Customer Reviews

Colonial Wrought Iron, the Sorber Collection

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Colonial Wrought Iron The Sorber Collection

One of the main points of interest at the ABANA National Blacksmith Conference in Asheville NC was the Sorber exhibit. Mr. Jim Sorber, now is his eighties, has bee a collector of colonial iron work most of his life. Much of his collection includes pieces of Pennsylvania Dutch and German American influence. After attending a lecture by Don Plummer on the Sorber exhibit, I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Sorber and Don Plummer. We discussed the pieces in the exhibit and Don's upcoming book on the Sorber collection. They both assured met that the book would cover many unusual wrought iron pieces from Mr. Sorber's lifetime of collecting and that it would be a must own reference book. I received my copy and it is everything they said it would be and more. Don Plummer and Jim Sorber both come from blacksmithing backgrounds and Mr. Sorber was a successful contractor and restorer of old homes as well. This helps Don bring out many details that most people would overlook on the manufacture of the pieces. Details such as many fireplace cranes having a hoist added to lift heavy cook pots and whether a trivet was used for a smoothing iron or for a cook pot. Colonial Wrought Iron is written with the collector, reenactor, museum curator, and modern blacksmith in mind. It has a very interesting text about the manufacture and usage of the pieces with hundreds of clear pictures. Many of the pieces pictured even have close measurements from the originals. This book covers every imaginable group of usable iron utensil from the 18th and 19th century from simple tools to complex clock jacks. There is even an appendix in the back with over 160 blacksmith signatures from the Sorber collection. If you are a collector of wrought iron, recreate early wrought iron pieces in the forge, use replicas of the older piece while buckskining, or reenacting this book needs to be on your must read list.

Buster Grubbs

This is an excellent resource book for both collectors and individuals who enjoy making reproductions of period pieces. However, having looked at and handled a display of some of the items at a early ironwork conference, it should be noted that a number of those items, about 40 percent appeared to be dated from the Arts and Crafts Period. Arts and Crafts Period pieces, as pointed out to me by a person more experienced than myself at the conference, may be identified by unfinished punch holes, i.e. jagged edges on the back, as well as noticable asymmetry. Before and after the Arts and Crafts Period apparently smiths were in less of a rush and spent the extra minute or two cleaning off rough edges and keeping the item symmetric. Otherwise, this book could not be more highly recommended. Buy this book while you can.

I believe that Mr. Plummer's Colonial Wrought Iron,the Sorber collection will be the standard reference book in years to come for every metalworker that undertakes to reproduce colonial style iron items. The photographs are clear and show great detail. Whether you are interested in andirons or sowing birds, tinsmith tools or hog catchers, wagon hardware or pipe tongs, it's all here. Al Stephens, Blacksmith

When I first received my copy of this book I could hardly put it down. It is a wonderful and detailed pictorial of the Sorber collection of Colonial and Early American wrought iron. It is a pictorial essay that leads one's imagination into what life may have been like at the time when these items were forged and used.

As a practicing blacksmith and tinsmith specializing in historic reproductions, I find the detail of the photos to be very revealing. Revealing not only in terms of clarity of detail, but revealing of the expertise and finesse that the artisans of those times was capable.

My thanks to Jim Sorber for having the collection, and my thanks to Don Plummer for putting it together so we can all experience it.

First off, this book is a must own for any blacksmith. I am a self taught blacksmith and the variety of items in this book have inspired many projects. This collection is a national treasure.

The reason that I am writing this review is that on May 25th, 2005 the collection will be auctioned off as individual pieces. This fabulous collection will soon be scattered to the four winds. If you read this prior to the auction date, the Nation Museum of Metal is trying to raise money to buy as many pieces as possible. The donation site is at http://www.metalmuseum.org/donations.htm

"Colonial Wrought Iron" by Don Plummer is an interesting and informative book, even to the layperson (which I am, not being involved in blacksmithing or metal working). It is fascinating to get a window into our ancestors' daily lives through their tools. For example, their "toasters" are quite primitive compared to today's versions (they are made to hold slices of bread in the fire) yet they are beautiful and individual. The photograhps are very clear and funcion perfectly to show the iron work. The extent of the Sorber collection is very impressive, and the amount of information on the items shows substantial research. If you have any interest in metal work or early American lives, you will find this to be a well written and researched addition to your library.

This volume is a serious definitive work worthy of the described collection. For those inclined to study the colonial period this book is a must.

First rate work - thanks and hats off to the authors.