I have never relied much on "How To" books for learning techniques but I do use my library a lot for inspiration. As many know, I love building the historicals and I have many books that I use for this purpose. Of all of those in my library, my favorite would be Flaydermann's "The Bowie Knife; Unsheathing an American Legend".

for me Oakshot's records of the medieval sword, Ian peirce's swords of the Viking age, Stones glossary.

A bunch of technical books, carpenters steel guide, Machinery handbook, The selection and heat treatment of tool steels.

we have a buck of auction catalogs as well as a bunch of museum catalogs that are great for inspiration.

MP

In my early days of Bladesmithing I grabbed just about any book that even hinted at Knifemaking or Bladesmithing, but quickly realized most of them were not worth the paper they were written on. Especially those that either said or implied that I had to use a specific make and/or model of a given tool in order for whatever was being described to work (those who've been around long enough, know which book(s) I'm referring to) <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

I read/used Alex Bealer's The Art of Blacksmithing, and all of Jim Hrsoulas's books, and still have them (The Complete Bladesmith, The Master Bladesmith, and Pattern Welded Steel). Probably the best folder resource I've ever seen is Bob Terzuola's The Tactical Folding Knife.

I also had a variety of heat treat books/manuals, but after finding out/realizing that the data in most of them was derived using a 1" cross section of the given material (it's usually in a footnote somewhere near the front or back cover) I gravitated to using them only as a loose starting point, then refined my heat treats from there.

Verhoeven's Metallurgy of Steel for Bladesmiths and Others is a good book, with a lot of good to know information packed in it, but I also think it's best suited to those who are advanced in the craft. I've loaned my copy of the book out to many beginners, and more often then not, they bring it back to me with that deer in the headlights look and tell me they only understood "a few words" in it.

I think for me, I have kind of a guarded caution about any written material about Bladesmithing.... for me the reason stems from one of my mentors. This individual was a talented Blacksmith/Bladesmith, but also had the attitude that if you did not do it EXACTLY as it was written in "the booK", then you were doing it wrong. He walked into my first shop one day, and caught me doing something that wasn't specified "in the book" and asked me "What are you doing?" I told him that I'd been experimenting, and that this way worked better for me then what "the book" said..... he didn't speak to me for over a year! Yes, that actually happened.

I believe that the "trick" with any written text on the subjects of steel or Forging/Bladesmithing is realizing/understanding that none of them are definitive. Most with a given level of experience already know and understand that, but that's not the case with many in the modern generation. I don't know, nor can I explain the mentality, but it's common for me to get frantic phone calls or even emails from individuals who tried to do something "by the book", and when it didn't work, they more or less freaked out, and had no idea where to go next. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /> I don't know....maybe it's because there wasn't a participation trophy involved? (sorry, I just had to do it didn't I) <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

I like the books with lots of pictures of old knives and swords. I need to get more of them. But, my recommendation is a how to book. Keeslar's Handles and Guards is a great reference for those getting started in bladesmithing. It is well illustrated and shows a lot of valuable techniques. I still look in it from time to time especially since it has my notes in it from when I took the class of the same name.

I just got a copy of A Sure Defense: The Bowie Knife In America by Worthen & Zalesky. If you like Bowie knives at all you will want it. It is an oversized book with full page professional photos of historic Bowie knives done on glossy photo paper.

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I just got a copy of A Sure Defense: The Bowie Knife In America by Worthen & Zalesky. If you like Bowie knives at all you will want it. It is an oversized book with full page professional photos of historic Bowie knives done on glossy photo paper.

I thought that the photos were the best of any of my Bowie knife books. Cudos to each of the photographers as well as the printer. However with my 70 year old eyes, the glossy paper made the text a little harder to read as it sometimes has a reflection on it but the photos are exceptional and the content of the text is such that anyone who loves knife history should read it.