On 8/18/2020 at 5:29 PM, Arthur210 said:

Simple ones made from 3/8" square.

I dig simple, man.

 

T

Made a few more rr spike openers in the shop the other day. The third one from the left I believe is wrought, never forged that material before, gonna try a different approach, maybe punching and drifting a hole is asking a bit too much of not only the material but my skill level. 

WI has to be worked HOT, otherwise it can split. Lovely stuff, though. 

Thank you for the input! I will correct my mistake. 

That one is still salvageable!  Cut off the nasty end and then draw out a long skinny piece and loop it around and forge weld it to the main mass to make the loop.  Work it at welding temps and you can leave the weld visible as an "artistic statement".  A light etc and a good coating of wax or BLO afterwards and you'll have one you can charge extra for!

Drawing out, looping around and forge welding was often used with real WI to avoid drifting issues as WI is very sensitive to the difference of working with the grain and across the grain. So much so they even came up with rolling WI in two different directions 90 deg to each other to try to make it a bit more uniform in properties.  I have some Byers bidirectional rolled plate---instead of stringy breaks it has platey breaks! 

(Actually if you are comfortable forge welding you could probably forge weld the end into rectangular stock as it stands and draw it out as needed.)

That is what I would do, fold the bad end and weld it back together, then draw it out and loop it. I learned to weld W/I when drawing out reigns of a tong that feathered on me at too low of a heat. To me it welds easier than mild steel.

This is my first bottle opener. I’m pleased with it. 

Nice twist, Firemedic. You like the s-hook opener style better than the ring opener style? Just curious. Still need some tooling before I attempt an opener.

Taylor

I do like that style. I like the aesthetics of it better. It seems to be less common.  I have never made the ring style opener though. So I can’t speak for which process that I like best. 

An other one.... from a random shaft

Nice opener, especially for a first, Firemedic, I'd be pleased too. Very pleased.

I've found doing the twist before forging the rest of the product makes for nicer transitions between twist and smooth sections. Not always but it generally works well for me.

That's just a twist tip, not a criticism.

Frosty The Lucky.

1/2 mild steel

old lug wrench.

Thought I would try one also.

This is the most recent bottle opener I've made, for the fifth National Bottle Opener Swap. 

Here's another one. It's called Oldman

Nice openers Morcy, you even got the dolphin's nostril pinched closed! Excellent bit of detail.

The old man looks like he sat on something pointy. It's a great expression for an opener, a real attention getter.

Well done, I like.

Frosty The Lucky.

Just a little artsy piece for fun today!!!

Cheers,

Ridgewayforge

 

Rock you !!!

 

 

That is really cool. I love the details!

I get the fingers, but how did you do that thumb???

for the thumb, I make a cut at 40 degree, stretch and bend.... 

 

Ah ok, I zoomed in a bit and I see now. I thought that bend fell further toward the palm than it does.

Now I'll have to do a live long and prosper one...

Great idea !

 

Typical wizard. I keep trying to make them and my dragons look fierce but apparently I have the curse of the happy/goofy wizard and dragon face.