Description
The title is also sometimes translated as "Work and Methods of the Artist Blacksmith".
"Schmirler’s book is probably the best illustrated of any blacksmith book and covers basics as well as advanced techniques. Schmirler’s water colors are worth the price of the book alone but there are also hundreds of closeup photographs of beautiful ironwork. The book has German, French and English text. But it is so well illustrated that an illiterate could learn as much from it as anyone else. The dozens of water color illustrations clearly show every detail of hundreds of tools." Jock Dempsey – AnvilFire.com
"By far the most sought after book for the artist-blacksmith (ornamental ironworker) today. Loaded with hundreds of pictures and water color drawings depicting the tools and how to use them to forge a very large variety of work used in wrought iron gates, railings, hardware, lanterns, grills, and other items. This book contains a tremendous amount of ideas and methods that smiths of any skill level from beginner to master, will find useful". – BeautifulIron.com
In this classic book of blacksmith techniques, Otto Schmirler provides, in his own words, "..the ABC’s of the blacksmith’s craft, beginning with his tools." Tools and workpieces are realistically pictured so one can follow how a forged detail is worked. The tools pictured are drawn to scale. The tools and methods are beautifully detailed in watercolor illustrations. Photographs show the finished worked pieces. The illustrations catalogue hundreds of tools and clearly show how they are used to form the iron. All the photographs of forging operations were taken in the "Old Smithy," Otto Schmirler’s old shop, now a museum, in the heart of Vienna.
