Cover The Spruce Forge Manual of Locksmithing Bill Morrison & Denis Frechette

The Spruce Forge
Manual of Locksmithing


A Blacksmiths Guide to Simple Lock Mechanisms

Spiral Bound, 118 pages, B&W illustrations and working drawings, size 8-1/2 x 11 inches
REVIEW  by Jock Dempsey

This is one of the rare few books on locksmithing available with full details of how to make locks. Many of the locks are similar to the types in Locks from Iran which goes to show how timeless and universal some of these designs are. It has many excellent but slightly thin lined CAD illustrations that are typical of the time that this book was created (1999). There are also grainy digital reproductions of photos of finished locks. Luckily the important information is in the clear step by step drawings. The illustrations include full scale template drawings for the purpose laying out the parts and pieces. Every detail is covered including how to perform each needed operation in a small shop with hand tools.

There is a nice introductory section on the shop with useful information for setting up to do detailed work of locksmithing. There is also a general how-to section in the back of the book that covers some specifics to lock making. The general details could have been left out as they were covered very lightly and are covered much better in other blacksmithing references.

Click for enlargement Page 66 Cupboard Lock Click for enlargement Page 66 detail
Click for enlargement Page 7 - Shop tools, the anvil Click for enlargement Page 103 Gate Lock

The locks in this book are the simple types made by general blacksmiths, not the professional high art locksmith. They are simple designs intended for common or rural use. These are the types of locks that every blacksmith was expected to know how to make if called upon. This is a reference that should be on every blacksmiths book shelf.

See also our four part iForge series on Locksmithing

Published by:
by Spruce Forge Publications, 1999
Sault Ste. Marie, MI, USA

Distributed in North America by:
ArtisanIdeas.com

Price $26.00 US
ISBN 0-615-11822-4


anvilfire.com
BACK TO BOOKSHELF
Copyright © 2006 by Jock Dempsey, DEMPSEY'S FORGE
Webmaster email: anvilfire! webmaster