Swords9023

That sounds really neat Fisher. I love when projects are given a personal/unique touch.

I wanted to try it to see how it would look.

Excellent.

Great start!

Saw this in an online video and had to give it a try. I'm pretty pleased how it turned out.

I dig these!

Very nice work.

I used a 3ft 1/4 or 3/8 in. round stock mild steel from home depot. I began by drawing out one end an additional 6-10 in. to make the counter weight curl. I scrolled it on the side of the anvil. This provides balance for the piece so it doesn't tip over. Next I drew out the opposite end to make vine that would become the part of the piece that holds the bottle. I don't remember how much I drew it out but it could have been longer. You need a lot of metal to make the loops. I left a piece on the very end alone to make the leaf later. After the vine was made circular again, I began the arduous process of bending it into the loops and testing it with a spare wine bottle. I didn't own a bending fork at the time (this project made me create one) so I had to do it with vice grips and a piece of 1/2 in. round stock. Getting the loops into the right shape and size was very difficult. Once the bottle fit into the loops properly I began work on the leaf. After that, came the trial and error process of bending the loops back over the piece to go in the direction of the counter weight scroll. This took a bit of time because the only way to test the balance was to cool the entire piece and insert the spare bottle. Basically fine tuning at that point though. After everything was balanced I used an angle grinder with a cup-wire brush and knocked the scale off it and hit it with rustoleum.

Dude...HOLY $#!% !!!!!!

WICKED!

Tough break man...(get it? huh? I'll leave) I think most of us have been there. One of my first hand blades cracked the same way. I didn't temper it after quenching. I always temper after a quench before I do any additional work. Haven't had a crack since.

:D

Here is a first attempt at a wine bottle holder I made for some friends of mine. It will hold 750 and 1500 ml bottles. Made from mild steel. Getting the balance down was difficult for me.

all made from 1084 save the railroad knife of course. Heat treated to crit 3 times in coal forge , quenched in motor oil then thrown in the oven @ 425 for 1-3 hrs until deep straw.

Here are some recent knives i've made. Nothing special. More for practice than anything else.

Very cool.

Wonderful!

Started work on a new kitchen knife. 1084 HC steel.

If you have any questions that you can't find in the forums just post it. I'm still pretty new to blacksmithing as well ( I got into it to eventually smith swords as well). These guys have been a WEALTH of knowledge and have provided me not just with answers to my questions but alternative solutions and suggestions as well. It has been a great source of encouragement as well. That box you have is GIGANTIC. You could probably get away with halving the size. That would cut down on the amount of clay/sand you would have to get immensley. I built my forge out of a portable picnic grill bottom. Cut out a hole in the middle and screwed on a flange and attached my tuyere pipe. I use a two speed hair dryer for air. Balanced the setup between two stacks of cement blocks. Entire set up cost me less than $100. Start small with things like letter openers and butter knives and work your way up from there.

There you go. We are all old school.

If they are the most modern method to perform said process then no. They are still "new school?" But in general I don't think it really needs to have a label.

Just made this this evening. First attempt. Not pretty but it does work.

I would consider something that has been used for the past 500-1000 years to be "old school". By definition if you aren't using the most modern method possible to do something, you are doing it old school. I would like to eventually use propane just to compare the results to coal/charcoal. As far as an anvil being loud, I know it doesn't HAVE to be loud. I just like how a good steel anvil sings.