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Updated September 18, 2019.
Coal & coke, USA
There is one really good page on the internet with sources of blacksmith's coal and it can be found at the Blacksmith's Gazzette website at http://www.fholder.com/Blacksmithing/default.htm and look for the link to Coal Suppliers, or go here: http://www.fholder.com/Blacksmithing/coal.htm Your local blacksmith club chapters may also know of good sources of coal.
Skei Coal and Wood. 639 Lincoln Way, Ames, Iowa, USA. Tel. (515) 232-4474. CellPhone (515) 231-2960 Biggest supplier in state of Iowa for coal and coke. Blacksmiths' coal in 50# bags. Soft coal & hard coal. Also supplies hard coal for heat.
"L Brand" ® ForgeCoke®, 1155 Settles Pointe, Suwanee, GA 30024-4270 Tel.678-360-3521, New link - more information will be added here later. The owner of L Brand Forge Coke has sent me photos of his product and these will be posted here later when I have more time to update the website.
Tools, and Supplies, USA & Europe
Centaur Forge, Ltd. 117 N. Spring Street, Post Office Box 340, Burlington, WI, 53105-0340. Tel. (262) 763-9175. www.centaurforge.com Blacksmith and farrier supply. Sells horse shoes, nails, hard surfacing filler rods, farrier's hand tools and equipment. Blacksmith tools and equipment including steel anvils (both American and European style made in Germany and England and USA), forges both gas and coal, forge parts such as firepots and air dams, tongs, hammers, fire welding flux. Books and videos on blacksmithing, ornamental ironwork (gates, railings, lanterns, grillwork, locks) horse power, horse medicine, wagon building, farriery, knifemaking, foundry, machine shop work. A word of advice, Centaur has a gigantic inventory of tools, books, and supplies of all kinds far too numerous to place on their web site. Buy their catalog and use it to find tools, then go the website to order.
Old World Anvils. Sells European anvils of cast steel, hand tools, gas forges, swage blocks. This supplier offers the European Two-horn style, the church window Bavarian single horn style like that seen in photos of blacksmiths in Otto Schmirler's books, and also offered is the single horn American style anvil. Made in Checkloslovakia. http://oldworldanvils.com/ Phone: (479)-631-8984 phone & fax, (479)-631-7823.
Pieh Tool Company. 661 E. Howards Rd., Suite J, Camp Verde, AZ, 86322. Phone: (928)-554-0700 and (888)-743-4866. http://www.piehtoolco.com/ Blacksmith and farrier supply. Sells horseshoes, nails, blacksmith's and farrier's hand tools and equipment. Anvils, Sahinler Air Hammers, firepots, books, gas forges and parts. Again another supplier with a gigantic inventory of tools and supplies. CLASSES OFFERED! See the Pieh Tool Company website for more information on upcoming blacksmith classes.
Angele Maschinenbau. Ochsenhausen, Deutschland. http://www.angele.de/
Forging Hammers & Parts, USA
For a complete worldwide listing of air hammer suppliers and manufacturers, see my Air Hammer Vendors page here: http://www.beautifuliron.com/gs_air_hammers_vendors.htm
Centaur Forge/Kuhn Air Hammers http://www.centaurforge.com - Kuhn Air hammers, dies, parts and rebuilding. Blacksmithing and horseshoeing tools and books also.
Little Giant Power Hammer http://www.littlegianthammer.com/index.html - Little Giant mechanical hammers, remanufactured Little Giant hammers, parts sales and service.
Striker Tool Company Striker Tool Company - Striker Tool Company air hammers, dies, parts and sales, tongs, platten tables. This is also an ornamental iron and forging shop.
Pieh Tool Company http://www.piehtoolco.com/ Sahinler air hammers, dies, parts and sales. Blacksmithing and horseshoeing tools and books also.
Book Sellers in the USA
Artisan Ideas. Artisan North America, Inc., 505 Kimball Ave., Westfield, NJ 07090. Phone: (908)232-3755. http://www.artisanideas.com/ Books books and more books. Some fantastic titles here for blacksmiths, wine and vineyard enthusiasts, and machinists. You have to see this one to believe it! My top choice in blacksmiths books.
Centaur Forge, Ltd. 117 N. Spring Street, Post Office Box 340, Burlington, WI, 53105-0340. Tel. (262) 763-9175. www.centaurforge.com . Centaur stocks a very large selection of books on blacksmithing, horseshoeing, knife making, machine shop practice, and jewelry making.
Lindsay Publications. Book mail order. Reprints of old, rare, and antique books dealing with machinist work, steam power, steam tractor and locomotive design and operation, chemical and electrical technologies from yesteryear. This catalog has attracted large following of people interested in antique machinery, restorations, and building of unusual engines and machinery and home made machine shop tools and machinery. Lindsay Publications, PO Box 538, Bradley, IL, 60915-0538. Tel. (815) 935-5353 http://www.lindsaybks.com/ Web site contains two separate lists of books which are categorized by which of the two monthly catalogs each group of books is advertised in.
Pieh Tool Company. 661 Howards Road, Suite J, Camp Verde, Arizona 86322. Phone: (928)-554-0700 and (888)-743-4866. http://www.piehtoolco.com/ . Pieh Tool company stocks a large variety of books covering blacksmithing, horseshoeing, knife making, machine shop, jewelry, and other topics.
NEW *** CoSIRA books available online! http://www.hct.ac.uk/Downloads/craftpublications.html BEST LINK ON THE INTERNET! Some of the books from the CoSIRA book series are available for free download. Take advantage of this one while you can, this generous offer might not be available forever. Books include The Blacksmith's Craft, Ornamental Ironwork, Decorative Ironwork, The Thatcher's Craft, The Blacksmith's Manual Illustrated by Lillico, Catalogue of Drawings: Wrought Ironwork Gates, Catalogue of Drawings For Wrought Ironwork, Catalog of Drawings: Weathervanes, and others. These are some of the greatest books ever published- and they are available for free download!
Gas Forge Designs
For shops considering building their own gas forges. This site belongs to Ron Reil and contains a very large number of burner designs, construction and insulation tips, chimney and hood designs. This site is constantly growing and much of the designs focus on propane or natural gas forges. Some coal forge stuff is included as well. The link takes the viewer straight to the Forge Burner and Design page. http://www.reil1.net/design.shtml Updated October 4th, 2002.
Machine Shop Tooling & Supplies
MSC Industrial Supply offers a very large catalog of tools. Tooling for all types of modern industrial and manufacturing businesses. All Morse Taper and Jacobs drill accessories and parts can be bought through this company. There are different price and quality categories so when buying taper shank drills and parts, be sure to note the difference between the high quality name brand parts and the cheaper versions that are often placed on same page for your comparison. http://www.mscdirect.com/.
Enco offers a large catalog of machine tools and supplies at very low prices. See their website at http://www.use-enco.com/ or call 1(800) USE-ENCO 1(800) 873-3626.
McMaster-Carr very large machine and tool supply
company similar to MSC and Enco. Website:
http://www.mcmaster.com/
Schools and Seminars Teaching Blacksmithing
Herefordshire College of Technology is the new host for the CoSIRA book series including The Blacksmith's Craft, Wrought Ironwork, Blacksmith's Manual Illustrated, The Thatcher's Craft, and other books. These books are published to the internet for download as PDF files at this link: http://www.hct.ac.uk/Downloads/craftpublications.html
Anyone who has read the books Wrought Ironwork or The Blacksmith's Craft or even The Thatcher's Craft is familiar with The Council For Small Industries in Rural Areas (CoSIRA) and more recently The Rural Development Commission (RDC) in England. The RDC was combined with The Countryside Commission in 1999 and became The Countryside Agency. They sponsor training seminars for a wide variety of skills and fields. Everything from organic agriculture and forestry, woodland management to farmer's markets, marketing and retail, to self-reliance and community support projects. And of course they still arrange training in blacksmithing, wheelwrighting, thatching, wood machining. The leatherwork classes involve saddlery, bridlemaking, collar making, and other leatherwork. Address is The Countryside Agency. John Dower House, Crescent Place. Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. GL50 3RA http://www.countryside.gov.uk
John C. Campbell Folk School offers literally hundreds of classes throughout the year on a large variety of old crafts and skills. Masters of each field teach their respective skill in one week and two week long classes. See their web site for class scheduling and subjects. The school offers a very large number of blacksmithing classes throughout the year, and on a very large number of subject areas or projects of every skill level. Address: John C. Campbell Folk School, One Folk School Road, Brasstown, NC 28902. Tel. 1-800-FOLK-SCH (1-800-365-5724) or 828-837-2775 weekdays from 8:00 am until 5:00 PM eastern time. Fax - 828-837-8637. Web site http://www.folkschool.com/
Tillers International in Kalamazoo Michigan, offers several classes on basic blacksmithing. The focus of the school is on animal power and low technology solutions for agriculture. See there web site for more info. http://www.wmich.edu/tillers/