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You will find many of the books listed below through this search in association with Amazon.com.

If you copy and paste the ISBN number at the end of each listing into the search it will find the book for you.

Secondhand bookstores, antique stores and flea markets are also treasure troves for book lovers in search of rarity. You will also find a Buy Now link at the bottom of some listings which takes you to the largest online knifebook store anywhere, Knifeworld Publications.

The Knives of Finland
Finland has a unique and venerable tradition of making the finest quality using cutlery. Soft cover.
96 Pages Buy Now
0-9626839-0-6

The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening
By John Juranitch. I thought I knew how to sharpen a knife before I read this book. But I still learned a lot from it and would recommend it to any one, beginner or old hand. There's always more to learn and John Juranich is lucid and entertaining. Softcover
145 Pages Buy Now
0-446-38002-4

The Wonder Of Knifemaking
By Wayne Goddard. Wayne crafted this book from the best material from his nine-years of writing for BLADE Magazine. Several chapters are new stuff, needed to round it out. It isn’t a start to finish book on knifemaking but goes into detail on many subjects that are not covered in any other written format. Includes a 16 page color gallery. If You order this title direct from Wayne it will arrive personally autographed.
The $50 Knifeshop
By Wayne Goddard. If I could only buy two books, this would be one of them. Wayne empowers the reader to construct equipment, source materials and develop the techniques that lead to the superior knife.
Read a review of Wayne's two books or just bow to the inevitable and read the books themselves by.............
Sending a check or money order to: Goddard's, 473 Durham Ave, Eugene, OR 97474
Each:-$19.95 + $3.05 ($23.00) shipping in U.S. International Express Mail $29.00
Or call 541-689-8098 to order using Visa, Mastercharge or a Discovery card.
Softcover
8½ X 11, 160 pages
0-87341-798-4

The Hand Forged Knife
Even if you never plan to make a knife this volume is a must read. Karl Shroen the author has written a jewel of a book in a very personal style. His knives are very individual and personal and so is his book. A natural. Softcover
136 Pages Buy Now
0-940362-08-2

Scagel: The Man and his Knives
By Harry McEvoy. Scagal was the father of modern American knife making, largely unappreciated in his own life time. Scagels work bears serious study. His mastery of form is and was unequaled. This book is more of a pamphlet than anything else.
Recommended
28 Pages Buy Now
0-940362-09-0

How to Scrim & Carve Ivory
Again, more like a pamphlet than a book but lots of good info. Soft cover,
45 pages. Buy Now
0-940362-01-5

Knife and Tomahawk Throwing. Softcover.
28 pages. Buy Now
0-940362-10-4

How to make Folding knives
By Ron Lake, Frank Centofante and Wayne Clay. Three different makers show how to make folders their way. Softcover.
193 Pages Buy Now
0-87341-390-3

The Complete Book of Pocket Knife Repair.
By Benn Kelley jr. This is a great little book. Soft cover.
130 Pages Buy Now
0-87341-387-3

On Damascus Steel
At last, the definitive work on the subject of Wootz and mechanical damascus, a rattling good read for the tech- head. Superb illustration but mostly B/W. Softcover
143 Pages Buy Now
0-9628711-0-9

How to Make Knives
An excellent place to start and finish if you want to make yourself a good knife. Different methods are given depending on tools and facilities.
Recommended
182 Pages Buy Now
0-87341-389-X

Master of the Forge
By B R Hughes and C Huston Price. The name "Moran" and the subject matter says it all. The life and work of a living legend in limited edition (only 2400), hardcover with 200 full colour plates.
216 Pages Buy Now
0-940362-48-1

The Complete Bladesmith
By Dr Jim Hrisoulas. The first in a trilogy of Bladesmithing books. Hardcover
Recommended
192 Pages
0-87364-430-1

The Master Bladesmith
By Dr Jim Hrisoulas. Second in the series, taking the art to new levels. Hardcover
Recommended
296 Pages
0-87364-612-6

The Pattern Welded Blade
By Dr Jim Hrisoulas. The final volume showing methods for making mechanical damascus. This series in total is more informative about knifemaking than anything else out there. Hardcover
Recommended
113 Pages
0-87364-773-4

James Bowie and the Sandbar Fight
By James L Batson. The legend lives on but is considerably clarified with previously unpublished papers and first hand accounts by participants. The story of the day Bowie stood off numerous well armed attackers with a knife. Softcover. Well documented. Buy Now
88 Pages

Bowie Knife
By Raymond W Thorp. Interesting descriptions of the maker, James Black and the first knife of a genre.
168 Pages Buy Now
0-932572-23-2

Randal made Knives
By Robert L Gladdis. Exhaustive study of Mr Randal and his life's work. Hardcover.
292 Pages Buy Now
0-87364-711-4

American Swords and Swordmakers.
Its the biggest brick of a book I ever read. Its also a somewhat dry read unless you love lots of listings. All illustrations are in B/W and somewhat disappointing. The depth of detail is excellent but reads a bit like a directory at times. Bottom line, if you are researching American Swords, buy this book. If not and your interest is casual, give it a miss.
627 Pages Buy Now
0-87364-765-3

Imperial Austria.
By Peter Krenn and Walter Karchcheski. Treasures of Art, Arms and Armour from the State of Styria.
Photographic and historical study of the Gratz Armoury. Print quality is super.
133 Pages Buy Now
3-7913-11139-5

The Samurai Sword
Written by John Yumoto. Start here if you are getting into Japanese swords.
Recommended.
191 Pages. Buy Now
0-8048-0509-1

The Design and Creation of Jewelry.
By Robert Von Neumann. Recommended to those craftsmen who want to work in soft alloys such as Gold and Silver, Shakudo etc. Clear descriptions of processes and techniques with good detailed information to back it all up. There are descriptions for techniques that have been forgotten like Nielo and some of the Japanese processes not seen much in the west. Very comprehensive. Fascinating section on electro deposition. This book is as much about metal craft as Jewelry though it uses jewelry to explain technique. Usefull for a maker who is interested in high end metalworking techniques..
Recommended
321 Pages. Buy Now
0-8019-7066-0

Military Swords of Japan.
By Richard Fuller and Ron Gregory. Very good study of japanese swords in the Meiji and Showa periods.
Recomended
127 Pages. Buy Now
0-85368-796-X

Making Silent stones Speak.
By Kathy Schick and Nicholas Toth. This one was sent to me by Mike Swaim after he read the humanity piece. It reiterates many of the topics hit upon in the piece and then some. Thanks Mike!
Recommended
351 Pages. Buy Now
0-671-69371-9

The Art of Blacksmithing.
By Alex Bealer. Written at a time when blacksmithing was relegated to the dustbin of history. Describes all the old ways and is very comprehensive and readable.
438 Pages.
0-7858-0395-5

One Hundred Masterpieces from The Collection of Dr Walter A Compton.
Published by Christies. I have never seen a book more lavishly illustrated than this. Beautifull photographs carefully described and annotated. Out of print.
Recomended
321 Pages. Buy Now
1-880907-00-3

METALSMITHING For The Artist-Craftsman.
By Richard Thomas. Silversmithing and soft alloys. I think this one is out of print. Not really that usefull to the knife maker although it has good descriptions of planishing sheet. Making plates and dishes and ornamental silverware from solid silver. Its mostly about working with sheet material and is usefull from that standpoint... I do not have an ISBN for this one either.
173 Pages.

Ancient Costumes of Great Britain and Ireland.
By Charles Hamilton Smith. Threads through time.
217 Pages
1-85170-253-9

Professional Goldsmithing.
By Alan Revere. Goldsmithing and soft alloys. Subtitled-A contemporary guide to traditional jewelry techniques. Thirty jewelry making projects described in detail. A good book but for the knifemaker not as good as "Design and Creation of Jewelry". This book is more like taking a formal course in Jewelry making at school, as the projects are laid out in such a way as to build the students skill. It is more usefull to Jewelers than to knifemakers but there is a very interesting section on making chain by weaving a continuus length of wire..
Recommended
226 Pages.
0-442-23898-3

Swords Daggers and Cutlasses.
By Gerald Weland. A good overview of Miltiary Edgeware in the last Millennium. Well laid out.
128 Pages.
1-85076-318-6

Fine Arms & Armor.
By Johannes Schobel. Treasures in The Dresden Collection. Probably out of print so keep an eye out for it in the second hand book stores
Recomended
255 Pages.
399-11363-0

Arms and Armour.
By Frederick Wilkinson. A general study of smallarms since the Stone Age. Probably out of print.
156 Pages.
0-600-30359-4

The Sword.
By Richard Burton. The best book ever written on the subject.
Recommended. Lost my own copy.
? Pages.

Arms and Armour of The Samurai.
By Bottomly and Hopson. Good plates and descriptions of the Samurai accutrements de guerre from early times.
192 Pages.
0-517-64467-3

European Swords.
By Anthony North. Just a slip of a book but very good work indeed. One of the Victoria and Albert Museum's "Introductions to the decorative Arts" series. Out of print and worth hunting down.
Recommended
49 Pages.
0-88045-008-8

Henleys Formulas.
Edited by Gardner D Hiscox. For the home chemist who has everything. This was first written around the turn of the last century and was redited in the 1920s I think. They printed it again in the 1990's. It has more formulas than there are grains of sand on a beach.:-) Lot of info. You don't need to be a chemist to use the formulas but it helps. Some of the information in this book is out of date these days. The print is small and there are many pages. There are some interesting pages on etching and patination. Also pages on heatreating, cleaning, printing, dyes, inks glues, enameling, preservation, alloys, disinfectants, perfumes, cosmetics, anti rust compounds, photographic solutions, solders, gilding, lacquers, Jewelers formulas, essences and extracts, cider, pottery and glazes, casting, varnishes, etc, etc. There are 10,000 formulas in this book.
809 Pages.
0-517-29307-2

The Razor Anthology.
By Knife World Publications. A collection of articles from Knife World centered on the clean shave.
246 Pages. Buy Now
0-940362-17-1

Gemstones of the World.
By Walter Schumann. A study in raw materials of a precious and semi-precious nature.
256 Pages.
0-8069-3088-8

Japanese Swords.
By Nobuo Ogasawara. Beautifull little pocket handbook. Out of print.
Recommended
132 Pages.

The Japanese Sword.
By Kanzan Sato. Translation into English. A first rate discussion of the Japanese Sword placing each style in context. Hardcover with beautifull illustrations
Recommended
210 Pages
0-87011-562-6

The Craft of the Japanese Sword
By Leon and Hiroko Kapp and Yoshindo Yoshihara. Shows in text and photos the making of the Japanese Sword.
Recommended
167 Pages Buy Now
0-87011-798-X

Secrets of the Samurai
By Oscar Ratti and Edele Westbrook. A look at Japanese military methods, tactics, strategies, and ethos.
483 Pages.
0-8048-1684-0

The way of The Samurai
By Richard Storry. The life, times and ethos of the Samurai through the ages.
128 Pages
0-8317-7675-7

Invitation to Archeology.
By James Deetz. A bit too dry and technical for me even though its only a handbook. Out of print.
150 Pages.

KNIFE THROWING A Practical Guide.
By Harry McEvoy. Harry explains how to throw away a knife. I never got the point myself.
110 Pages. Buy Now
0-8048-1099-0

IAI The Art of Drawing The Sword.
By Darrell Craig.
257 Pages.
0-8048-7023-3

BOKKEN The Art of the Japanese Sword.
By Dave Lowrey. Japanese Sword Technique.
191 Pages.
0-89750-104-7

A Book of Five Rings
By Miyamoto Musashi. The classic guide to strategy
96 Pages
Recommended
0-87951-018-8

Samurai Warriors
By Steven Turnbull. Great art illustration by James Field.
160 Pages.
0-7137-2285-1

Giving up the Gun.
By Noel Perrin. The story of how and why the Japanese gave up firearms in favor of the sword. This book is really a short history and cultural study of Japan. It explains the relationship between the Japanese and their sword and why they gave up the gun for it.
Recommended
122 Pages.
0-87923-773-2

Japanese Knives.
Introduced by Yoshio Akioka. Photographic Study of Japanese Knives. There is almost no text in this one. It is mostly photos of Japanese kitchen knives. The Westerner is simply unaware that the Japanese kitchen knife is available in so many distinct types.....there are no tanto in this book. Black and white
Recommended
79 Pages.
0-87011-371-2

Traditional Japanese Crest designs.
Edited by Clarence Hornung. Series of copyright free Japanese family crest designs.
Recommended
44 Pages.

Step by Step Knifemaking.
By David Boye. Another good one. Great section on etching.
Recommended
270 Pages. Buy Now
0-87857-180-9

Knife Repair & Restoration
By Adrian A. Harris, 1981, published by Tennesse Knife Works, Inc. Could not find an ISBN. Dying bone is mentioned briefly. Methods are given for red, light brown, and brown sulfur dyeing and for bleaching.

Heat Treatment, Selection and Application of Tool Steels
By Bill Bryson. Could not find ISBN

The Connoisseur's Book of Japanese Swords_
Goes into good detail on point styles, curvature, cross-sections, edge geometry, hamon styles, and flaws.
4770020716

A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor in all countries and in all times
By George Cameron Stone. The original publication by The Southworth Press 1934, republished by Jack Brussel, NY. in 1961.
694 pages hard cover with dust jacket
0-517-065878

Knives 2000.
By Ken Warner. Todays Knives- The latest in technical developments and design trends. Buy Now
Recommended

The Official Pricw Guide to Collector Knives.
By C Huston Price.
Recommended

Blade Magazine.
Edited by Steve Shackleford.
Recommended

Knives Illustrated.
Once edited by Bud Lang.
Recommended

The Cutting edge List of Knives.
By AG Russell. Simple black and white photos with descriptions. A great way to get aquainted with a lot of different patterns and you can come accross some real bargains in the process.
Recommended.

Blades and stuff Catalog.
By Bob Engnath. Worth its weight in gold. Probably out of print though Stephanie may have some copies left.
Recommended
78 Pages.

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