Metal: Forming, Forging, and Soldering Techniques

Metal is an unusually satisfying medium for many artists, but working in metal requires a considerable amount of specialized knowledge and practical skill. This book teaches those skills. It makes a fine textbook for apprentice metalworking artists, presenting a basic overview of the science of metallurgy, then discussing needed tools, safety equipment, and metalworking methods. Detailed chapters cover such techniques as welding, shaping, and cutting metals as a means of fashioning art objects and practical items. A variety of beautiful and useful objects are shown as they are being made in a series of step-by-step photos. Objects include weather vanes, wrought-iron decorative fixtures for inside and outside the home, trays, tables, and imaginative sculptures. Students are instructed in how to work with iron, aluminum, copper, zinc, and several other metals. The book is filled with hundreds of color illustrations.