Machinery’s Handbook

There is a book out there which can be very handy for blacksmiths. It is called “MACHINERY’S HANDBOOK”, a reference book on machine design and shop practice for the mechanical engineer, draftsman, toolmaker and machinist. There is one slight problem – you do not want to buy the current edition. A new edition is published every year or two. A copy of the current 27th edition will run somewhere around $85. (You see it advertised in the machinist catalogs like MSC and ENCO.)

You want to get an edition from before 1950. The older editions have more reference material relevant to a blacksmith than the modern editions. I have the 14th edition, published in 1949 and I am looking to get one from the 1920’s or 1930’s. I got my copy for $10 from a used book table at an event for hobby machinists.

This book is primarily for machinists and engineers. However, the early editions have a lot of good information buried in the almost 2000 pages for blacksmiths,. It has mathematical tables, log tables, trig tables, formulas for calculating virtually anything you could possibly want. There is a chapter on the strength of materials; another on riveting; gears; belts and pulleys; screws, taps and dies; grinding; polishing; welding; brazing; weights and properties of metals; and the list goes on and on.

The format is 7” by 4 ½” and the print is rather small, but if you are a “blacksmith” type of guy or gal, the answers to a lot of your technical questions will be here.

Book review by Albin Drzewianowski

-- AlbinDrzewianowski - 23 Feb 2008