"empowered"( damn, i hate that language) by knowing how to start with dirt
and end up with a steel tool. That's one possible style of smithing.
Another style might be right for the steam train guys who want to forge the
missing parts of a steam locomotive.
That takes a different approach. and so on.
"The Edge of the anvil" by Bealer is a blacksmith classic.
It really depends on what you want to do with it.
Anvilfire.com has a bunch of terse beginner's introduction to BS type
articles  that aren't gracious perhaps, but cover a lot of ground pretty
clearly.
There's a big book list and some reviews too, i think.
Iforgeiron.com is pretty juicy too. And there are others too.
And , of course, here on the web, there is a vast amount of utter bullship.
Still, i wish like hall this wealth of information had been available when i
started. I spent 10 years trying to reinvent everything.
Budget matters too.
At the larger blacksmith meets, there are often book sellers  in the
tailgate section and  guys selling their own books.

On Sep 3, 2014, at 6:23 PM, Nathan wrote:

Someone had written back and directed me to a couple of good books.  One
was, if I recall, a must own.  If anyone has this please resend to me. Thank
you.

Nathan