Teebs

Today I made another bottle opener, this time I used half a farrier rasp. I should have used one of the crappy case hardened ones, this was a good high carbon steel rasp and takes a little more effort to move!

Frosty, you have a good point! They make good gifts, and it seems that bottles that are not twist off are making a come back. Especially in the smaller "craft" beers. Jim, thanks, I was thinking about putting a twist in the handle, never thought to taper it down a bit. Will try that on the next one.

Forged this today to give to a buddy for his bachelor party this weekend. Could be a little more symmetrical but it opens bottles real nicely!

Thanks Don! I will put it aside and will surely find a use for it some day.

I bought this at a little shop that had a lot of old tools up near a cottage we were staying at. Is this a type of handled slitter? Or just a really narrow wood splitting axe? It is stamped Marvel coghlin 48. There were a few smithing tools at this shop and i bought a couple really nice old axes there that were actually made in the USA and Canada!

That is a piece of beauty! Looks pretty useful too.

A kydex sheath for the big nosed hatchet!

I like it! Looking forward to the finished product. I am a rookie too but I would think that a single piece for the bit would be earlier to weld than 2. Just one more joint to keep fluxed. I need to try making one of these now.

Finished product, don't really like the shape as it is a bit long, but it shaves hairs and it doesn't feel too bad in the hand. I cheated a bit and used a store bought hickory hammer handle, but next time I will try a dedicated hawk drift and hawk handle.

I have differential tempered the head, used the oven for tempering the entire piece then while keeping the blade in water I used a torch on the eye and poll to "soften" some more.

Rich, you speak the truth, I am a beginner at blacksmithing. I have been at it for 5 months since I had taken a basic blacksmithing weekend course. I am using a home made propane forge and most of this hammering was done with a 4 lb hammer that one face I dressed as slightly rounded. I should have been using the horn of the anvil now that I think of it, it would have forged the metal more efficiently. I most often use a 2 lb cross pien hammer but for this I switched to the heavier hammer but I don't think I saved any effort! I will definitely do more research in the knife making forum. Funny thing is with the mild steel you can get away with forging on the flat face and a flat hammer ( with smaller stock) but the larger stock and the tool steel will give you a workout, and make you realize how inefficient your effort actually is! Dcraven, did you purchase a hawk drift? I would like to buy one that will give that nice taper for a hawk type handle. My drift is more like a standard hammer handle which is what I think I will use on mine. Stay tuned for the completed piece, my arm feels pretty good so I will give a new one a shot after doing some more practice.

So I thought it would be a good idea to forge a hatchet out of a piece of 1" round O1 by hand. First I made a handle drift out of mild steel, made a Brian Brazeal style slitting chisel from a piece of coil spring and made a new pair of tongs. I then broke the chisel and had to make a new one! The first chisel was not normalized or annealed and when it broke the grain size was quite large, good learning experience. I squared up one end of the stock and upset the other end for the blade, as you can see from the pics it is not very symmetrical as the stock was a bit too long. Hammering this O1 by hand was brutal! I really wished I had a power hammer after a couple hundred hits with a 4 lb hammer and still lots to go.... I still need to shape, sharpen and heat treat. I am not overly happy with the handle drift dimensions but I will make a handle to fit and see how it works. Feel free to comment, I need to figure out the best way to upset the stock to make a larger beard.

Thoughts and prayers from Another Canadian, our daughter came early and quite dramatically and she is now almost 5 and perfectly healthy. Soon you will look back and wonder where the time has gone!

I made this for my farrier from one of the many rasps that he has given me, gotta keep him happy as he keeps bringing me new metal! The rasps are Heller brand and they are a very nice high carbon steel, they should be as they are about $40 cdn each. He works full time as a cabinet maker and has also given me a pile of circular saw blades, some seem to be higher carbon steel. I like this style of knife handle as it is relatively easy to make. The sheath is Kydex.

Thanks guys, I used it today to chop some small branches and it seems to work quite nicely. Frosty, great idea, I never thought of that and I just made a drift before I did the hatchet! Definitely need to try it again. Eddie, once you get a weld to stick you will be very impressed, I know what it's like to try and not have it work. I was working on a wrapped farrier rasp hawk and the weld would not work, still have not gone back to it.

Oiled the handle with tung oil and made a quick Kydex sheath.

I made this from an old piece of wrought iron found in our old barn and a piece of farrier rasp forge welded as the bit. I was my first time working with wrought iron and my first successful forge weld. It was a learning experience, wrought iron is a different beast all together, kept splitting when I let the temp drop and had a heck of a time with the bit weld. Was a great learning experience and look forward to making some more hatchets that are a little more refined! The handle was an old piece of wheel barrow handle. The edge was quenched in oil and differentially tempered. It feels nice to handle and is actually quite useful for a little guy. I am working with a propane forge and used Borax as a flux.

That handle is awesome!

The finished piece, will be hung in my daughters room. The letters are attached with horseshoe nails, they sure were a pain to install after the nail holes were all distorted. I should have punched then to size when the metal was still hot.

Thanks for all the compliments guys, I am new to blacksmithing and am really enjoying trying new things. Like many folks I try to fire up the forge as much as possible while working around work, family and the usual everyday life. Dcraven, these rasps are a pretty high carbon steel and they only want to move when they are at a nice orange temp, as soon as the metal starts to cool off you really notice! I have not yet been successful with a forge weld on a rasp, these snakes that I made are not forge welded, the tang is the tail and the head is the rounded end of the rasp folded over on two 45 degree folds. I will do some research and try them the way Rich has explained. The heart is the Brian brazeal style heart, I have made a few more and they are starting to become more uniform and easier to make!

Been making a few different things out of farrier rasps and have a big box of horseshoes that I have been dabbling with. I was thinking about mounting the name on an old barn board and hanging it in my 4 year old daughters room. She loves her horse and anything horse related.

New Kydex sheath, first time working with the stuff, quite easy to use. Blade locks in nicely and has a little "snap" when placing in sheath.

Old farrier rasp forged into small knife, I borrowed this style from a knife pic I found on the Internet. I like the idea of not having to make a handle for it, The handle is actually pretty comfortable. There is a rough grind on the blade, still needs heat treat, tempering and finish grind/sharpening. I love these farrier rasps, the texture makes them look very hand made. I have been using a small 1"x30" belt sander for the 2 knives I have made, works ok but I see that a 2x72" grinder will be on my wish list for the future!

Thanks, yes I do need a sheath now, I have never done leather work but have been looking at ordering some Kydex and giving it a shot. Will take the advice and forge my first knife out of mild steel :-). I have a buddy that is a guitar maker and has offered up different types of exotic wood for the scales, look forward to making my next one.

Hi all, I'm new to the forum and I'd like to share the first knife I have made. It is a farrier rasp with a hickory handle (off cut from hardwood flooring) and the pins are copper from a hydro pole ground wire. This is my first post as there is so much great information on this forum just waiting to be searched. I am new to blacksmithing and using my newly built propane forge I heat treated it and then tempered it in the kitchen oven. I know it is a good high carbon steel by destroying one of the rasps, it will shatter when quenched from non magnetic and with a slight temper it has some flex but holds a great edge. I learned a lot playing with the build. I still have lots to learn and look forward to building many more. This was just stock removal, next I will try forging the shape with hammer and anvil.