Bladesmithing: Beginner + Intermediate + Advanced Guide to Bladesmithing: Knife Making Compendium for Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Bladesmiths

I bought this book for my husband for Christmas. Due to the fact this was advertised as three books in one I was expecting a larger book. It seems even smaller than the other book my husband has in our library (the Home Blacksmith) but this one is more expensive. I was also expecting pictures or illustrations to aid in the teaching of the various techniques and concepts but there are none. On the upside it does provide good information on sword smithing which most other books concerning bladesmithing only deal in knives, so having that information for someone who specifically wants to move into swords is invaluable.

I am sure that the author is a skilled bladesmith and very knowledgeable, however his writing leaves a whole lot to be desired. I am a beginning bladesmith, and I've set up a small forge and was looking for information to help me make fewer mistakes as I start out. So I have acquired three books to start from, of which this was one. It is, by far, the least useful. The language is unclear (in some cases there are sentences which aren't even sentences), there are many point where a set of instructions are a bulleted list which would be useful as a reminder if you had watched somebody do exactly what is being described but otherwise is useless. For example, under making tongs it tells you to split the ends, but forgets to tell you WHICH DIRECTION. Unfortunately, the line pictures aren't much help either. Anyhow, if you are a new smith and looking for a book to help bootstrap yourself up, this isn't it.

Font appears to 6 or 7 pointMuch too small for this old man to read in a technically oriented textbook.

The first section, for beginners, is useful if extremely poorly written. The second and third sections (intermediate, advanced) were barely worth reading. I would recommend instead, "A Modern Guide to Knifemaking" for beginners and "The Complete Bladesmith, Forging Your Way to Perfection" for more advanced users.

Great range of techniques included at each level.

Written as a set of step by step guides, none of which contain anywhere enough information.The book may be ok for a complete beginner blade smith but, honestly, there’s better information online elsewhere.I bought this as an intermediate blade smith who has completed quite a few complex projects, the book contained less information than I already had (and I’m no expert) and the layout made it difficult to try to find answers to specific questions.