Bladesmithing with Murray Carter: Modern Application of Traditional Techniques

This is such a well put together book, especially for the price!!! Only $18 or so and you get tons of info about traditional Japanese bladesmithing, general bladesmithing and just knifemaking in general. Like I said it is very well put together in the way that it starts you out by covering the basics of bladesmithing, types of shop tools that are used to make knives (as well as what they are good for and some basic safety measures and what to watch out for while using them.Murray takes you through his techniques on the way he forges a knife, profiles it, provides tips for refining the grain in the steel to get maximum performance out of the blade, all the steps and tips for heat treating a knife properly, how to forge weld, how to make damascus and much more. For each step there are pictures as well, which are not only very vibrant and vivid pictures, but are very helpful by making it clear to see what he is doing. A picture is worth a thousand words, so you have that, then another thousand words to go with it!There is a lot of great info in the book and I think it will appeal to people who want to get better at their bladesmithing and forging skills, as well as knifemakers who only use the stock removal method because there is plenty of information that can be applied to that area, after all, once one forges out a blade, it still needs to be put to a grinder. It will also appeal to people that are just interested in the way bladesmithing works, and the way that traditional Japanese badesmithing is done, or people who collect Murray Carter's knives and want to learn about his process.So all in all I give this book a 10 out of 10 and would highly recommend it to anybody who falls into any one of the categories I mentioned above.

This book is not by any means a "how to" book, or contains any meaningful discussion of technique. It is a catalog or other sales tool for Murray Carters knife making business. Lots of pretty pictures of knives (mostly the kitchen variety), some *extremely* brief discussions of the forgecraft Mr. Carter employs, but not likely enough to appreciate or learn those techniques without an undue amount of wasted time and material--even if one can get past the preachy, self-promotional writing style.For whatever reason, there is the usual Health and Safety stuff, which should be obvious ("red hot steel shouldn't be touched with your hands cause its hot" or "wear safety glasses" sort of thing) and then ignores further mention of blacksmithing fundamentals. There are a few pages on various steels, some by their commercial names and others by composition, which is kind of nice, but there is barely enough to get started and someone with a reasonable degree of experience will likely know about the materials mentioned. Making handles and sheaths is summarized in few pages. (Surprisingly, Loctite and 5 minute epoxy is apparently within the boundary of "Traditional Technique". Who knew?) Sharpening and surface finish is dealt with in a similarly truncated manner. Its almost as if Mr. Carter had been thinking at some early point about writing a book about basic blacksmithing employing some of the body of Japanese technique, but forgot what he was doing a few pages into each chapter.This volume is unlikely to teach much, if anything, of practical value. It does not offer basic/intermediate/advanced or culture-specific technique. People looking for information on the construction of Japanese cutlery, the design or reasoning behind the shape of the wide variety of knives available for various tasks in the kitchen, would be sorely disappointed. (Alex W Bealer's book, "The Art of Blacksmithing" is a much better general discussion of the topic of blacksmithing and a useful teaching tool, and Leon Kapp's volume, "The Craft of the Japanese Sword" has far more coherent discussion of blade construction and finishing techniques of Japanese forgecraft, to name but two infinitely superior alternatives.) "Bladesmithing with Murray Carter" is merely a 160 page infomercial for Carter Cutlery, and one in need of an editor at that. I got my copy for $5, and somewhat resent having wasted that much for so little.

Bladesmithing with Murray Carter is a must have for anyone interested in Japanese style bladeware. Visually stunning colour photographs of Carter Cutlery's kitchen and other utility knives complement the detailed information on the creation of these works of art and function.This reader friendly volume is both instructional and informational and has enough to satisfy collectors, knifemakers and those simply fascinated by Japanese cutlery. I personally found the section on the author's perspective on the differences between the Western and Japanese knife traditions to be especially interesting. A real eye opener.The serious student of the forge ( myself included ) with some bladesmithing experience will find this volume to be a valuable resource. A comprehensive work containing detailed chapters on forging, lamination, grinding, sharpening and blade straightening using the author's own experience gained from his extensive study and training at the craft in Japan.If you are an absolute beginner at knife making I would strongly suggest that you purchase this book along with Tim Lively's CD "Knifemaking Unplugged" and the volume "Blades Guide To Making Knives" ( available at Amazon ). For more on Japanese blademaking read "The Craft of The Japanese Sword" by Leon and Hiroko Kapp with Yoshindo Yoshihara. The rest is getting your hands dirty, starting small and lots of practise at the forge.Definitely get Bladesmithing with Murray Carter. You will be glad you did.

"Bladesithing" is a wonderful book for the man in you life if he loves the making of handmade bushcraft knives, my other half could not put it down it made want to finish the knife he had made in a class earlier in the year. It is so well laid out from the start a step by step prgress in metal, smithing, handle making and finishing.

bought this for my Son before he went on a bladesmithing course, would recommend

Recommended to blacksmith hobbyists.

Excellent book recommended

Good!