March 16, 20206 yr Forged out some new horse head bottle-openers. Quite pleased with how they turned out! For my taste the head is still to geometric and angled, on the next batch I will smooth out the lines. -Mark
March 18, 20206 yr Looks great. How long did this job take you? Edited March 18, 20206 yr by Mod30 Remove excessive quote.
March 18, 20206 yr Welcome aboard Daniel-J, have you read this yet? READ THIS FIRST It will help you get the best out of the forum and stay off the moderators radar.
March 18, 20206 yr Welcome to the Forum! I wold estimate that it took me around 30-45 min to make both of the bottle-openers. (Keep in mind I had two pieces of steel in the fire)
March 19, 20206 yr Welcome aboard Daniel, glad to have you. Is that the down under Adelaide or the other one over yonder? How long have you been smithing or wanting to get started? Know what you'd like to make? Frosty The Lucky.
April 21, 20206 yr Here are a couple recent openers. The hammer pendant one I made over the weekend. It was my backup stock for a custom Thor's hammer order from Etsy (pendant image included). The opener was made from 3/4" square bar. I always love this twist, not sure the proper name for it.. Was tough doing the veins... I did it after the hammer and opener ends were basically finished. On the flat it was not so bad... but the ones where it was on its side was tougher. Lucky my old Vulcan anvil was a perfect on the horn step down flat. Another one I made is a Tentacle made from rail spike. I didn't intend to make it an opener, but a couple friends commented on my Instagram post giving me the idea. First one inspired me to make the hook on the big end. I welded a chunk to it and ground it down till it worked well. Then another friend commented on how it looked like the skinny end was perfect for hooking the cap. It wasn't my intent, but I reworked it until it did grab the cap. So I am gifting this to the first friend who has flowed me a bunch of welding supplies and knowledge.
April 21, 20206 yr Brilliant. The tentacle spike opener is just amazing … not only decorative but also very functional. The top twist I call a spaghetti twist, as suggested by a young visitor to my forge.
April 21, 20206 yr In my smithy we would call that a reversed incised twist. If you do a lot that length you can make a hardy block to work them on. Making incised twists is one of the reasons I have a chain hold down as I noticed that with someone holding I could generally do one side in one heat; but with it free floating I took several heats as a lot of time was wasted chasing the piece. My chain hold down has a piece of 1/2" sq stock on the "free" end so I can step on it with my foot mainly on the ground to have a stable stance for working rather than a stirrup. The sq stock is 22" long so it will accommodate a bunch of different thickness work pieces before I need to adjust the chain length. Lovely tentacle! I could see it displayed wrapped around a Barbie doll wearing a bikini...
May 3, 20206 yr Manage to forge out a couple bottle openers, not 100 percent sermetrical, but I tested them and they work just fine..
May 15, 20206 yr Friend gave me the springs and sway bar from his high school car, a 1983 cutlass. I cut the end of the sway bar off and tried to leave it recognizable as possible. A heavy duty opener for sure. He will be delighted.
May 28, 20206 yr I buy old wrenches for $1 max, $2 for the curved ones. I have given many away but now want to try selling some these took about one hour. I am getting a lot faster. Lots of fun. I am thinking $10-$15 each ? thanks for looking
May 28, 20206 yr $20 as a starter and more for ornamented ones! I've find wrenches pretty often at the scrapyard. Particularly after a move or estate "clean out the garage". I keep the unplated ones for stock and hang the plated ones up on a garden rack mounted to a set of shelves. Top english, bottom metric, no whitworth! I'm ready for the Grandkids to visit and start losing my tools! (My good ones are hidden away in a drawer...) I bend the times up a bit more using the stake anvil on the left. Cheap rakes cold, good rakes hot.
June 7, 20205 yr Here's my first attempt , and of course I go about it the hardest way possible, From starting with a 3/4" bolt, and flattening the head..... I'll do it differently next time. It came out all wonky, and I don't have a bottle to try it on. (time for a store run)
June 7, 20205 yr 3 minutes ago, JHCC said: The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. Don't you mean single Malt? Frosty The Lucky.
June 8, 20205 yr While there ARE some nice blended scotches I'd much prefer a thousand sips of single malt. Frosty The Lucky.
June 8, 20205 yr Uisce beatha, pronounced ish-ka-byha-ha.(the "y" pronouncd like in "ya'll", not as an "why" sound) That is Irish for whiskey. Means water of life. It is also where we get the word whiskey from. Love me a good Irish spirit over crushed ice.
June 8, 20205 yr I've never asked my Son in Law why one of my grandsons is named Jameson....(Liam is named after me, Brendan was named after what my Daughter's name would have been if she had been a boy, and Finnegan because they were Finished!)
June 8, 20205 yr A bit rough work but it's for our place, works better than the one that broke made in China store bought one
June 23, 20205 yr Tried a leaf shaped one. Made from a chunk of re-bar. Now I need to go get a bottle, to open.
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