The Modern Bodgesmith
If this is a book on smithing, why doesn't forgework appear until 1/3rd of the way through ?

This isn't a book on smithing or forgework; it's a book on "how to make stuff" for a backwoods fettler in a modern environment. Recycling old car parts into garden tools, with the aid of a washing machine motor, is this book's level. It goes no further.

Welding is simply not mentioned. This is inexcusable, and to call such a book "complete" is downright deceitful.

Heat treating of steel is trivialised. Persistently calling hardening "tempering" might have an obscure historical precedent for it, but it confuses the modern reader immensely. It certainly doesn't teach why these processes are different, or how to understand how to make them work.

Some of the advice on grinding is downright dangerous (NEVER grind on the side of a wheel that isn't designed for it).

Even the advice on scrounging old steel is uselessly trivial. No mention is made of why galvanised steel or car coilsprings aren't worth picking up, but torsion bars and halfshafts are prizes. Without any understanding of _why_ things behave as they do, this cartoon-level of teaching is no help beyond the simplest level of skill.

If you read this book, you may learn a little, but you won't learn to _understand_ anything. At the simplest level, this is adequate. It's an enjoyable book, and certainly attractive. I was lucky enough to learn most of this stuff as a child, just by watching my Dad in his garage. If you missed out first time around, then this book may be helpful to you. It won't make you a competent smith though. It won't tell you the first thing about why steel behaves as it does, why there are so many different steels, and what to choose and use them for. Anyone with minor exposure to basic workshop practice is probably already far in advance of this book anyway.

There's no index. Unforgiveable in anything even trying to be a "reference" ( )

Wouldn't call it "complete" or "modern" myself, but you can learn almost everything from an old-timer like Weygers. Great resource for the hobbyist. ( )

The combination of 4 long out-of-print classics: The Modern Blacksmith, The Making of Tools, The Recycling, Use and Repair of Tools. Everything from settin gup shop, making own forge tools, making wood turnin, wood and stone carving chisels and tools, making dies and tools for a trip hammer, forging fireplace tools, hinges, latches, tin snipes, pilers and many other functional and decorative items.

From the website [www.amazon.com]
Reviewer: Valerie (Near Disaster)
I never met the author, A. Weygers, except through this book. From what I can see he had these characteristics; He was artistic, but didn't suffer from an artistic temperment. He understood technical things but wasn't a nerd. He could deal with machines but also liked people.
His writing is clear and concise. He isn't snobby or given to obscure terminology. The illustrations in the book, done with pencil by Weygers, are very good and informative.
This book is actually three small books bound as one. There is some repeating in the book because of this. But not much. There is something to learn on every page. The main theme of the book is how to make tools. He shows how to make blacksmithing tools, metal working tools, woodcarving chisels, stone carving tools, gardening tools and other things.
He has an interesting discussion about how to drill square holes. I have never seen this information in any other book.
He also gets into some artistic items. But he doesn't insist that you become an artist.
The most important tool that he shows you how to use is your brain. He shows how to improvise tools by using junk that you find for free or cheap. Ironically, some of the 'junk' that he shows in this book has now become collectable, but you get the idea. Start with nothing, find something, make something with it, use that to make something more, and keep building.
He shows the basic metal forging techniques such as bending, twisting, upsetting, welding, punching, hardening and tempering.
He also shows some power tools and the trip hammer. Even how to make dies for the trip hammer.
He shows how to sharpen a cutting tool, and explains the science behind it. I thought that I could get a tool pretty sharp, until I tried out this man's methods. Then I found out that I hadn't known what sharp was. I have several books that describe how to sharpen, and I have tried their methods. They worked fine, but not as well as this man's.
There isn't any 'trash' in this book, such as pages of pictures of tools copied from some tool catalog. Or lengthy digressions into the author's personal philosophies. There is only about a half dozen pages with photographes on them. Nearly every page has illustrations dome by Weygers to teach the methods explained in the text. There are a few photos of Weyger's work in stone and wood. This book is down and out, cover to cover, practical.
He has drawings of the tempering colors done in pencil, which I think is amusing, if not useless. He also talks about making 'carbon tipped' tools. I am certain he meant 'carbide' as in 'tungsten carbide'. I can forgive him a couple of errors. You won't find many books as excellent as this. Or an author with as much passion to teach as Weygers.
This is one of my favorite of all books. If you build just one tool in this book, it will have paid for itself. This could be your first, last and always blacksmithing resource.
If you can find some of the earlier publications, when this book was published as three separate books, you will find that the illustrations were much better reproduced than they are by this publisher, and the printing and paper seem to me to be higher quality.

Reviewer: Kevin Hagan (Boomer NC)
This book is well written for the layman working with metal for many purposes. Covers forging, tempering, grinding, reusing old, broken, worn out, or discarded tools and material. Definately has a scrounger in mind when discussing materials. Illustrations are well done and instructions are thorough but not over-simplified.