ausfire Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 Young bloke who works with me occasionally wanted to make a rail spike bottle opener. I gave him a wrought iron one, thinking he would find it a frustrating learning experience. To my surprise he actually managed to make it work. Not a bad effort I reckon: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 Not bad for wrought Aus. Here's one out of an eye bolt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 And here I thought the eyes would have it.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 Can't always have the obvious in this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 Why did I suddenly flash to a large steel scorpion sidling up to a wine bottle, grabbing it with it's pincers while extracting it's cork with a corkscrew in it's tail...Must go out and spend more time in the sun... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 Now there is a tricky idea to make. It'd have to be quite strong and comfortable enough to hold and pull on. Shoot, all I was thinking was to make a bottle opener like this with the threaded opener part being the scorpions head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 I was thinking robot and automated... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 That would be very impressive but its beyond my skills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 Just need to team up with a robot wars team.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlasterJoe Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 Made the punches so I can make more of these skull openers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted June 2, 2018 Share Posted June 2, 2018 15 hours ago, Daswulf said: Not bad for wrought Aus. Yeah, he did well. And I think it's nice that he's made himself a touchmark. Shows a bit of pride. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adry Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borntoolate Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 With all these bottle openers I felt it was worth a bit of a safety message. I have made a few that work just fine most of the time to remove caps from bottles. But if you make the opening just a little too big you can actually open the bottle by tearing the top of the bottle cap / glass and all off. This would make a not so attentive bottle opener user susceptible to drinking from a glass shard bottle top. Kinda ruins the party ehh? And considering what is in the bottle that most of us are referencing one could see how the state of mind and/or physical control one might progress to that it could at some point actually promote this potential. Put more succinctly - one who is drinking alcohol might tend to do this and not notice it until it was too late! So take care when testing your openers for this potential. Does anyone have a dimension they stick too or some sort of go/no go test they use to avoid this??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 I believe someone had a dimension earlier in the thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gergely Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 I use a 32 mm / 1-1/4" dia piece of steel to test the hole dia with. (Before forging in the tab/tongue.) It works for me. Bests: Gergely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 I do the same thing as Gergely. I have a steel drift tapered both ends with a centre diameter of 28mm. When it drives through the loop (it just clears the hardy hole) you know the opener is the right size. Then I forge the tab and flatten the top a little. I guess that's like a go/no go test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustAnotherViking Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 As above, I have a drift that's exactly the right size. Drift through, and flatten the tab indentation with a purpose made punch. No idea what the diameter actually is, I just grabbed a big bit of mild round bar, tapered, and it just happened to be correct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted July 2, 2018 Share Posted July 2, 2018 Here's one from today's demo. I wanted the wrap to stand out more from the cubes, so the original cuts on each face of the square bar were widened with a grinder. I think it worked well enough and it's comfortable in the hand after a wire wheel took the edge of some of those cubes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iron woodrow Posted July 2, 2018 Share Posted July 2, 2018 Very nice Darryl! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gergely Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 Beautiful, Aus! My recent ones (I need more!): Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 Love the texture on the middle one. Hammered into a textured die? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gergely Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 Thanks! Done with these, under the power hammer: Bests: Gergely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gustav Posted July 4, 2018 Share Posted July 4, 2018 Just forged my first ever! Actually, it's two of the first things I have forged at all. They were forged from 14x14 mm bar and finished with boiled linseed oil. They turned out quite small but the "hole" was a bit too large. On top of that, only the one to the right worked (even if I burned it a bit) since the left one couldn't grip onto the cap with its tiny scroll. It also bent since the whole thing was too thin for an "open" loop. Anything to keep in mind when forging bottle openers? I could use a bit of help as you can see... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustAnotherViking Posted July 4, 2018 Share Posted July 4, 2018 Each time you make one, make a mental note of what you'd like to improve/what didn't work/what worked well... next one, apply your observations. No magical formula, just practice, practice, and more practice. Don't forget about the most important step once you have finished forging for the day: Quality control... be sure to crack open a cold beer or six, just to make sure the opener works Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFC Snuffy Posted July 4, 2018 Share Posted July 4, 2018 (edited) Don't be afraid to file, sand, or grind your opener (or any other project) before applying a finish. The rough texture around your opener on the right could have been smoothed out to present a nicer look without detracting from its hand-hammered appearance. Punches will serve as a drift to open up your hole until you can get a purpose-made drift, just be sure to cool them after drifting. If you have an anvil with a horn, the point of the horn/bick can be used to round out the loop. I will usually flatten the top of the loop by hitting down on the bottom of the opener. In your case, you'd need to finish the loop before doing the leaf. Here's one I recently did. I'm trying to decide if I want to put a wooden handle on it. Please excuse the lousy picture! Edited July 4, 2018 by SFC Snuffy Clarification Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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