What is Reddit's opinion of The Complete Modern Blacksmith?

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As well as buying that book, i also bought this book from Amazon.

The Sims book is a great resource for getting started. She walks you through the very beginnings and I loved her photos.

The Weygers book is just insane in terms of what you come to understand a qualified blacksmith is actually capable of creating. It's not as polished, but I think that you could pretty much maintain a small society with the information in that book and the proper skills. He has a special focus on tool making (he's a wood carver and looks to have made each of his tools) as well.

If you get it white hot it will burn. Look for a book by Alexander Weygers http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Modern-Blacksmith-Alexander-Weygers/dp/0898158966

check your local library and if they don't have it order it via inter library loan (If you are in the US)

5160 is also an easier to heat treat steel used in lots of older car leaf springs

have fun, be safe

The best suggestion I have for you is: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Modern-Blacksmith-Alexander-Weygers/dp/0898158966/

Other suggestions:

Harbor Frieght - get a small 2 pound hammer. It should be flat on one face and slightly rounded on the other. https://www.harborfreight.com/hand-tools/hammers-pry-bars/sledge-engineer-s-hammers/2-lb-hardwood-engineers-hammer-69226.html

DIY - heavy tree trunk with a piece of rail track to be an anvil. Alternatively, most ANY piece of heavy steel can be an anvil. The trick is to mount it in a way that it is stable AND lots of mass. The greater the mass, the more metal will be moved when 'pinched' between the hammer face and that large mass. I know a guy who used an old engine block as a forge / swage block mounted to a tree trunk sunk in the ground.

The biggest problem you will have using a rock, like that, as an anvil is that the rock is brittle and likely to split on you, when you hammer. Also, they tend to not handle heat stresses well.

I just finished reading through The Complete Modern Blacksmith and there were a couple sections in there on knobs and handles.

Thanks! I'll see if I can find it online.

Edit: Here it is!

making knives is not the same as blacksmithing, making knives is the removal of metal from an object to achieve a desired form. If you want to learn smithing you'll need to learn to make you own tools, temper and anneal them. I highly recommend The Complete Modern Blacksmith as a great place to start.

Blacksmithing is a huge field, knife making is a tiny niche that only makes flat pointy things, http://www.reddit.com/r/knifemaking

http://www.amazon.ca/Complete-Modern-Blacksmith-Alexander-Weygers/dp/0898158966