Secrets of the Forge

Secrets of the Forge

Author: Antonello Rizzo

In this fascinating book, imported from Italy but written in English, twenty-four master Italian blacksmiths share their techniques with you on a great variety of jobs, ranging from the basic and simple to the complex and artistic.

This contains 48 individual blacksmithing projects. The individual steps of each job are clearly explained with high quality close-up colour photos and detailed text.

The photos are so good that reading the text for some of the projects is almost unnecessary. ‘Secrets’ begins with basic smithing jobs such as twisting bars, and making spearhead shapes and scrolls.

The projects quickly become more difficult and complex and involve making truly artistic iron sculptures such as a duck in flight, a snail, and a nude. The book concludes with two highly specialized projects: making a Damascus blade, and the construction of a fully functional hand forged lock.

There is a wealth of knowledge in this book. Experienced professional smiths will get as much from it as novices.