PB Cohen Creations

In his foreword to this 1983 hardcover book, Bernard Bernstein recalls learning while studying with one of the authors that "while it was possible to learn quite a bit about making jewelry using only books as guides, it was not easy to do the same with holloware." Bernstein was lucky to have had William Seitz as a personal guide; we are almost as lucky to have this book. As Seitz and Finegold say in their preface, silversmithing "can be mastered only by practice, literally by trial and error." And even with this book, you're bound to create quite a few errors. But this is the English-language book on the subject. And it's really good.

Silversmiths work metal cold to form it into shapes - often vessels and objects that can serve a purpose. (Blacksmiths, in contrast, work metal at red-hot temperatures.) While soldering is used, it is often as an adjunct to the forming: for example, a teapot and its spout are created separately using traditional silversmithing techniques, and then soldered together. Anybody interested in adding shape to flat metal stock can learn from these techniques, even if they don't plan on making a teapot. But the book offers good information on most activities involved in working with metal, including work ergonomics, drawing and design, the annealing process (which is crucial to silversmithing), soldering, casting, taps and dies, hinges, polishing and surface treatments.

The book starts out with some basic exercises in moving metal with a hammer, along with illustrations and definitions of things like stretching, forging, planishing, raising, and sinking. A brief overview of metals and their properties is followed by a drool-inducing discussion of tools. This is nicely differentiated by the "essential" tools required for silversmithing, and the ones that "can be acquired as the occasion demands." Yeah, if you're anything like me and tools, you'll want them all - and you'll want to use them all! Each family of tools (files, cutting tools, hammers, stakes, etc.) gets its own chapter later. Plus, the authors dedicate a chapter to custom-making tools, and more tips on that are scattered throughout the book.

Oh. I'm beginning to realize why I keep renewing this book from the library. I think I've had it checked out for three months, now, and I keep reading it instead of "just" reviewing it. I think I need to get a copy of my own....

Don't forget that this book is about silversmithing. The different steps needed to create a Paul Revere bowl are discussed in detail in several different chapters: curving flat wire for the base, raising the base, and raising the bowl. Wire rims for bowls, and wiring a rim for both round and irregular shapes (a cream pitcher with a self-spout) are described, as are making spouts and ferrules (the metal structure that a handle is attached to). Then they tell you how to solder all these pieces together. Numerous photographs, illustrations and well-written descriptions give enough information to make me think I really can learn from this book - although perhaps with more trial and error than some other endeavors in metal.

Three hundred pages later, the authors dedicate another 100-plus pages to projects. Yes - there's more! The projects cover all the major techniques of silversmithing: sinking, raising, forging and stretching. The authors suggest if you make each item (or similar ones) in order, "you will have received a basic silversmithing education." Tempting, isn't it? The projects are: sinking a bowl, sinking a plate and tray, making a bowl by raising with crimping, making a bowl by raising without crimping, raising a creamer with self-spout, constructing a box, forging flatware, forging a punchbowl ladle, and stretching a gravy boat. If you're anything like me, you're dreaming about a gravy boat right now - and not just because it's beautiful, but because it would be fun to try.