Modern smiths can use the first section of The Everyday Blacksmith as a reference for shop basics: safety tips, equipment, and techniques like spreading, using a chisel, twisting, and finishing pieces. These basics are incorporated through a series of distinctive projects that include a bookmark, spoon, and leaf fob.

The second section of the book features a diverse array of essential step-by-step blacksmith projects, which are arranged by category and difficulty. Projects include accessible techniques, functional designs, and diverse styles.

Among the techniques and projects you’ll discover are:

• How to heat treat high-carbon steels
• Methods for making curved bookends
• Instructions for creating decorative functional pieces such as a towel rack and napkin rings
• How to make unique jewelry and jewelry display items
• Ideas for creating basic hardware, including latches and hinges

For centuries, blacksmiths were the craftsmen and artists who worked society’s most important material-iron. Blacksmiths were not only a fixture in their community, they helped shape that community through their particular methods of making the hinges, hooks, brackets, and tools their neighbors used every day. Blacksmithing today is enjoying a resurgence. No amount of technical perfection replaces the feeling of picking up a hand-forged object, knowing that it was shaped by someone’s creativity and physical effort. Celebrate that individuality with The Everyday Blacksmith.