Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've had and used McCreight's original "Complete Metalsmith" for years and wasn't sure I needed the new version. After owning it for several months now I couldn't be happier. The author assumes that the reader is as interested in WHY things happen as he is. This is not a step-by-step project book, but a bench tool. Do you need to know how to score metal to make a sharp corner? How can you tell when a piece of metal is annealed? Have you been bezel setting stones and are now ready to advance to a prong setting? Ready to make a hinge? Casting? Fusing? Repoussé? Need to know what the Precious Metal Clay craze is about and how to start? It's all in here and the information is presented in a format made for the beginner or the experienced jeweler. He even covers how to photograph your work. I love that McCreight shows several ways of doing things so that if you don't have the equipment or tools, you can still proceed. In his typical style, the author has thought of everything. He's even made a smaller and less expensive version of the book for the "starving artists" and students among us. I have the version with the CD and use the software on my Palm regularly in my metalsmithing classes. This book is a worthy successor to the old version and should become as much a classic.