Books with author Bradford M. Smith

Expand Your Jewelry Skills With Brad's "How To Do It" Books Learn how to create shortcuts and special tools to help save time andincrease the quality of your work. This second volume of Bench Tipspresents 86 of these solutions from the author's extensive teaching andshop experience."More Bench Tips" will help you get the most out of your tools, keep costs under control, and avoid common hazards. Thetips help save time and increase quality of work at the bench forjewelers with skill levels from beginner through advanced.

Expand Your Jewelry Skills With Brad's "How To Do It" Books In every field the top artisans have their favorite ways of solving common problems. Making a piece of fine jewelry is no exception. The work is intricate, but accomplished jewelers have a variety of techniques, special tools and shortcuts that are proven to save time and improve the quality of your work. This book is written as a resource for jewelers with skill levels from beginner through advanced. The bench tips come from Brad Smith's 17 years of experience in the jewelry industry, including a decade teaching hundreds of students. They include over 20 ways to save time when soldering and polishing, 8 common hazards to avoid, many ways to cut costs, 10 tips to improve stone setting skills, and the "Must-Have" tools for increasing productivity at the bench.

Expand Your Jewelry Skills With Brad's "How To Do It" BooksFlexible shaft and hand-held motor tools are a tremendous help to those who make jewelry, improving both the productivity and the quality of work. But with such a bewildering array of different tool bits to choose from, and new ones coming out every year, it's difficult to pick the best bits for each task.This book examines the wide range of tool bits available and discusses the merits of each. Discover the best drill bits to use, the three most useful cutting burs, six different types of sanding bits, five ways to polish your work with the Foredom or Dremel, and five bits that can be used to add texture to your jewelry pieces.In each category, Brad Smith shares his experience on which tool bits save the most time, tips for getting the best results, and cautions for safe use.

This second volume of Bench Tips is written as a resource for jewelers with skill levels from beginner through advanced. In every field, top artisans have favorite ways of solving common problems. Making a piece of jewelry is no exception. Learn in this book how to create shortcuts and special tools to help save time and increase the quality of the work. These tips are from the author's extensive teaching and shop experience and will help you get the most out of your tools, keep costs under control, and avoid common hazards.

In every field the top artisans have their favorite ways of solving common problems. Making a piece of fine jewelry is no exception. The work is intricate, but accomplished jewelers have a variety of techniques, special tools and shortcuts that are proven to save time and improve the quality of your work.This book is written as a resource for jewelers with skill levels from beginner through advanced. The bench tips come from Brad Smith's 17 years of experience in the jewelry industry, including a decade teaching hundreds of students. 101 tips are detailed and illustrated with closeup pictures as ready solutions for common problems at the bench. They include over 20 ways to save time when soldering and polishing, 8 common hazards to avoid, many ways to cut costs, 10 tips to improve stone setting skills, and the "Must-Have" tools for increasing productivity at the bench.

Common jewelry tools and techniques can be used to make customized stamping and texturing tools that add visual interest to jewelry designs or leather work. Many artists are reluctant to work with steel, but there are few differences as compared to copper or silver. Once learned, unique stamps or texturing tools can be created for a special application, to accent your work in a unique way, or to brand your pieces with a stamp that others cannot purchase."Making Design Stamps For Jewelry" presents the step-by-step process of selecting best steels, carving the design, hardening the steel, and tempering the completed stamp to ensure a long service life. It describes the tools to use, gives detailed examples for making several design stamps, includes sources for purchasing tool steel, describes useful shop equipment, and offers tips for saving time and achieving better quality.

Expand Your Jewelry Skills With Brad's "How To Do It" Books Common jewelry tools and techniques can be used to make customized stamping and texturing tools that add visual interest to jewelry designs or leather work. Learn the step-by-step process of selecting best steels, carving the design, hardening the steel, and tempering the completed stamp to ensure a long service life."Making Design Stamps" describes the tools to use, gives detailed examples for making several design stamps, includes sources for purchasing tool steel, describes useful shop equipment, and offers tips for saving time and achieving better quality.Many artists are reluctant to work with steel, but there are few differences as compared to copper or silver. Once learned, unique stamps or texturing tools can be created for a special application, to accent your work in a unique way, or to brand your pieces with a stamp that others cannot purchase.

Flexible shaft and hand-held motor tools are a tremendous help to those who make jewelry, improving both the productivity and the quality of work. But with such a bewildering array of different tool bits to choose from, and new ones coming out every year, it's difficult to figure out which is the best bit to use for a particular task. This book examines the wide range of tool bits available and discusses the merits of each. Discover the best drill bits to use, the three most useful cutting burs, six different types of sanding bits, five ways to polish your work with the Foredom® or Dremel®, and five bits that can be used to add texture to your jewelry pieces.In each category, Brad Smith shares his experience on which tool bits save the most time, bench tips for getting the best results, and cautions for safe use.

A man of the Old West confronts a new world: “A powerful novel, fully felt and beautifully written” (T. Jefferson Parker, New York Times–bestselling author of The Last Good Guy). A Western Writers of America 2019 Spur Award Winner This novel from an author Dennis Lehane calls “a writer to watch, a comet on the horizon” tells the story of Nate Cooper, an old-school cowboy released from a Montana prison in 1910, having served nearly thirty years on a wrongful murder conviction. He can see the world has changed—horses giving way to motorcars, his old nemesis running for governor, his girl marrying his best friend—but Nate’s moral compass is still unwavering. He does all the wrong things for all the right reasons. So when he returns to his town to find the Blackfoot Indians—the people he went to prison trying to defend—are still being cheated out of their territory by ranchers, Nate can’t just stand by. With grit, determination, a quick trigger finger, and the help of the woman he used to love, he sets out to settle the score and force some justice into the changing world. Before long, though, he’ll discover that justice doesn’t come cheap. “The Return of Kid Cooper can claim a secure place in the canon of literature of the American West. Brad Smith’s tale of old-fashioned courage and western justice is reminiscent, in its high drama, wit, and splendid idiosyncrasy, of Lonesome Dove. I was reminded also of Annie Proulx’s laconic Wyoming stories, and that most iconic of Western loners, Shane.” —John Hough Jr., author of Little Bighorn “A compelling, action-packed romp through politics, romance, morality and history.” —Toronto Star

**WESTERN WRITERS OF AMERICA 2019 SPUR AWARDS WINNER!** "[A] first-rate novel."—True West magazine "Smith has written tight, fast-paced novels his entire career…and reading one is like riding a thoroughbred."--The Chronicle Herald In the style of Cormac McCarthy, a gritty tale of justice and revenge in the Wild West. The year is 1910. Nate Cooper is an old-school cowboy. He sees the change brought by the turn of the century—horses giving way to motorcars, his girlfriend marrying his best friend, and his nemesis running for governor—and reckons none of it to be good. The west is being tamed, and with progress, some things are lost. But people? They tend to stay the same. Even after spending nearly thirty years in a Montana prison for a wrongful murder conviction, Nate's moral compass is true and unwavering: he does all the wrong things for all the right reasons. So when he returns to his Northern Montana ranching town to find the Blackfoot Indians—the people he went to prison trying to defend—are still being cheated out of their territory by ranchers, Nate can’t rest on his laurels. With grit, determination, a quick trigger finger, and the help of the woman he used to love, Nate sets out to settle the score and force some justice in into the changing world. Before long, though, he’ll discover that justice doesn’t come cheap.