Steel There are many kinds of steel, but to the general blacksmith only two kinds are known,—”mild steel” and “tool steel.” The mild steel is fast taking the place of iron. In some instances it is cheaper, and it is certainly giving better results than iron. The mild steel is easily worked and welded, as […]
Iron is the most useful of the metallic elements. Metallic iron in a more or less pure condition is occasionally found in nature, but this supply is very small. As Tubal Cain was an instructor in working iron, we can surmise that this metal was known before his time, and it is almost certain that […]
The Sledge The right use of the sledge is important. The helper should stand in front of the smith and anvil, and not to one side. When we see a helper standing either at the butt or the horn-end of the anvil, we know that he has not received the first lesson in striking. In […]
“Now there was no smith found in all the land of Israel to make swords and spears.” — I Sam. 13, 19. Tools, and good tools, are the first essential to a mechanic’s success. The tools should be suited to the work. It is no use trying to make a square hole with a round […]
Wagonmaking has also become an almost extinct trade outside of the large wagon factories; and we meet a very old man, when we meet one who has made wagons. This trade, or what is left of it, is also performed mostly by the farrier or the smith; and to tell the truth, the work is […]
Horseshoeing is a distinct trade, but to most people blacksmithing and horseshoeing are synonymous terms. There are thousands of smiths who have never nailed on or made a horseshoe, and there are a great number of horseshoers who cannot be termed “smiths” in that sense of the word, for their knowledge of blacksmithing is limited to the […]
“If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, there must be put to more strength.” – Solomon Only ten years ago, the blacksmiths, wagonmakers, and horseshoers who read a trade journal, or a book devoted to their trade, were few and far between. It is not what it ought to be […]
The author of this book has been prompted by two reasons in the undertaking: First, the phenomenal sale of his first book, “Modern Blacksmithing”; second, by the many letters asking for information on such work as was not treated in that book. People in general are not aware of the fact that, in our time […]