The Home Blacksmith — Tools, Techniques & 40 Practical Projects
You don't need a forge to start. You need to know what to buy first.
That's the part nobody tells you.
Everyone who's watched a blade come out of the coals has had the same thought — I could do that — and then hit the same wall. Anvil or no anvil? Coal or propane? What steel? Is that rusty leaf spring in the yard worth anything? The forums argue. The videos skip it. And the whole thing stays a someday-thing.
Specifications
| Author | Ryan Ridgway, DVM |
| Photography | Lynn Ridgway, DVM — 500+ full colour |
| Format | Paperback |
| Projects | 40, fully illustrated |
| Level | Complete beginner → advanced |
Ships worldwide. 30-day returns.
30-Day Money Back Guarantee That's how confident we are in your results. But if you're not thrilled, send it back and we'll refund your purchase.
“I’m just getting started with blacksmithing and this is exactly the kind of book I was looking for. Everything is presented in a clear, structured way without making the subject feel overwhelming. There’s plenty of useful information to get you started, and the projects give you something practical to work toward as your skills improve. Definitely a book I’ll be keeping in the workshop.”
CUSTOMER REVIEWS
Great Information and Plenty to Try
“I bought this for my husband for his birthday and he absolutely loved it. There’s so much useful information inside, but the best part is that it actually makes you want to get out into the workshop and start making something. He was already looking through the projects and deciding what he wanted to try first. A great gift for anyone interested in blacksmithing.”
Lots of Projects With Clear Step-by-Step Photos
“This is a great book for beginner and intermediate blacksmiths. There are lots of projects to work through, and what really helped me were the explanations and clear step-by-step photographs. Instead of just telling you what the finished piece should look like, you can actually follow the process along the way. A very useful reference if you’re learning the craft.”
Even After 40 Years, I Was Impressed
“I’ve been blacksmithing for 40 years and bought this book as a gift for my son-in-law. I was impressed by how easy the instructions are to follow and how well the photographs support what’s being explained. For someone learning blacksmithing, having good pictures alongside detailed instructions makes a huge difference. It’s a book I was happy to give to someone starting out.”
Well Written and Very Informative
“I’ve been reminded of quite a few things I had forgotten, while also picking up new information along the way. It’s refreshing, educational and very informative without being difficult to follow. There’s a lot packed into this book, whether you’re learning for the first time or coming back to blacksmithing after some time away. I’m really glad I bought it.”
Helped Me Get Back Into Blacksmithing
“I had done blacksmithing before but needed something to help me relearn the craft and refresh the things I’d forgotten. This book is going to be a great reference. It covers the fundamentals while giving you practical projects where you can actually put those techniques to use. Exactly what I needed to help me get back into smithing.”
Architecture Made Accessible for Everyone
Approached the book as a non-architect and found it engaging. Appreciated how it connects architecture with American history and neighborhoods. Felt color photographs would have been a nice addition.
Start where you are — not where the videos start
Every forging video you've watched was filmed in a shop worth thousands. That's exactly why you haven't started.
Here's what they never mention: the good anvil, the gas forge, the wall of tongs — that's where smiths end up, not where they begin. Ridgway spends the front of this book on the other end: which forge style actually suits a garage or a shed, what each costs to run, which tools you truly need in week one, and how to set up without burning the place down.
By your first heat you'll know why you own every tool on your bench — and you won't have bought one thing you didn't need.
By your first heat you'll know why you own every tool on your bench — and you won't have bought one thing you didn't need.
Forty projects — not exercises. Things you'll use.
Most beginner books have you forging practice hooks until you lose interest. This one has you forging things that end up in your house.
- Your own tools — hammers, chisels, punches, tongs. The kit you'd otherwise be buying.
- Farm and yard — gate latches, hoof picks, a garden trowel, a utility knife.
- Around the house — drawer pulls, coat hooks, a dinner triangle, candle holders, a full fireplace set.
- When you're ready — forge welding, riveting, tenons, collars and wraps.
Six weekends from now, the coat hooks by your door are ones you made. Someone picks one up, asks where you got it, and you get to say the thing every maker waits to say.
Every project has step-by-step directions and over 500 colour photographs from Ridgway's own shop — so when it says upset the end, you can see exactly what that means.
The chapter that pays for the book
Steel is what quietly kills this hobby. Not the forge — you build that once. It's the bar stock: you order some, use it up, order more, then work out what it's costing you per month and quietly stop.
Ridgway's answer is the section readers say paid for the book: stop buying steel, start salvaging it. Which scrap is worth picking up, how to tell what you've actually got, and how each type behaves once it's hot — because a leaf spring, a length of rebar and an old file punish you in three different ways if you treat them the same.
There's a scrapyard near you holding more steel than you'll forge in five years, priced by the pound. This is the chapter that turns it into your supply.
The book they keep on the bench
Rated 4.7 out of 5 by more than 2,690 readers.
"It thoroughly lays out exactly what tools are needed. I find myself constantly returning to it as a reference."
— Verified reviewer, Amazon
That last line is the whole point. Most how-to books are written to be read — you finish one, feel informed, shelf it. This one is built to be worked from, open on a bench with scale on the pages.
One beginner workshop costs $150–250 and sends you home with a bottle opener. This costs a fraction of that and sends you home with forty projects.
It's also the answer for the man who's impossible to buy for — the one with the garage, the one who says he doesn't want anything.
