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See also: Toolmaking; Metalworking; Arms, Armor & Armour

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - The Village Blacksmith

Welding Weldability is one of the most valuable properties possessed by wrought iron and mild steel. Welding is often the alternative of drawing down or of upsetting; correct heat and cleanliness are the chief requisites.

Basic Techniques of Blacksmithing: A Manual for Trainers (Peace Corps, 1982, 102 p.) This manual is a guide for trainers who are helping Peace Corps Volunteers to acquire basic blacksmithing skills. The training is designed to give Volunteers a knowledge of metals and metalworking that will help them support rural communities in their efforts to produce tools for agriculture and cottage industry.

Blacksmiths Bellows & Forge This Technical Bulletin shows an inexpensive way to make bellows,
the air pump traditionally used by blacksmiths to make fires hotter, and also gives general guidelines for building a forge, which is a blacksmith's special furnace. Specific forge construction plans are not included. However, the Bulletin does include instructions for using the forge and bellows.

Primitive Blacksmithing by Ed Cotton The history of blacksmithing goes back to the beginning of time. By the age of Tutakhaman, steel was available for sale, and only the rich could afford to purchase it. Iron alloy were believed to have been worked even before man learned to mine iron ore from the ground and start smelting it. Nickel iron alloys were available from the countless meteorites striking the earth over the centuries.

Blacksmithing Processes--Part I All work that a blacksmith does consists of a number of basic processes, which when taken together allow him or her to produce very complex forgings. In this article, we begin to explore these processes.

Blacksmithing Processes--Part II In the last issue we discussed the processes of Squaring and Rounding stock, the two most basic processes in blacksmithing in my opinion. In each case the steel or iron is brought to a red/orange heat and is hammered upon the face of the anvil to achieve the desired shape. In this issue, we'll be discussing drawing to a point and drawing out to make the steel longer and thinner, wider and thinner, or both wider and longer and also thinner.

Blacksmithing Tools--Part III In Part III, we'll talk about the hammer. After the fire to heat the iron, the anvil to hit it on, the hammer is probably the most important tool. You can't get by without some form of heat to bring the iron to a soft, moldable state. You can't get by without an anvil of some sort to use in forming the soft metal. You can't get by without something to hit the metal withnamely the hammer.

What is Metal Spinning? Metal spinning is the process by which a piece of flat sheet metal is formed over a pre-turned, three-dimensional pattern while it is spinning on a lathe. This forming is done by applying pressure to the metal as it spins to press it against the wooden form and cause the metal to take on the form of the pattern.

The Smith's Tools--Anvil Tools The anvil tools consist of a wide variety of aids for the blacksmith. Most of them fit into the Hardy Hole on the anvil. They come with a square tang that fits into the Hardy Hole and holds the tool in position while the blacksmith works his/her magic.

The Hudson Bay Camp Knife (a Project) & Double Tongs

Blacksmithing Tips These tips are provided for visitors to this site. If you have a tip, please E-Mail it to us at [email protected]. We'll include your tip with a credit line to share with other blacksmiths around the world. We'll appreciate it, and I'm sure they'll appreciate it too!

Blacksmith Fundamentals Whether a farmer can afford a forge and anvil will depend upon the distance to a blacksmith shop, the amount of machinery repair work he needs to do or have done, and his ability as a mechanic. Although not every farmer can profitably own blacksmithing equipment, many farmers can. If a farmer cannot, he should remember that a great deal of repair work can be done with cold metal, if he has a few simple tools like a vise, a hack saw, files, cold chisels, and drills.

Blacksmithing History, Part 1 You can get the rest of the parts from here. Very Interesting!

Picture Instructions for making a 275 lb. Anvil

Instructions for making an Anvil

A Review of Tool Shapes & Applications

Building a Side Draft Forge

Building a Shop Vice

Building Door Hinges and Hardware

Building A Swedge Stand

Building A Anvil Stand

Pouring Babbit for a Little Giant Trip Hammer

How to Get Started in Blacksmithing

Hardening - Tempering - Heat Teating

How Sword Making Works, by Jeff Tyson Pretty good series located on the "How Stuff Works" web site.

Coal and Charcoal : Blacksmith's Coal, Charcoal and Forges. An AnvilFire FAQ & Report by Glenn Conner AKA - NTECH

Forge Blowers Chart and article from MACHINERY'S HANDBOOK, 1914.

Gas Facts Fuel gas information, burning temperatures and rates.

Brake Drum Forge Plans. A low cost starter forge.

Hardness Conversion Table Metal hardness value conversion table Brinell to Rockwell A, B, C scales.

Heat Treating Hardening, tempering. Selected Q&A and metals heat treating specifications. Links to materials information resources.

Quenchants Coolants for heat treating. Air, Brine, Water, Oil, Synthetics. With Rob Gunter's Super Quench Recipe.

Roller Chain Damascus Selected Q&A on forge welding roller chain for knife making.

Rebar Reinforcing steel information. Selected Q&A

Temper Color Chart Standard temper color names text plus HTML color with Fahrenheit and Celsius.

Blacksmithing in the 21st Century An on line reference for Blacksmiths and other metal workers. Originally a book in progress.

The Power hammer Page A unique anvilfire! special features page. How to use, buy, build, repair and maintain forging machinery for the blacksmith shop. Machine specs, comparisons and more! Links to manufacturers world wide. Forging machines for sale.

Differential hardening with clay by Bob Engnath Excellent article from 1997

Build your own portable forge Building a small, portable hobby forge is not that difficult. This article will show you how to build one from a charcoal grill. Later, when you delve more deeply into blacksmithing, you can build yourself a full blown smithy.

Steel Data Chart for Knifemaking (from Russia!) This thing loads funny sometimes. You may have to click more than once.

"Blacksmith Basics" Online tutorial pages of blacksmithing basics. Excellent layout and presentation. Series covers blacksmith primer, forge design, pump bellows, and fires.

"Advanced Blacksmith Techniques" More online tutorials covering tempering, welding, riveting, decorative twists, splits & cuts. Truly amazing wealth of info.

Fullered Straight Bar Shoe Excellent tutorial for the Farrier arts. Complete with text, photos, and graphics. Easy layout.

Bob Punch Clip I love this guy! Great info, easy to follow. Excellent tutorial on the Farrier arts.

Fullered Shoe Another winner from Fremlin’s Forgery on the Farrier arts.

"Bronzeworking" Generalized but informative article on making bronze from copper ore and then casting it by various techniques. By Ben Levick.

"Iron Working" Interesting article by B. Levick on Viking ironworking techniques, with a short history and illustrations.

3 Phase Convertor .PDF File. Only two pages. First page is instructional, second is a blurry (but readable) schematic.

Pipe Forge Plans .PDF File. Only two pages. First page is instructional, second is a blurry (but readable) schematic.

Guillotine Tool .PDF File. Five pages of mixed photos, text and hand drawn plans.

Metalworking FAQ/Compendium This will someday become the Web home of the FAQ and other information for the UseNet newsgroup rec.crafts.metalworking. The original FAQ has grown to almost absurd proportions, and contains answers to questions that are not actually frequently asked. My intent is to first place all the original FAQ information here on the Web, then trim the FAQ and allow this Web version to grow into more of a compendium or encyclopedia. FAQ and archives via w3.uwyo.edu Courtesy of Jim Kirkpatrick, [email protected]

Blacksmith's Journal - blacksmithing help and publications

A Trip To Radnor Forge The whole site is pretty interesting. " This site was constructed to show some of the interesting hobbies that I have worked at over the past 20 years. Most were developed using hand and home made techniques and materials that were readily available to me."

Various Websites still to check-out:

a n v i l f i r e ! The best blacksmithing site on the net!
BLACKSMITHING NETWORK
couteaux.free.fr/ Unbelievable collection of antique anvil photos. French - If you don't read French, go to: Les Enclumes, c'est beau... je collectionne...
and Photos d'enclumes d'amis
Emile's Hotlinks:
Blacksmithing.TV
FlyPress.com Fly and Screw Press information.
OldLocks.com
METAL WEB NEWS
neotribalmetalsmiths.com The fringe that was the mainstream.
RepousseTools.com Sheet metal and armour tools and techniques
History of Welding
Spring Design Tutorial
The Old GristMill.com Americana for sale.

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