Books with author Randy McDaniel

1) A BLACKSMITHING PRIMER BY RANDY MCDANIEL (2ND EDITION): Considered by many as 'the blacksmithing bible', virtually every task beginning and intermediate blacksmiths must master is presented in this excellent book. Over 400 detailed drawings help increase comprehension levels. This is a reference manual that will be found lying open on the workbench more often than found on the bookshelf and is highly recommended to anyone swinging a hammer to shape hot metal. This is an excellent introduction to this glorious craft and an excellent resource for advancing your knowledge, skills, and vision for blacksmithing. From the cover: - All you need to learn forging in one book - Step by step illustrations and text - Setting up a shop - Forging and heat treating tools - Forge welding - Forging scrolls, leaves, heads and more - Plans to fabricate you own coal forge and anvil - More than 20 projects and over 400 drawings 2) A BLACKSMITHING PRIMER WITH RANDY MCDANIEL (DVD): This is the companion DVD to 'the blacksmithing bible', A Blacksmithing Primer. The author of the indispensable reference book appears in these videos, teaching the standard techniques that all blacksmiths must know to master the craft. This is a 3 dvd set with almost 6 hours of learning. You won't find a better resource for the beginning and intermediate blacksmith. You will learn how to organize your shop, build your first fire, hold and use your hammer, choose your stock, make tools for any job, forge weld, make scrolls, hinges, how to make animal and human heads and much, much more. Randy's simple, straightforward and humorous approach to learning to be a good blacksmith is as much a part of these videos as it is his book. Shot and edited in the same clear, user-friendly style you have come to expect from Love of Art Productions, you will enjoy watching Randy demonstrate all the techniques close-up, just for you.

With the United States entrenched in Vietnam and no end in sight, young Mac graduates from college knowing that his draft number might be called any day. So when an acquaintance from his past shows up and offers Mac the opportunity to escape being a rank and file soldier in exchange for joining a team assigned to covert operations, he jumps at the opportunity. The pay is good, he’ll get to use his understanding of electronics for assignments, and Mac is pretty sure that anything would be better than getting shot in a rice paddy. He just has to make it out of boot camp alive… Mac somehow survives training and finds himself assigned to missions in Laos and Cambodia. Wet behind the ears, he works hard to prove himself to his comrades. But somewhere along the way, as he and his brothers spend time fighting in the jungle, enjoying R&R in Bangkok, and coping with the realities of war, Mac becomes a man. Historical Fiction based on the author’s real life experiences, The Tale of Six Tigers provides a compelling look at what it was like to be on the ground in Vietnam.

Being the starting point guard for state champions, Washington High, is a pretty big deal. For high school freshman, Harper Johnson, it’s beyond that. It’s a new start. All of his life, Harper has been living in his older brother Jordan’s shadow on and off the basketball court. With Jordan now off playing college basketball at Georgetown, Harper feels he can finally make a name for himself. Less than an hour before the opening game of the season, Harper finds a clue that his father, whose name is never even mentioned in his mother’s house, could possibly be living in New Orleans as a street musician. If the upcoming basketball game against Jefferson High wasn’t enough, now the mystery of his estranged father weighs heavily on Harper’s mind. With no other option, Harper knows he must somehow reach New Orleans to search for his father. With the assistance of his best friend, along with a girl he hopes turns into something more than just a crush, Harper sets out on a journey of a lifetime to reach the Big Easy, but what he finds there is so much more than he could ever imagine...