Metal Working: Real World Know-How You Wish You Learned in High School

Your go-to guide to relearn everything from high school shop class!

• The many mutations of metal
• How to use the tools and set up a workspace
• The techniques of shaping and cutting sheet metal
• Secrets to soldering, welding, and forging
• Surface repairs and finishing tricks

Do you know what to do if a pipe in your home leaks or the heating duct needs to be replaced? When confronted with a metal working project around the house, who hasn't thought about the metal shop class in high school we could have taken or paid better attention to? That real-world knowledge would come in handy when pipes leak or the stainless steel sink starts to show its age. But if you didn't take shop in high school—or you did but could use a refresher—this book will help!

With Metal Working from the Back to Shop Class series, the handy homeowner "goes back to school" to learn real world know-how that will allow you to tackle metalworking projects and repairs around the house, saving money and guaranteeing good results. Re-learn (or learn for the first time) the basics of working with metal, from understanding the properties of various alloys and the tools to work with them, to the fundamentals of shaping, cutting, and fastening it into various shapes. You'll even learn how to fire up a forge and how to work with a welder!

Metal is not a mystery; you just need someone to teach you how to work with it, just like that shop class teacher in high school. With helpful illustrations, insightful descriptions, expert secrets to soldering, welding, and forging, techniques for surface repairs and finishing, tips for setting up a workspace, and so much more, Metal Working will teach you what you need to know to tackle DIY projects yourself!

John Kelsey is a journalist and editor specializing in woodworking and furniture making. He has a degree in woodworking and furniture design from the School for American Craft at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He is a former editor in chief of Fine Woodworking magazine and a publisher of woodworking and home building books at the Taunton Press. He is the author of Furniture Projects for the Deck and Lawn. He lives in Newtown, Connecticut.