jmccoid

Thanks Frosty! Yeah, I was a little worried it wouldn't feel comfortable but it actually turned out to have a really nice feel.  It has a good weight balance and the wrapped part fits pretty nicely in the palm of your hand.  It could also have a double function of a bludgeoning weapon too, haha.  This opener's got some weight to it, but that's what my friends and family are asking for =)

That's a good call.  A gauge and maybe a vice would make the job a lot easier. I was holding the opener with some vice grips in one hand and making the bends with a pair pliers in the other.  VERY frustrating, haha.

Jason

This is what I ended up with at the end of the day.  I think the birthday girl seemed to be happy with it.

I did however have a hard time keeping the wrapped around steel evenly separated because every time I made an adjustment, something else would move. 

Awesome!  Thanks a lot to everyone.  I'm psyched to start making some of these tools and I really appreciate the explanations as well.  I think I have a good idea on how to make a fuller and after browsing through some images, it doesn't looks so tough.

Been away from the forge for a few days and will be gettin' back to it here this week.  I'll be sure to post some pics on the bottle opener's progress.

Thanks again,

Jason

On July 31, 2014 at 4:48 PM, ThomasPowers said:

Actually a swing arm fuller could be made with 3 pieces of stock, 2 holes and 2 bolts/nuts. (more holes give you more flexibility in use)

 

Monkey tool: drill a hole in a piece of stock thicker than your tenon is long; place tenon in hole and hammer other end.

 

People tend to post their "bragging" tools rather than the dead simple/cheap get-'r-done tools

 

A solid fuel forge forge can be simple as a hole in the ground or a junked gas grill lined with dirt.  A blower can be a blow dryer.  Worry about bringing tooling along not the forge.  Now if it's a gas forge---sneak the burner with you, the rest is simple and fairly cheap to build...)

 

I revisited McLean in the 90's and I was scared driving where I used to be comfortable riding my bicycle back when I was in singe digits

3 Little Pigs BBQ was still there though!  (It has since closed; but at least I was able to revisit a taste of my childhood back in the '90's)

 

Got some good smithing folks in TX even in the wet end!  (Last year we had 6" of precipitation---for the entire year; some places in TX will get that in a single storm!)

The fuller and monkey tool sound pretty easy to make but I'm having a hard time picturing them in my head.  I'll have to do check out some images I think to get those going.

 Haha, I'm all about obtaining some get-'r-done tools.  I like to keep it simple. chisel, punch, vice grips and pliers have been doin' me justice this summer.  A pair of tongs would be outstanding though.

Yeah those are some good points.  I'll be SURE to pack up my anvil and blower to take with me.  I'm using a coal forge my brother and I built.  She's not the prettiest thing in the world and I'm no stone mason, but she gets the job done.

Yeah there aren't too many spots you can ride your bike around here anymore.  Washington D.C. is taking over!

That's good to hear, I've heard a lot of good things about Texas.  I'm a musician so I'll be looking forward to visiting Austin as well. 6' in a year???  xxxx, yeah we've gotten more than that in one day, in snow this winter, haha.  

It sounds like Mark Aspery's "Mastering the Fundamentals" series might be a good next step for you. He does detail the building of a monkey tool in volume one. And, he has a nice detail of the classic "wizard" bottle opener that might give you some ideas as well.

Awesome, thanks Eric.  $63 is a little steep for me right now but once I get settled in TX with some money rolling in, I'll be sure to check that book out.

Haha, yeah good call.  I should have socialized with the locals. Yeah, I'm sure. McLean is full of rich folk now and riddled shopping malls and mansions.  I would have liked to have seen it back in the 60's though.  I'm actually moving to New Braunfels, Texas here next month but that might still be a little far.  I'm pissed I won't be able to take my forge with me but I'll be able to figure out some way to start up a make-shift shop.  I'm addicted to this now.

 I haven't been able to find much on making a monkey tool other than what I've read in "The Art of Blacksmithing" by Alex Bealer, and there aren't too many details on how to actually build one?  Do you recommend any books or sites that I could check out?

Is this the fuller you were referring to? 

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate the feedback.  I don't have a monkey tool or guillotine swage.  My tool arsenal pretty much consists of my forge, hammer, anvil, a chisel some small punches, and a fire poker I made for my coal bed. I'll check out that threading the needle technique though.  I'm considering maybe trying the forge weld.... not sure.  I really like what was done in the picture you posted John.  

I don't have a sketch for it, but that's a good idea.  Usually I just go out to my forge and start crankin' away and see what happens.  Planning out what I'm going to do will probably bring better results.

This is the last one I did.  Maybe for this one I'm working on, rather than trying to connect another piece of metal, I'll just draw the handle out and try to bring it back in the spiral pattern you posted John.

I'm crafting a standard, flat bottle opener and want to try something a little different.  I plan on punching a hole at the bottom and I want to rivet a different, longer piece of steel to the hole and have it wrap around the handle in a sort of spiral design.  

My problem is trying to figure out how I'm going to do the rivet without cutting the steel.  I still haven't completely mastered the forge welding technique and I have a very limited tool set.  This would be much easier if I had access to iron or something similar but I'm working with what I've got.  Before I go out there and wing it, I figured I would  give this forum a shot and see if anyone has any ideas that could help me out.  I'd really appreciate it.

Jason