In the first volume of the Hand Tools in History series, Davistown Museum curator H. G. Skip Brack takes readers on a journey through the pyrotechnics of ancient and modern ferrous metallurgy. Citing major archaeometallurgists, he explores steel- and toolmaking from the early Iron Age through the Renaissance and then covers the technological innovations that led to the Industrial Revolution, the factory system of mass production, and development of 19th century bulk steelmaking processes. Brack discusses the historical diversity of steelmaking strategies and the important role they played in the florescence of American ironmongers and toolmakers in the 18th & 19th centuries. The volume includes an extensive bibliography of resources. History and tool buffs, blacksmiths, and anyone interested in steel- and toolmaking and the evolution of America’s maritime and industrial economy will find Brack’s work invaluable.